[Sabbykins]

Hey, I'm terrible with pc repair knowledge so hoping someone might be able to help me because I'm definitely stuck. Sorry for any errors I'm on mobile.

Windows 10 x64 digital upgrade
MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition
Intel Core i5-4690k
Samsung SSD 850 EVO
WDC HDD no idea the rest since it was storage mostly.


So I noticed the other week the CPU was kinda high under load but no glaring issues and knew was due for cleaning. Cleaned heatsink and noticed the paste was kinda weird. Put everything back and started up and the temp had gone up some so ordered paste since I lost mine in the move.

Paste comes I take cpu out clean it off make sure no residue then do same with heat sink. Pea sized dot, put heat sink on, put everything back and start it up. It starts up fine but once it hits windows logo it reboots. Does the same thing and get different errors as I troubleshoot.

**Issue I have is no matter which drive I select, it gets past bios screen but then it can't get past windows logo.**

**SSD as primary boot drive:**
Windows logo then reboots.
Preparing Automatic Repair then reboots.
Preparing Automatic Repair then just stays on that screen.


**Other errors I got but can't reproduce:**
Disk Read Error Ctrlaltdel to restart
Please select boot device
Sometimes I got past the automatic repair and it said something like "Windows has encountered an error Restarting shortly" then reboots.


**HDD as primary:**
Won't start, does have win 10 on it but it just restarts before getting to a logo.

I have a copy of Win 7 and figured maybe see what happens. Boots and says loading setup from CD fine, but I guess when it tries to access the drive it reboots.


So I'm stumped, I don't know where to go from here and Google has been little help this past afternoon. I can't get it to boot past logo and I don't know what part is angry at me.
On the plus side the CPU is cooler now I suppose. But maybe it died or maybe the drives died, I honestly don't know I'm really stuck.

After researching some more I think maybe the CPU is the issue, since I get the logo at least but not sure.

Would be really grateful for any help or advice anyone can give! Thanks!

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   Sabbykins,

 

Cleaned heatsink and noticed the paste was kinda weird. Put everything back and started up and the temp had gone up some so ordered paste since I lost mine in the move. 

 

 

As you are at least getting to the Windows logo the CPU may be ok but can I just ask, did you run the computer without any thermal compound.

 

Sometimes I got past the automatic repair and it said something like "Windows has encountered an error  Restarting shortly" then reboots

 

 

Could be that Windows is corrupt but could also be down to a bad storage device preventing Windows from fully loading.

 

Things that we could do with knowing;

 

The brand and model name or number of the PSU and if used the same for any add on video card.

 

How many sticks of RAM do you have.

 

When you tried the SSD as the boot device was the HDD disconnected from the MB and likewise when you tried the HDD as the boot device was the SSD disconnected from the MB.

[phillpower2]

   Sabbykins,

 

Cleaned heatsink and noticed the paste was kinda weird. Put everything back and started up and the temp had gone up some so ordered paste since I lost mine in the move. 

 

 

As you are at least getting to the Windows logo the CPU may be ok but can I just ask, did you run the computer without any thermal compound.

 

Sometimes I got past the automatic repair and it said something like "Windows has encountered an error  Restarting shortly" then reboots

 

 

Could be that Windows is corrupt but could also be down to a bad storage device preventing Windows from fully loading.

 

Things that we could do with knowing;

 

The brand and model name or number of the PSU and if used the same for any add on video card.

 

How many sticks of RAM do you have.

 

When you tried the SSD as the boot device was the HDD disconnected from the MB and likewise when you tried the HDD as the boot device was the SSD disconnected from the MB.

[Sabbykins]

Thanks for the reply! I still haven't made any progress with it.

CPU had paste still, but it was in patches and seemed like it could do with replacing since it had not been touched in a few years. Did not run it without paste and didn't get any errors or forced shut downs.
Corsair CX600M
Nvidia GeForce GTX 960
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3

I tried with both drives plugged in and with 1 at a time plugged in and selected as primary. I tried them all again just now to see where I'm at.

**Both plugged in SSD as primary HDD as second:

Logo for a few seconds then reboot.
A disk read error occurred
Press ctrl+alt+del to restart



**WDC HDD only boot option 1 hard disk:

Reboot and select proper Boot Device
or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key.

**Samsung SSD only, boot option 1 hard disk:

Blue windows logo for a few seconds then shuts down and reboots.
Blue windows logo Preparing Automatic Repair then shuts down and reboots.
If I let it do this a few times it just alternates between them, sometimes it looks like it gets farther as I get a blank blue screen for a second or the "Windows has encountered an error : (" blue screen.
Then sometimes I get A disk read error occurred
Press ctrl+alt+del to restart

**Using an older hard drive alone that doesn't have win 10 on it but it's old enough that I can't remember what OS it is and I don't think it had any errors previously:

Windows Error Recovery

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.
If windows files have been damaged or configured incorrectly, startup repair can help diagnose and fix the problem. If power was interrupted during startup, choose start windows normally.

Launch startup repair
Start windows normally


Selecting startup repair gives me a load bar that completes then the computer reboots(no complete shutdown just reboot)

Selecting start windows normally gives me the starting windows screen for a second or two then reboots(no forced shut down).

None of these drives will respond to inserted official win 7 installation disk. The disk loading bar completed but then it restarts and just continues the cycle.

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update 

 

Quickest suggestion first, please use a wired PS/2 type keyboard if you have one.

 

Try disabling secure boot "how to" below;

 

Power up or restart the computer continually tap or hold down the key that will allow you to access the BIOS on your computer and then do the following;

 

Select Security -> Secure Boot and then Disabled.

 

Select Advanced -> System Configuration and then Boot Mode.

 

Change UEFI Boot to CSM Boot.

