Question Reset CMOS, windows won’t start.

Aug 30, 2022
9
0
10
Hi, had a faulty pre owned CPU chip I had previously tried but couldn’t get it to work, so I had out my old working cpu in and everything was fine.

The other day I decided to have one last try with the faulty cpu to get it to work but it wouldn’t so I put my old cpu in. Now my pc starts up but will not load into windows. I did reset cmos on there faulty cpu and I’m thinking that possibly messed something up. I’ve updated bios, reset cmos again on my working chip, tried many other suggestions on Google. I was thinking it might have some thing to do with tpm/ftpm and the cmos reset?

Any help would be hugely appreciated
 
Aug 30, 2022
9
0
10
can you get into the BIOS?
could be resetting bios swapped the boot method, see if it has choices like Legacy/CSM or UEFI, and try the other one.
Hi, yes I can get into bios I have asus motherboard so Im not sure how it differs but what do you mean by boot method? Within CSM? There’s options like Uefi only/ Legacy only and uefi and legacy I believe I’ve tried them and none seem to work. Also in bios loading optimised says the same thing every time, something like “firmware TPM > Discrete TPM” but when I load up bios after restart firmware TPM is still selected?

Im going to go to sleep so sorry if I miss any answers.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Most of the time, the boot method choice in Asus boards is on the Advanced View/Boot tab
CSM = Compatibility Support Module. Its generally what Asus call Legacy

Explanation of terms:

UEFI - Unified extensible Firmware Interface
If your PC is less than 11 years old, you have a UEFI bios now

In 2006 or so Intel decided the bios as it was at time was too limited and needed to be replaced so that it supported newer technologies as they were invented
By about 2009 a consortium of hardware makers had combined to create UEFI standard

Old bios were limited, they didn't know what a mouse was for, so everything was keyboard driven
they weren't expandable, everything had to fit in a small amount of memory
they only supported Master Boot Record (MBR) which can only have 4 partitions per drive (there are tricks to get around this) and max drive size is 2.2 tb

UEFI bios overcame all the limitations of legacy bios (as it came to be called)
it supports mouse, it has a GUI so it looks better than previous bios could
Its expandable, it can be added to to grow as new hardware is created.
UEFI supports MBR & GPT Drives

GPT = GUID Partition Table
GUID = Global Unique ID = Every GPT drive on earth has a unique ID
GPT drives can have a max of 255 partitions on them
Max size of a GPT drive/partition is 18.8 million TB

resetting CMOS can swap the default Boot method to the wrong one.

Also in bios loading optimised says the same thing every time, something like “firmware TPM > Discrete TPM” but when I load up bios after restart firmware TPM is still selected?

TPM - There are 2 types of tpm
  • Firmware TPM (fTPM)
  • Discrete TPM
Firmware are built into the CPU
Discrete is an actual chip you put onto motherboard

Most people use fTPM as most modern CPU have a separate CPU core that runs Secure Boot and other security measures for the PC.
AMD use a ARM Core to do it, its completely apart from the normal CPU Cores.
Its working as it should be. Its not really used by windows 10 unless you use a PIN to logon.
 
Last edited:
Aug 30, 2022
9
0
10
Most of the time, the boot method choice in Asus boards is on the Advanced View/Boot tab
CSM = Compatibility Support Module. Its generally what Asus call Legacy

Explanation of terms:

UEFI - Unified extensible Firmware Interface
If your PC is less than 11 years old, you have a UEFI bios now

In 2006 or so Intel decided the bios as it was at time was too limited and needed to be replaced so that it supported newer technologies as they were invented
By about 2009 a consortium of hardware makers had combined to create UEFI standard

Old bios were limited, they didn't know what a mouse was for, so everything was keyboard driven
they weren't expandable, everything had to fit in a small amount of memory
they only supported Master Boot Record (MBR) which can only have 4 partitions per drive (there are tricks to get around this) and max drive size is 2.2 tb

UEFI bios overcame all the limitations of legacy bios (as it came to be called)
it supports mouse, it has a GUI so it looks better than previous bios could
Its expandable, it can be added to to grow as new hardware is created.
UEFI supports MBR & GPT Drives

GPT = GUID Partition Table
GUID = Global Unique ID = Every GPT drive on earth has a unique ID
GPT drives can have a max of 255 partitions on them
Max size of a GPT drive/partition is 18.8 million TB

resetting CMOS can swap the default Boot method to the wrong one.



TPM - There are 2 types of tpm
  • Firmware TPM (fTPM)
  • Discrete TPM
Firmware are built into the CPU
Discrete is an actual chip you put onto motherboard

Most people use fTPM as most modern CPU have a separate CPU core that runs Secure Boot and other security measures for the PC.
AMD use a ARM Core to do it, its completely apart from the normal CPU Cores.
Its working as it should be. Its not really used by windows 10 unless you use a PIN to logon.
Thank you, I have ASUS A320m-k motherboard. I’ll try changing around booting methods later when I can get on my pc.
 
Aug 30, 2022
9
0
10
Thank you, I have ASUS A320m-k motherboard. I’ll try changing around booting methods later when I can get on my pc.
I changed about the CSM options but all still the same. I get to a windows loading screen then a welcome screen then black. I can move about the mouse and ctrl alt del but task manager won’t appear on screen if I select it. Windows safe mode does load but it’s slow and sometimes crashes. I’m thinking putting the faulty cpu back in and then my original one could help?
 
Aug 30, 2022
9
0
10
I changed about the CSM options but all still the same. I get to a windows loading screen then a welcome screen then black. I can move about the mouse and ctrl alt del but task manager won’t appear on screen if I select it. Windows safe mode does load but it’s slow and sometimes crashes. I’m thinking putting the faulty cpu back in and then my original one could help?
Do you have multiple screens connected? (like monitor and TV)
Windows desktop might be displayed on the other screen.
no just 1 monitor
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
I changed about the CSM options but all still the same. I get to a windows loading screen then a welcome screen then black. I can move about the mouse and ctrl alt del but task manager won’t appear on screen if I select it. Windows safe mode does load but it’s slow and sometimes crashes. I’m thinking putting the faulty cpu back in and then my original one could help?
i wrote this long thing about how to fix bios and then I read this...

Do you have an installer? Its a handy boot drive and might be useful
On another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB

now once you have USB, put it in at startup and go into bios
on the Boot menu, scroill to bottom and pick Boot Override
pick USB from list and PC should boot from it


Should I reinstall windows at this point?

Is there anything on PC you need to save? can't lose?
  • on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
  • choose troubleshoot
  • choose advanced
  • choose command prompt
  • type notepad and press enter
  • in notepad, select file>open
  • Use file explorer to copy any files you need to save to USB or another hdd
I don't think tpm settings are at fault. I would just leave those as is. You could reset bios to defaults before installing to be sure

Once you copied anything off PC you want to keep, try installing windows again with new CPU in and see if it works.

use boot override and reinstall windows - follow this guide: https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/how-to-do-a-clean-installation-of-windows-10.3170366/
 
Last edited:
Aug 30, 2022
9
0
10
Ok thank you guys for all help. I attempted to reinstall windows but got BSoD so I reseated and cleaned the RAM of dust and then reinstalled windows and it’s all working now. Thank you.