Troubleshooting PC that Fails to Boot

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
C

CMar

Honorable
Mar 4, 2013
6
0
10,510
Hi all,

I have encountered an issue while setting up my new PC and am looking for suggestions on what could be wrong. After testing my RAM (one stick at a time/both at the same time) as well as my video card, my computer will restart after loading the “Starting Windows” screen for a few seconds. I have tried re-installing Windows 7 64-bit from the DVD but it also reboots at the equivalent “Starting Windows” screen. Furthermore I have attempted booting from a Linux Live CD and USB only to crash during the boot as well.

Like I mentioned I have tested my RAM using Windows Memory Diagnostics as well as Memtest86+ ver. 4.20 and it passed multiple passes of the tests with Legacy USB turned both off and on. My Video card also passed the Stress Tester found on Hiren’s Boot CD. My BIOS is updated to the latest version and I have all the latest drivers installed via Windows. When in the BIOS there doesn’t seem to be any obvious issues that I can see (temperature seems good, CPU frequency is as specified, etc.).

Is there anything I can do to troubleshoot the source of this issue? Does anyone have any suggestions on what might be going wrong here and how it can be fixed?

Thanks

CPU: AMD FX-4170 (with stock cooler)
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 (Rev. 3)
PSU: Coolmaster 700W
RAM: 2 x 4GB Corsair XMS3 1600MHz
Video Card: ASUS HD7870-DC2-2GD5
Storage: 120GB Kingston SSD and 1TB Western Digital HDD
Disk Drive: ASUS 24x CD/DVD Internal Drive
PCI: TP-Link Wireless Adapter
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
C

CMar

Honorable
Mar 4, 2013
6
0
10,510


I tried doing what you suggested and it still fails and reboots at the same place for both windows and ubuntu.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

CMar

Honorable
Mar 4, 2013
6
0
10,510
Just tried uninstalling all non-essentials (wireless adapter, second piece of ram, cd rom and WD HDD) and the windows installed on the kingston booted startup repair. It found the root of the problem which was "A patch is preventing the system from restarting". Not really sure what's going on here but should it be safe to start reinstalling the "non-essentials" on the motherboard?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

CMar

Honorable
Mar 4, 2013
6
0
10,510
It looks like it is the ram that is causing the issues here. I installed the second piece and it managed to boot to the login screen, however reboots at this point now and restarts with the option to boot in safe mode.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

CMar

Honorable
Mar 4, 2013
6
0
10,510


Thanks for all your help and advice, it’s much appreciated!

Here’s what I’ve found; my computer will boot from one stick of RAM but not the other when I tried installing it in slot 1. I tried testing the bad piece with memtest86+ only to find it passed, so my guess is that I’m getting a false positive for some reason. I have read that USB legacy can give false positives so I ensured it was disabled.

Could it be possible I am running a bad copy of Memtest? (It’s the one that is on Hiren’s Boot CD) Or does it look like it is time to RMA the RAM?

Thanks
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
P

phate1337

Honorable
Dec 10, 2012
333
0
10,860
have you tried the stick you believe to be faulty in place of the one you know to be working (using same slot)? if you have and it fails, it is defo the RAM. if not, try the stick you know to be good in the other slot and see if that works
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

CMar

Honorable
Mar 4, 2013
6
0
10,510


I've tried this and checked the slots and it is definitely a bad piece of RAM. The good piece booted correctly from all the slots which is a relief that the mobo isnt the issue. Looks like its time to RMA the RAM. Thanks again phate1337
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom