Pc wont boot past bios

NotLewis · 19 Oct 2025 at 18:21

Apologies if this is not the correct place to put something like this.

For the past couple of weeks I have been having issues with the custom pc I built a few months ago. I cannot boot onto my ssd, or a windows 11 bootable usb. Whatever I try I just get a black screen. No windows logo or anything like that

Specs:

GPU: Asus GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Prime OC 16GB
CPU: AMD RYZEN ™ 7 9800X 3D
PSU: MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5
RAM: CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR5 RAM 32GB (2x16GB)
SSD: Samsung 990 PRO NVMe M.2 SSD, 2 TB
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI

What happened
(some stuff might be unrelated to any issues but I want to be as concise as I can)
Around 4 or 5 days ago I updated windows 11. Everything was fine up to this point. Then around 2 days after I attempted to boot my pc again, but I was presented with a blue screen.
Image of blue screen

After a couple of restarts I was able to get into windows, however I could not use anything that required the internet. I couldn't do any windows updates, I couldn't use my browser.

After another restart, it booted back into windows. This time I could use the internet and I attempted to download the windows 11 installation media. It downloaded fine, but I could not open the exe file it gave me. I tried repairing windows using the recovery option, but that also did not let me download anything.

Another restart presented me with a blue screen. This is where I went onto another pc to download windows and put it on a usb (as the blue screen was suggesting me to do). I did this and I even tried booting the usb on the pc I downloaded it from and it came up with the windows installation options

I've then put this usb into the problematic pc, tried booting from the usb and it went straight to a black screen. No windows logo or anything like that.

I then tried booting back into my ssd to see if that would work and this now also gives me a black screen. I can no longer get to the point of seeing the blue screen message

Things I've tried

Removed gpu and ssd plugged monitors into motherboard. Tried booting from usb = black screen
Set bios back to default settings
Tried everything with only one stick of ram
Updated the bios (it was already at the most recent version, but tried installing it again)
Used multiple usb's with windows boot on it. (I've used the windows installation media and created one using rufus)
Ran a memtest and had no errors
Reseated GPU, ram etc
Tried to boot from usb without ssd or any other drive installed = Black screen
Removed CMOS battery and reset. = black screen after bios
Booted ubuntu from a usb. Everything ran fine.

TLDR;

I can access the BIOS fine.
Anything after BIOS = black screen.
No warning lights or beep codes on the motherboard.
No spare GPU or CPU to test with.
Losing my mind

Tetras · 19 Oct 2025 at 19:14

NotLewis said:
Around 4 or 5 days ago I updated windows 11. Everything was fine up to this point. Then around 2 days after I attempted to boot my pc again, but I was presented with a blue screen.
Image of blue screen

The link doesn't work, can you describe the screen please?

Did you have Windows Hello and/or Bitlocker enabled?

Do you have a spare SSD you could use?

NotLewis · 19 Oct 2025 at 19:23

Tetras said:
The link doesn't work, can you describe the screen please?

Did you have Windows Hello and/or Bitlocker enabled?

Do you have a spare SSD you could use?

Aah sorry about that

The image was of the bluescreen I got originally. I haven't managed to get the message again for a while

"The operating system couldn't be loaded because the kernal is missing or contains errors

File: \windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
Error code: 0xc0000098

You'll need to user recovery tools..."

This was the point I tried the bootable usb to try repair and had no luck since that

Did you have Windows Hello and or Bitlocker enabled
I was using Windows 11 Home
I'm 99.9999% sure I was using Windows Hello
I don't think bitlocker was enabled (don't think its an option on home ver.?)

Do you have a spare ssd you could use?
The only other ssd I have is from my old pc which is the only thing I have to download any of these windows iso's

I will probably have to format it as well as it was used previously for windows

Quartz · 19 Oct 2025 at 19:26

Have you tried booting without the GPU?

NotLewis · 19 Oct 2025 at 19:28

Quartz said:
Have you tried booting without the GPU?

Yeah, i've tried that

Booting onto the ssd without the GPU = Black screen
Booting onto the windows usb without the GPU and ssd = Black screen

aaronyuri · 19 Oct 2025 at 19:30

Go into BIOS, reset the security keys for secure boot and then disable secure boot. Also enable CSM. Now try booting the USB.

