(Apparently) bricked my PC
Richard Haseltine
Posts: 102,910
Since I've been having account issues with Windows 10, apparently a known issue with upgrade installs, I decided to try a clean install. That has not gone well.
Now I can't get the machine to boot - it gets to the enumeration of SATA devices, very early in the boot process, correctly lists 6 ports and 4 devices, gives details of the DVD drive and the first HD (not the boot device), then hangs. Del is not giving access to the BIOS - but I had chosen Custom Install so I don't know why it would have tried to set the system to use UEFI, if that's part of the issue. My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 (or possibly UD5P) with an Intel i7 920. The motherboard does have a clear CMOS button on the back, which I assume (the manual doesn't say) should be pressed (if at all) either with the system off but getting power or off and disconnected. The other obvious option is to try disconnecting the boot device.
Any advice, either to try one of those options or to try something else?
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Comments
The CMOS button should be powered by the motherboard's onboard battery. I had issue with an motherboard in a HP computer and it would go into an endless on/off loop, no video too. It used a jumpter block to clear the CMOS, moved it for 5-10 seconds and then replaced the jumper to the original position. Powered up the computer and the booting was restored.
If you don't have a manual for your motherboard, try to find one online. That's how I found out the correct procedure to reset the CMOS in this particular computer's motherboard.
I do have a manual, but it doesn't explain how to use the rear panel switch - just says what it is in the labelling of the back panel. The switch has a light (when power is comng into the PC) which suggests to me it should be used with the power connected, but that is not conclusive (and nor do I know if it's likely to be a good thing to try in the first place).
I used to just take the battery out for a few minutes to clear the bios. havent had any problems that required it for a few years though
Windows is notorious for installing the bootloader on a different drive other than the one the OS was installed on when you have multiple drives installed during the OS installation. It's best to have only the drive you want Windows on installed and plug the other drives back in after you have Windows completely installed,( be sure to mark which cable went to which drive so your drives don't get shuffled). Have you tried booting from the other drives just to see if the bootloader was put on one of the other drives? On my computer I press the F8 key during bootup and I get a list of all the drive on my machine. I'm not sure what your motherboard uses.
What Ice said^^. I just did a clean install of Windows 10 about 2 months ago and if I remember correctly I was having a boot drive problem too. Need to access your BIOS and redirect that boot.
Well, accessing the BIOS is aprt of the issue - I can't. I will try disconnecting the other drives, which is quite simple as they are not next to each other so no danger of mixing the cables, and see if that helps. But I would think the boot loader comes later, at the point when it asks for a key-press to boot from DVD, not at the initial enumeration of devices.
Interesting - but not yet productive. Disconnecting the other HDs didn't help, disconnecting the boot drive allowed the process to go beyond the enumeration phase but then stalled complaining at the lack of Boot Manager (even though the Windows DVD is in the DVD drive).
Hey, could you double-check that it is Del that accesses BIOS, and not like, F1, F7 or F10 -- some MBs don't want to use Del for that, for some godforsaken reason.
It is Del - it's in the manual and on the "spalsh screen" at boot. And this isn't the first time I've had a nn-bootable boot drive, I had to replace it as it was getting unrelaible about eighteen months ago, so somethign has chnaged in the way the boot sequence is handled. (I do still have the old boot drive, though I've no idea how healthy it is - perhaps an option would be to swap and see what happens.)
Hmm, odd, quite odd. TBH, there's the option "muddle through this and get it sorted" vs "reinstall with only single drive in so poor widdle Windows doesn't get too confused", and the latter might be faster. I'm just reminded of this one bug which bit Asus's MBs some time ago -- https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1016356/ -- and yeah, kind of wondering if that could also sort the problem if you can get to BIOS.
Well, I'm not getting that error - or indeed any error, it just sits there not acknowledging the boot drive. I guess I try clearing the CMOS settings and hope that doesn't make matters worse.
Well, the button worked with power off - and the machine is now able to boot, I left it loading from the Windows 10 DVD. So perhaps phew! Thank you all for the suggestions, I'll be back if I need more.
Well, I'm back up - but with a major issue. I think it's my fault, but a lot of my folders now have no known owner - that can be fixed in the file or folder's properties but it's severasl clicks each time, and can be done only one at a time that way. I hope there's a way to batch it.
Maybe this will help:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3841-take-ownership-add-context-menu-windows-10-a.html
Yes, that seems to be working. Thank you.