Something went wrong. Try again later
    Follow

    PC

    Platform »

    The PC (Personal Computer) is a highly configurable and upgradable gaming platform that, among home systems, sports the widest variety of control methods, largest library of games, and cutting edge graphics and sound capabilities.

    BSOD on start-up, I am at my wit's end.

    Avatar image for biglemon
    BigLemon

    1080

    Forum Posts

    256

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 3

    #1  Edited By BigLemon

    Posted this over at PCHF, but no one is responding. Thought I might try here. 
     
    I am having a problem on my new machine: a BSOD  pops up on start-up. The BIOS splash screen will come up, and then the Windows 7 "Starting Windows" screen will appear. It will look as if Windows is about to start, and then a  will flash for a few milliseconds, and then the computer will reboot back to the BIOS splash screen. 

    I took my computer to the local tech shop, and they spent like 20 minutes with it and determined it was probably a motherboard problem. I don't think so, because after RMAing the motherboard AND buying a new power supply (they thought some frayed wires may have shorted something), the exact same problem has come up.

    An interesting note: I got the computer up and running yesterday after receiving my new motherboard, and it worked fine. However, after shutting down the computer and installing new updates, the problem resurfaced. 

    I thought it might have something to do with this thread, but the thread specifies that it's only a problem on 32-bit copies of Win7, and my machine is 64-bit.

    Any suggestions? I will supply any needed information. I cannot supply  logs because I cant even get the computer to boot Windows.

    Avatar image for hitmanagent47
    HitmanAgent47

    8553

    Forum Posts

    25

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 2

    #2  Edited By HitmanAgent47

    Ram problem. You could just run it on one stick or ram, then try the other ones until you found which ram isn't working and recreates the blu screen and crash. Then replace it.
     
    If you ever can run memtest86 and burn it on a disc from another computer then run it at startup, that would be the next step too. It's a stress test designed to see if there are any faulty ram.

    Avatar image for biglemon
    BigLemon

    1080

    Forum Posts

    256

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 3

    #3  Edited By BigLemon
    @HitmanAgent47: I'll try this, but I was wary to believe it was a RAM problem because it worked fine for a few weeks, then crapped out. And when I got my new mobo, it worked fine until I updated Win7, and then the problem resurfaced. But I will try swapping the RAM around to find a faulty stick.
    Avatar image for slasherman
    SlasherMan

    1723

    Forum Posts

    53

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #4  Edited By SlasherMan
    @BigLemon: That still doesn't rule it out. RAM is usually the most likely suspect in these types of issues (and also the easiest to check, so should be done first).
    Avatar image for candlejakk
    CandleJakk

    793

    Forum Posts

    284

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 3

    #5  Edited By CandleJakk

    When my new machine (self build) had a similar issue to what you're experiencing, I ran the usual memtest and hunted through the BIOS to no avail at all. Before thinking of replacing the motherboard, I went and bought a new PSU, as it was significantly cheaper than a replacement mobo. Turns out it had a faulty rail causing the crashes. Fixed mine instantly.

    Avatar image for jimbo
    Jimbo

    10472

    Forum Posts

    2

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 3

    #6  Edited By Jimbo

    When was Windows installed to the hard drive?  Before or after you put your new PC together?

    Avatar image for warxsnake
    warxsnake

    2720

    Forum Posts

    33

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 3

    #7  Edited By warxsnake

    Swap ram around and run stick-by-stick. It's not impossible for RAM to just stop working all of a sudden.

    Avatar image for biglemon
    BigLemon

    1080

    Forum Posts

    256

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 3

    #8  Edited By BigLemon
    @CandleJakk: Literally just bought this PSU, and i tested it on another machine. But good input, thanks.  
     
