Windows 10 Help - Freezes during Boot after computer crash

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MeatballSeed

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The short version:
My 11 year old computer running Windows 10 crashed for the first time, and now it freezes when booting into Windows but I can boot into Safe Mode. I don't have any restore points.

Specs:
  • CPU: Intel Core i7-4820K Ivy Bridge-E 3.7GHz (Turbo 3.9GHz) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80633i74820K
  • Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 LE LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with USB BIOS
  • Graphics Card: EVGA 03G-P4-2881-KR GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card
  • Boot Drive: SanDisk Extreme II SDSSDXP-240G-G25 2.5" 240GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
  • RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-2133C9Q-32GZH
  • Power Supply: SeaSonic Platinum-1000 1000W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Full Modular Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready
  • CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

Detailed version:
My friend helped me build this computer in 2014 and it hasn't had any issues until about a month ago. It was a hot night and I was watching a 4k movie even though my display is 1080p which I've done before. In the middle of the movie everything went black. My computer is connected to a KVM switch so I can share my keyboard, mouse, and monitor with my work Mac, so I thought I accidentally pushed the KVM button, but it wasn't the case.

I pressed the power button to force a restart and on my Asus/motherboard screen when the little wheel spins to start Windows 10, it freezes for about 2 minutes before going into the Windows stop code screen where it collects data. When it gets to 100% I can restart and it goes into the Windows diagnostics stuff. It fails when trying to repair things, but I'm able to boot into safe mode (with networking).

On two occasions since the initial crash it successfully booted into Windows 10, but blacked out after a few hours. Since then though I can only get it to boot into safe mode, and have be using it that way for a month or so. I can still watch videos and stuff in safe mode although with the slightly different screen quality that I think is from being in safe mode.

I've tried some of the first and basic things to repair Windows:

I ran "sfc / scannow" and it found corrupt files and repaired them.​
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Then I ran "dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth" and it said everything was good, so I restarted and it still froze.​
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Then I ran "dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth". It said the restore operation completed successfully and that the operation completed successfully.​
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Then I ran "dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth".​
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I thought maybe my C drive was a low on space, so I deleted some game mods and it's about 50GB now which seems okay considering that the SSD is only 250GB.​
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I tried to restart in Windows Debugging Mode but it froze in the same spot on the ASUS screen.​
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I disabled Fast Startup in BIOS but that didn't help.​

Those seemed like safe things to try. I have some computer knowledge, but I'm reluctant to try possibilities that I don't quite understand until I know they are safe and won't wipe out my computer or something.

Any ideas to try and how I can fix it?

Thanks!
 
boot back into safe mode and disable all startup items, try booting again. if it still wont boot, go back into safe mode and change your gpu into the microsoft basic display via device manager and try booting again.
also, test and/or replace your cmos battery. the system is old and may not be holding bios settings properly which will cause all sorts of weirdness.

and turn this off too, see if you can get any error info, check event viewer too
1760929157908.png
 
pendragon1 said:
boot back into safe mode and...
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for the help and reply! I really appreciate it. I'm going to look into some of your suggestions to learn how to do them, but I'm first going to try replacing the cmos battery because I did have a symptom or two that would indicate that could be it (such as it booted up one morning and the time and date was reset). So I'll try that first and then move onto the rest if it doesn't work. I'll report back either way.
 
Ya let us know, I am interested.

to me this seems like corrupted system files, hard drive going bad or Power supply Volts/amps now out of spec.

But will await your update.
 
