HTPC boot issue

Home Theater PC
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kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

HTPC boot issue

Post by kevm14 »

I should get the exact error message but the HTPC has been having a lot of trouble recently finding the boot drive, an Intel 530 SSD (120GB). The machine itself is going on 6 years old, so I have some suspicion that it is the MB/SATA controller. Then again, it seems like SSDs can sometimes trigger issues because of some timing issue where they aren't ready at the moment the BIOS polls them, or something. But this has never been an issue on this particular machine before.

More often than not, after I hooked up the monitor, I have noticed that the HTPC doesn't seem to sleep. I would turn on the monitor and it would be stuck after POST, indicating that it cannot find a boot drive or something similar. Resetting sometimes fixes it. Cold starting seems to always fix it.

Performed a quick scan using the Intel SSD Toolbox. Found zero issues. I kicked off a thorough scan before coming to work.

I did back up the boot drive using the Windows utility last night. I think it made an image in whatever format.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: HTPC boot issue

Post by kevm14 »

Couldn't see results of thorough scan because the system was stuck at the boot prompt again when I got home.

Ian may be hitting the power button, perhaps complicating my diagnosis here...

I shut down the PSU and did a cold start. I have been watching the POST to make sure the SSD detects, and I saw a message that a new CPU was detected. I have seen this within the past few days on and off while looking into this issue. For this reason I am a little suspicious of the motherboard.

Anyway, back in Win 7 (posting this from HTPC with no apparent issues) here are the screenshots of the SMART status of the drive.
HTPC SSD SMART 1.png
HTPC SSD SMART 2.png
HTPC SSD SMART 3.png
Pretty normal looking.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: HTPC boot issue

Post by kevm14 »

Getting a little warmer.

Jamie said every morning she presses the power button to turn the HTPC on. The blue power ring is flashing so she knows that means she needs to turn it on so she can watch TV in the bedroom over the network.

So while it was on when I last posted, I initiated standby via the remote, the same way I have for almost the entire time I've had this system. It acted like it was going to go to sleep, but then I heard the fans cycle as if it was interrupted in the sequence and immediately went back on. Except it never made it. I had a black screen. I waited a few minutes, and then pressed the reset button on the HTPC.

Upon POST, failure to detect SSD and "New CPU detected." So this seems repeatable now. A hard shutoff at the PSU seems to fix everything.

So, this system has somehow developed some kind of sleep issue. Perhaps the SSD doesn't go to sleep right or something and then never wakes back up, even in a reset (until it is power cycled).
Adam
Posts: 2240
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:50 pm

Re: HTPC boot issue

Post by Adam »

kevm14 wrote:Perhaps the SSD doesn't go to sleep right or something and then never wakes back up, even in a reset (until it is power cycled).
Like you were saying earlier, might be a M/B issue. One of the controllers isn't responding to sleep or something.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: HTPC boot issue

Post by kevm14 »

Update. I did two things:
1. Disabled the wireless mouse from being able to wake the computer.
2. Unplugged my keyboard, which interfaces via a PS/2 to USB adapter.

It now appears to sleep and resume properly. I just did it twice in a row with no problems. I don't really know what to say but it seems to be fixed. I'll report back if it isn't.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: HTPC boot issue

Post by kevm14 »

Two days in a row I checked on it before going to work. It was soundly asleep. All previous mornings (for however long this had been happening) it would be on, with that failure to find boot drive message.

This system will be 6 years old this fall, and it's still chugging along. I put it together right after Windows 7 was released, and it's on track to easily blow through Microsoft's disabling of Netflix functionality in Windows Media Center (this Sept I believe).

I hope WMC works for a while. Of course the software itself will always work but the guide data is what is needed to be useful as a DVR. There is some speculation that the guide data will remain available, as the Xbox One likely uses the same source for its guide. That's something. Another point is that even if MS turns off guide data to WMC, there are 3rd party ways of getting it back (not necessarily free though).

But at this point, I probably would not recommend someone build a new HTPC specifically to run WMC unless they fully understood all of this sunset stuff/risk.
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