    @HitmanAgent47
    @SlasherMan
    @warxsnake
    I just tried swapping out one stick and then the other, and I get the same BSOD error. I will install memtest to a flash drive and try booting from that to see if both sticks are possibly bad.
    Avatar image for thekeyboarddemon
    TheKeyboardDemon

    870

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 4

    #9  Edited By TheKeyboardDemon

    It's unlikely that you have bad ram, but it is never a bad idea to test it and rule it out. What are the specs on the computer? It might be that you have a particular mobo issue that can be resolved with a bios update or newer versions of the mobo drivers.

    Avatar image for cartvader
    cartvader

    157

    Forum Posts

    124

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 2

    #10  Edited By cartvader

    have you rolled back your OS through system recovery?? - if you can try installing windows updates one at a time until you get the BSOD again.

    Is this a fresh install of win 7? - if not can you wipe & reinstall, get a new HD and install to that, or install win 7 to a flash drive? I've had issues in the past where an old and or unused driver can cause the system to crash on boot-up.

    Avatar image for biglemon
    BigLemon

    1080

    Forum Posts

    256

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 3

    #11  Edited By BigLemon
    @TheKeyboardDemon said:
    It's unlikely that you have bad ram, but it is never a bad idea to test it and rule it out. What are the specs on the computer? It might be that you have a particular mobo issue that can be resolved with a bios update or newer versions of the mobo drivers.
    My motherboard is the ASUS P8P67 LGA 1155. I just RMA'd the last one as per recommendation from the tech shop guys, and this brand new one has the same problem. I also have a brand new PSU that is verified good. And I am about 80% through the memory test and MemTest hasn't found any errors yet, so it's looking like the ram isn't the culprit. I also an an Intel Core i5 2500-K CPU. I'm running Win7 off a 64 GB Crucial SSD, and I have a 1TB Seagate HDD for storage. 
     
    I am really think this is a problem with the Win7 update I just got. I'm not sure it's coincidence that as soon as I updated, the problem came back. 
     
    @cartvader said:
    have you rolled back your OS through system recovery?? - if you can try installing windows updates one at a time until you get the BSOD again.Is this a fresh install of win 7? - if not can you wipe & reinstall, get a new HD and install to that, or install win 7 to a flash drive? I've had issues in the past where an old and or unused driver can cause the system to crash on boot-up.
    I can't go through sysrecovery because I cant even get to Windows. It just fails as soon as I try and get in. 
     
    Here's a video of what happens. Sorry for the poor aspect ratio (I recorded it on my iPod touch) 
     
      
    Avatar image for slasherman
    SlasherMan

    1723

    Forum Posts

    53

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #12  Edited By SlasherMan
    @BigLemon: Was this a fresh Windows install? Also, have you tried booting in Safe Mode yet?
    Avatar image for stonyman65
    stonyman65

    3818

    Forum Posts

    1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 4

    #13  Edited By stonyman65

    Maybe it is a SSD or HDD issue?   
     
    you can download HDDScan and check to see if all the clusters on your HDD are okay or not.

    Avatar image for hitmanagent47
    HitmanAgent47

    8553

    Forum Posts

    25

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 2

    #14  Edited By HitmanAgent47

    Well here is one more suggestion, can you get a screenshot out of that video? I myself do that, I videotape it then I try to turn it into a screenshot and try to read the error number. Look zoom the camera in and try to get another screenshot, the video looks a bit narrow. Can you just format things and try again? If it's not the ram, it might be something corrupt within the operating system itself. But usually the first thing I check for is the ram. I usually run memtest like three times in a row, might take a few hours.
     
    Try to print screen and post a screenshot here of that error on the video, zoom in or something, usually we can probally figure it out for you on google when you have the error number. I fixed one of my errors with windows 7 service packs 1 when it goes into sleep mode, it blue screens for me. I changed a few settings and it's fixed now. So it also could be software related.
     
    Also is your bios set correctly where it runs from the SSD first? like the boot order? The best thing you can do is try to isolate the problem, one problem at a time. But I had bad ram before and it kept blue screening. The other time I blue screened was when a pci-e slot didn't work properly or a gpu was about to die. Maybe try another gpu, the point is try to isolate the problem.

    This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.