Question Windows 10 freezes on boot

Skybuff

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Dec 18, 2015
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Alright so windows keeps freezing on boot but sometimes gets into windows and then proceeds to freeze. I've tried just about everything I could think of troubleshooting wise and I'm starting to think my board is going bad or something because even when I try to reinstall Windows it freezes in the installer. I can get into bios and it won't freeze as well. My specs are a ryzen 5 1500x, 16gb ddr4, ASRock b320m-hd2, gtx 970. Any ideas would be much appreciated
 

britechguy

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Jul 2, 2019
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Try running a bootable version of Linux (Puppy is a good choice) as a test case to see if the same sort of freezing behavior occurs.

I suspect you're right about hardware being involved here, and if that's the case you'll most likely see Linux freeze up, too.
 
Aug 29, 2019
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I am having this problem with a i9 9900k in a Asus prime z390 A motherboard it posts and I can play around with the bios but it will freeze on the windows loading screen after a minute or so
 

britechguy

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I am having this problem with a i9 9900k in a Asus prime z390 A motherboard it posts and I can play around with the bios but it will freeze on the windows loading screen after a minute or so

Which still gives you no direct indication as to whether it's Windows itself or something else Windows needs to access, hardware-wise, that's gone or is going wonky.

Hence the suggestion, that I'll give to you as well, to try booting from a portable Linux version and see if the machine hangs up for that, too. If it doesn't, then there's probably a Windows installation issue, if it does, then something's probably off with the hardware.
 
Aug 29, 2019
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It's a new build so it's never had windows installed it freezes on the windows loading screen when trying to install windows and it does the same thing if I put a hard drive in with Windows installed it does it on the repairing windows screen I would try Linux but I have no way of downloading it onto a usb drive
 

britechguy

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Certainly you have access through a friend or acquaintance to a machine on which you can download a portable Linux instance.

You are never going to have any sure idea of whether the issue is with the build (which I suspect) or Windows (which I don't) unless you see what behavior occurs when attempting to boot another OS. Attempting to install it, too, is a good idea if it will boot. You need to determine where "the hitch in the gitty-up" is occurring.
 
Aug 29, 2019
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Lol all my friends game on console I only have gotten into pcs for VR sim gaming but I am going to get another motherboard and see like others I just have a bad board one question though could it be the cpu or if it was the cpu would the pc not post at all?
 

britechguy

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Jul 2, 2019
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Kevin,

Not that what you propose is not a good "next step" AFTER simpler diagnostics have been done, but it's putting the cart before the horse at the moment.

Unless you live quite a distance away from civilization, you have to know someone with a PC or have access to a library, coffee shop, or somewhere that has public PCs on which you could download what you need.

Buying another mobo, or even just borrowing one, and going through the trouble to redo your build with it is an awful lot of effort to go to before doing basic diagnostics first.
 

britechguy

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Because you could, possibly, have bad install/bootable Windows media. All it takes is a few precious bytes, somewhere, to have become corrupted if they're essential bytes to stop things dead in their tracks.

This is a diagnostic that should point either to the above having happened, if Linux boots without issue, or to a likely hardware issue if Linux hangs in the same way.

This is how computer diagnostics work. You avoid presuming as much as possible and look for a way to narrow the options. Or at least it's how I do it.

I don't keep throwing effort at it until "something sticks." I try to figure out where that effort needs to be focused as part and parcel of the process. Sometimes that results in a little more work, but often it results in saving tons of unnecessary work.