PC Tech PC won’t load Windows after reboot.

[Spork3245]

My PC was working fine, but after a reboot I suddenly get stuck on the windows 10 boot screen with the spinning dots. Either the dots spin eternally or they freeze up - the same thing happens when it tries to boot into the automatic repair. System posts fine and I can enter and change BIOS settings.

 

Things I’ve tried:

 

Unplugging all usb devices.

 

Removing all system RAM and trying each of my 4 sticks individually.

 

Unplugging secondary SATA hdd/ssd drives one at a time to see if one was failing and preventing a windows boot.

 

None of these things worked.

 

Lastly I tried creating a windows boot media from a secondary computer on a USB 3 flash drive, however, the media won’t load; it does the same thing with infinite spinning dots or the dots freezing after 10-30 seconds. I even tried removing the m.2 with Windows on it, but get the same freeze.

 

I’m at a complete loss here on what the issue is.

[dualhunter]

Try something simple like memtest86 just to see if it can boot and run for a while. If you can, try onboard video or a secondary GPU slot. You could also watch the bios hardware monitor for an extended period to see if anything weird happens with temperatures or voltage.

[PaladinSolo]

I generally just keep swapping parts till i get to the point where its either the motherboard or CPU and buy new ones if i get there since I never have another CPU of the same socket or motherboard.

[Mr.Vic20]

Try popping out your CMOS battery for a few minutes, popping it back in and booting again. 

[Spork3245]

26 minutes ago, dualhunter said:

Try something simple like memtest86 just to see if it can boot and run for a while. If you can, try onboard video or a secondary GPU slot. You could also watch the bios hardware monitor for an extended period to see if anything weird happens with temperatures or voltage.

Can I run memtest without being able to get into windows? I don’t have an iGPU unfortunately, it’s a Ryzen 5900x: I can’t imagine it’s the video card anyway since I get an image and can enter BIOS. Temps are all fine.

 

19 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Try popping out your CMOS battery for a few minutes, popping it back in and booting again. 

If this works I might commit seppuku  

[dualhunter]

You can make a bootable USB drive for memtest86, it should be more lightweight than a Linux Live USB so it should be the simplest test of can something other than the BIOS successfully run.

[Spork3245]

1 hour ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Try popping out your CMOS battery for a few minutes, popping it back in and booting again. 

No luck. Also tried removing my other m.2 since I had to pull out my 4090 to get to the cmos battery and the m.2 shield is behind the gpu.

 

58 minutes ago, dualhunter said:

You can make a bootable USB drive for memtest86, it should be more lightweight than a Linux Live USB so it should be the simplest test of can something other than the BIOS successfully run.

 I’ll give it a shot

[Mr.Vic20]

What happens when you try a safe boot? 

[Spork3245]

27 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

What happens when you try a safe boot? 

How do I attempt that?

[Mr.Vic20]

Shift F8

21 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

How do I attempt that?

Method Three - The Function Key method

 

This is great if you can’t boot into Windows 11 at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Start with the computer completely shut down.
2. Hold down the power key for at least ten seconds so the machine doesn’t try and ‘Quick Start’
3. Press the power key again to turn on the machine whilst holding down F11*

*On some machines this will be F8 instead of F11 and on others won’t work at all without a registry hack. Check your manufacturer for more information

[Mr.Vic20]

And failing that...

 

Method Four - The ‘When all else fails’ method

 

If you’ve tried everything else and still can’t trigger safe mode, there’s a workaround.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Start with the computer completely shut down
2. Turn on the computer
3. Immediately hold down the power button until the boot is interrupted and the computer shuts down again
4. Repeat steps 2&3 twice more
5. After the third interrupted reboot, you’ll get a popup offering ‘Startup Repair’
6. Select Advanced Options

[Spork3245]

11 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

And failing that...

