Screen shows black screen with random letters after bios splash screen

[henryrding]

When I power on my PC, everything is fine until after the GIGABYTE logo flashes on screen. The screen goes black like it normally does, however this seemingly random string of characters shows up on the screen and then nothing happens and the PC won't start into windows.

The last thing I did before this happened was disable fast start up in windows 10 to be able to get into my BIOS and check some settings. After I quit the BIOS, the PC restarted and the error described above happened.

What's the problem here? Is there a problem with my motherboard? or is it something else?
Any help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[karenjoly]

This could be a bad memory module so if there are more than one installed, take one out then the other to troubleshoot that issue. Could be a virus so If you have one, use a bootable anti virus program from a USB drive.If neither solution works then reinstall windows . Since your data will be lost, take the drive to a shop (you must warn the shop about the virus possibility) and retrieve any files before you reinstall.

 

[henryrding]

This could be a bad memory module so if there are more than one installed, take one out then the other to troubleshoot that issue. Could be a virus so If you have one, use a bootable anti virus program from a USB drive.If neither solution works then reinstall windows . Since your data will be lost, take the drive to a shop (you must warn the shop about the virus possibility) and retrieve any files before you reinstall.

A memory module is the same thing as RAM right? If so, I took your advice and troubleshooted by testing each one separately, but neither fixed the problem. I also used a bootable anti virus program from a USB drive as well as fixed registry issues with it, however that did not fix the problem either. Is reinstalling windows the only other solution I can try?

 

[karenjoly]

As the anti virus scan was nugatory, there may be a hardware problem and a chance that the video device is kaput. Does the system have an integrated gpu ? If so, try hooking up the monitor to the motherboard video out rather than the video card .

 

[henryrding]

As the anti virus scan was nugatory, there may be a hardware problem and a chance that the video device is kaput. Does the system have an integrated gpu ? If so, try hooking up the monitor to the motherboard video out rather than the video card .

No, the motherboard doesn't have an integrated gpu.
Also, if I reinstall windows and choose the keep personal files option, does that also work? is that different than taking it to a store?

 

[karenjoly]

That may work. Some files are retained but if its a virus,the virus may be retained as well. Try it and see whether resetting kept your data and eliminated the problem. Remember we have not identified the problem yet . It may be the video card or another hardware issue. Taking it to a shop may present a slight advantage in that the techs may have another video card to try and if that does not help, then they can retrieve your files and you can do a full reinstall.

 

[henryrding]

That may work. Some files are retained but if its a virus,the virus may be retained as well. Try it and see whether resetting kept your data and eliminated the problem. Remember we have not identified the problem yet . It may be the video card or another hardware issue. Taking it to a shop may present a slight advantage in that the techs may have another video card to try and if that does not help, then they can retrieve your files and you can do a full reinstall.

Ok, well i tried my old video card and that didn't help either. I'll try and take it into a shop.

 

[karenjoly]

OK please follow up here so we can advise others.

 

[smorizio]

if it not a virus your hardd rive may have died. unplug your hard drive see if you can boot from a windows or other os usb stick.