[SOLVED] Windows 10 install BSOD-s the moment you move the mouse or press a key

[Destroyer140]

Hi,

One of my relatives just got a new PC and I spent the most pleasant last 8 hours piecing the parts together and trying my best to get it to work based on similar issues I read about, but alas with no success.

I'll Try to keep it brief:
-Said relative is upgrading from an old PC that had unexplainable low FPS issues with games with only brief windows where it felt like everything is running properly.
-He bought a new Case, PSU, MOBO, CPU, GPU and made sure not to go for the cheapest parts too.
-The only parts we are working with from the old PC is the RAM, the SSD and HDD.
-Pieced everything together, it boots to bios fine, fans spinning properly, leds look allright, temps look ok in BIOS, everything looks allright.
-Win 10 from the SSD crashes on all launch, but that is to be expected with a MOBO/CPU change and I brought a Win10 installer (prepped by the official MS thingy with the newest version available yesterday) just for this case.
-After fiddleing around with the BIOS a bit I figured that there is an actual boot priority list, but I had to enable "CSM" for that, so I did that and selected my USB stick with win10 on it as first priority... and then it still proceeded to try to load windows from the SSD and crash.
-As next step, I disconnected all the storage and ensured that the USB drive is the only valid source to attempt to boot from, and in case we get to the install's part that ask "where do you wanna install windows" I'll just reconnect the drives and refresh the list of drives and select the drive to format.
-Or at least that's what I though.
-Now the PC either BSODs out right while trying to boot, or either gets to the first page of windows 10 install (the screen where you have to select language, time and currency setting, and keyboard input methode) where you have to click "next" to advance, but the moment you press anything on the keyboard or attempt to move the mouse, it freezes up in ~2 second and BSOD-s every single time with no chance to get anywhere with the install.

Here are a couple BSOD types I seem to remember seeing during the 8 hour mess:
-IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (either this one or "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL ", but one of these one came up a lot)
-KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (also frequent one. Also had "What failed:*filename.sys" under it too. Large variety of .sys files with awkward names I seen but I seem to remember about 2 by the name of usbxhci.sys and one that had "hid" something in it's name).

Things I have already tried:
-Run the installer with connected storage with old Win10 on it.
-Run the installer with disconnected storage with old Win10 on it.
-Mess around in every imaginable way with the boot priority.
-Try the install with both enabled and disabled XHCI setting.
-Try different USB ports for the install drive (including both 2.0 and 3.0 ports).
-Update MOBO BIOS to the latest one, utilizing a feature for that from BIOS.
-Take an entirely different USB stick, format it to exFAT instead FAT32 as someone suggested online, and put the win10 install on that drive over the span of agonizing 2 hours (which windows10 installer creation utility proceeded to format back to fat32 anyway...).
-Try to disconnect original keyboard and mouse, and replace mouse with a much more simple one that can't possibly have driver issues (due to fancy gaming hardware etc...) or something.

List of components we are working with:
Case: Enthoo Pro TG SE.
Mobo: ASUS ROG Strix X570-F Gaming.
CPU: Ryzen 3600.
PSU: Some half modular corsair one, but surely 650W.
RAM: Hyper X, 2x8GB 2400mhz, HX426C15FBK2/16
GPU: Some variation of ROG RTX2060 SUPER. Not sure of the exact model as he ended up buying a different one I recommended but PSU should be easily able to cover it.
Keyboard: Not fully sure, but something that definitelly looks like a Razer Blackwidow, also sure it had not 1 but 2 USB connectors.
Mouse: Razer Naga.

If there is any additional information I could provide, let me know.

I'm at my wit's end here, please if anyone has any suggestion I could try tomorrow, do let me know.

 

[Colif]

If you get bsod during install process its most likely hardware

After fiddleing around with the BIOS a bit I figured that there is an actual boot priority list, but I had to enable "CSM" for that, so I did that and selected my USB stick with win10 on it as first priority... and then it still proceeded to try to load windows from the SSD and crash.

Brand new Motherboard shouldn't need any changes such as CSM to boot off USB. changing to CSM just forces PC to use Legacy boot method. Its no big deal, its just a step you shouldn't need to do.

As next step, I disconnected all the storage and ensured that the USB drive is the only valid source to attempt to boot from, and in case we get to the install's part that ask "where do you wanna install windows" I'll just reconnect the drives and refresh the list of drives and select the drive to format.
-Or at least that's what I though.

that isn't how it works, ssd should be attached as well. remove every other drive until the PC boots off ssd, and only then reattach them. And never while PC is running.

Now the PC either BSODs out right while trying to boot, or either gets to the first page of windows 10 install (the screen where you have to select language, time and currency setting, and keyboard input methode) where you have to click "next" to advance, but the moment you press anything on the keyboard or attempt to move the mouse, it freezes up in ~2 second and BSOD-s every single time with no chance to get anywhere with the install.

Sounds like it could be a ram problem. First step of installer is to load itself into ram, as it can't run off USB completely. Mouse/kb should be running off ram using windows default drivers, so it shouldn't be anything that was on install. its unusual.

Ryzen CPU pretty picky about ram, especially if its not on motherboard list, so need to confirm which sticks you have and see if they on motherboard site.

Try running memtest86 on each of your ram sticks, one stick at a time, up to 4 passes. Only error count you want is 0, any higher could be cause of the BSOD. Remove/replace ram sticks with errors.

is ram in xmp mode?

usbxhci.sys and one that had "hid" something in it's name).

those might explain the bsod associated with mouse movement. hid = human interface devices, both are likely tied into the USB drives somehow.

 

[Destroyer140]

Hi, thank you for the reply. I double checked earlier conversations with said relative, and apparently it's a HX426C15FBK2/16 kit, which I also fixed in my OP.

