What went wrong?

[R.A.T. Army *MST3K*]

The PC in question was built roughly two years ago, and has been running with no major issues. I recently decided to upgrade the RAM. Adding two 8GB sticks to the already present two 8GB sticks. I've done this before to other PCs with minimal issues. This time game me a bit more trouble, as the two new sticks would simply not being recognized by the PC.

After a good amount of failed troubleshooting, I thought the issue might be that I had previously enabled DOCP to run the RAM at it's advertised speed; and that putting those settings back to default may help. After setting everything back to default, and rebooting the computer it immediately loaded into the BIOS. I instantly noticed that the boot priority menu was empty. Along with the boot menu. My SSD, and my CD round drive we're still recognized as storage devices, but not as bootable devices.

In the end I ended up enabling the "Launch CSM" option and now the computer boots properly; although it does seem to take about 3-5 seconds longer than normal.

My question is what happened? I had never edited any boot options in the past, so those should have all been left on their default settings. When I saved after setting things back to default, it shows me in a pop up what I changed and what I changed it to. I took a picture of it so I could set everything back, nothing about boot options on it.

How did setting things back to the default settings, completely wipe the boot priority menu?

The Motherboard is an Asus TUF Gaming x570.

[emoticorpse]

We're you using Windows 11? If not maybe they're not available because of the boot security or something?

[hvalois]

In the bios
Secur boot: windows uefi mode

Boot option priorities: ssd drive (EX: my pc is : P1 samsung ssd 860 pro)

after save the bios change.
good lock.

[76561198343548661]

When somehing in memory is messed up you should expect anything . i would disable DOCP and manually select a XMP profile .

[UserNotFound]

Цитата допису smallcat:

When somehing in memory is messed up you should expect anything . i would disable DOCP and manually select a XMP profile .

That's only IF OP has RAM sticks of very similar specs, IF OP can run his computer now with his present settings, leave it be. Enable XMP profile only IF the RAM were bought together as a pair, or IF RAM are of same specs, that is, timing/voltage/speed/etc. I don't think it's a good idea to enable XMP IF the RAM were bought separately.

As for issues that might crop up involving bad RAM, mismatched RAM, etc, it can be really varied. I've had my rigs fail to boot due to RAM, Thought my mobo or GPU had died on me due to RAM, like I'd said, the issues involving RAM can be wide and varied.

[ZeekAncient]

CSM is for legacy bios, not uefi bios.

If you are able to boot with CSM enabled, then that must mean you have legacy bios enabled and not uefi bios.

Now, in order to have UEFI bios, your boot drive will have to be GPT partition style and not MBR.

UEFI bios is what you want and not legacy. It isn't really that big a deal, but that is probably why you are booting a little longer.

Now, go to disk management, and right click to the left where it says your disk. Your boot disk will most likely be Disk 0. Click on Properties, and then click on Volumes. Now look at where it says Partition Style. Is it GPT(GUID Partition Table) or MBR(Master Boot Record)?

If it is MBR, you will need to convert the disk to GPT in order to disable CSM in the bios and boot with UEFI Bios.

Here, this will show you how to do it:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/change-an-mbr-disk-into-a-gpt-disk

Also, you can go to System Information. Just go to the search icon at the bottom left of your screen near the start button and type in System Information. Click on the System Information App and look down to BIOS Mode to see if it says UEFI or Legacy.

[76561198343548661]

a bit longer boot time might be due to more memory sticks .

[plat]

You're lucky. At times, if you change the CSM setting, it will now look for legacy hardware, as well as drive formats like MBR. This means the partitions will change to MBR (Master Boot Record). Because your EFI is in one partition, this is now erased and your BIOS (not UEFI) will fail to recognize the drive.

To convert mbr back to gpt without losing data on boot drive:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-convert-mbr-to-gpt-without-losing-data/7c14dcee-0f41-47df-b63f-fd817a0e0ddd

You should have a USB with Windows ISO loaded on it in order to "repair this PC" and access the Command Prompt.

Edit: longer boot times--do you have Quick Boot enabled or disabled? Also: check startup items via msconfig. For example, sometimes certain changes mysteriously enable certain Intel items like the Management Engine, which adds appreciably to the startup time.

Re-edit: I added another 16 GB memory module and my startup time did not change. I also have Quick Boot enabled in UEFI.

[R.A.T. Army *MST3K*]

Цитата допису plat:

You're lucky. At times, if you change the CSM setting, it will now look for legacy hardware, as well as drive formats like MBR. This means the partitions will change to MBR (Master Boot Record). Because your EFI is in one partition, this is now erased and your BIOS (not UEFI) will fail to recognize the drive.

To convert mbr back to gpt without losing data on boot drive:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-convert-mbr-to-gpt-without-losing-data/7c14dcee-0f41-47df-b63f-fd817a0e0ddd

You should have a USB with Windows ISO loaded on it in order to "repair this PC" and access the Command Prompt.

Edit: longer boot times--do you have Quick Boot enabled or disabled? Also: check startup items via msconfig. For example, sometimes certain changes mysteriously enable certain Intel items like the Management Engine, which adds appreciably to the startup time.

Re-edit: I added another 16 GB memory module and my startup time did not change. I also have Quick Boot enabled in UEFI.

I guess I am lucky. I didn't realize booting it legacy-wise could wipe everything. I found a Reddit post from 4 years ago with a guy who couldn't get his SSD to be recognized on his boot priority. Someone responded with the CSM idea. People have been responding to it for years saying that it worked instantly for them. As far as the responses on that post, no one has said anything negative about it. So I'm glad it worked for me.

I'll definitely check out that link a little later when I'm home. Thank you for that response. I would love to get it back to how it originally was, as I feel like the CSM setting is just a Band-Aid.

