[SOLVED] Blue screen boot loop

[Mayonnaise7]

Any help much appreciated, so i had over clocks on my system I wanted off and just loaded bios defaults. Once I tried to boot back into windows it just blue screens reliably every time. Formatted drives in another computer, got a windows creation tool and tried reinstalling to formatted drives. Now my PC blue screens booting to windows creation tool. keep getting irql not less or equal and a couple other I don't remember and advice is huge thanks. Attempted a drive from another system that has windows on it in my system and it booted just fine, logged into the windows from that drive and everything was normal. Wondering if windows had its self impregnated on my ram or something and it is conflicting with the way i formatted, at this point I am grasping at straws.

 

[Darkbreeze]

REALLY grasping at straws, since what you are suggesting isn't a thing, or even possible really. LOL. No worries.

So, first question is, what are your FULL hardware specifications?

Second one is, why are you trying to run the media creation tool on the system that isn't working? The media creation tool should be run on another computer, and you should choose the option (When it gets to that point) to create installation media "For another PC". The installation media should be created onto a USB flash drive and then that flash drive should be inserted into the machine you need to install Windows on. Then you should either access the boot menu during the POST process and choose the flash drive to boot from OR go into the BIOS and set the flash drive to the primary boot device (But if you do that, be sure to remove the flash drive after the Windows installer successfully installs the basic files and reboots for the first time, so that it does not try to again boot from the flash drive and start all over again.

Also, before beginning the new Windows installation on the problem machine, it would be a good idea to completely reset the CMOS by doing a hard BIOS reset, which does some things differently than just loading the BIOS defaults.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

 

[Mayonnaise7]

Big thanks for the assist i tried the cmos reset as you described but sadly no luck, wont even let me boot to usb any more. my creation tool was created on another system, the same system i formated the drives on then put back in problem pc once clean ( both m.2 nvme drives ). have tried playing around boot priority, what i have tried mostly is my main drive as 1st priority and flash drive with windows installer as the 2nd priority than i force boot to usb for initial install. Windows will do its first install then when it reaches first reboot sequence it tries to load and that's when it bluescreens just like it did when i first loaded bios defaults( where problem began ). Again thanks for help in advance!

Some of the blue screens say

• k mode exception no handled
• kernel security check error
• timer or dcp invalid
• irql not less or equal

Pc specs
CPU - intel i7 10700k
MOBO - gigabyte aurus ultra
GPU - evga 3080ti
RAM - 2/8gb Gskill trident z
HDD - samsung 980 pro 1tb M.2 nvme
PSU - evga supernova 850 p2
( side note using cable mod cables probably irrelevant but just in case )

 

[Darkbreeze]

Try removing both M.2 drives and see if it will let you boot to the flash driver installer then. If you can, then try ONLY putting one M.2 drive back in to install to and see if you can get it installed. If not, depending on what is on the drive, might try the other drive just to see.

How old is that P2 power supply?

Have you tried doing this WITHOUT the graphics card installed, using just the iGPU off the back of the motherboard? And I don't mean just unplugged (PCIe/PEG power cable) from power or not connected to display cable, but actually out of the system entirely.

 

[Mayonnaise7]

so i tried removing all drives and boot to usb worked fine, then rebooted the computer put in a totally different drive and rebooted to usb tool and go to thw windows installer. did a custom install deleted partition till it was just one option the unallocated drive and started install. went without a hitch till it had to reboot its self then it would try to load and blue screen k mode exception not handled.

Psu isnt overly old but maybe got a good 4-5 years on it now.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, I realize, PITA, but, might not be the worst idea to at least temporarily eliminate the cable mod cables so we can scratch that off the list of possible culprits. Their products are generally pretty good but I HAVE seen one or two cases where there were problems. I am doubtful, but it would suck to spend days and days just to find out in the end this is the problem.