 

Method Four - The ‘When all else fails’ method

 

If you’ve tried everything else and still can’t trigger safe mode, there’s a workaround.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Start with the computer completely shut down
2. Turn on the computer
3. Immediately hold down the power button until the boot is interrupted and the computer shuts down again
4. Repeat steps 2&3 twice more
5. After the third interrupted reboot, you’ll get a popup offering ‘Startup Repair’
6. Select Advanced Options

First method doesn’t seem to do anything (I’m on Win10) and the system repair won’t load either - just the infinite spinning dots or the dots freezing after a short bit. Windows installer won’t even load off of a USB

[Mr.Vic20]

OK, try this:

 

Take out the CMOS battery (yes, again!) and switch the power off from your PSU. Wait several minute to be positive there are no residuals. then battery back in, PSU on, and boot up. 

[Spork3245]

25 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

OK, try this:

 

Take out the CMOS battery (yes, again!) and switch the power off from your PSU. Wait several minute to be positive there are no residuals. then battery back in, PSU on, and boot up. 

Oh, I already had the power switch off (and the plug removed from the power supply) when I removed the CMOS battery since I pulled it away from where I normally keep it and laid it down on its side to pull my 4090 out.

 

Since it won’t even boot the windows installer, I’m assuming that something is wrong with the motherboard, maybe? CPU doesn’t make sense to me, if it were the video card I don’t think I’d get a signal to the monitor, and PSU would likely be random crashes and not cause infinite spinning dots during windows boot

[Mr.Vic20]

48 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

Oh, I already had the power switch off (and the plug removed from the power supply) when I removed the CMOS battery since I pulled it away from where I normally keep it and laid it down on its side to pull my 4090 out.

 

Since it won’t even boot the windows installer, I’m assuming that something is wrong with the motherboard, maybe? CPU doesn’t make sense to me, if it were the video card I don’t think I’d get a signal to the monitor, and PSU would likely be random crashes and not cause infinite spinning dots during windows boot

Yeah, to me its either the mobo or the CPU. 

 

Edit: sorry, if I missed this, but did you update drivers or firmware recently? 

[dualhunter]

What if even with the support the GPU put some stress on the slot or that area of the motherboard but didn't completely break it? That's why I suggested trying the other GPU slot. You could also take a close look at capacitors on the motherboard to see if any look abnormal.

 

Just to be clear, when booting from the Windows USB drive, you can't even get to the first menu?

 

A Linux Live USB might be worth a try, making sure to use the verbose start up that lists what it's doing in the hopes that you'll see where it gets stuck.

[Spork3245]

22 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Yeah, to me its either the mobo or the CPU. 

 

Edit: sorry, if I missed this, but did you update drivers or firmware recently? 

I updated to the newest nvidia drivers for Ratchet & Clank, that’s it. Apparently that can cause the issue, but people typically can get to the system repair from it, and it definitely shouldn’t stop the windows installer from loading off of a USB (especially when the m.2 with windows on it is physically removed from the system)

 

11 minutes ago, dualhunter said:

What if even with the support the GPU put some stress on the slot or that area of the motherboard but didn't completely break it? That's why I suggested trying the other GPU slot. You could also take a close look at capacitors on the motherboard to see if any look abnormal.

 

 

Would I get a signal to my monitor if the PCIE slot was cracked? The system was fine until I rebooted, and I only rebooted because my Corsair LCD heatsink went blank (known and common bug) and the way to fix it is a reboot + power cycle.

I didn’t notice any cracks or deformities on the PCIE slot when I took the GPU out earlier (removed it twice, once for the CMOS Battery + removing my second m.2, then a second time to put the m.2 back in).

 

11 minutes ago, dualhunter said:

Just to be clear, when booting from the Windows USB drive, you can't even get to the first menu?

 

 

Nothing loads, just the spinning dots which either go forever (literally tried letting them spin for 90 minutes earlier) or lock up and freeze after a few seconds. It’s the same with windows and the system repair.