Have you also tried booting anything other Windows from USB? Try Ubuntu if not.

@Quartz OP already tried without GPU.

Tetras · 19 Oct 2025 at 19:30

NotLewis said:
Do you have a spare ssd you could use?
The only other ssd I have is from my old pc which is the only thing I have to download any of these windows iso's

I will probably have to format it as well as it was used previously for windows

Hmm, yeah, don't mess with that!

hux · 19 Oct 2025 at 19:56

hux · 19 Oct 2025 at 19:58

Just curious does your current ssd use a phison controller, I know there was a recent windows update that frazzled and ssd's with this controller.

Edit- Seems they don't however there was an issue where they don't last past a year.

Can you rma the drive perhaps?

NotLewis · 19 Oct 2025 at 21:05

aaronyuri said:
Go into BIOS, reset the security keys for secure boot and then disable secure boot. Also enable CSM. Now try booting the USB.

Have you also tried booting anything other Windows from USB? Try Ubuntu if not.

@Quartz OP already tried without GPU.

I will give you a step by step of what I have done. (if anyone can let me know the best place to host images so I can share them here that will be amazing because typing out some of this stuff is pretty annoying) And sorry for the long message

Booted up my old pc in order to set up the bootable usb again
Downloaded windows 11 iso
1. Flashed the iso onto my usb using rufus
  1. Device: USB
  2. Boot Selection : Win11_25H2_EnglishInternational .....
  3. Image option : Standard Windows installation
  4. Partition scheme : GPT
  5. Target system : UEFI (non csm)
  6. Volume label : Win11
  7. File System : NTFS
  8. Remove requirement for 4GB+, RAM, Secure Boot and TPM2.0
  9. Remove requirement for an online Microsoft Account
Turned on problematic pc (just to be clear, my ssd and gpu are currently installed)
Removed and Installed Default Secure Boot Keys
Turned off secure boot
1. OS Type: Other OS
2. Secure Boot Mode: Custom
Enabled CSM
1. Launch CSM: Enabled
Save changes and enter bios again
Boot priority now has these options
1. Windows Boot Manager (m.2_1: Samsung ssd 990 pro 2tb)
2. M.2_1 Samsung SSD 990 Pro 2TB
3. UEFI: USB, Partition 1
4. UEFI: USB, Partition 2
I have reordered it to the following
1. UEFI: USB, Partition 1
2. UEFI: USB, Partition 2
3. Windows Boot Manager (m.2_1: Samsung ssd 990 pro 2tb)
4. M.2_1 Samsung SSD 990 Pro 2TB
Rebooted -> Can see the TUF logo -> Black screen
Tried reordering it to "USB Partition 2" first and rebooting and I get this message
1. (
  [INFO] Secure Boot status: Disabled
  [INFO] Disconnecting potentially blocking drivers
  [INFO] Searching for target partition on boot disk:
  [INFO] PciRoot (0x0)/Pci/(0x2, 0x1)/Pci(0x0, 0x0)/Pci(0xC, 0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/USB(0x2,0x0)
  [INFO] Found NTFS target partition:
  [INFO] PciRoot (0x0)/Pci/(0x2, 0x1)/Pci(0x0, 0x0)/Pci(0xC, 0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/USB(0x2,0x0)/HD(1, GPT, C4D100F2-43CC-4F22-B267-19341A1A9A02, 0x800, 0xE536F68)
  [WARN] Unloading existing 'AMI NTFS Driver v0x10000'
  [INFO] Starting NTFS driver service:
  [INFO] NTFS Driver 1.7
  [INFO] Opening target NTFS partition:
  [INFO] Volume label in 'Win11'
  [INFO] This system uses 64-bit x86 UEFI => searching for x64 EFI bootloader
  [INFO] Launching 'efi\boot\bootx64.efi'...
  [INFO] Starting Microsoft Windows bootmgr...
  )
Putting "windows boot manager" first and booting => TUF logo appears => Black screen
Putting "m.2_1..." first and booting
1. (
  This drive was created by rufus
  It can boot in UEFI mode only but you are trying to boot it in BIOS/Legacy mode. THIS WILL NOT WORK
  )
Now I've disabled csm
Booting UEFI: USB, Partition 1
1. TUF Logo appears
2. Black screen
Booting UEFI: USB, Partition 2
1. TUF Logo appears
2. Same message as 11.1
Booting "Windows Boot Manager)
1. TUF Logo
2. Black screen

