[SOLVED] PC booting to BIOS (Moving this post to different forum)

[DocDetroit]

When I boot my PC it goes into the BIOS screen and will not start Windows. I have tried the following: making no changes and exiting the BIOS screen / changing boot order and exiting the BIOS. It makes no difference the PC just returns to the BIOS screen. I have powered off while in the BIOS screen and powered back on with the same results. I do not understand what is happening, have no idea how to proceed. I am looking for an education as to the cause of this issue and possible solutions I could follow to correct this problem. Thank you.

 

[punkncat]

Give details on your computer setup.

Can you see the boot drive in BIOS?

 

[DocDetroit]

Give details on your computer setup.

Can you see the boot drive in BIOS?

MB: MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk / CPU i5-9600K / Bios Version E7B18IMS.150 / BIOS Build Date 3/26/2019

BIOS Mode UEFI/Legacy (UEFI appears to be grayed out and legacy appears to be highlighted white)

Boot order in BIOS: UEFI CD/DVD - UEFI USB CD/DVD - UEFI USB Hard Disk - UEFI Hard Disk

Please let me know if there is other information you need about the system. Thank you.

I have tried the following sequences of boot order:
#1 CD/DVD - Hard Disk - USB CD/DVD - USB HARD DISK
#2 CD/DVD - USB CD/DVD - USB HARD DRIVE - HARD DRIVE
#3 CD/DVD - USB HARD DRIVE - HARD DRIVE - USB CD/DVD
#4 USB HARD DRIVE - HARD DRIVE - USB CD/DVD - CD/DVD
#5 HARD DRIVE - USB HARD DRIVE - USB CD/DVD - CD/DVD

The results are the same: Message displayed --
Checking Media Presence
Media Present
State PXE over IPV4 on MAC -----

Changed BIOS Mode to Legacy+UEFI / Regardless of the BOOT order I receive the following messages:
Checking Media Presence
Media Present
State PXE over IPV4 on MAC -----
PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel Boot Agent
Client MAC Addr
PXE-E53: No Boot Filename received
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel Boot Agent
Reboot & select proper boot device
or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key

 

[Colif]

threads merged as 1 post didn't make any sense alone. Guess I could have deleted it, should have just reported it at time and we fix it then

 

[DocDetroit]

Questions were asked of me - what are the specs and how long has the event occurred? I have listed some of the spec previously in this thread and not sure what other information would be required but will be more than happy to dig and share what others may suggest.

As to how long this has been going on: PC was purchased a bit over a year ago. A few months after purchase my wife would occasionally experience the issue of the PC booting into the BIOS set up screen. She would power down and boot again and windows would start just fine.

The PC has mostly sat idle since her passing last summer. I noticed a couple of months back the audio service was not started and all the links I found online did not work to restart the service. The other issue I noticed is that Windows would not retain log in credentials no matter what correction I found online. When the PC booted properly the process required user ID and password to complete the boot and enter Windows.

At the end of last week I booted the PC and it started normally after entering user ID and password. I left the room for a few minutes and when I came back the screen showed the BIOS screen. No matter what I do the PC will not start Windows and displays the BIOS set up screen.

Thank you in advance for any assistance or direction or education you may provide. It is very much appreciated.

 

[DocDetroit]

Additional information was requested:
Primary HD: 240 GB ADATA SU650 SSD
Secondary HD: 2 TB Seagate
Later, I moved a Crucial 125 GB SSD from her old PC to this PC - this drive contains the Blizzard Games she played
Power Supply: 600 Watt Thermaltake Smart-Series 80 Plus Gold

It was suggested that I make the following changes
Settings\Advanced\Integrated Peripherals ---- Disabled Onboard LAN Controller and Onboard LAN Controller2
Settings\Advanced\Windows OS Configuration ---- Windows 10 WHQL Support was changed from CSM to UEFI and disabled MSI Fast Boot and Fast Boot
Boot Sequence set to ----- UEFI HD / UEFI CD_DVD / UEFI USB CD/DVD / UEFI USB HD
BIOS Mode now displays UEFI as white and legacy as gray

Now when I boot - the system does not generate any messages related to checking media and goes directly into the BIOS setup screen.

 

[DocDetroit]

I misunderstood early instructions and have tried these additional tests.

I have reactivated both LAN controllers - left Windows 10 WHQL as UEFI - deactivated the LAN option ROM.
Then I disconnected the data cable from the Crucial drive and started a series of boots. Each time I plugged the ADATA data cable into a different port on the motherboard. The Seagate was placed in a port not being used by the ADATA HD for each boot.
After testing the boot with the ADATA HD plugged into ports one through six, the BIOS each time showed only a single hard drive, which is the Seagate.

 

[DocDetroit]

Based on the results of testing the ADATA SSD in all the ports and it not showing in the BIOS status screen - it is my belief that the SSD has failed and I have lost my ability to boot Windows 10. For my last test, I will remove the drive from the current PC, cable and power it on another PC to see if it will show in the BIOS. If the SSD fails that test then I will move on with the steps of replacing the drive and installing Windows 10 to the new SSD.

 

[GoofyOne]

You could also try a boot repair disk. Can you boot from a DVD, or a USB drive?

I use Boot Repair Disk to fix drives that do not boot. Usually it happens to me because MS Windows has a argument with Grub at some stage, and suddenly it won't boot anymore. I am not sure whether it will fix your particular problem of course, but could be worth a try.

Ahhh you said it doesn't show up in BIOS ... that sounds nasty. Ignore my idea, not going to work if the system cannot 'see' your SSD drive.

I shall crawl back into my shell.

{GoofyOne's 2c worth ... not even worth that much this afternoon ... sigh}

 

[DocDetroit]

You could also try a boot repair disk. Can you boot from a DVD, or a USB drive?

I use Boot Repair Disk to fix drives that do not boot. Usually it happens to me because MS Windows has a argument with Grub at some stage, and suddenly it won't boot anymore. I am not sure whether it will fix your particular problem of course, but could be worth a try.

Ahhh you said it doesn't show up in BIOS ... that sounds nasty. Ignore my idea, not going to work if the system cannot 'see' your SSD drive.

I shall crawl back into my shell.

{GoofyOne's 2c worth ... not even worth that much this afternoon ... sigh}

LOL - c'mon out of the shell, it's a beautiful spring day. I did not know or think about a boot repair disk but I will store that info. Thanks for the time and effort and enjoy the sunshine.