My PC usually starts in about 30 seconds, but every so often the boot process takes anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes. This has been happening for nearly two years, and I still haven't found a reliable fix. During the unusually long boots, the motherboard shows a yellow DRAM indicator and a red CPU indicator. The system uses an MSI motherboard, DDR5 memory, an NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super, and an AMD Ryzen 5 7600 processor. What should I check first?
3 Answers
The motherboard LEDs are the important clue here. A drive or a Windows startup program cannot normally cause the DRAM and CPU debug lights to remain active during POST, so disabling startup applications probably won’t address this. Reseat the RAM, try each module individually in the recommended slot, and reset the BIOS settings. Then update the BIOS using the board’s supported procedure and retest with conservative memory settings rather than an aggressive EXPO profile.
It’s still reasonable to test the RAM with MemTest86, especially if the system also crashes or becomes unstable after booting, but a faulty drive would usually cause problems after POST rather than a long DRAM/CPU initialization delay. If memory tests pass and BIOS updates and reseating do nothing, the remaining suspects are the motherboard, CPU, or a memory-compatibility issue. Testing with known-good DDR5 is a useful next step before replacing expensive parts.
This sounds more like repeated DDR5 memory training than a Windows startup problem. In the UEFI settings, try enabling Memory Context Restore and the option that allows memory power-down or shutdown. Those settings can prevent the board from retraining the RAM on every boot. If the system becomes unstable, turn them back off. Also check whether the motherboard has a newer BIOS, since AM5 memory compatibility and training have improved through BIOS updates. If it still happens afterward, test with one RAM module at a time and consider the CMOS battery or a fault involving the RAM, CPU, or motherboard.
The battery would normally be a CR2032, assuming the motherboard uses the standard coin-cell socket.
A failing RAM stick usually produces repeatable errors or prevents POST entirely, so I’d prioritize BIOS settings, memory training behavior, and reseating before assuming the drive is responsible.