I think quick boot was disabled previously, but I don't know. It's not something I ever edited in the past. The only things I ever edited in the BIOS was changing the RAM to its advertised speed. Also with the RAM, as of right now the two extra sticks are not in it. When the boot priority list went blank, I did my best to get everything back to The settings I had prior. The RAM is still at its default speed, but it boots up fine as of right now.

And I do have windows bootable USB drive, it's the original way I purchased it. Do you think that would help the BIOS re-recognize the SSD and the CD drive as bootable options, without having to use the CSM legacy option?

[R.A.T. Army *MST3K*]

Цитата допису emoticorpse:

We're you using Windows 11? If not maybe they're not available because of the boot security or something?

I'm using Windows 10. I've never messed with the boot security so I have to look that up before I started playing around with that.

[R.A.T. Army *MST3K*]

Цитата допису smallcat:

a bit longer boot time might be due to more memory sticks .

As of right now only the original two sticks are in. When the boot priority list went blank, I did my best to get everything back to the previous settings to see if that would help. Although the RAM is still at its factory set speed. I have not yet re-enabled DOCP.

Цитата допису smallcat:

When somehing in memory is messed up you should expect anything . i would disable DOCP and manually select a XMP profile .

I'm at work right now so I can double check when I get home, but I believe when I last put the RAM to its advertised speed, there was no profile labeled XMP. I believe it was just DOCP. But I will double check that when I get home.

[R.A.T. Army *MST3K*]

Цитата допису UserNotFound:

Цитата допису smallcat:

When somehing in memory is messed up you should expect anything . i would disable DOCP and manually select a XMP profile .

That's only IF OP has RAM sticks of very similar specs, IF OP can run his computer now with his present settings, leave it be. Enable XMP profile only IF the RAM were bought together as a pair, or IF RAM are of same specs, that is, timing/voltage/speed/etc. I don't think it's a good idea to enable XMP IF the RAM were bought separately.

As for issues that might crop up involving bad RAM, mismatched RAM, etc, it can be really varied. I've had my rigs fail to boot due to RAM, Thought my mobo or GPU had died on me due to RAM, like I'd said, the issues involving RAM can be wide and varied.

As far as I can tell, the RAM sticks are the exact same ones I originally purchased. The model numbers on the back are the exact same, there is a slight difference in a different number on the back of the sticks. When ordering them off the internet, I did my best to check every single stat and every single number I can find and they were all the same. But there is one number different on the back of the RAM. They're also needs to be a slight difference in structure as well. But I always say the original links from the hardware I purchased, so I can just use the exact same link as last time.

When I get a chance, I'll post a picture of the backs of them. So you can see what I'm talking about as far as the difference in the number, and the difference in the structure.

[plat]

If you can boot into Windows, you don't need to do anything else. That's why I said you were lucky.

If you want to check if the UEFI Quick Boot is enabled, you can do that. That link was just for those who had changed the CSM setting and then couldn't boot into Windows as a result. It happened to me a while ago and I learned this lesson the hard way.

No, the USB you have is only to re-install Windows and/or to access the repair environment. You might look into wiping that USB via the right-click "reformat" function and downloading the latest Windows 10 ISO. That way, you won't have to do too many updates if you ever have to re-install Windows. It's up to you.

These things are tricky--BIOS settings can change without your doing anything yourself. It's rare but it happens sometimes. Same thing with startup items like Intel re-enabling themselves after a driver update or whatnot.

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

did you tryswapping sticks in different slots just to see if anything changes

[R.A.T. Army *MST3K*]

Цитата допису ZeekAncient:

CSM is for legacy bios, not uefi bios.

If you are able to boot with CSM enabled, then that must mean you have legacy bios enabled and not uefi bios.

Now, in order to have UEFI bios, your boot drive will have to be GPT partition style and not MBR.

UEFI bios is what you want and not legacy. It isn't really that big a deal, but that is probably why you are booting a little longer.

Now, go to disk management, and right click to the left where it says your disk. Your boot disk will most likely be Disk 0. Click on Properties, and then click on Volumes. Now look at where it says Partition Style. Is it GPT(GUID Partition Table) or MBR(Master Boot Record)?

If it is MBR, you will need to convert the disk to GPT in order to disable CSM in the bios and boot with UEFI Bios.

Here, this will show you how to do it:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/change-an-mbr-disk-into-a-gpt-disk

Also, you can go to System Information. Just go to the search icon at the bottom left of your screen near the start button and type in System Information. Click on the System Information App and look down to BIOS Mode to see if it says UEFI or Legacy.

I've never edited the BIOS style before. Like I said I put everything back to what it was at it's default settings, and that wasn't on the this is what you're changing list when I save the exited. So if that swapped, I don't really know how that happened. If I use your method to change my bios back from legacy to UEFI, is there a risk that I'll wipe, or possibly ruin the drive?

I'll take the other steps you mentioned and get back to you in the next few days. Again, I'm at work so I have to wait till I get home tonight, and of course it's a holiday tomorrow here in the USA, so I have people visiting. But I'll do my best to get back to you at a timely manner.

[R.A.T. Army *MST3K*]

My biggest fear out of all this, is of course destroying my hard drive. Or worse. The ultimate goal will be to at least get it back to what it was doing before. Also learning why this happened, so that I can avoid it in the future. As I stated many times before, I only edited RAM settings. And they're all back to the default. Which of course worked absolutely fine when I first built the PC.

I have no idea why putting it back to default, edited and deleted the boot priority menu.

I'll probably end up making another topic about the RAM. Because I never got the two new sticks to work. But that's for another day.

Thanks for all responses so far. I'll read through the links and whatnot in the next few days, and I'll definitely get back to you guys as soon as I have new information.