chasegt500

Reputable
Jan 13, 2015
7
0
4,510
EDIT: SOLVED!!!! HAD TO UPDATE THE BIOS TO THE PROPER VERSION!! unbelievable that ASUS does have the proper BIOS version for a cpu they claim is compatible with the motherboard out of the box

like the title says, I cannot get to the windows 10 screen. i went from an asus z-97k, 4690k, and 8gb ddr3 to asus z-390-e, 9700k, and 16gb ddr4(g.skill tridents). all of my other parts are unchanged.
i can load the BIOS just fine, the mobo is able to detect my drives, but the one drive with the OS on it isn't listed as a "bootable" drive. to attempt to solve this, i made a usb drive with windows 10 on it and tried launching from that. it is able to go through the BIOS, but it crashes when it begins to load windows 10. the screen just freezes. ive tried contacting both asus and windows, but nothing we tried fixed the problem. ive also tried launching the pc with only the usb drive connected, and it still crashed trying to load windows 10.
the SSDs had not been wiped, im wondering if that is what is causing the issue in the first place. if it is, then why wont the pc launch when they aren't plugged in? is it possible that my mobo or cpu is dead? im totally out of ideas and do not know what to do now.

here is what ive tried so far:
  • reseating CPU and RAM
  • trying 1 stick of memory
  • legacy boot
  • switching to AHCI
  • safe boot
  • unplugging all SSDs except for boot USB
  • turning off and on CSM in BIOS
  • taking out CMOS battery to reset motherboard
  • making sure each device is booting in "legacy"
  • starting up with just USB in the default BIOS settings
  • enabling and disabling xmp
  • lowering/raising memory frequency, and leaving it at default
observations made while troubleshooting:
  • crashes at exact same spot every time (windows logo and spinning dot circle)
  • no crash error, just a frozen screen
  • when the computer crashes, i can hear the cpu fan/pump crank up a little like its under load
  • some of the USB ports dont detect my usb boot drive or other usb peripherals
ive already decided to RMA my motherboard back to newegg, but im wondering if i should send my ram and cpu back as well just in case? the reason i think it is the motherboard is because of the usb ports not functioning well. thoughts?
 
Last edited:
Not sure. But a couple of things stand out.

For what is essentially a new system it's recommended to fresh install Windows to avoid conflicts.

If the USB drive you try to boot from only contains the software from Media Creator to install Windows 10, and you've disconnected all other drives, then there's nothing for the system to really boot from. On this understanding the USB is used to install Windows, unlike Linux where the OS can be booted from a USB. (At the very least I'm unaware of Windows on a USB equivalent.)

It is possible there's something wrong which would require additional input from others.
 

chasegt500

Reputable
Jan 13, 2015
7
0
4,510
Not sure. But a couple of things stand out.

For what is essentially a new system it's recommended to fresh install Windows to avoid conflicts.

If the USB drive you try to boot from only contains the software from Media Creator to install Windows 10, and you've disconnected all other drives, then there's nothing for the system to really boot from. On this understanding the USB is used to install Windows, unlike Linux where the OS can be booted from a USB. (At the very least I'm unaware of Windows on a USB equivalent.)

It is possible there's something wrong which would require additional input from others.
correct, that usb stick is the media installation tool. i did leave one of my SSDs connected that was wiped clean. is the media simply not bootable? i thought that was the only way to install windows on a new PC?
 

chasegt500

Reputable
Jan 13, 2015
7
0
4,510
Perhaps a bad download? Try downloading and creating the USB again to see if that changes anything. This is assuming the motherboard and other components are fine.
unfortunately i have already tried this, resulting in the exact same problem. another person from my discord suggested that maybe my BIOS and cpu are not compatible? the bios version i see on the motherboard sticker is 0602 (last 4 digits on the long number) and from what i can see on the compatibility list, i need something in the 1000s. this does not make sense though, because the whole point of the z390-e was immediate compatibility with 9th gen chips out of the box.