Question PC freezes before windows logo

[rickijensen40]

Hi all!

My PC has begun to freeze when I start it up. It started not too long ago, but it has become a giant problem by now. It happens in different parts of startup. Often it freezes while it tells me which button to press for BIOS. However, that is not always the case. Sometimes I do get in to BIOS, but it just freeze there too. Other times it seems it freezes just as I start it up, because it doesn't seem like it can find my screen. On rare occasions it tells me that I have over 10 keyboards sat into the PC plus a handful of mice.

After forcing my PC to close approximately 3 - 7 times I finally get to my desktop

I have tried to:

• unplugging and plugging all my cables
• completely erased every harddrive (solid state as well)
• reinstalled windows
• unplugging my oldest HDD (is about 6 years old)
• next: changing ram from 2+4 to 1+3

None of those things have worked and I have no idea what to do. Please help 🙁

 

[Grobe]

What is full spec of your computer - and what age? Have you built it yourself?

 

[rickijensen40]

What is full spec of your computer - and what age? Have you built it yourself?

Motherboard: Asus Strix Z270F Gaming (about 2 yo)
GPU: Asus GeForce 1080 8GB (2 years and 9 month)
CPU: Intel Core i7-7700k 4.2 GHz (about 2 yo)
RAM: HyperX Predator DDR4 3200MHz 16GB (about 2 yo)
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2, 850W (just turned 3 yo)

I build it myself and have worked extremely well for, well, exactly 2 years or so.

 

[Grobe]

Is the CPU overclocked?
Can you elaborate a little bit more in detail how often the freeze occurs - like every day or so?

Do you happens to have another GPU laying around?

 

[rickijensen40]

Is the CPU overclocked?
Can you elaborate a little bit more in detail how often the freeze occurs - like every day or so?

Do you happens to have another GPU laying around?

My CPU have never been overclocked.
The freeze occurs everytime I boot up my computer. Sometimes it happens 3 - 7 before it starts probably, but it does happen every day for a small week. However, a bit earlier today it started probably the first time. I usually only boot up my PC once a day and then runs until I go to sleep.

Sadly I do not have another GPU, but as my part get more and more dated, it would probably not be a bad idea to put money aside for a renewal of parts.

 

[Grobe]

Sorry I ment PSU, must have being tired.

That said - it is not impossible that GPU is the culprit but it is unlikely.

 

[rickijensen40]

Sorry I ment PSU, must have being tired.

That said - it is not impossible that GPU is the culprit but it is unlikely.

I had some problems some weeks ago, were my games turned blue. I bought a new screen, which fixed that specific problem.
I have thought about buying a new PSU, mostly because the one I have does not support the 2000 GPU series.

 

[Grobe]

Well - then you have more than one reason to replace the PSU. After that it may or may not fix the problem.

 

[g-unit1111]

Well - then you have more than one reason to replace the PSU. After that it may or may not fix the problem.

This sounds more like a drive failure than a power supply problem. I'd disconnect all the drives except for the primary boot drive. Then once you do that, run it in safe mode (if possible) and see if you can get it to boot from there. If you can get it to boot, then run a system restore to the last point where it worked correctly. If not then I would look at replacing your primary storage drive as it sounds like there is a bad / unrecongized boot sector on it.

The OP has an EVGA G2 which is a top of the line power supply. And if you can boot the PC with that PSU, is it really a problem? I would suggest you look at the fact that it might be more than just a power supply problem. Right now there's no reason to replace it just yet, this is wrong and potentially dangerous advice.

 

[Grobe]

Well yes, storage units cannot be ruled out and is probably the most easy components to disconnect.

If the problem also exists before OS boot, it could potentially be the OS drive itself too - but if all drives are disconnected and you then never experience any problems getting into bios settings, bets are that a drive indeed is the culprit.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Well - then you have more than one reason to replace the PSU. After that it may or may not fix the problem.

This problem is literally everything but the PSU, and he has a high end high quality PSU, highly unlikely its failing.

I had some problems some weeks ago, were my games turned blue. I bought a new screen, which fixed that specific problem.
I have thought about buying a new PSU, mostly because the one I have does not support the 2000 GPU series.

Where did you get that idea, your PSU is WAY more wattage than those GPUs require, and has all the proper connectors, and is one of the best quality units you can get.

 

[rickijensen40]

This problem is literally everything but the PSU, and he has a high end high quality PSU, highly unlikely its failing.



Where did you get that idea, your PSU is WAY more wattage than those GPUs require, and has all the proper connectors, and is one of the best quality units you can get.

A 2080 require 2x 8pins and you can't buy them separately here in my country

 

[g-unit1111]

Well yes, storage units cannot be ruled out and is probably the most easy components to disconnect.