 

Save the changes and Exit the BIOS, commonly F10.

 

See if that helps any.

[Sabbykins]

I used to have an adapter for one but my bios just uses the USB mouse. I have bios load screen enabled so when the pc starts I can enter setup or select boot or just let it go away .

Don't know if I'm link restricted I'll try:
http://imgur.com/mS0jcC9

Under security I don't have that option just administrator password which isn't set and chassis intrusion configuration

Under boot it only does 2 options:
Legacy+UEFI
UEFI

Don't see any CSM, guessing that is legacy?

[phillpower2]

Legacy + UEFI 

 

Not going to be around for a couple of hours now but will check back later.

[Sabbykins]

Yeah that's the option I use I've never changed it. No problem, thanks for trying to help me!

[phillpower2]

Try swapping the SATA cables and ports around and pulling the CMOS battery out for 5 minutes or so, this would clear any possible bad MB settings that could be causing this.

 

In addition to the above;

 

Try removing and reinserting the RAM in different slots and one stick at a time to begin with.

 

Remove the GTX 960 from the motherboard and connect the display to the appropriate video port on the MB.

 

If none of the above helps we should look at using Puppy Linux to see if the storage devices can be mounted and the data on them accessed, after that downloading a Windows 10 ISO.

 

You are welcome btw 

[Sabbykins]

Hey I made progress! Technically not "good" progress but still exciting.

Steps I took:

Removed battery from board waited 5 mins
Removed the ram and and disconnected cables and drives.
I tried to load in on board video but my monitor doesn't turn on, I don't remember why or how I fixed it in the past so I'm using the 960 still.


I connected the old HDD with win 7 and 1 stick ram:

Ram in slot 1 doesn't let me do anything just the reboot loop

Ram moved to slot 2 and got this error when starting
http://imgur.com/bQ3ZZ9c
I couldn't get past it

Ram to slot 3 and I'm able to get into startup repair without crashing and it claims it restored and has to restart
http://imgur.com/SZ2ed5L
I still couldn't get it to start normally without a BSOD and the error is too fast then shuts down so I can't read it.
I'm able to access advanced boot options but only if I'm fast enough before the error. Can't get safe mode to run.
I was able to disable the automatic restart and can now see the error
http://imgur.com/CxF3wD6

Ram to slot 4
Same as 3 but I seem to get a different stop error not sure if it matters
http://imgur.com/sxEpQGs

Haven't done the second stick yet I'll have to see what I get

[Sabbykins]

I'm still on ram 1 slot 4 and startup repair never fixes the issue so I put in the win 7 CD to see if it would work and it.
Formatted and installing right now. Having 1 drive that works would be extremely helpful since I'm not too eager to mess with the other 2 drives if I can help it.

[Sabbykins]

Now I have a fresh working copy of win 7 on other HDD! At this point I'm afraid to even shut it down.

Does this mean the ram is bad or the slots? I'm still on 1 stick and I haven't messed with the other 2 drives.
 
I was able to restart and no errors so that's good.



EDIT again because I felt bad bumping post so much

So what I've got so far after working with it more.
I was able to install and use the old HDD with win 7. I hooked up the SSD along with it but I can't select it as a boot option in bios. It is recognized under bios hardware though. So I unplugged the win 7 HDD and plugged in the storage based one. Can't select the storage as a boot but now the SSD showed up.
I was able to start up the SSD straight to login first try with no crashes or automatic repairs.

So it seems ram in slot 1 or 2 is a reboot loop, ram in slot 3 or 4 works. I don't remember where but I thought you were supposed to do 1,3 and 2,4 for ram.
Does this mean the slots or motherboard is bad or dying then? Or the ram?

Thanks again for all your help, I would never thought to check ram. I figured since it was the CPU I was working with then I must have broke it or the HD.



Edit one last time

Slots 1 and 2 cause a reboot loop and those are the dual channel slots. Did windows memory test but that didn't find anything. Otherwise everything works in 3,4 but it's not dual channel.

Edited by Sabbykins, 11 April 2018 - 09:26 PM.

[phillpower2]

Hello Sabbykins,

 

Apologies for the delay, different time zones and the like.

 

Good work on your behalf 

 

For some reason your MB user manual will download but cannot be opened so I cannot check the correct the memory slot information but general rule of thumb is that when using two sticks they should be both populating the same colour slots on a board that has four slots, the slots will be identified on the board itself and are often shown to be A, B, C, D or A1, B1, A2, B2 as a couple of examples.

 

How are your slots identified.

 

Just a btw, to properly test your RAM you need to run Memtest on each stick individually and for at least 4/5 passes, this is also normally done by testing each stick in every slot on the MB, the latter is how you identify if it is the RAM or the memory slots that are bad.

[Sabbykins]

That's ok I kinda messed with things and got somewhere

http://imgur.com/rGMssaw

This is the page in the manual and how I had them set up before. I ran memtest last night and it didn't find any errors.
Just tried to do slot 1 test and it shuts down, so I can't run the test. 1 and 2 don't work so I can't put them together in either channel, only slot 3,4.

Edited by Sabbykins, 12 April 2018 - 06:30 AM.

[phillpower2]

Best Answer

Thanks for the additional info 

 

Does look like slots 1 and 2 are bad and especially if you originally had your RAM populating slots 2 and 4 as shown in red on the attachment below.

 

Did a Google search and noted that there are a lot of complaints about the memory slots failing on this board, not good 

[Sabbykins]

Yep, that's how they were!
That is disappointing. Though it's not a new board. I've had it quite awhile and has been through some upgrades and heavy use so can't be completely mad.

Guess I need a new board since I'd rather not risk the other parts which are more expensive to replace.

Thanks for all the help, I wouldn't have figured it out alone or googling cpu issues