Question Windows won't boot, restore or reset after BIOS update.

[PurplePanda]

Hey everyone,

A couple of months ago I've had this problem with my pc a while after I installed my new SSD in it, where it wouldn't shut down or restart properly and would be stuck on the windows logo screen for HOURS. I've tried all the possible solutions on the internet and none of them worked, but I saw a comment that suggested updating the BIOS so I thought why not, the update went smoothly and successfully but..when I started my PC again it wouldn't boot and it shows me the troubleshoot screen, now this has happened to me before and I just chose to restore the system to a previous version and it worked like a charm but this time it wouldn't allow me to do it, so I thought I might just reset my PC...this also didn't work and windows would just kick me back to the main troubleshoot screen saying that an error has happened.

I'd be really grateful if anyone could help me with this,

thanks a lot, everyone.

Windows 10
Motherboard: MSI Z370-A PRO

Ps: I also tried downgrading the BIOS, it did downgrade but the booting problem wasn't solved

 

[clutchc]

You said you reset the BIOS to defaults. Was there anything that needed changing back after the default reset that you forgot to do? For instance, I presume your SATA mode is AHCI, and that is what you installed W10 with.

 

[PurplePanda]

You said you reset the BIOS to defaults. Was there anything that needed changing back after the default reset that you forgot to do? For instance, I presume your SATA mode is AHCI, and that is what you installed W10 with.

I didn’t really miss with the settings apart from just updating the BIOS version. And yes my SATA mode is AHCI, is it important?

 

[clutchc]

If you had installed Win using IDE mode (for example), Win would balk at loading. But modern boards pretty much all default to AHCI mode now. Used to be, you had to switch from IDE mode manually on the older boards.

It sounds like the issues you had after the SSD installation is where everything went bad. Are you up for a clean install of Win10 and starting over? Or do you still have your old HDD with W10 still installed on it that you could swap out for the boot drive?

 

[PurplePanda]

If you had installed Win using IDE mode (for example), Win would balk at loading. But modern boards pretty much all default to AHCI mode now. Used to be, you had to switch from IDE mode manually on the older boards.

It sounds like the issues you had after the SSD installation is where everything went bad. Are you up for a clean install of Win10 and starting over? Or do you still have your old HDD with W10 still installed on it that you could swap out for the boot drive?

Well, both the SSD and the HDD are still installed in my PC but I swapped the system files to the SSD when I installed it.

Does a clean install mean I’ll lose all my files? Because I have some really important files there so I wish if there’s a way to back them up and then it would be fine to reinstall windows again.

 

[clutchc]

You didn't clean install W10 on the SSD and start over? That may be the problem if you used the old Win files from the HDD. Or did you clone the SSD from the HDD?

 

[PurplePanda]

You didn't clean install W10 on the SSD and start over? That may be the problem if you used the old Win files from the HDD. Or did you clone the SSD from the HDD?

No I didn’t clean install it on the SSD.

I think what I did was that I cloned the C: drive ( which has the windows files) to the new SSD and then made it the default booting option in the BIOS and that’s it.

 

[clutchc]

Does the old HDD still have Win on it ready to boot from? If so, change the boot order to boot from it instead and see if the problem still exists. You might even want to unplug the SATA cable from the SSD so it isn't recognized for this test.

 

[PurplePanda]

Does the old HDD still have Win on it ready to boot from? If so, change the boot order to boot from it instead and see if the problem still exists. You might even want to unplug the SATA cable from the SSD so it isn't recognized for this test.

No I believe it doesn’t, I remember cleaning the C: drive after successfully cloning it and booting from the new SSD so I could use the extra storage space.

Can I possibly unplug the HDD and/or SSD and connect it to another PC to back up my files? Then I’d have no problems clean installing windows again on the SSD.

 

[clutchc]

Yes, if they aren't encrypted in someway that you need the OS. And if they aren't reliant upon your OS to run.

 

[PurplePanda]

Yes, if they aren't encrypted in someway that you need the OS. And if they aren't reliant upon your OS to run.

So I’v tried unplugging my SSD and my HDD to another PC and boot from them.

The SSD booted just fine but the HDD didn’t.

I tried plugging only the SSD back to my pc and it booted! Windows 10 was running and all and it finally shut down when I clicked the shut down button.

However, when I plugged the HDD back, it booted but it didn’t shut down and was stuck on the “shutting down” screen.

I guess the problem now is with the HDD drive? What’s the ideal solution for this situation?

 

[clutchc]

So... let me get this straight. Now the system works fine until the HDD is installed?

 

[PurplePanda]

So... let me get this straight. Now the system works fine until the HDD is installed?

Exactly! And I know it’s weird! Once I plugged back my HDD which has my games and all the other files, my PC won’t shut down or restart properly.

 

[clutchc]

So, what's your plan? Plug the HDD back in after the system is up and running, then copy the contents to another drive (assuming the drive itself is defective)?

 

[PurplePanda]

So, what's your plan? Plug the HDD back in after the system is up and running, then copy the contents to another drive (assuming the drive itself is defective)?

Maybe, but do you think formatting the drive would fix it?

So, what's your plan? Plug the HDD back in after the system is up and running, then copy the contents to another drive (assuming the drive itself is defective)?

Well maybe, but do you think formatting the drive would solve the problem?

 

[clutchc]

Very likely, but of course, no guarantees. However, won't you want to recover your stuff on the HDD first?