PC boots very slowly on a cold start (UPDATED)

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spt_2151102d1

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Hi everyone, I’d like to explain my situation. I’ve been dealing with this for months and I can’t figure out what’s causing it.

About a year and two months ago I built a new high-end PC from parts (I assembled it myself). Everything worked perfectly at first. A few months ago (I don’t remember exactly when) I updated the BIOS, and I think the issues started after that.

This only happens on a cold boot (after the PC has been off for many hours or overnight). If I reboot, or if I shut down / sleep and turn it back on shortly after, it boots fine.

The problem is that sometimes on a cold boot the system becomes extremely slow right from startup—so slow that even the Windows login sound stutters/cuts out. A couple of times Windows has even rebooted by itself because the system was running so badly.

I’ve tried a lot already: updated the BIOS again (I’ll list my full specs below), disabled XMP/EXPO, disabled HAGS, unplugged all non-essential USB devices, and even reinstalled NVIDIA drivers using DDU in Safe Mode. The issue still happens and it’s very frustrating.

To be clear: this is only on cold start. Once the PC finally boots normally, it runs perfectly for as long as it stays on.

I’m a software developer—not a Windows expert, but I’m comfortable with the basics.

I suspect it’s BIOS-related (not 100% sure). When I updated the BIOS, I also tried a “gaming”/AGESA mode that basically changed my CPU from 16 threads to 8 and optimized for games. When I tested it I noticed the PC was slow, so I reverted the settings in BIOS. I’m not sure if that could have affected anything long-term, and I can’t remember if the issue started right after, but I’m mentioning it in case it helps.

Would you recommend updating the BIOS again? The only newer versions available are beta. Can I safely roll back to an older stable BIOS version to test?

The weird part is I’ve checked with LatencyMon and it doesn’t point to a clear culprit. I also don’t see any major CPU/disk usage spikes in Task Manager when it’s slow—everything just feels sluggish as I open processes/apps.

I’m pretty desperate at this point and starting to worry it could be the motherboard. Here are my specs:
  • Motherboard: MSI X670E GAMING PLUS WIFI (BIOS 7E16v1B)
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 9800X3D
  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4080 Super AERO
  • RAM: 2×16 GB Corsair Vengeance 6400 CL32
  • Storage: Samsung 990 PRO 2TB NVMe
  • AIO: CORSAIR iCue Link H150i LCD 360mm
    • PSU: Gigabyte GP-UD850GM PG5W/PSU
Any ideas on what to check next would be greatly appreciated.
 
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spt_2151102d1 said:
Would you recommend updating the BIOS again? The only newer versions available are beta. Can I safely roll back to an older stable BIOS version to test?
Click to expand...

Any weird problems, and the beta BIOS should be one of the first things to try. Because if it's solved in there, all other troubleshooting would be a waste of time. And when you don't experience any bugs, you can stay on the beta BIOS as well. It's not like it's completely unstable or anything, it just didn't go through their whole normal testing, so they can release it faster.
 
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You can safely roll back to a previous bios version. I did several times because a new bios can introduce new unexpected problems like a slow boot time or certain drives not always detected etc.
 
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X3D Gaming BIOS feature should not cause permanent effect on CPU as long as it's disabled.
Have you tried to clear CMOS to revert all default BIOS settings and check again?
 
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UPDATE: I found a clue — it’s the PCIe link. On a cold boot (see attached photo), it shows the GPU running at PCIe x16 Gen 3, and it only goes up to x16 Gen 2 at most. I think this might be BIOS-related.
1770192105580.png

Right now I’m on BIOS version 7E16v1B. Before that I had 7E16v1A, and I think it was happening then too (not 100% sure). The previous one was probably the stable release, and earlier than that I was on 7E16v193 (Beta version). Before that I was on the board’s stock BIOS, but I’m not sure if it was 7E16v18, 7E16v17, or 7E16v16—I think it was 7E16v18.

Any recommendations? Has anyone with this motherboard seen the same thing? Should I try updating to the latest beta first?
 
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Goodspeed said:
X3D Gaming BIOS feature should not cause permanent effect on CPU as long as it's disabled.
Have you tried to clear CMOS to revert all default BIOS settings and check again?
Click to expand...
Hi, I haven’t tried clearing the CMOS, but I did reset the settings from within the BIOS. I found a clue and it seems to be related to the PCIe link.
 
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tfbisqui156f02d4 said:
You can safely roll back to a previous bios version. I did several times because a new bios can introduce new unexpected problems like a slow boot time or certain drives not always detected etc.
Click to expand...
Yes, I’ll probably have to do that, because I’m almost sure it didn’t happen before with the older BIOS versions from about a year ago. The only thing I’m not sure about is which version I should install.
 
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spt_2151102d1 said:
Yes, I’ll probably have to do that, because I’m almost sure it didn’t happen before with the older BIOS versions from about a year ago. The only thing I’m not sure about is which version I should install.
Click to expand...
Hello, did you fix the problem ? I'm experiencing more or less the same problem with a different board (Tomahawk B660), and just like you, I STRONGLY suspect the motherboard.
The slow pc syndrome isn't happening everytime I cold boot, but it's getting more and more frequent. I updated the bios several time to no avail. My gut is telling me this motherboard is crappy and it's probably a faulty component.
 
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sims said:
Hello, did you fix the problem ? I'm experiencing more or less the same problem with a different board (Tomahawk B660), and just like you, I STRONGLY suspect the motherboard.
The slow pc syndrome isn't happening everytime I cold boot, but it's getting more and more frequent. I updated the bios several time to no avail. My gut is telling me this motherboard is crappy and it's probably a faulty component.
Click to expand...
Hi. I haven't completely solved the problem, but I think I've pinpointed it. I believe it's the BIOS version. I recently updated to version 7E16v1CC. This version specifically mentions fixing this error. Now my PC works better, and when I boot from a cold boot, it almost always works fine, and if it fails, it restarts. But lately, it's hardly happened at all. I recommend updating your motherboard's BIOS and seeing if that fixes it.

Update: They've released a couple more updates for my motherboard (I imagine for yours too). It's not specified whether they completely fix the problem or not, but it's clearly due to the BIOS version.
 
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Thanks. I'm already running the latest bios (the problem was there before). I will run gpu-z next time it happens to see if something is wrong with the pcie lane.
 
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Ok, pcie lane is fine, probably the mb which is defective.
I suppose it could also be the graphic card or the psu, but I doubt it.
 
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