Question Bizarre looping of Windows start on new build

StellaMan

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Mar 6, 2012
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Hope Someone can help here ... I have been given a PC to look at as Windows is continually looping / restarting.

I have been told that my client bought a new (used) Motherboard and RAM because his original MB would only take 8Gb of RAM and he was "bottlenecking".

He did the replacement / upgrade himself but after finishing "Windows just looped" ... I thought this would be a simple reinstall of Windows from a USB and that would be that ... I tend to forget that this is Microsoft sometimes !!!

So, he has bought an old Asus P7H55-M motherboard and 2 8Gb DDR3 sticks of RAM ... he's put it all together using his original case and 2 SSDs but Windows will not boot. It just loops.

I have swapped the RAM in and out using 1 or both in all 4 slots, it makes no difference.

I have unplugged everything and re-thermaled the CPU in case it was closing due to overheating, re-plugged in everything, and gone again, it's made no difference at all.

There are a few strange things going on ... both of the SSDs are recognised in the (very old) BIOS, but when I boot it up, the ASUS BIOS (AMI v02.61) says "Loading ASUS Express Gate", then it shows the BIOS screen with an option to press DEL to enter, if I do that it then displays "Scan devices, please wait" and then goes into the BIOS ... if I don't do that and just let it run, it displays "Scan devices, please wait" and re-displays the BIOS screen with an option to press DEL ... then it shuts down and reboots.

If I have no Windows USB drive in, it now says "No any device exists" (sic), displays the BIOS screen and shuts down & restarts.

If I put a Windows 10 USB drive in, it goes through this full cycle again, and shuts down & restarts.

If I put a Windows 7 USB drive in, it tries to run the Automatic repair, but never does anything, it shuts down and restarts !!!

The PSU is a massive 950 watt and the GPU is a GEFORCE GTX 980Ti

I know this is really old technology, but he just wants his PC to run, he says he's not a big gamer, but the GPU seems (well, historically) pretty powerful for someone who's not, I just find this really weird that the PC shuts down every time it gets to the point that it recognises Windows !!!

Any ideas ?!?!?
 
Last edited:

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Does the same thing happen during attempts to boot into safe mode?

My thought is that when the PC gets to the point where windows is recognized it is also at the point where it "is finding" devices/components.

And one of them may be misconnected, causes a short, and crashes. System restarts, goes through the process again, shorts again, etc..

I would double check everything: starting with standoffs, I/O panel, all installed components. Verify via the motherboard's User Guide/Manual and the manufacturer's website.

Look for a misconnection or some sign of a short: bare conductor showing, pinched or kinked wire, loose or missing screws (allowing movement and shorting).
 

StellaMan

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Mar 6, 2012
46
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18,535
Does the same thing happen during attempts to boot into safe mode?

My thought is that when the PC gets to the point where windows is recognized it is also at the point where it "is finding" devices/components.

And one of them may be misconnected, causes a short, and crashes. System restarts, goes through the process again, shorts again, etc..

I would double check everything: starting with standoffs, I/O panel, all installed components. Verify via the motherboard's User Guide/Manual and the manufacturer's website.

Look for a misconnection or some sign of a short: bare conductor showing, pinched or kinked wire, loose or missing screws (allowing movement and shorting).

When booting, the PC responds to no Function Keys at all, apart from the DEL key which takes me into the BIOS, is there another way of forcing a Safe Mode boot ?

Oh hang on, I can't boot into Safe Mode, there is no OS to boot into, there is no Hard Drive attached at the moment, just the Windows 10 installation USB and it is attempting to boot from that, the Windows logo comes up on the screen for about 12-15 seconds with the little circle of dots, then it just shuts down and restarts !!

I've rebuilt this from the MB up, there appears to be no damage to anything, no kinks, no bare wires, it looks great ... it just won't boot up !!!
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
If you can get into BIOS via the DEL key then set the boot process to verbose. Watch what the system is doing or trying to do and what happens (or last happened) just before sticking at the Windows logo.

Try another Windows 10 installation:

Download the installation software again via a known working computer. The current installation software could be buggy or corrupt.

Try using another known working USB.
 

StellaMan

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Mar 6, 2012
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For information only, because my client has decided to scrap this PC and get his money refunded from Amazon for the RAM and an eBay supplier for the MB.

I would still be interested to hear any opinions on the following ...

I created a UBCD4Win USB and it booted perfectly, allowing me to run various diagnostics

I then created a Linux Elementary OS 7 bootable USB and booted from that and it looked like it was going to be fine, but it did exactly the same as the Windows 10 USB, it restarted the PC just at the point it was going to install.

I then created a Windows XP bootable USB and it ran and installed perfectly ... tried to upgrade to Windows 10, and we were back to square 1 !!!

It's almost like this MB decided it didn't want to install anything new !!!!!