I'm leaning really towards a motherboard issue but for any problem it seems unusual that simply resetting to default BIOS values would cause this. Might want to go through the BIOS and make sure there is not a setting that is causing it.

What Windows version are you running?

 

[Mayonnaise7]

Ok I'll try the cable hopefully I can find the original ones haha, anyway I do want to point out this is actually a brand new mobo just bought today I was thinking mobo issue at first so I raced out and replaced it and I'm having the exact same issues across the board with this brand new one. My mind started going towards cpu I dunno just desperate I guess and I have had gpu in another system working fine. But I'ma locate those cables quick n give er a shot I'll let you know

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, if you had the same problem already with two different motherboards, then clearly the motherboard isn't the issue. I'd be very suspicious in that case of the cables or the PSU itself.

Maybe a memory issue? Which slots do you have the DIMMs installed in?

Also, you really need to remove the graphics card and try it without it installed to eliminate that as well. I see a lot of graphics card related issues not that different to yours at times.

Also, make sure you have the most recent stable BIOS version installed, regardless of which board you are using, or both for that matter.

What was the reason you decided to remove the overclocks? Were you already having some issues?

 

[Mayonnaise7]

Well i couldn't find my original cables for the psu unfortunately, however i tried booting without the gpu in and the same issue remains. in terms of ram i have them in slot 2 and slot 4 i have tried withba single stick and even a different set as well that i know works fine. what are chances a psu can cause this type of issue?

 

[Mayonnaise7]

Wanted the overlocks off because of high temps, would hit 90+C under high load and even low load scenarios I would have no problem hitting 80+ on the cpu. I'm in my bios looking at volt readouts and it seems ok to the best of my knowledge however accurate this is. PCH is 1.815v the 5 volt is very steady at 5.032 to 5.04 and the 12v is iddling around 12.330 to 12.348 . This isn't under load obviously but I dunno if this could clear up psu or not, this stuff a little beyond me.

My oc on the cpu was 5.0 ghz I think at 1.34v maybe and I had my ram set to 3333mhz

 

[Darkbreeze]

What are the model numbers of both motherboards, including the chipset, so like B450 B550 X570 etc?

Are you on the most recent BIOS version?

I hate to say it, because it's not that common, but it's looking more and more like a CPU issue since:

PSU voltages, at least at idle (Would be better to at least do some minimal testing on it) are ok.

Two different motherboards, same problem.

Multiple memory kits, and tested with single DIMMs as well.

Multiple different drives

With or without graphics card installed

There really isn't much left other than the slim chance it's a PSU issue, or the CPU.

Since the CPU was overheating, it seems at least moderately reasonable to suspect it might be related.

 

[Mayonnaise7]

My bad on the late response, next day now and I went ahead and tested the same system with a different psu. Same issue was happening so i kinda figured at that point its a new mobo, different HDD, had the ram in i knew was fine and had it running on integrated graphics, so like you were saying psu or cpu i just went ahead and got a new cpu/mobo. wadya know works perfect now all the stock system just new cpu and mobo. looks like cpu was the issue, I am still confused how reverting my ocs killed it for good but after replacing it everything is fine. having anothers input huge when it all goes to shiz thanks for time/help.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Reverting your overclock settings isn't likely to be what killed it. Likely, it was dying gradually, over time, due to the thermal degradation and VT shift that were happening at those higher temperatures. Certainly these CPUs are designed to be throttled and reduce the frequency and voltage when certain specifications are reached, but the fact is that motherboard manufacturers often make certain, ahem, adjustments, to those specifications, in the favor of performance. Needless to say they don't always result in good outcomes. If your CPU was running that hot and doing so for a while now, then it was probably already on it's way out before you even realized there was a thermal issue.

Either way, at least you didn't end up spending unwanted extra days or weeks figuring it out. Glad you got it fixed and can move forward now. Good luck and you are welcome to visit any time you need advice or just a "yep, I think you're right". Right on man.