- Jul 31, 2022
- 10
- 0
- 10
Hello. Here are my specs:
(nothing's overclocked)
CPU: Intel i3 4150 3.50GHz
GPU: 750 Ti, ASUS version
MOBO: ASUS H81M-K
PSU: Floston, 500W
RAM: 2* 8GB 1600MHz, Teamgroup
Drive: 1TB HDD SATA3 7.2k RPM, Seagate Barracuda, read further.
BIOS Version: 0804 x64
BIOS Date: 05/13/2014 (I know, old)
ME Version: 9.0.30.1482
South Bridge Stepping: 05/C2
So, this issue started a couple of months ago. I didn't do anything remarkable. In other words, I don't think there was a specific thing that I did that caused all of this. The boot-up time took way longer, probably 5 times more than usual. Apart from this, sometimes it wouldn't boot at all: the BIOS logo would stay on for, say, 30 seconds instead of the usual 3-5, then all I'd see would be a blackscreen, and nothing more, forever. It would never go away. This was quite RNG, sometimes it would have this issue, other times it wouldn't. Anyhow, to get it to work so I could actually use the PC, I'd just restart it. As I said, it was RNG: sometimes it took one restart, other times 3, other times 10. About a week ago, however, I think I tried restarting it about 30 times, but to no avail. I proceeded to open up the computer and clean it of all dust I could find in it, plus to switch my SATA cable, and also the cable which provided the HDD with power. It still didn't work. I tried on a different HDD, a 512GB, but the same thing happened. When I the original 1TB HDD back in the computer, it would start to boot, only to shut down 2-3 seconds later. Then, without any input from me, by itself, it'd boot again, and shut down 2-3 seconds later, and so on. I let it do this for 5 minutes and it was still going in this fashion. Yikes, I think I messed something up. Eventually, I took out one of the RAM sticks and this "restarting" problem was fixed. Though, now I still had the eternal blackscreen problem.
After one hour of not doing anything else, the problem went away and my PC booted just fine. After a couple of hours of use, my screen just froze and I really couldn't do anything. CTRL+ALT+DELETE wouldn't do anything, WIN+TAB wouldn't do anything, waiting an hour didn't do anything either. Finally, I shut down the computer. Obviously, the next time I tried to boot it up, it wouldn't. The BIOS, as previously, took longer, way longer, and then a blackscreen would appear and never go away.
One time, as I was restarting it again and again, I arrived to a "Windows could not start" screen. Not really having other option, I decided to run a Memory Diagnosis Test. This took 36 hours instead of the "couple of minutes" that it said it would take. Afterwards, I didn't even get to see the results of it, since those results were stored on a file which I could only access using an OS, something I couldn't get to. Quite stupid design, to be honest.
I should also point out that, a few times, a sort-of error screen greeted me, telling me that there's too much current going into my USBs, or something. I forgot the exact phrasing, but it had "!!" at the end. It told me that I had 3 mice, 4 keyboards and 4 hubs plugged in. My USB ports were empty. I only had my DVI and power cable plugged in.
Since then, I've tried to change the RAM sticks, the PSU, the HDD (tried 4, some it didn't recognize from time to time, but for all of them the same blackscreen thing happened) and also a different battery for the MOBO, just because I had one laying around. Nothing changed.
Sometimes, probably once every few thousand tries, the blackscreen would disappear and the Windows loading "dots", those going in a circle (those), would appear; above them wouldn't be the Windows logo, but the ASUS logo instead. Quite weird, but promising. However, this would stay on screen for just as long as the blackscreen: forever. I let it sit like this for 12 hours and nothing changed: the dots were still going in a circle.
I'm quite stuck now, and I don't really know what else to try. I figure that even if this particular HDD is on its deathbed, why would all other HDDs that I've tried behave in the same way? I assume it's related to the motherboard, maybe something in it fried or isn't getting current as it should. Even if the PSU is old, I tried a different and newer one, of a slightly lower wattage, and it still did its blackscreen thing.
I'd really hope for some help on this. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance!
edit1: Forgot to mention this, but when trying to boot with no HDD plugged in, the BIOS logo doesn't stay on for an absurd amount of time, but instead for the usual 3-5 seconds, as you'd expect from a working PC.
