[SOLVED] PC boots slower than paint dries with equally disappointing results

Aug 19, 2019
4
0
20
I recently transported my PC in a car to a new city. I run Win10 on a 7200 rpm hard drive, the boot process usually only takes a couple minutes. This is not the first time I've moved it, but this time around, this happens:

  1. I turn it on. I get a black screen - there is signal, but nothing is on the display.
  2. After a minute the motherboard splash screen pops up. 5 minutes layer it returns to the blank display.
  3. Maybe 5 minutes after that again, the bios flash pops up again, with a rotating series of circles telling me something is loading.
  4. 10 minutes later, I am return to the blank screen. Surprisingly, for this slow dog, a mouse courser pops up very soon after. I can move it.
  5. 34 minutes later, I bloody took a stopwatch to it, I am greeted with a blue windows interface. Tells me to "Choose your keyboard layout."
  6. If I click on any option, say US, it takes 15 minutes before my click is registered and I get to a troubleshooting section. I can move the mouse all the while, so the PC does not freeze. Just slow.
  7. The options I've tried are system restore, image recovery, and going back to the previous build. There is also a command prompt. Clicking on any of them also means waiting ages for results.
  8. No success. Restart, wait an hour and more, repeat.
I've checked at all my cables, and reinserted hard drive and ram. I've tried booting into a USB with Windows on it to try and install, but the PC simply ignores it, even with the load order changed in BIOS. I've tried three different USBs. F8 spam does nothing for me.

I'm at a loss. Did a bump during the car ride screw up the HDD? Is my motherboard dying? Does my PSU not provide enough power to run the system optimally?
Has my RAM stick left the land of the living?

Ya'll, my PC needs Jesus. Will ye please be my savior?

Specs (brace yourselves):
AMD Athlon 760k CPU
MSI A78m-e35 Mobo
CX600M PSU
R9 270 2Gb GPU
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8Gb DDR3 1600
WD Black HDD 1TB
 
Last edited:
Solution
Well isn't this interesting.

I ordered a new SSD drive to replace my HDD, suspecting it was the cause. I took the SATA cables for my old HDD out, installed new ones for my SSD, and ran the system.

The boot USB worked perfectly this time, was able to install windows. For the hell of it I decided to restart and plug my HDD in again. This time, before Windows booted, a message came over top of the BIOS flash screen telling me the system was repairing the HDD. When I entered Windows again the HDD worked perfectly will all my DATA intact.

I'm stumped. Will run a few tests to see if everything is alright.
Aug 19, 2019
4
0
20
I added specs in the edit. I've already checked all the connections for my hardware and cables.

As far as the HDD is concerned, I've ordered a small replacement drive to try and replace it with. I'm still befuddled, however, as to why the PC won't load into my bootable USB.
 
Aug 19, 2019
4
0
20
Well isn't this interesting.

I ordered a new SSD drive to replace my HDD, suspecting it was the cause. I took the SATA cables for my old HDD out, installed new ones for my SSD, and ran the system.

The boot USB worked perfectly this time, was able to install windows. For the hell of it I decided to restart and plug my HDD in again. This time, before Windows booted, a message came over top of the BIOS flash screen telling me the system was repairing the HDD. When I entered Windows again the HDD worked perfectly will all my DATA intact.

I'm stumped. Will run a few tests to see if everything is alright.
 
Solution