Windows 7 64 Bit Locking Up

[cryptologix]

Hi all,

I've been having issues with Windows 7 locking up and failing to boot. At first, I could get into windows and it would freeze with an error message saying something about processes causing it to stop responding. The mouse wheel would just keep spinning and I couldn't type using the keyboard or even ctrl-alt-del out. I ended up having to hard shut down. When it rebooted, it wouldn't even load Windows and it would just stay stuck on the BIOS screen...I couldn't even F2 into the set-up at this point.

I shut everything down and disconnected the SATA connections (the HDD and the CD/DVD). This time I was able to F2 into setup and checked the settings. I don't overclock and everything was set to default. I hooked the HDD and CD/DVD back up and restarted. I got into Windows Safe Mode. It ran through a driver install and had me restart. When I restarted...Windows came back up and immediately did the freeze thing again. Once again, I had to hard shutdown and it wouldn't go past the BIOS screen or let me into the F2 set-up.

I started up and shut down a few more times trying different sata ports with the HDD and CD/DVD. One time I got it back into safe-mode but most of the time it just stops at the BIOS start screen. I switched the RAM and reseated the video card thinking it might be a hardware issue. I'm all out of ideas now. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance ~


MOBO: ASRock P67 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500k Sandy Bridge 3.3 GHz
RAM: GSKILL Ripjaws X-series 8GB DDR3 1600 SDRAM
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256 Bit
PSU: Corsair HX750W ATX12V 2.3
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
OD: LITE-ON Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive
HS: Coolermaster V8

 

[dodger46]

Did you try running on one stick of RAM alternately? Mem test? Memory is common to all your fault sympoms...don't like the fact it stuck on the BIOS screen...Also are your temps ok?

 

[cryptologix]

I did try booting up with one stick of RAM and then swapping them and trying again. I still have the same issues. I'm a novice builder...I've probably built about 15 systems over the course of 8 years. I have never had an issue like this before.

It's weird because its just not booting past BIOS. Wouldn't that mean it's an issue with the BIOS or the motherboard? I tried inserting the windows CD and set the primary boot device as the DVD drive, but it still won't boot up.

 

[smorizio]

it the hard drive controller. it just working that the bios see it but it locking up the mb chipset so you can post or go into the bios.
try unplugging just the hard drive and see if you can boot from the cd.if you can then your hard drive is the issue. if it still locks up with just the dvd drive then i be looking at the sata ports on the mb.

 

[cryptologix]

Thanks! I think this may be the issue. I wish I had another harddrive laying around to test it out for sure. I popped the Win 7 DVD in the DVD drive and set the BIOS to boot from DVD. It just stays on the BIOS start screen. I really don't want to RMA the motherboard but I think I'm going to have to.