(nothing's overclocked)
CPU: Intel i3 4150 3.50GHz
GPU: 750 Ti, ASUS version
MOBO: ASUS H81M-K
PSU: Floston, 500W
RAM: 2* 8GB 1600MHz, Teamgroup
Drive: 1TB HDD SATA3 7.2k RPM, Seagate Barracuda, read further.
BIOS Version: 0804 x64
BIOS Date: 05/13/2014 (I know, old)
ME Version: 9.0.30.1482
South Bridge Stepping: 05/C2
So, this issue started a couple of months ago. I didn't do anything remarkable. In other words, I don't think there was a specific thing that I did that caused all of this. The boot-up time took way longer, probably 5 times more than usual. Apart from this, sometimes it wouldn't boot at all: the BIOS logo would stay on for, say, 30 seconds instead of the usual 3-5, then all I'd see would be a blackscreen, and nothing more, forever. It would never go away. This was quite RNG, sometimes it would have this issue, other times it wouldn't. Anyhow, to get it to work so I could actually use the PC, I'd just restart it. As I said, it was RNG: sometimes it took one restart, other times 3, other times 10. About a week ago, however, I think I tried restarting it about 30 times, but to no avail. I proceeded to open up the computer and clean it of all dust I could find in it, plus to switch my SATA cable, and also the cable which provided the HDD with power. It still didn't work. I tried on a different HDD, a 512GB, but the same thing happened. When I the original 1TB HDD back in the computer, it would start to boot, only to shut down 2-3 seconds later. Then, without any input from me, by itself, it'd boot again, and shut down 2-3 seconds later, and so on. I let it do this for 5 minutes and it was still going in this fashion. Yikes, I think I messed something up. Eventually, I took out one of the RAM sticks and this "restarting" problem was fixed. Though, now I still had the eternal blackscreen problem.
After one hour of not doing anything else, the problem went away and my PC booted just fine. After a couple of hours of use, my screen just froze and I really couldn't do anything. CTRL+ALT+DELETE wouldn't do anything, WIN+TAB wouldn't do anything, waiting an hour didn't do anything either. Finally, I shut down the computer. Obviously, the next time I tried to boot it up, it wouldn't. The BIOS, as previously, took longer, way longer, and then a blackscreen would appear and never go away.
One time, as I was restarting it again and again, I arrived to a "Windows could not start" screen. Not really having other option, I decided to run a Memory Diagnosis Test. This took 36 hours instead of the "couple of minutes" that it said it would take. Afterwards, I didn't even get to see the results of it, since those results were stored on a file which I could only access using an OS, something I couldn't get to. Quite stupid design, to be honest.
I should also point out that, a few times, a sort-of error screen greeted me, telling me that there's too much current going into my USBs, or something. I forgot the exact phrasing, but it had "!!" at the end. It told me that I had 3 mice, 4 keyboards and 4 hubs plugged in. My USB ports were empty. I only had my DVI and power cable plugged in.
Since then, I've tried to change the RAM sticks, the PSU, the HDD (tried 4, some it didn't recognize from time to time, but for all of them the same blackscreen thing happened) and also a different battery for the MOBO, just because I had one laying around. Nothing changed.
Sometimes, probably once every few thousand tries, the blackscreen would disappear and the Windows loading "dots", those going in a circle (those), would appear; above them wouldn't be the Windows logo, but the ASUS logo instead. Quite weird, but promising. However, this would stay on screen for just as long as the blackscreen: forever. I let it sit like this for 12 hours and nothing changed: the dots were still going in a circle.
I'm quite stuck now, and I don't really know what else to try. I figure that even if this particular HDD is on its deathbed, why would all other HDDs that I've tried behave in the same way? I assume it's related to the motherboard, maybe something in it fried or isn't getting current as it should. Even if the PSU is old, I tried a different and newer one, of a slightly lower wattage, and it still did its blackscreen thing.
I'd really hope for some help on this. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance!
edit1: Forgot to mention this, but when trying to boot with no HDD plugged in, the BIOS logo doesn't stay on for an absurd amount of time, but instead for the usual 3-5 seconds, as you'd expect from a working PC.
Last edited:
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