Question New Motherboard and Fresh windows install freezing at startup

Aug 21, 2022
7
0
10
So I recently replaced my motherboard due to the pins being bent in the old one. It was replaced with an ASUS Prime H310M-E R2.0. Then I ran into the issue of an infinite loading screen after BIOS. After cleaning my drive through command prompt and completing a fresh install of windows 10 through a USB flash drive the computer restarts and now freezes on the loading screen with a big ASUS at the top.
It freezes the loading circle of dots in place, I've waited at this screen for an hour with no change.

Some things I've tried so far:

  • I’ve checked all my connections and installed the latest BIOS for my motherboard. I've also gone back to the previous BIOS version.
  • I've also unplugged all USB devices on startup as well as all unnecessary peripherals.
  • I've also tried installing windows fresh again 6 times, 3 of those from the official Microsoft USB downloader and 3 from rufus.
  • I've run 2 passes of memtest86 with 0 errors on either pass.I've tried both my ram sticks in both slots alone.
  • I've scoured my BIOS changing startup settings such as disabling fast startup and turning off legacy mode entirely.
  • Ran seatools tests on M.2 SSD, it passes all of them and I've replaced the SSD, has no effect
  • Taken out GPU and ran with internal graphics
Thinking at this point it must be a hardware issue, my PSU is 8 years old and everything else is relatively new (within 2 years) so I don't really know what the issue could be.
Additionally here is a video of the full startup sequence up to crash point:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKYDmxlXHQU&ab_channel=ReesKenyon


Full part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PGXh2m
 

Alan Alan

Prominent
Aug 9, 2022
218
9
595
Have you used malware bytes and checked the master boot record on the hard drive. It's not booting into windows. I assume you have been in the bios and have assigned the new windows install drive as the first drive. Or try pulling all cards in the slots and disconnect all usb devices. Of course take the bios defaults after doing that before booting.
 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
I don't think the PSU is the direct problem here. Yes, it's a low-quality PSU that should never have been paired with this hardware, but I don't think it's causing this problem.

Do you have another drive you can test that isn't NVMe? May be worth testing and making sure it's not an issue with the motherboard.
 
Aug 21, 2022
7
0
10
Have you used malware bytes and checked the master boot record on the hard drive. It's not booting into windows. I assume you have been in the bios and have assigned the new windows install drive as the first drive. Or try pulling all cards in the slots and disconnect all usb devices. Of course take the bios defaults after doing that before booting.

Yes I've assigned windows boot manager as the first drive, I'm unfamiliar with malware bytes but I'll see what I can do with it. Im kind of unsure how to use it since I can only boot things from a USB at this point, guidance would be appreciated. So you're saying that my drive isn't going to windows but something else and is therefore failing to load?

I don't think the PSU is the direct problem here. Yes, it's a low-quality PSU that should never have been paired with this hardware, but I don't think it's causing this problem.

Do you have another drive you can test that isn't NVMe? May be worth testing and making sure it's not an issue with the motherboard.

I unfortunately don't have another drive at the moment but I can get a cheap hard drive in a couple days and try it out, it's worth noting the drive was completely healthy when tested but the motherboard could still screw things up I guess.
 
Aug 21, 2022
7
0
10
Ok so I've made some interesting revelations about the nature of the problem. I have a Predator Helios 300 laptop that I plugged the NVMe into and took out the original drive for the laptop. The exact same issue happens in almost an identical manner despite the laptop have completely different hardware. Now Im thinking this must have something to do with the install of windows which for whatever reason refuses to get booted into. Not quite sure what to do with this information so I'm still looking for guidance but I think this narrows it down.
 

Alan Alan

Prominent
Aug 9, 2022
218
9
595
Ok so I've made some interesting revelations about the nature of the problem. I have a Predator Helios 300 laptop that I plugged the NVMe into and took out the original drive for the laptop. The exact same issue happens in almost an identical manner despite the laptop have completely different hardware. Now Im thinking this must have something to do with the install of windows which for whatever reason refuses to get booted into. Not quite sure what to do with this information so I'm still looking for guidance but I think this narrows it down.
You need to put the same drive back into the new mother board that came out of it before you replaced it. If it was an identical board why would you mess with it. If you hadn't you might not have this problem. Install windows on the drive that was in there if you erased it. Because you know that drive was compatible or at least worked with your old motherboard and it should be with the new one.
 
Aug 21, 2022
7
0
10
You need to put the same drive back into the new mother board that came out of it before you replaced it. If it was an identical board why would you mess with it. If you hadn't you might not have this problem. Install windows on the drive that was in there if you erased it. Because you know that drive was compatible or at least worked with your old motherboard and it should be with the new one.

Maybe I didn't word my post correctly, I'm a bit confused as to what you're saying here. The only components I've changed in my desktop are the NVMe for a new NVMe (exact same type: EVO 980 just to see if the old one was messed up) and replaced the motherboard with a new completely different one. The old one had bent pins so became unusable. All I did was place the NVMe I was attempting to install windows on into my laptop and attempted to boot into it, which lead to the same failure as on desktop. Additionally I have done a fresh install of windows 10 on my NVMe desktop drive which I know is fully functional as it works on my laptop after multiple resets, yet when I put it into my desktop I now get an infinite loading screen with no logo. This infinite loading screen was happening with my working copy of windows all the way at the start of this process before I wiped anything.
 
Last edited:

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
I have the same confusion that Alan has with how you're wording all of this. You seem to be using Windows installs interchangeably from computer to computer. That's not how Windows works; it's not modular in this manner. I thought at first that these were all proper Windows installs, but now that you're troubleshooting by just swapping OS drives in and out willy-nilly, I'm not exactly sure what you're doing and I feel I know less now about your situation than I did at the top of the thread.
 
Aug 21, 2022
7
0
10
I have the same confusion that Alan has with how you're wording all of this. You seem to be using Windows installs interchangeably from computer to computer. That's not how Windows works; it's not modular in this manner. I thought at first that these were all proper Windows installs, but now that you're troubleshooting by just swapping OS drives in and out willy-nilly, I'm not exactly sure what you're doing and I feel I know less now about your situation than I did at the top of the thread.

Everything prior to this one experiment I did has been a proper windows install exclusively done on my desktop. Everything previous stands as issues that existed independent of any other computer. All of the nearly dozen windows installs I did were exclusively on desktop, so if these tests (the ones with the laptop involved) don't matter then you can simply throw them out. In terms of diagnostics all this proved to me was that it was not the fault of the NVMe drive that windows couldn't be properly installed on my desktop and that my flash drive wasn't the problem either as they function normally on hardware that was different from my desktop.

That being said I still am uncertain of what's causing the issue, my next step is to get a replacement board, as that is the only component I've changed in the past year, and hopefully return the one I currently have. Unless you think there is something else I can do in the meantime. Thanks!
 
Aug 21, 2022
7
0
10
The problem randomly fixed itself after what was about the 12th fresh installation of windows. No clue what I changed as I dont think I changed anything at all. I guess it just goes like that sometimes.