Question Unable to boot past BIOS

[Jrdy]

Hi all,

Apologies if posted in the wrong thread. First time poster.

I am having some issues booting my PC past BIOS. I have had this PC for years and have not had this issue until now. I had a notification that i needed Secure Boot enabled to play The Finals. I googled how to enable it and I found I had to go into BIOS. I went into BIOS and found it said it was already enabled. I then clicked save and exit and it sent me straight back to the BIOS with my CMS turned off which i had running for my SSD to boot. I am now unable to see boot options under “Boot Option Priorities”. I am unable to enable CMS or disable Secure Boot. My SSD is still being detected by my motherboard.

I have tried resetting CMOS to no avail. I read that my GPU could be stopping me from disabling secure boot so i unplugged it and then was unable to get my display working through my motherboard. I have unplugged my SSD, started my pc and shut it down and plugged it back in, also to no avail. I have attempted to put it into a different port and that has not worked either.

I am not an IT professional at all so please correct me if I’m wrong but I believe the main issue is that I cannot save my CMS as enabled, as it reverts back to Disabled once my pc has restarted. I am also unable to disable Secure Boot, since it reverts back to enabled once saved and exited.

My Specs are:
I7 13700KF
Z790 Aorus Elite AX DDR4
2070 Gaming Super
4x 16GB G.SKILL DDR4
SSD with OS: Kingston SUV40
1TB HDD
2TB HDD
1TB Kingston SKC3000S1024G NVMe 4.0 (installed much later then 250GB ssd)

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. I have searched the internet for 3 hours and the only option I have seen that i havent tried is a fresh windows install. I would rather not do that, so if anyone has an answer please let me know.

Thank you all.

 

[Aeacus]

My SSD is still being detected by my motherboard.

Exactly how do you know that?

I am now unable to see boot options under “Boot Option Priorities”.

Win10/11 doesn't need CMS enabled for operation. Win7, if installed under Legacy/BIOS, do need it.

I read that my GPU could be stopping me from disabling secure boot so i unplugged it and then was unable to get my display working through my motherboard.

Well, yeah, your CPU doesn't have iGPU in it. So, removing dedicated GPU = no image.

and the only option I have seen that i havent tried is a fresh windows install. I would rather not do that

IF the OS drive is sound, you could format it and make a clean Win installation.

Though, i'd rather take 2nd drive (preferably brand new) and install OS into there. While removing old OS drive from the system completely, before Win installation.

Once you get the system running (booting into OS), then connect the old OS drive back (when PC is turned off of course) and run it as data drive. This way, you can copy/paste your personal data over, without loosing them.

As of what went wrong, i think your OS drive died on you (or OS got corrupted beyond repair). Hence why MoBo (BIOS) doesn't see boot loader and won't boot into OS. Since without OS to boot into, PC will loop back to BIOS every time.

 

[stonecarver]

How to Fix the CSM Boot Related Issues​

A good read with cause of issue and solutions to patching the now boinked Windows non booting issue.

https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmanager/csm-support-bios.html

 

[Jrdy]

Thank you for the reply, apologies as I have been at work and asleep.

Exactly how do you know that?

I believe since I am able to see my SSD on the easy mode BIOS screen under the SATA Tab that it is detecting it.

Win10/11 doesn't need CMS enabled for operation. Win7, if installed under Legacy/BIOS, do need it.

I replaced my motherboard and cpu to my current specs about 8 months ago and to boot my SSD I was required to be in Legacy mode.

Well, yeah, your CPU doesn't have iGPU in it. So, removing dedicated GPU = no image.

That definitely explains it. Cheers

IF the OS drive is sound, you could format it and make a clean Win installation.

Though, i'd rather take 2nd drive (preferably brand new) and install OS into there. While removing old OS drive from the system completely, before Win installation.

Once you get the system running (booting into OS), then connect the old OS drive back (when PC is turned off of course) and run it as data drive. This way, you can copy/paste your personal data over, without loosing them.

Thank you, I will try this if all else fails, I have just read the forum from the other person who replied abd would like to try reformatting my SSD first, if that does work i will do this option.

As of what went wrong, i think your OS drive died on you (or OS got corrupted beyond repair). Hence why MoBo (BIOS) doesn't see boot loader and won't boot into OS. Since without OS to boot into, PC will loop back to BIOS every time.

That would make sense, I am just very confused how or why it happened as it was working fine until i loaded BIOS.

Again thank you for the reply

 

[Jrdy]

How to Fix the CSM Boot Related Issues​

A good read with cause of issue and solutions to patching the now boinked Windows non booting issue.

https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmanager/csm-support-bios.html

Thank you very much, I will try this when I get home. Im hoping a reformat will work.

 

[Aeacus]

I replaced my motherboard and cpu to my current specs about 8 months ago and to boot my SSD I was required to be in Legacy mode.

Replaced? Or upgraded?

Since when you upgraded, then new, clean Win installation is a must. Because what you have now, is considered completely new system.

That would make sense, I am just very confused how or why it happened as it was working fine until i loaded BIOS.

Here's one possible explanation;

When you upgraded your system and just moved over the OS drive, i take that you didn't enter BIOS at all? Whereby 1st time you entered BIOS in new build, was prior of all of this happening?
If so, it could be, that MoBo cross-validated Win installation, namely what hardware the Win installation supports. Once it was confirmed that Win installation is not for the hardware you're currently running, MoBo essentially said: "nope, not running the OS not meant for this hardware".
Either that, or OS got corrupted. There wouldn't be much of a stretch for Win to become corrupt, since it was initially installed for completely another hardware.

 

[stonecarver]

I replaced my motherboard and cpu to my current specs about 8 months ago and to boot my SSD I was required to be in Legacy mode.

That information was not in the first post.

Since when you upgraded, then new, clean Win installation is a must. Because what you have now, is considered completely new system.

Yup follow what Aeacus suggests being as there is more to the story of how your got to where you are.