Question Need help with troubleshooting a BIOS boot loop (Can't Load Windows Repair from USB)

[Azaros]

I'll post the specs to get that out of the way:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-A320M-S2H AM4 AMD A320 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Processor
GPU: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5
PSU: EVGA 80+ Bronze 600W, Semi Modular
Storage: SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2 500gb SSD, Older Barracuda 500GB HDD for extra storage
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200
OS: Windows 10


I built my sister a PC which had mostly been working fine for the past 3-4 months or so. We did have one small issue where the video cut from her monitor (PC was still running, all LEDs still on) for a bit, but after updating her BIOS that issue didn't come up again. That was about... 2 months ago, I want to say.

This morning she powered up the PC and it wouldn't start up properly, so I took a look at it myself. When powered on, the Gigabyte logo loads up (you can press the keys and still get into the bios, boot, q-flash options) and then transitions into still the Gigabyte screen with the loading wheel, with text saying "Preparing Automatic Repair...".

This makes me think there is an issue with Windows, at first.

However, after this the screen goes black again, and restarts, looping back to the Gigabyte bios/boot options screen before trying to boot itself up again and failing. I've been having trouble pinpointing the issue for this reason. Sometimes after a few self restarts, it will just stay on a blank black screen.

Here are some of the things I already tried:

- Re-Seating the SSD and HDD

- Starting up the system with only either SSD or HDD installed. With the SSD only installed I had the same issue. HDD obviously can't boot because there is no Windows OS installed, but also I couldn't get my UEFI Windows Install USB prompt to install Windows 10 when I force priority on the USB i use normally to install/repair Windows. It restarts again after exiting BIOS, after a moment with a blank screen

- Updating the BIOS again just to be sure

- Double Checking boot priority in BIOS menu

I don't seem to have much to go on and am stumpped about this issue. Other things to note are that the temperatures didn't get to any worrysome levels (pretty much all systems at or under 60c), and the LED's on the keyboard blinking on and off as the PC tries to start up. Maybe due to power cutting out/flowing in again? I put a decent surge protector on the wall for her outlet connections so unless the PSU has some issues causing power fluxuations, I can only guess

This is a bit of a read so I appreciate anyone taking the time to look over this, thanks.

-- Edit -- Suggested troubleshooting tips i've tried, will update as I go:

- Removed the SSD and booted up my PC build with her SSD installed. Still got the repair message, however my build did continue to the windows options and I was able to restore to a previous backup point and seemed to work fine after that. I restarted to check if it booted up fine after that and nothing seemed wrong.
Installed it back into her PC, same issue, even still popped up the "Preparing Automatic Repair..."

 

[B-smart]

whats the boot order? ah sorry read a bit more thoroughly and noticed you had put that down, have you tried straight up making a new copy of windows on the ssd and/or have you tried booting from the ssd on a different device?

 

[Azaros]

whats the boot order? ah sorry read a bit more thoroughly and noticed you had put that down, have you tried straight up making a new copy of windows on the ssd and/or have you tried booting from the ssd on a different device?

I suppose I could test the SSD swapping it into my PC, and see if it boots up windows and everything properly. I will test that in a bit.

I couldn't get the repair option or anything for windows or from the USB boot tool to pop up after BIOS exits, it just goes black and restarts.

 

[B-smart]

So can we determine that it is a problem with the ssd right?

 

[B-smart]

Or at least the windows install

 

[Azaros]

whats the boot order? ah sorry read a bit more thoroughly and noticed you had put that down, have you tried straight up making a new copy of windows on the ssd and/or have you tried booting from the ssd on a different device?

Update: I swapped her SSD into my PC, and still got the "Preparing Startup Repair..." however, it did continue to the windows menus and let me do a system restore to a recent backup point, I was able to boot to her windows and seemed that everything was there. I restarted and it booted normally.

Unfortunately when I reinstalled her SSD back to her PC, the issue is still present, and even the message "Preparing Startup Repair..." appears again.

This is really weird.

 

[B-smart]

Has to either be the mobo or something maybe try using different sata ports if possible that's really all I got man. if all else fails I would try booting from a different drive or flashing the bios as we still aren't entirely sure of the issue at least we now know that the ssd does in fact work and that windows should run off of it it is just the hard ware that is being difficult. The next steps I would take are contacting the motherboard manufacturer and getting a support ticket from them going and maybe taking it to a local pc repair shop. I am sorry there is nothing else I can do for you man and I hope it gets fixed let me know if there is anything I can do to help further.

 

[Azaros]

Has to either be the mobo or something maybe try using different sata ports if possible that's really all I got man. if all else fails I would try booting from a different drive or flashing the bios as we still aren't entirely sure of the issue at least we now know that the ssd does in fact work and that windows should run off of it it is just the hard ware that is being difficult. The next steps I would take are contacting the motherboard manufacturer and getting a support ticket from them going and maybe taking it to a local pc repair shop. I am sorry there is nothing else I can do for you man and I hope it gets fixed let me know if there is anything I can do to help further.

I don't know why you are apologizing, I just appreciate you throwing an idea in. I learned the SSD works in my PC so that's something.

 

[B-smart]

Hey man did you ever figure it out?

 

[Azaros]

I started a ticket with Gigabyte for support and they basically gave me a checklist of stuff to double check, i'm going to breadboard the system outside the case and check the CPU for damage, swap in my PSU from my pc if needed, and see if the GPU works in my system. Basically just to isolate the issue to only being the Motherboard being faulty, and if it seems so I'll press for a warrenty replacement or maybe even a refund to order a better one, we'll see. I hadn't done it yet because I had to order more thermal paste since i'm pulling off the CPU fan from the CPU.

Nice of you to check back in though. This thread didn't get much attention unfortunately.