If the problem also exists before OS boot, it could potentially be the OS drive itself too - but if all drives are disconnected and you then never experience any problems getting into bios settings, bets are that a drive indeed is the culprit.

That is NOT what I said at all. I said to disconnect every drive but the boot drive. It's usually a technique that is used when installing Windows because on Windows 10 the install can often place critical boot files on the second and third storage drives, and if there's something wrong with those, it won't boot. Keeping just the boot drive plugged in will take the guess work out of that.

And the boot drive does not have anything to do with a motherboard's BIOS - you can access that without having any drives plugged in. I do not think you know what you are talking about here, and that's OK. We are here to learn. But if you are going to be giving advice in this matter you should definitely read more about problems similar to this before you are going to be giving advice.

 

[Rogue Leader]

A 2080 require 2x 8pins and you can't buy them separately here in my country

The EVGA 850 G2 should have come with them in the box (actually 2 sets of them giving you four total connectors!). Did yours not?

 

[Barty1884]

A 2080 require 2x 8pins and you can't buy them separately here in my country

Yes, and an 850W G2 has

PCIe	4x 8pin (6+2), 2x 6pin

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-g2-0850-xr

 

[rickijensen40]

The EVGA 850 G2 should have come with them in the box (actually 2 sets of them giving you four total connectors!). Did yours not?

It did, but my Motherboard uses 1x 8pin for CPU and 1x6pin + 1x8pin for GPU

 

[rickijensen40]

Yes, and an 850W G2 has

PCIe	4x 8pin (6+2), 2x 6pin

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-g2-0850-xr

Hmm, weird? I'm almost a 100% certain there only is a 6pin left in the box? Guess I'm going cable hunting around my house tomorrow

 

[Barty1884]

It did, but my Motherboard uses 1x 8pin for CPU and 1x6pin + 1x8pin for GPU

Hmm, weird? I'm almost a 100% certain there only is a 6pin left in the box? Guess I'm going cable hunting around my house tomorrow

I think you're confusing EPS (CPU) and PCIe (GPUs).

The relevant connectors from a modern build are

24 Pin ATX	1x
EPS (CPU)	2x 8pin (4+4)
PCIe	4x 8pin (6+2), 2x 6pin
SATA	10x

You have 2x 4+4pin (ie 8pin) for the CPU, and 4x 6+2pin (ie 8pin) and 2x 6pin for the GPU.


Check the box - maybe you've misplaced them, but an 850W G2 has more than enough from the PSU for your build.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Your problem is MOST likely due to the fact that you either do NOT have an EPS 4+4 (8 pin) connected to the 12v EPS socket on the motherboard, instead having a 6+2 connected there (Don't ANYBODY laugh, or say that's not possible. We just had somebody who did that last week, so yeah, they CAN figure out ways to force crap where it doesn't belong) OR something else along those lines. AND, if you've connected something where it doesn't belong, then chances are good you've caused some kind of damage or other to the motherboard.

Make sure that the 8 pin you have connected to the motherboard is a 4+4 EPS connector, not a 6+2 PCI connector.

Also make SURE that what you have connected to your graphics card is a 6+2 PCI connector, not one of the EPS connectors. These things are all KEYED, and if you look closely at all of the connectors AND the sockets, you will see that they are only meant to be able to be plugged in where they belong. There are different shapes to the pins and different key slots in some cases, so don't go putting the triangle in the square hole or the square connector in the round hole. Each little pin on the connectors for the EPS and PCI plugs has it's own keyed shape around that pin. Some are round, some are half hexagon, some are square. They should match the same shape on the socket they plug into. If they don't, then it's not the right connector. And if you've plugged the wrong connector into a socket, even if you didn't get it fully seated, and powered on, then it's likely you've damaged something because the pinouts are all different. Reversed in fact.

My biggest concern at this point would be determining if the system still tries to freeze if you disconnect ALL drives. Do NOT try to boot into windows, simply disconnect ALL drives, power on, and see if you can get into and navigate around the BIOS without any freezing. If you cannot, then you have a problem with the CPU installation, the memory or the motherboard. Mayyyybe with the graphics card, but you can eliminate that too by removing the graphics card completely from the motherboard and connecting your display cable to the motherboard video output so that the iGPU on the CPU is used instead.

 

[Rogue Leader]

It did, but my Motherboard uses 1x 8pin for CPU and 1x6pin + 1x8pin for GPU

Theres another cable in that box for sure. Your CPU should use a 4+4 8 pin plug (an 8 pin that breaks into 2 4 pins). Your new GPU cables should have 2 6+2 pin connectors on each. When added together 2 8 pins.