 

11 minutes ago, dualhunter said:

A Linux Live USB might be worth a try, making sure to use the verbose start up that lists what it's doing in the hopes that you'll see where it gets stuck.

 

Do you have a good source I can download it from?

[Spork3245]

… OKAY

SOOOOOO

I decided “let me flash my bios” even though I have the latest BIOS already, with the random thought that maybe the BIOS file was corrupted or something… after doing so my PC booted to Windows.

…. wut 

[dualhunter]

Glad it's working. When eventually there is a new BIOS, check the notes to see if it says what they fixed from the previous version.

[Spork3245]

8 minutes ago, dualhunter said:

Glad it's working. When eventually there is a new BIOS, check the notes to see if it says what they fixed from the previous version.

 

They haven't updated the BIOS for this motherboard in awhile. The only change for the last one was the security fix for AM4 Ryzen CPUs. I'm wondering if the last time I flashed the BIOS there was slight corruption and it just kinda became "more corrupted" over time, so reflashing it, despite it being the same version, fixed it. So weird. 

[Spork3245]

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5006461/intel-core-i7-13700k,-asus-z790-p-prime-wifi-ddr5,-gskill-32gb-ddr5-6000-kit,-computer-build-combo

Guess I'm canceling my trip to Microcenter  

[cusideabelincoln]

16 hours ago, Spork3245 said:

 

They haven't updated the BIOS for this motherboard in awhile. The only change for the last one was the security fix for AM4 Ryzen CPUs. I'm wondering if the last time I flashed the BIOS there was slight corruption and it just kinda became "more corrupted" over time, so reflashing it, despite it being the same version, fixed it. So weird. 

 

Windows now has the capability to update the BIOS from Windows Update, although it should only be for prebuilt systems, so it's possible it tried to push one or some other software corrupted it.

 

[Spork3245]

44 minutes ago, cusideabelincoln said:

 

Windows now has the capability to update the BIOS from Windows Update, although it should only be for prebuilt systems, so it's possible it tried to push one or some other software corrupted it.

 

WTF, why would anyone think it’s a good idea for Windows Update to be able to flash a BIOS? Windows 10 can do this, or just 11? Is there a way to disable it?

[cusideabelincoln]

1 hour ago, Spork3245 said:

WTF, why would anyone think it’s a good idea for Windows Update to be able to flash a BIOS? Windows 10 can do this, or just 11? Is there a way to disable it?

 

10 and 11 can do it.

 

Not sure if you can specifically disable it. AFAIK it should only check on prebuilt OEM systems, but maybe newer retail motherboards can also do it if the vendor sends the information to Microsoft.

 

It's definitely not a good idea, as it definitely seems like an easy target for UEFI malware that you'll never be able to get rid of short of replacing the motherboard.

[Spork3245]

5 minutes ago, cusideabelincoln said:

 

10 and 11 can do it.

 

Not sure if you can specifically disable it. AFAIK it should only check on prebuilt OEM systems, but maybe newer retail motherboards can also do it if the vendor sends the information to Microsoft.

 

It's definitely not a good idea, as it definitely seems like an easy target for UEFI malware that you'll never be able to get rid of short of replacing the motherboard.

 

I definitely don't have a prebuilt  

[stepee]

2 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

 

I definitely don't have a prebuilt  

 

YOU DO NOW BITCH

[stepee]

Also yeah bios thing messed up at least two work laptops at my old job, horrible idea

[Keyser_Soze]

Something happened a week or so ago but also a separate issue.

 

Anyone notice their windows takes like 5 minutes to restart or shut down? My computer just hangs for the longest time before it shuts down and I'm not sure why, and it's somewhat recently too.

 

On top of that last week one time it didn't boot up and gave me a warning that the NVME drive was dying or on the verge of death or something. I had to go into bios and choose windows bootable drive or something, anyway the NVME was recognized and it booted up. It gave me the error one more time but now it boots up fine.

