[SOLVED] BSOD(?) Windows10 doesn't boot anymore. Glitchy artefacts in screen. No repair/reset options work.

[Whiskey Panda]

Hello everyone,

Yesterday I've seem to have ran into a very annoying problem. While watching a YouTube video my screen flickered black a few times (less than a second), and after that my PC crashed and restarted. Instead of booting to Windows10 it goes into a repair mode [PIC 1,2]. I tried a system restore. That seemed to work for a short while but after 5 minutes the same thing happened (the same YouTube video, even though that probably doesn't matter). Now I can't do the system restore anymore. None of the options available help solve my problem. I have also tried resetting Windows from the advanced options of this weird menu thing, but it says it's not possible. Lastly I've tried reinstalling Windows10 using a USB drive; this was also not possible [PIC 3].

Even booting in safe mode wasn't possible.

specs:
MOBO: MSI x570 a pro
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
GPU: Radeon r280 (x? not sure) Royalking Club3d
RAM: Ballistix DDR4 Sport LT 2x8GB 3200
SSD: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB m2

OS: Win10 Pro N

pic1

pic2

pic3

I'm afraid my hardware could be knackered.
Does anyone know how to troubleshoot/solve this issue?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Diddly]

Best guess: your GFX card has died.

 

[rgd1101]

Make and model of the psu?

 

[Whiskey Panda]

Tried the boot button. This time the artefacts are gone. And I finally have a visible BSOD. After restarting it goes back into this repair thing. Once I had 0 artefacts, and now only a few.

I'd like to note that when I did the first system restore I had absolutely 0 artefacts in Windows10. Unfortunately it only lasted a short while.

PSU: Seagate bronze 520GB S12II

 

[Whiskey Panda]

Switched out the GPU for an old MSI Geforce GTX 960 gaming 2g. It did not solve the issue. I'm currently trying to save some files using command, and will try to do a new install of Win10 without keeping the files.

 

[Whiskey Panda]

Instead of copying the files with command prompt, I opted to load a USB drive with Puppy Linux. I'm currently saving some files that I'd rather not lose. Will continue with the new Win10 install afterwards.

 

[Colif]

if any of the graphical glitching shows in the BIOS screens as well, its unlikely to be windows. I have my doubts about it being drivers causing screen 1. That is running off the windows repair partition, probably a ram drive.

linux and windows repair screens aren't the most graphically intensive applications, drivers in live mode might be a different matter.

Good luck with clean install.

PS I hate critical process died BSOD. I see it too much now, I like the old days when it was rare.

 

[Whiskey Panda]

Securing the files worked using Linux with the replacement GPU installed. Out of curiosity I tried running Linux bootable USB again with the original GPU after my files were safe anyway. Went to tomshardware.com, and the whole thing crashed again with weird graphical stuff on the screen.
I think the faulty GPU theory is as good as confirmed. I put in the replacement MSI 960 GTX again, and went for a clean install. Everything went well, and it even saved all original data in a folder (old.windows).

I'm glad I got a working system again, but that Win10 diagnostic mode was very confusing. If I knew for sure my GPU was the problem, and that a clean install wouldn't erase my files I'd be done in 30 minutes. Luckily this experience forced me to get a bit more familiar with BIOS and booting.

 

[DSzymborski]

One side note: I'm a little worried by the reference to backing up your data before reinstalling Windows. You should be backing up your important data all the time and in multiple places, not only when you're about to reinstall Windows.

 

[Whiskey Panda]

A good data system with NAS and multiple backups is something I want to build in the future.