Weeks after Windows 10 upgrade and computer will not boot

[erawley]

Hi guys. I upgraded to windows 10 on my build several weeks ago and everything was working flawlessly until about 2 weeks ago, every time I shut down or restarted the computer it wouldn't boot back up. In order to get it to boot I'd have to hold the power button down and turn it off manually, sometimes for several cycles. All lights will turn on (except the HDD light) and all fans turn on, but I get no display whatsoever. Now I can't even get it to boot at all no matter how many times I try cycling on and off. The last time I was able to get it to boot I tried running startup repair and that wouldn't even work, as soon as startup repair tried to restart my computer it did the same thing it always does. I tried removing my ram and installed it in my wifes computer one at a time and both modules worked perfectly. I also made sure everything was properly seated, Tried resetting the CMOS, checked to make sure the HDD was running, and switched the sata cable for the HDD to a different port on the MOBO (which made the HDD light turn on solid for just a few seconds during boot), but still nothing! I have no idea what else to check. I just want my computer back! Would this be a hardware issue or is it because of windows 10? Every forum I see about windows 10 boot problems people are at least getting something on their display. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

MOBO: MSI 970A-G46
PSU: Corsair CX600 CP-9020048-US
CPU: AMD FX-8320
GPU: MSI AMD Radeon R9 270X
RAM: Kingston HyperX 8GB

 

[Darkbreeze]

Most likely it's the low quality CX600 PSU, but reserve the possibility of it being something else. Do you have access to or can get a volt meter for testing the power supply? If so, then test it as follows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac7YMUcMjbw


The CX series units have low quality caps and dying is a problem with them when used in conjunction with gaming cards for extended periods. We've also been seeing SOME instances of motherboards taking a powder after upgrading to Windows 10 although we cannot seem to find a reason for this that makes any sense, it is in fact happening here and there. One of our moderators just had this happen on a system he was upgrading to windows 10 for a family member and is even at this moment ordering parts for replacement.

Before you go through all that though, and I'm not sure what you mean by "tried" resetting the cmos, but I'd start with disconnecting the power from the wall, taking off the side panel, removing the CMOS battery for about five minutes, reinstalling the CMOS battery, plugging the power cable back in, turning on the computer and then pressing whatever key is necessary to enter the BIOS. In the BIOS, if you can get there, press whatever key is necessary to set it to optimal default settings and then save settings and try to boot. If you cannot even access the BIOS, then there is a hardware problem. Power supply or motherboard would be my strongest suspicions.

If you have, or have access to another known good power supply, of sufficient quality and capacity, for the purpose of using it in place to eliminate or convict the current power supply, doing so might be a good idea as well.

 

[getochkn]

If it's not booting and you have to turn it on and off back and forth, that is more than likely a power issue with the motherboard or possibly PSU, but the MB is usually suspect. It has nothing to do with Windows.

Windows doesn't load up until after the BIOS and the HD inits and all that stuff. If it doesn't even turn on from the power button, it's not Windows, nor related to the Windows updated.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I've seen systems that upgraded to Windows 10 and could not be resumed or woken from the hybrid sleep regardless of what was attempted, including holding the power button down. Resetting the bios or at least disconnecting power from the system would temporarily correct that though. Turning off hibernation or hybrid sleep seemed to correct most of those issues. I think maybe on some systems that don't have hardware that supports those features, there might be some potential for some kind of additional problems when it tries to engage those modes but I can neither verify nor refute that assumption and I could be fully wrong on that but it seems the most likely, and only, answer I've been able to come up with so far.


I agree however that a problem with the motherboard or power supply is 100% the most likely cause at this point in the game though.

 

[plasmastorm]

There's also cases of folks with hard disks that have had errors for years but still work ok then when they get a sudden 3gb download and a complete shift in whats stored where they just die. Usually find this happening with drives that have a high read error rate, ecc non recoverable errors or just reallocated sectors.

Almost certainly PSU related this issue tho.

 

[SBMfromLA]

Hi guys. I upgraded to windows 10 on my build several weeks ago and everything was working flawlessly until about 2 weeks ago, every time I shut down or restarted the computer it wouldn't boot back up. In order to get it to boot I'd have to hold the power button down and turn it off manually, sometimes for several cycles. All lights will turn on (except the HDD light) and all fans turn on, but I get no display whatsoever. Now I can't even get it to boot at all no matter how many times I try cycling on and off. The last time I was able to get it to boot I tried running startup repair and that wouldn't even work, as soon as startup repair tried to restart my computer it did the same thing it always does. I tried removing my ram and installed it in my wifes computer one at a time and both modules worked perfectly. I also made sure everything was properly seated, Tried resetting the CMOS, checked to make sure the HDD was running, and switched the sata cable for the HDD to a different port on the MOBO (which made the HDD light turn on solid for just a few seconds during boot), but still nothing! I have no idea what else to check. I just want my computer back! Would this be a hardware issue or is it because of windows 10? Every forum I see about windows 10 boot problems people are at least getting something on their display. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

MOBO: MSI 970A-G46
PSU: Corsair CX600 CP-9020048-US
CPU: AMD FX-8320
GPU: MSI AMD Radeon R9 270X
RAM: Kingston HyperX 8GB

I was wondering... is your computer just flat out refusing to boot up period or does it eventually boot up after a few tries? I do know there is an issue with Windows 10 that would cause it to crash while booting up IF you have the QUICK BOOT OPTION ENABLED without also having Hibernation turned on. Turning that off would fix the problem... but I'm not sure if that would apply to you...

