[SOLVED] Windows 10 Taskbar not loading on new PC build

[Sharty Barty]

Hello all, after downloading windows on my first pc build and trying to log into my windows account I quickly noticed my windows taskbar was just frozen and unresponsive. When I scroll my cursor over it, it shows that its just loading. I tried to research online and tried the "windows explorer" solution, and it does not solve the problem. Then I decided to reset the pc, deleting all files, softwares, drivers, and everything to start with a fresh windows install.. and even booting onto a fresh windows, the issue still persists. After restarting the PC a few times I can get it to go away, but that can be a very tedious process.

The specs on my PC are
amd ryzen 5 3600
b550 msi tomahawk motherboard
t force 16 gb ddr4 3000 mhz ram
1 tb western digital ssd NAND Sata III
gigabyte rtx 3070 gaming oc gpu
700w evga bronze psu

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Colif]

does that happen in safe mode?

go to settings/update & security/recovery
under advanced startup, click restart now button
this restarts PC in a blue menu
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose startup options
click the restart button
choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
Pc will restart and load safe mode

Did you recently make the installer?

brand new installs shouldn't have any problems, not right away...
updating mb drivers might help

try running this on the ssd - https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=279

 

[Sharty Barty]

does that happen in safe mode?

go to settings/update & security/recovery
under advanced startup, click restart now button
this restarts PC in a blue menu
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose startup options
click the restart button
choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
Pc will restart and load safe mode

Did you recently make the installer?

brand new installs shouldn't have any problems, not right away...
updating mb drivers might help

try running this on the ssd - https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=279

 

[Sharty Barty]

Could it be the usb flash drive I dowloaded the media creation tool on was too small? I believe it has like 7.8 gb available on it when windows advised having 8gb free. I just figured it would alert me or wouldn’t let me upload the media tool on it in the first place if it were too small. Appreciate the help! I’ll try safe mode and the western digital driver and report back!

 

[Colif]

i don't think windows would have fully finished making installer or let you even install it as far as you got if the USB drive was too small.

 

[Sharty Barty]

i don't think windows would have fully finished making installer or let you even install it as far as you got if the USB drive was too small.

Okay, so I installed the ssd drivers, ran an advanced diagnostics check on that and it came back clean, and then I restarted my pc in safe mode, and the problem of the task bar being frozen with the little spinny loading wheel is still persisting

 

[Colif]

hmmm.... so its not a driver to blame as safe mode only uses windows drivers that came with windows.

lets see if its windows then.

right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter
SFC fixes system files, second command cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

It might be USB size but as I said, I don't think media creation tool would just stop if it ran out of space. We normally suggest 16gb

 

[Sharty Barty]

hmmm.... so its not a driver to blame as safe mode only uses windows drivers that came with windows.

lets see if its windows then.

right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter
SFC fixes system files, second command cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

It might be USB size but as I said, I don't think media creation tool would just stop if it ran out of space. We normally suggest 16gb

So I tested the usb theory by redownloading the media tool on a different fresh 32gb drive, and I wiped the partition, reformatted, and downloaded windows fresh on my build, and when I loaded into to windows and logged in my issue still was there! Haha pretty weird. I’ll try your power shell command and get back to you. Appreciate all your help. Could it be a hardware issue? I know it’s not the ram, cause I swapped to some new sticks and the same issue was still happening.

 

[Colif]

amd ryzen 5 3600
b550 msi tomahawk motherboard
t force 16 gb ddr4 3000 mhz ram
1 tb western digital ssd NAND Sata III
gigabyte rtx 3070 gaming oc gpu
700w evga bronze psu

Two installs on same hardware with same problem... 2 different installers. I am thinking it is hardware but very odd

CPU - better to boot off USB to test it since windows is being difficult
Prime 95 bootable - https://www.infopackets.com/news/10113/how-fix-bootable-prime95-stress-test-hardware
Prime 95 how to Guide: http://www.playtool.com/pages/prime95/prime95.html
Prime 95 also tests the ram.

do you have latest bios for motherboard?
ssd seems okay since we tested it already

is that ram on the qlv for the motherboard? Has it been tested to work with CPU/MB?
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. Memtest is created as a bootable USB so that you don’t need windows to run it

rest of parts... can't run ryzen without gpu, would need an alternate card to test if it still happens with it.
strange PSU error?

