Question Computer freezes at startup

[Backintheda]

New build(specs below)that when powered up, gets to the motherboard splash screen, or Windows 10, and freezes. I am attempting to load my operating system and when I select 'Windows 10 64bit' the 'loading files' bar fills up and it gets to the next screen where there is a small circle that spins, it then freezes and won't move past this.

What I have done so far is;
select Windows 10 32bit, same result.
Use an older copy of Windows 7 64 bit (DVD), same result.
Disconnect all of my hard drives except one, same result.

I feel like this is a hardware problem, but I cannot pin down where it might be. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Specs;
intel core i-9 9900 processor
ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2060 GPU
G.Skill TridentZ 32GB ram
MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon LGA1151 motherboard
3 SSDs of varying size
Seasonic Focus Plus 750w
This system is being water cooled, as well.

 

[Darkbreeze]

How many DIMMs are making up that 32GB of memory? Try installing only ONE stick for now (In the A2 slot, which is the second slot away from the CPU), and see if you can install. This could be a memory configuration problem and four DIMMs, if you have four sticks, may require a bump in voltage to run at their rated speed and timings.

Also, you should ALWAYS have only the drive you are installing to and the drive you are installing FROM, attached, when installing Windows. Always.

Have you checked in the BIOS to see if there is a thermal cooling issue? Maybe the system is overheating by the time you get to that point in the installation? Make sure you are seeing a pump RPM and that CPU temps are within specifications.

 

[Backintheda]

I have two 16GB sticks of RAM. As you suggested, I removed the second stick and only kept in the one stick in the A2 slot. I verified this was the correct slot by referencing it against my motherboard manual. No change, the system still freezes at the same point.

I only have the USB stick inserted and a single SSD plugged in.

Per BIOS, CPU and motherboard temps(in Celcius)are 28 and 29 degrees.

EDIT: I was able to boot into safe mode, which took me to the Windows 10 screen to allow me to install the OS. This process began, but when the computer rebooted in normal mode, it froze in the same spot.

I am going to reset my CMOS(by removing the battery)as I do not have a jumper plug.

Kind of unsure what to do going forward if this doesn't work.

 

[Darkbreeze]

When you reset the CMOS, my recommendation is always to do it as follows. Other methods have varying rates of success, but this pretty much always works if it's going to work at all, EXCEPT that occasionally you still have to go into the BIOS and select the option to load the Optimal default or Default values (Not normally necessary, but I've seen this problem a few times so it's usually best to just go with it anyhow) and then save settings afterwards in order to get all of the hardware tables to reset.

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply. If the graphics card is blocking access to the CMOS battery, remove the graphics card.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. During that five minutes, press the power button on the case for 30 seconds. 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.

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 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.

What is the model of the drive you are trying to install to? How old is it? Have you tried installing to any other drives?

Have you tried making new installation media? Tried different flash drive to create the installation media ON? Just a few things that are sometimes issues in similar situations.

This really sounds a lot like what we occasionally see when there are driver issues, but driver issues USUALLY are not a problem during the initial installation of Windows 10. Are you using the latest build version of Windows 10 or an older installer?

 

[Backintheda]

When you reset the CMOS, my recommendation is always to do it as follows. Other methods have varying rates of success, but this pretty much always works if it's going to work at all, EXCEPT that occasionally you still have to go into the BIOS and select the option to load the Optimal default or Default values (Not normally necessary, but I've seen this problem a few times so it's usually best to just go with it anyhow) and then save settings afterwards in order to get all of the hardware tables to reset.

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply. If the graphics card is blocking access to the CMOS battery, remove the graphics card.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. During that five minutes, press the power button on the case for 30 seconds. 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.

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 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.

Completed these steps as you instructed, no change. Computer still freezes when the MSI splash screen appears.

What is the model of the drive you are trying to install to? How old is it? Have you tried installing to any other drives?

Samsung EVO 250gb SSD. Brand new drive. Connected a brand new Samsung EVO 500gb SSD, no change.

Have you tried making new installation media? Tried different flash drive to create the installation media ON? Just a few things that are sometimes issues in similar situations.

Sort of interesting with this, I did not replicate the Windows 10 USB flash stick, but I did take an older copy of Windows 7 from my old computer. When it boots up with the Windows 7 splash screen, the compter freezes in a similar fashion when the Windows 4 color pieces are coming together.

