I updated my motherboard to the latest BIOS and still see the exact same behavior. :(
After displaying Updating motd and before mentioning nptd, the system reboots by itself. It is not a matter of me waiting while the system is hung, but repeatedly hitting something in the boot sequence that causes an immediate reboot.How long have you given it for new installs when booting? I know that new installs take a bit longer than normal to boot up. But if you waited more than 10 minutes or so then you definitely waited long enough.