 

Still takes a long time to shut down though.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

HWMonitor will tell you how much life your SSD has.

[Spork3245]

So, this was fine for several weeks since I flashed the BIOS, this past week any time that I reboot my PC it has the issue again... until I flash the motherboard BIOS, then windows will boot... until I do a restart then I have to flash again.

I realized that my motherboard is still under warranty for about 1 more year, so I just got off the phone with ASUS tech support and they're going to send me a new one via the advanced RMA program (so, I pay for a new motherboard then they refund it when they receive the faulty one), as the other option was to send them my current one and wait for 7-10 days for them to try and repair it. The only other thing I can think of that could be wrong is that the CMOS battery is dying, but there's no other symptoms of that (ie: BIOS settings don't reset on a power down or if I kill power completely by switching off the PSU for 30-60 seconds).

[Spork3245]

Installed the new motherboard yesterday. I think everything's fine now? Today, Windows wanted to "update" my mail settings, afterwards I noticed that there was the Windows Activation watermark on the bottom right. I tried the troubleshooter to see what was wrong and it was saying I had a Win10 Home key but not a Pro key (I have Win10 home on another computer). After some searching I dug out my Win10 Pro key, entered it, and Windows said the key was no longer valid. I've had this key since 2018 and used it across multiple systems so it wasn't an OEM key with only a single motherboard use; weird AF. I bought a new one for $15 though. Only thing I can think of is that it was one of those "high volume" keys that can expire (5+ years seems excessive, though)

[Keyser_Soze]

Did you deactivate the copy off of your old machine on your microsoft account?

[Spork3245]

2 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Did you deactivate the copy off of your old machine on your microsoft account?

? The home key is what was active, it said the key that worked yesterday was gone.

[Keyser_Soze]

On 8/22/2023 at 2:11 AM, Keyser_Soze said:

Something happened a week or so ago but also a separate issue.

 

Anyone notice their windows takes like 5 minutes to restart or shut down? My computer just hangs for the longest time before it shuts down and I'm not sure why, and it's somewhat recently too.

 

On top of that last week one time it didn't boot up and gave me a warning that the NVME drive was dying or on the verge of death or something. I had to go into bios and choose windows bootable drive or something, anyway the NVME was recognized and it booted up. It gave me the error one more time but now it boots up fine.

 

Still takes a long time to shut down though.

 

 

On 8/29/2023 at 10:42 AM, cusideabelincoln said:

HWMonitor will tell you how much life your SSD has.

 

So a follow up on this. Yesterday I got a "windows configuration update" and now my PC shuts down and restarts very quickly.

 

Windows, ya gotta love it.

[Spork3245]

So the RMA replacement motherboard started doing the same issue on Tuesday, however, flashing the BIOS no longer fixes the issue.

I remembered that I had an (extremely) old pair of GSkill Ripjaw memory (2400mhz C15) from an X99 build. Tried that, Windows booted. Went back to the 3000mhz C15 Corsair RAM but only with two of the sticks in DIMMs 2 and 4 (same I tried the GSkill in), Windows booted, tried reinstalling the other two Corsair sticks, same issue, removed all 4, put the “working” two in DIMMs 1 and 3, Windows would not boot. “Okay, bad DIMM?” I thought, so I moved the two back to 2 and 4, same thing. “Did I mix up the RAM?”, swapped the pair for the other Corsair, same issue. Went back to the GSkill, worked.

Ordered a new set of RAM, 64gb (2x32gb) Corsair 3600mhz C18, came yesterday… same issue. GSkill still works. Even tried running each of the Corsair sets at default (non-XMP/DOCP) settings as well as matching the (slower) GSkill ram, and going as far to attempt to run the Corsair as low as 1833mhz: Windows won’t load regardless, and same as before, trying Windows installer from a bootable USB gives me the same problem (even with the m.2 with Windows on it disconnected).

 

I’m at a complete loss on what the issue could possibly be.