This really sounds a lot like what we occasionally see when there are driver issues, but driver issues USUALLY are not a problem during the initial installation of Windows 10. Are you using the latest build version of Windows 10 or an older installer?

This one I am unsure of. I bought the copy of Windows 10 pro from Amazon.

Kind out of ideas here. I don't think I've ever experienced this type of problem before.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, if you bought a copy of Windows from Amazon, you certainly didn't get the latest build version. I would download your installer from Microsoft directly, and then use the product key for the version you purchased when you asked for that. Full instructions on creating installation media and installing can be found at the following link.

I just went through this with one of my fellow moderators who bought a 3900x and X570 motherboard, and could not install due to being two or three major upgrade versions (Spring, Fall) back on Windows 10 because those products did not contain drivers for the new chipset and CPU.

If that Windows installer was made before the release of the Coffee lake refresh platform, then it's probably going to have issues. Make sure you have the latest BIOS version installed and I would also at least try making newer media as follows:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Backintheda]

So, if you bought a copy of Windows from Amazon, you certainly didn't get the latest build version. I would download your installer from Microsoft directly, and then use the product key for the version you purchased when you asked for that. Full instructions on creating installation media and installing can be found at the following link.

I just went through this with one of my fellow moderators who bought a 3900x and X570 motherboard, and could not install due to being two or three major upgrade versions (Spring, Fall) back on Windows 10 because those products did not contain drivers for the new chipset and CPU.

If that Windows installer was made before the release of the Coffee lake refresh platform, then it's probably going to have issues. Make sure you have the latest BIOS version installed and I would also at least try making newer media as follows:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Thanks for the quick reply. And yes, doing some research on the MSI forums and discovering users are having similar issues with the motherboard that I am using. Creating a new boot copy now. I'll post back shortly.

 

[Backintheda]

RESOLVED!

After doing some additional research on the MSI forums, I discovered that several other folks were having the same/similar issues with the Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon board while attempting to install Windows 10. The solution(copy/pasted from the source)

Original post

rbleroy91[/B]]
Hello,
1/ As explained Nichrome, unplug the 1080 and keep only 1 RAM stick in DIMMA2 (2nd DIMM slot from CPU). Keep connected only the drive where you want to install Windows. Do a clear CMOS:

• Power off PSU, unplug the power cord and wait that all mobo's leds light off.
• Either

. short JBAT1 during at least 20s
(if you have not a jumper cap, use something like a screwdriver but be cautious to touch only the 2 pins of JBAT1) or
. remove the battery cell during 15mn.

• Plug the power cord and power on.
• Choose to use bios default values when asked.

2/ Update bios to the last available version:

• Download >>Bios V1.60<<.
• Take an USB pen with no more than 16GB (physical size) and only 1 FAT or FAT32 partition.

Verify it with CHKDSK.

• Unzip it and copy the file 'E7B51IMS.160' on the root of the USB pen.
• Boot and enter in Bios Setup. Press [F6], confirm, press [F10] and confirm. Pc should restart.
• Enter again in Bios Setup.
• Plug the USB pen into one port on the back panel (better to use a 2.0).
• Click on M-Flash and select the file.

PC should reboot and the update process should start; be cautious to not abort it before the end (can last up to 5mn).
- Once update ended, power off PSU, unplug the power cord and wait that all mobo's leds light off.
3/ Enter in bios setup and set "SETTINGS \ Advanced \ Windows OS Configuration \ Windows 10 WHQL Support" at "UEFI" (change nothing else at this time).
4/ Verify RAM is working goodly with >>MemTest86<<: 1 pass of full tests.
5/ If #4 was successfull, use a pc already installed with Windows 7/8.1/10 to download and run >>Microsoft Windows 10 Media Creation Tool<<. That will creates an up-to-date installation kit on an USB pen (it will be erased and must have at least 8GB). Use this last to boot the new pc. Select the disk where you want to install Windows and remove ALL its partitions. Click on "Next" (not "New").
6/ If installation freezes again, I suspect the Razer keyboard/mouse to be the culprit because I have already encountered such cases. Redo 4 with basic devices.
Hoping it shall help,,

The only thing I had to do differently was download the BIOS firmware from MSI directly, other than that, everything else is the same.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That's great, however, in the future please don't select your own answer as the solution. It's expressly against the rules and forum guidelines. Thanks.

Glad you got it sorted, although I'm not sure there was anything in that suggestion that hadn't already been suggested here anyhow.