2 fixes i found, one is restart file explorer as they linked (it runs the desktop)
and other is reinstall GPU drivers.. since it happens in safe mode I doubt it will help. Could update Nvidia drivers and see if it "fixes" it.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-loading/4b17231c-a34a-4e5a-9ddc-311038ebf5b3

could run Ubuntu live USB and see if it encounters any strangeness - https://itsfoss.com/create-live-usb-of-ubuntu-in-windows/

anything else attached? any old external hdd or printers or speakers? Mouse/Keyboards. try starting with bare minimum and see if makes any difference.
It could be old hardware slowing down startup, and its stalling startup by not replying in time.

 

[Sharty Barty]

Two installs on same hardware with same problem... 2 different installers. I am thinking it is hardware but very odd

CPU - better to boot off USB to test it since windows is being difficult
Prime 95 bootable - https://www.infopackets.com/news/10113/how-fix-bootable-prime95-stress-test-hardware
Prime 95 how to Guide: http://www.playtool.com/pages/prime95/prime95.html
Prime 95 also tests the ram.

do you have latest bios for motherboard?
ssd seems okay since we tested it already

is that ram on the qlv for the motherboard? Has it been tested to work with CPU/MB?
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. Memtest is created as a bootable USB so that you don’t need windows to run it

rest of parts... can't run ryzen without gpu, would need an alternate card to test if it still happens with it.
strange PSU error?

2 fixes i found, one is restart file explorer as they linked (it runs the desktop)
and other is reinstall GPU drivers.. since it happens in safe mode I doubt it will help. Could update Nvidia drivers and see if it "fixes" it.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-loading/4b17231c-a34a-4e5a-9ddc-311038ebf5b3

could run Ubuntu live USB and see if it encounters any strangeness - https://itsfoss.com/create-live-usb-of-ubuntu-in-windows/

anything else attached? any old external hdd or printers or speakers? Mouse/Keyboards. try starting with bare minimum and see if makes any difference.
It could be old hardware slowing down startup, and its stalling startup by not replying in time.

Oh wow appreciate the detailed response! I can definitely look into these troubleshooting methods. Just to update you, so fortunately I’m building an additional gaming pc at the moment as well for my wife- same exact parts, all brand new packaged, except my same gpu. So yesterday I put together her brand new parts, then popped in my gigabyte rtx 3070 from my system into it, did a fresh install of windows, logged in the first time, and the task bar issue was still there. So to me this narrows it down to 2 possible theories. #1 it’s a faulty gpu. However once I get past this startup glitch, my pc will run beautifully. Or #2 like you were mentioning maybe the combination of parts I’ve chosen developed a unique startup quirk in my build that causes this error? I thought the combo of parts would be common, but maybe not.

 

[Colif]

It is likely to be the GPU if it was only part that was exactly the same as other PC. It is handy you had another system to use it in, it sure narrows down the cause.
I don't find it likely you have same problem on 2 PC otherwise. Its not a common problem.

I didn't think to test GPU as it appeared to be a file system thing, not desktop but I guess it makes sense, since you can't see anything on desktop without it. Hard to test it with frozen taskbar anyway.

could try running ubuntu live usb, not sure if any gpu tests on Linux though - https://itsfoss.com/create-live-usb-of-ubuntu-in-windows/

 

[Sharty Barty]

It is likely to be the GPU if it was only part that was exactly the same as other PC. It is handy you had another system to use it in, it sure narrows down the cause.
I don't find it likely you have same problem on 2 PC otherwise. Its not a common problem.

I didn't think to test GPU as it appeared to be a file system thing, not desktop but I guess it makes sense, since you can't see anything on desktop without it. Hard to test it with frozen taskbar anyway.

could try running ubuntu live usb, not sure if any gpu tests on Linux though - https://itsfoss.com/create-live-usb-of-ubuntu-in-windows/

thank you for all the help sir, after all of our trouble shooting... I found out it was my keyboard causing this major major problem. The razer huntman mini with ryzen processor is what causes this heck of a problem. DO NOT buy the Huntsman Mini until Razer releases a firmware update. : razer (reddit.com)