 

[erawley]

Thanks for all the responses. I just checked out my PSU with my multi-meter and it checked out just fine. I've removed and reinstalled the CMOS battery after several minutes with the PSU unplugged. I've swapped monitors thinking that maybe my monitor was just intermittently working. Neither monitor would even kick out of sleep mode when I boot the PC.

What about my graphics card? Could that be the culprit considering the monitor is plugged in to it? I wish i had another graphics card I could try or integrated graphics so I could bypass the graphics card and see if I can get to BIOS.

I'm kind of leaning towards the motherboard though. I don't understand why when I move the HDD sata cable to a different port I will all of a sudden get HDD lights unless something on my board got fried somehow.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So the fans are working, but there is just no display? Not even during POST or BIOS? Try removing and reseating the card. Try using the other PCI power plug for the graphics card.

Make sure you have no USB devices except the mouse and keyboard connected, and maybe even try with those disconnected.

Try booting to the bios with no hard drives connected at all. You should still be able to get basic display and access the bios even without a hard drive.

Double check everything twice that's listed here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems


And if that doesn't help, breadboard the motherboard:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1753671/bench-troubleshooting.html

 

[erawley]

Yeah all the fans run, the 4 power phase lights on the mobo light up but no display whatsoever. I've tried reseating everything a thousand times. I've unplugged everything and tried items one at a time. When I remove the ram the mobo does give 3 long beeps, which I read somewhere that when you remove the ram and the mobo beeps that means the mobo is good. I'm not sure he knew what he was talking about though, that seems way to easy. When I remove the GPU I don't get any beeps, is that right?

I've tested and retested the PSU with the paper clip test and also when it was under a load and the voltages are always dead on the money. I'm about to just buy a new mobo and cross my fingers. I'm thinking about an ASUS M5A99FX. Any thoughts on that? Thanks again for all the help.

 

[erawley]

Also, I did try to move the GPU to the other PCI slot......still nothing

 

[Darkbreeze]

3 beeps is a RAM error on that board. Try removing all but one stick of RAM (Making sure it's in the slot designated for single module configuration) and then reset CMOS by removing the CMOS battery for five minutes (With the power cord disconnected), reinstall the cord and battery and try to reboot.

 

[erawley]

I just tried that, it does the same thing except I don't get any beep codes. Although the motherboard manual doesn't specify which slot is for a single module, so I just tried it both ways to be sure.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'd try another power supply. Sometimes they'll pass no load testing, but won't work when under any kind of load. If you have another or can borrow one, I'd start there.

If you want to just try another motherboard and have decided that's what you need to do, you could do a lot worse than the M5A99FX PRO you mentioned.

 

[erawley]

I just ordered the M5A99FX PRO motherboard. I don't have access to another power supply and I actually did test the power supply with it under a load so I really don't think it would be that, but who knows. I never really liked the MSI motherboard anyway. We'll see what happens when it gets here on Wednesday!

 

[Darkbreeze]

There's a good chance it's the board. Of course, when it comes to computers, there's always a good chance it's the board, or something else. Anything else.

 

[erawley]

I'm sure I'll find out on Wednesday, but will I need to reinstall or reactivate windows once I get the new board in? Everything I read online is kind of mixed. Some say you do, some say you don't.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, you will have to reactivate. You have Windows 10? Was it an upgrade or did you purchase a retail copy of Windows 10?

 

[erawley]

Yes I have windows 10 on the hard drive now. It was an upgrade so the disc I have is for windows 7.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So what you'll need to do is contact the microsoft help desk by chat, here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contactus


Click on services and apps, or follow the links from the activation link in control panel> system and explain to the Microsoft help desk associate that you had a motherboard failure and need to reactivate your Windows 10 installation. They will reactivate it despite evidence suggesting that motherboard changes in Windows 10 requires purchasing a new OS or reinstallation of your qualifying product.


Alternatively, you can try the following:


Hit the Windows+R hotkeys to open the Run box and run the following command:

slui.exe 3

This command will open the Dialog Box in which you can manually enter your Windows 7 product key which should reactivate the digital entitlement upon your new motherboard. If it does not, you will need help from the Microsoft support agent.

 

[erawley]

I really appreciate all the help. I'll let you know how I get along.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Do that. Good luck until then.

 

[erawley]

Just to let you know, I just installed the new motherboard and it worked! I'm so relieved that I didn't waste $130. BTW, I didn't have to reactivate windows. It booted right up and went right into configuring updates, restarted a couple of times, and then went to my desktop. Thanks again for all the help, I really appreciate it!

 

[Darkbreeze]

You still should click on start, settings, update and security, activation to verify that it is in fact activated with a digital entitlement. It might not show up the first couple of times you boot, but the first time it contacts the MS activation servers with a different bios id string, it's probable that it will deactivate until you work it out.

Glad it was the right part though.