Furthermore I checked and it does seem to appear on the QVL list of the MOBO as "supported".

The interesting part is that I only seem to get BSOD the moment I try to do anything with any of the peripherials. But I can try to run memtest86 tomorrow. Roughly how long it will take to run the mentioned 4 pass tests on the sticks? Should I plan with hours or is it something quick?

I'm not sure about XMP, the entire BIOS just felt like an absolute mess compared to what I'm used to, if I find XMP settings, should I be making sure to have it enabled or disabled?

 

[Colif]

After fiddleing around with the BIOS a bit I figured that there is an actual boot priority list, but I had to enable "CSM" for that, so I did that and selected my USB stick with win10 on it as first priority... and then it still proceeded to try to load windows from the SSD and crash.

Odd thing is a new motherboard tries to boot off an ssd that shouldn't even be in its boot order.

I assume there is nothing on SSD you want. You should run secure erase on it
Look on page 3-19 of the motherboard manual - https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...ING/E15201_ROG_STRIX_X570-F_GAMING_UM_WEB.pdf

you can wipe ssd so windows cannot interfere when you boot off the USB

tried the rear panel USB slots? I assume so given most new cases don't have usb 2 on front.

But I can try to run memtest86 tomorrow. Roughly how long it will take to run the mentioned 4 pass tests on the sticks? Should I plan with hours or is it something quick?

hours

it shouldn't be the ram if it was fine in last PC. It shouldn't be the ssd either for same reason.

 

[Destroyer140]

Brand new Motherboard shouldn't need any changes such as CSM to boot off USB. changing to CSM just forces PC to use Legacy boot method. Its no big deal, its just a step you shouldn't need to do.

The weird thing was that the BIOS didn't even have a boot priority list to begin with (which is rather un usual) until I turned on CSM after a bit of googleing and finding someone that was struggleing to find it too, after turning it on the boot priority list showed and could be changed.

that isn't how it works, ssd should be attached as well. remove every other drive until the PC boots off ssd, and only then reattach them. And never while PC is running.

I thought that's exactly what the "Hot Plugging" feature on the sata ports are for tho. There is only an SSD and 1 storage drive. Based on what I experienced yesterday it'll likely ignore boot priority and just going to try to boot from the SSD (until I erase it from BIOS as suggested in later quote) unless I force a boot on the USB from the BIOS.

Sounds like it could be a ram problem. First step of installer is to load itself into ram, as it can't run off USB completely. Mouse/kb should be running off ram using windows default drivers, so it shouldn't be anything that was on install. its unusual

it shouldn't be the ram if it was fine in last PC.

We never really got to the bottom of the issue with the previous PC. We tried new CPU, new GPU new PSU, that's when he even got the SSD in hopes it would help. The only thing we never got to swap and troubleshoot was the RAMs and the old MOBO, so there might be very well something up with the ram, I'll run the memtest on the sticks just to be safe.

I assume there is nothing on SSD you want.

Correct, I'll try the bios formating thingy once I can continue troubleshooting.

tried the rear panel USB slots? I assume so given most new cases don't have usb 2 on front.

Yes, I did test both front and rear usb ports so it can't be bad front panel cable.

I'll post an update once I gone through with memory tests and the SSD wipe and tried my luck after that.

 

[Destroyer140]

Small update:
Haven't seen any settings with "XMP" in name nor in MOBO book nor in the bios it self, but I did find a setting that allowed manual tweaking of the memory frequency.

Memory frequencies were buried into "AI Tweaker" or whatever it awas called (basically utility that want to auto configure all your stuff), after changing ram settings from letting AI Tweaker handle it to "D.O.C.P.".

After a brief research I also found this in another thread:

DOCP (Direct Over Clock Profile), is from Asus for AMD mobos and came as the mobo makers didn't want to pay royalties to Intel to implement XMP on AMD mobos, it effectively uses the DRAM XMP profile to set up data rates and comparative timings on the AMD mobos for a variety of data rates.

So it's technically ASUS's version of "XMP". Trusting gut sense I manually changed frequency from 2666mhz to 2400 and even the original OS on the SSD booted fine.

I'll do 1 last trip tomorrow to do a fresh Win10 install to avoid driver conflicts and stress the PC a bit to see if the settings are stable under proper load and report back if the issue seems to be solved.

 

[Colif]

We never really got to the bottom of the issue with the previous PC. We tried new CPU, new GPU new PSU, that's when he even got the SSD in hopes it would help. The only thing we never got to swap and troubleshoot was the RAMs and the old MOBO, so there might be very well something up with the ram, I'll run the memtest on the sticks just to be safe.

the "issues" being "unexplainable low FPS issues with games with only brief windows where it felt like everything is running properly. "?

think i move this into systems, you get more attention in there.

I would test both ssd and hdd out as well, as if the only old parts are storage and ram, you would expect problem tied to one of them.

 

[Destroyer140]

The new PC is working and seem to be nice and stable even under load if for the weird fact that CPU temps seem to be missing from Speccy even after all the drivers are installed.

I also tried my luck with the old PC again as it still bothered me that I never managed to troubleshoot that. Long story short it turned out that MSI makes dogshit tier bios updates, and that flipped some setting that limited the CPU to 0.8Ghz instead of the intended 3,7Ghz. After disableing "Intel Adaptive Thermal Monitor" the CPU no longer tried to maintain ~30C and throttleing it self and everything seemed to work fine on it too.

That said, wile I already had my bet on the RAM, still thank you for encouraging me to look further into XMP and other such memory related settings, as in the end, it did solve the issue. I even learned a bit about how Windows install work in it's early phases too.