Question Reinstalling Windows 10 on New SSD – Crashing/Reboot Loop During Setup

[Michelino77]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to reinstall Windows 10 on a new SSD after running into issues with my previous drive. However, I'm now facing a different problem: during the setup process (language selection, keyboard layout, etc.), the system keeps freezing or crashing and then reboots in a loop.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

• Tested with two brand new SSDs: one M.2 NVMe and one SATA, thinking the NVMe slot might be faulty.
• Tried using a different USB flash drive to create the installer.
• Ran MemTest86 with 4 full passes — no errors reported.
• Booted into Ubuntu from a USB stick and used it for 2–3 hours with no issues at all.

So the hardware seems to be functioning fine outside of the Windows installer.

Any idea what could be causing this? Is there a way to debug or get more info during setup?

Thanks in advance!

 

[SkyNetRising]

Any idea what could be causing this? Is there a way to debug or get more info during setup?

Try with single ram module.
Disable any/all overclocking. Disable XMP/DOCP.
Check cpu temperature in BIOS. Make sure cpu cooler is properly installed.

Recreate windows installer USB media to latest version.

Also list specs of your system.

 

[geofelt]

Is the target C drive the ONLY drive attached?

Did you use the installer to clean and format the new C drive?

 

[Michelino77]

Is the target C drive the ONLY drive attached?

Did you use the installer to clean and format the new C drive?

There's another HDD attached that I always used as storage.
The new drives I used for try reinstall are totally new, and every time I format it removing eventually partitions.

 

[geofelt]

When you have ANY other drive present while you install windows, it will be used to place a boot manager on it, making it all but impossible to ever remove the drive.
Remove the second drive and all will be put on the target C drive. You can reattach the second drive later.