Should all pervious suggestions not lead to a solution I would check for an issue with the PC's memory/memory controller. Create a bootable USB flashdrive for memory testing. Enter bios and select the USB as first boot option and run it for several hours for memory integrity testing. When/if it shows errors rotate memory modules out observing main board guidelines until no errors are displayed to isolate the faulty memory module.
 
pendragon1 said:
also, test and/or replace your cmos battery. the system is old and may not be holding bios settings properly which will cause all sorts of weirdness.
Click to expand...
re this. people always laugh when i suggest this but i had it happen twice since that reply.

i had a dell system (~6 years old) suspected to have died during a summer storm. it would power up for a second and then shut off and not start again. if you yanked the power it would do it again, but never would stay on. seemed like the psu was shot. pop in a known good psu, same thing...
i got it going by yanking the battery and cpu, letting the cmos clear and then starting it with a new battery but no cpu. powered up and just sat there blinking at me. i then put the cpu back in so the board would see "a new cpu has arrived" and retrain itself. it fired right back up and i redeployed it to our custodians.

then on Thurs my little bro (he works with me) posts in the team chat that he has the same thing with a 5 year old lenovo, he was thinking the cpu was shot. told him to try what i did and it worked.
 
pendragon1 said:
re this. people always laugh when i suggest this but i had it happen twice since that reply.
Click to expand...
Still no luck getting it to boot into anything but safe mode. I replaced the CMOS battery but it froze at that exact same spot during boot. I had high hopes that one would work too!

I used Task Manager to turn off all apps that were starting up. No luck.

I already had "Automatically restart" turned off. I may have done that when this first happened when going through the easy fix options first.

The one thing you suggested that I couldn't do was change my GPU into the Microsoft Basic Display in device manager. My video card is listed under Display Adapters and device status says "Status is not available for this device when Windows is running in Safe Mode". However, under "Sound, video and game controllers" it's listed twice and one of them has the warning symbol and the status is "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device (Code 31)" and that "the driver was not loaded because the system is booted into safe mode". When I go to the "About" for my computer it says there is "No GPU installed" and "No dedicated VRAM" under "Graphics Card". As I understand it, my motherboard nor my CPU have integrated graphics, so my GPU has to be working, right?

Are these warnings just due to it being in safe mode, or could it actually be a GPU issue? I figured since I have no integrated graphics then my GPU must be working and that the low quality/resolution of the screen in safe mode is just because it's in safe mode.
 
MeatballSeed said:
Still no luck getting it to boot into anything but safe mode. I replaced the CMOS battery but it froze at that exact same spot during boot. I had high hopes that one would work too!

I used Task Manager to turn off all apps that were starting up. No luck.

I already had "Automatically restart" turned off. I may have done that when this first happened when going through the easy fix options first.

The one thing you suggested that I couldn't do was change my GPU into the Microsoft Basic Display in device manager. My video card is listed under Display Adapters and device status says "Status is not available for this device when Windows is running in Safe Mode". However, under "Sound, video and game controllers" it's listed twice and one of them has the warning symbol and the status is "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device (Code 31)" and that "the driver was not loaded because the system is booted into safe mode". When I go to the "About" for my computer it says there is "No GPU installed" and "No dedicated VRAM" under "Graphics Card". As I understand it, my motherboard nor my CPU have integrated graphics, so my GPU has to be working, right?

Are these warnings just due to it being in safe mode, or could it actually be a GPU issue? I figured since I have no integrated graphics then my GPU must be working and that the low quality/resolution of the screen in safe mode is just because it's in safe mode.
Click to expand...
not sure if its ok yet but it is doing basic 2d. running in safe and those warnings seems to indicate something might be up with it, not showing info is normal though. try uninstalling the gpu drivers via safe mode with DDU.
 
StevenJamesBorchard said:
to me this seems like corrupted system files, hard drive going bad or Power supply Volts/amps now out of spec.
Click to expand...
i think one of the initial scans i did checks all of the system files and repairs them if needed, but i could be wrong. my power supply is 1000W. i'm planning a new build and it seems like smaller than 1000W power supply units are still pretty common. or is the volts/amps a separate thing that you're talking about?
 
learners permit said:
Should all pervious suggestions not lead to a solution I would check for an issue with the PC's memory/memory controller. Create a bootable USB flashdrive for memory testing. Enter bios and select the USB as first boot option and run it for several hours for memory integrity testing. When/if it shows errors rotate memory modules out observing main board guidelines until no errors are displayed to isolate the faulty memory module.
Click to expand...
thank you for this! i could run that memory test but having to rotate memory modules seems out of my abilities.
 
