Pc won't load, turns on but screen just shows a "-" cursor.

[zHashFx]

Hey folks,
I woke up and turned on my pc this morning and it wouldn't connect to the internet saying the Ethernet cable wasn't plugged in.
I did the usual troubleshooting and restarted my PC as it still wasn't working.
When it restarted, the fans came on but screen just showed the "-" cursor on a black screen and did nothing else.

I reinstalled windows 10 a few days ago just so you know and installed the drivers needed.
The App Store, applications and services.msc wouldn't run so I reinstalled.

My setup is;

ASUS z97-p mobo
i5 4690k
2x8gb ram sticks
No gfx card
Corsair 800w psu

Thanks!

 

[Colif]

Try this

change boot order so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose command prompt
We need to use the Bootrec.exe tool. Click on command prompt and type in the following commands, one after the other:
bootrec /RebuildBcd
bootrec /fixMbr
bootrec /fixboot
Exit
Now go ahead and reboot your system. In some cases you may need to run some additional commands.
bootsect /nt60 SYS or bootsect /nt60 ALL

 

[zHashFx]

Thanks for your quick reply!

I don't know if I can choose boot order as it doesn't load the ASUS post/bios screen.

Once I power the pc on, all it shows is a black screen with a solid hyphen (-)

 

[Colif]

try holding either the del key or F2 in when you start PC, thats the key for Asus bios

Also, you need to do this to enable USB
in the boot menu under advanced settings change the usb mode to full initialization then save and restart. this will enable all usb devices and it will boot from the usb automatically.

 

[zHashFx]

Sorry this hasn't worked.
As I mentioned, once I press the power button on, all that comes up is a black screen with a solid -

That's all that happens. I've removed all non essential connections and tried it. Still hasn't worked.

I guess it's time to get the case open and get digging?

 

[Colif]

did the installer work? if all you got still was the cursor, it means it still trying to use the hdd and not the USB, and you need to do something in BIOS still, perhaps turn off secure boot as well.

you can also try start up repair if you getting into installer
change boot order so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose start up repair - this will scan PC and maybe fix this - will ask for logon info

 

[zHashFx]

I can't access the bios so can't set it up to load from either one.
Do you think my SSD has died?
(I forgot to add I have one of those sorry)

 

[zHashFx]

I think it's a motherboard thing if the POST/ BIOS screens won't even load but I only have limited knowledge from a half done CCNA course lol

 

[Colif]

if ssd was dead you would get another error along lines of no boot device, this looks like ssd is working but is missing the boot info to get into windows - thats my assumption anyway.

You need to get into the bios, you could try resetting the cmos to force way in as generally you are asked to reset defaults after a cmos reset - https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1000851

 

[zHashFx]

CMOS reset worked straight away!!
Should I try reinstall boot settings or just leave it be until something else happens? Haha thank you!!