Question Boot loop after changing some BIOS settings ?

[iisthphir]

I just built a new pc a week ago, installed Windows and used it for a few days.
Then I went into the bios to turn off SPD write disable so I could hopefully do something about the annoying rainbow happening on my ram and while I was in there thought I would see if the xmp profile would work.

I exited the bios, it turned on with the motherboard's amber DRAM light staying on, doing its thing, then it restarted again and tried to boot Windows. It tried for 20 seconds or so and then a blue screen with the error "Storage Device Inaccessible ".

I guess a parts list is probably necessary:

MBD: Asus Rog Strix Z790-H Gaming WiFi
CPU: i9-12900KS BX8071512900KS
RAM: Trident Z5 64GB F5-6400J3239G32GX2- TZ5RK
SSD: Samsung 990 Pro 2TB MZ-V9P2T0BW
CPU Cooler: Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB
PSU: Corsair RM850x

So of course, the first thing I did was turn xmp back off but that made no difference. I reset the cmos multiple times, made no difference. So I thought that since it happened after turning on xmp it could be something wrong with RAM since that can manifest itself in many different ways, so I have tried ram sticks one at a time in a2 slot and ran memtest86 with 0 errors and no change.

So then it seemed most likely it is the motherboard since the ssd was working fine and shouldn't have anything to do with the settings I changed.

When it restarts after failing to boot it starts the Windows Recovery so I tried to use diskpart and chkdsk but they do not recognise the drive is there, giving various errors. When I boot the usb drive I installed Windows with its the same, also when it gets to the drive selection it says " We couldn't find any drives ".
When it posts it doesn't say there is no disk but when it try to boot the green-yellow light stays on for several seconds.

I would upload pictures of all these screens but for some reason it won't let me.
So then I tried various things in the bios, first of all in the boot settings it shows: Windows boot manager on the ssd, as well as listing the uefi usb installer. Under Intel rapid storage technology it lists: intel rst 19.5.0.5676 rst vmd driver
Non raid physical disks:
Pcie 1.0: Samsung ssd 990 pro 2tb...
Nvme controller and drive information lists:
No nvme device found
Ssd secure erase lists nothing.
The temperature monitor lists nothing from the ssd whereas it did before this happened.

If I use the EZ Flash 3 utility it let's me look through all the directory structure on the ssd drive's 3 partitions, 96MB boot partition, 553MB recovery partition and the 1607056MB Windows partition.
The remaining space is unallocated as I was going to use it for a different system.

I tried setting boot sector recovery policy to automatic and all the different secure boot settings, nothing works, I haven't tried turning CSM on because I can't, as I understand it is because I am using integrated graphics.

So I would think the ssd has died but it can't be dead if I can access the file system, I can't see any reason it should have been affected anyway.

If anyone has experienced something like this or thinks they know what the issue is I would very much like to hear it, thanks.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

So of course, the first thing I did was turn xmp back off but that made no difference. I reset the cmos multiple times, made no difference.
In order to clear the CMOS, disconnect from the wall and display, then remove the CMOS battery, press and hold down the power button for 30secs, then replace the battery after 30mins.

Was the OS installed while CSM was enabled in BIOS prior to the mishap?

MBD: Asus Rog Strix Z790-H Gaming WiFi
BIOS version for your motherboard?

 

[iisthphir]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

So of course, the first thing I did was turn xmp back off but that made no difference. I reset the cmos multiple times, made no difference.
In order to clear the CMOS, disconnect from the wall and display, then remove the CMOS battery, press and hold down the power button for 30secs, then replace the battery after 30mins.

Was the OS installed while CSM was enabled in BIOS prior to the mishap?

MBD: Asus Rog Strix Z790-H Gaming WiFi
BIOS version for your motherboard?

The board has a cmos clear button, but I also left it unplugged from power just in case but the results were exactly the same either way, same as on first turning it on, so I guess it had the desired effect: it displayed the message: please enter set-up to recover bios settings.
After setting up RAID, vmd... (not using it)
press f1 to continue and take advantage of asus optimised performance!
If you wish to follow intel guidelines and apply its stock power limits, please disable the asus multicore enhancement (MCE) in the bios settings.
Next, you will enter the uefi settings menu. Press f1 to enter setup

When I installed Windows all the bios settings were at default, I have never had the option of changing csm. I tried changing MCE setting no effect.

Thanks for the input

 

[Gururu]

Did you reset BIOS to default settings? Also, I would pull 1 memory stick while troubleshooting.

How are you running memtest if not in windows?

 

[iisthphir]

The board has a cmos clear button, but I also left it unplugged from power just in case but the results were exactly the same either way, same as on first turning it on, so I guess it had the desired effect: it displayed the message: please enter set-up to recover bios settings.
After setting up RAID, vmd... (not using it)
press f1 to continue and take advantage of asus optimised performance!
If you wish to follow intel guidelines and apply its stock power limits, please disable the asus multicore enhancement (MCE) in the bios settings.
Next, you will enter the uefi settings menu. Press f1 to enter setup

When I installed Windows all the bios settings were at default, I have never had the option of changing csm. I tried changing MCE setting no effect.

Thanks for the input

Sorry I didn't remember to say, the bios version is 1202.
That was also on my list to try I just don't have any other pc to create it on.

 

[iisthphir]

Did you reset BIOS to default settings? Also, I would pull 1 memory stick while troubleshooting.

How are you running memtest if not in windows?

Like I said I cleared cmos multiple times, and tried swapping the ram around, but that seems to be fine.
I ran memtest from the bios directly.

 

[Gururu]

I hate to say it, but I am wondering if your boot partition was corrupted. Is re-installing windows out of the question? Will the install drive even recognize the SSD?

I am not ready to point to motherboard, although I trust your intuition.

 

[iisthphir]

I hate to say it, but I am wondering if your boot partition was corrupted. Is re-installing windows out of the question? Will the install drive even recognize the SSD?

I am not ready to point to motherboard, although I trust your intuition.

No, windows install at the drive selection screen says "we couldn't find any drives".
In the bios I can see that the spd is recognised as you can see in the op but in other places the drive is not listed, strangest, I can navigate through the file system in the ezyflash 3 utility, so I can't think it is dead .

 

[Gururu]

No, windows install at the drive selection screen says "we couldn't find any drives".
In the bios I can see that the spd is recognised as you can see in the op but in other places the drive is not listed, strangest, I can navigate through the file system in the ezyflash 3 utility, so I can't think it is dead .

Agreed. I would try booting without a SSD, clear CMOS, then reinstall SSD in another M.2. See if anything changes.