Is a Boot Loop a symptom of dying hardware?

[Deleted member 2495892]

So usually when I turn off my PC I shut it down, unplug it and go to sleep. Last night I left it plugged in, probably unrelated. So I went to sleep. This morning when I booted, it got stuck in a Boot Loop, it would turn on, stay on for ten seconds, shut off, repeat. I knew a pretty simple fix for this so I tried it, flicked the psu switch off, waited a minute, turned it back on, low and behold life came back to the computer.

So even though I fixed it, I'd like to know if this is an issue I should be worried about. Is this a symptom of dying hardware?

 

[CountMike]

Could be a PSU problem.

 

[asoroka]

It could also be your motherboard or hdd.

It is possible that there was a spike in your mains electricity power supply, but in the absence of damage to other equipment (think TV, Microwave) it is unlikely.

The fact that your power supply works indicates that this is not the problem.

You get a boot loop when the BIOS cant find a valid boot record (stating the obvious).

The question is why can't it be found? Is BIOS looking in the wrong place or is there a problem with the hdd.

By resetting the power you may be resetting the BIOS to a good state, or maybe the disk needed to be without power for it to start cleanly.

As a matter of urgency I would back up any important data off this PC.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

 

[g-unit1111]

You don't have to unplug every time you shut your system off. As was previously stated boot loops are generally when the BIOS can't find a valid boot. I would point signs at the hard drive before I would diagnose anything else. Check your motherboard - is your primary boot drive plugged into a port other than SATA 0? If so then something could have reset the motherboard's BIOS to run on default options which could mean that it's not finding your hard drive. I would check which port your primary boot device is plugged into and then check that setting in the BIOS to make sure they match up.

 

[CountMike]

Huh,say what, boot loop because of no OS or even drive ?

 

[g-unit1111]

Huh,say what, boot loop because of no OS or even drive ?

It's a combination of things but most point to the fact that the BIOS can't find a valid operating system or a hard drive that is missing the boot file. It could also be because something got damaged on the motherboard that's a very unlikely scenario in this case.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

So in other words - - it could be absolutely anything -

 

[CountMike]

That's usually how it starts unless something is obviously burnt. Only painstaking testing which also may include part changing can eventually reveal a culprit. When things like that happen, PSU is a usual suspect and may be the "Butler that did it".

 

[asoroka]

Major warning.

Backup your data now.

 

[g-unit1111]

That's usually how it starts unless something is obviously burnt. Only painstaking testing which also may include part changing can eventually reveal a culprit. When things like that happen, PSU is a usual suspect and may be the "Butler that did it".

Yeah I agree this could be a case of a bad PSU, 9 times out of 10 it usually is.