So if you can only get into safe mode this usually means most system files are good but it something else process, program or service causing the crash that Safe mode Filters out.

So while in safe mode disable all startup process, turn off as many unused and unneeded services as possible and uninstall any program you don't use.

Also comes to mind that in safe mode there is less demand on CPU and RAM because of the greatly reduced things running so it could still be a RAM issue.

It's been awhile since I dug out my RAM testing Bootable CD's. But I think you can still find Hirem's Boot CD, MemTest86 or other suggestions here or Hard Forum Guides.

Personally I woulda just made sure my data is backed up, nuked it and reinstalled to see if the HD/OS just needed a good " Nuke it from Orbit" but thats just me..

MeatballSeed said:
i think one of the initial scans i did checks all of the system files and repairs them if needed, but i could be wrong. my power supply is 1000W. i'm planning a new build and it seems like smaller than 1000W power supply units are still pretty common. or is the volts/amps a separate thing that you're talking about?
Click to expand...

Yea I was talking about testing the Volts/Amps with a Digital multi meter but you need to learn /watch a guide for that. Though in retro/rethought your rails may not be out of spec of its still booting in safe mode. Now if you told me that it crashes with regular boot and CPU/RAM load or gaming then I would think the power supply is more likely the issue.

Edit: So what is stopping you from just backing up your data and nuking it from orbit? Reformat hard drive and reinstall..
 
Last edited:
The short version:
I couldn't fix the computer so I had a friend build me a new one.

Detailed version:
I wanted to thank you all again for all of the suggestions to help get my computer working. Unfortunately, I never could figure out the problem and had a friend help me build a new computer instead. I had been thinking about upgrading in the near future anyway since my computer was going on 12 years old, so the problems I had that continued to get worse every day forced it to be sooner. I got tired of using my computer in safe mode for three months!

The new build is indeed nice, but I do miss my old one which was built to be as silent as possible. I guess that computer spoiled me because the new computer makes lots of burps and clicks and sounds in comparison, but that's its personality. I'm also feeling like my old computer would handle certain multitasking better and quicker, but maybe that's just a matter of different processor or motherboard brands.

So in the end, I guess I did just "nuke it from orbit", and transferred my old storage drives over to the new computer using one of those cheap hardrive docks. I'm psyched to get back into some gaming again too now that I have a fully working computer with a newer video card. I haven't driven my truck in American Truck Simulator in a while.

Happy holidays and a Happy New Year to all! Here's the parts list for the new computer if anyone is interested. I'm most surprised by the case. I thought the glass would be more of a novelty, but it's really nice and makes it feel less like having a big black box on my desk because you can see through it into the rest of the house.

New Specs:
  • Case: Montech HS02 PRO, ATX Mid-Tower
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9700X - 8-Core 3.8 GHz
  • Motherboard: MSI PRO X870-P WIFI ATX AM5
  • Graphics Card: Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB GDDR6 PCI Express 5.0 x16 ATX
  • RAM: Corsair Vengeance 64GB (2 x 32GB) 288-Pin PC RAM
  • Power Supply: Corsair RMx Series RM750x ATX
  • CPU Cooling: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE V2 CPU Air Cooler
  • SSD: Samsung SSD 9100 PRO 2TB (x2, one for OS, one for gaming/steam)
  • HDD: Western Digital 22TB WD Red Pro NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD (x2, mirrored storage drives)
 
I've had bad issues with SanDisk Extreme II SATA III SSD's. That's probably the culprit. Exact same issues you were seeing. They appear good in CrystalDiskInfo, and Windows OS appears fine, but only works in Safe Mode when something happens. Can be good for months, then all of a sudden it does what it does.
 
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