Another thing ive tried

Setting CSM back to enabled and plugging in a windows 11 usb (i think it was created from the media creation tool - not 100% sure as I was give it by my work)
Selecting "M.2_1: Samsung SSD 990 Pro 2TB" OR "VendorCoProductCode 2.00" (NOT the UEFI version)
1. Give me the windows 11 Setup (hurray)
2. Select Repair my pc
  1. Troubleshoot -> Start-up Repair does nothing
3. I do have the option for command prompt though so I could give what @hux has suggested?
With CSM disabled the only options i have to boot from are "UEFI: VendorCoProductCode...." and "Windows Boot Manager...". Booting either of these just gives me the TUF logo and a black screen

NotLewis · 19 Oct 2025 at 21:09

hux said:
Just curious does your current ssd use a phison controller, I know there was a recent windows update that frazzled and ssd's with this controller.

Edit- Seems they don't however there was an issue where they don't last past a year.

Can you rma the drive perhaps?

The drive is only 2 months old max so I could rma it. I'm just not sure if getting a new one would solve the issue? Is it worth a go?

I'm not too precious about the contents of the drive anyway, its mainly games on it atm

NotLewis · 19 Oct 2025 at 21:17

aaronyuri said:
Have you also tried booting anything other Windows from USB? Try Ubuntu if not.

I successfully booted Ubuntu from usb. I selecting the option for trying it out

I was able to run some commands whilst I was in it

I checked the drive health of my ssd

Code:

sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda

and it gave me what I was expecting

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Number: Samsung SSD 990 PRO 2TB
Total NVM Capacity: 2,000,398,934,016 [2.00 TB]

=== START OF SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
SMART/Health Information (NVMe Log 0x02)
Critical Warning: 0x00
Media and Data Integrity Errors: 0
Error Information Log Entries: 0
Warning Comp. Temperature Time: 0
Critical Comp. Temperature Time: 0

Error Information (NVMe Log 0x01, 16 of 64 entries)
No Errors Logged

aaronyuri · 19 Oct 2025 at 21:30

Try Ubuntu from USB. It's still not clear for me whether this is related to Windows/SSD/system stability. Ubuntu will tell us whether your system is stable, then we can look at identifying the Windows and/or SSD issue (if there is one).

hux · 19 Oct 2025 at 21:34

NotLewis said:
The drive is only 2 months old max so I could rma it. I'm just not sure if getting a new one would solve the issue? Is it worth a go?

I'm not too precious about the contents of the drive anyway, its mainly games on it atm

I'd try the old ssd first, see what happens and go from there.

NotLewis · 19 Oct 2025 at 21:45

aaronyuri said:
Try Ubuntu from USB. It's still not clear for me whether this is related to Windows/SSD/system stability. Ubuntu will tell us whether your system is stable, then we can look at identifying the Windows and/or SSD issue (if there is one).

I've tried ubuntu already and it worked fine. I did reply to your original message but my message still needs to be approved

aaronyuri · 19 Oct 2025 at 22:05

NotLewis said:
I've tried ubuntu already and it worked fine. I did reply to your original message but my message still needs to be approved

Ah, I couldn't see that at the time. Being able to boot Ubuntu is a good sign - means this is isolated to Windows or your SSD.

The SMART data isn't conclusive as to whether the SSD is good or not. Can you try another storage device? Old hard drive, cheapo SSD from somewhere.

NotLewis · 19 Oct 2025 at 22:20

aaronyuri said:
Ah, I couldn't see that at the time. Being able to boot Ubuntu is a good sign - means this is isolated to Windows or your SSD.

The SMART data isn't conclusive as to whether the SSD is good or not. Can you try another storage device? Old hard drive, cheapo SSD from somewhere.

Don't really have anything laying around unfortunately

I could purchase another one which should come tomorrow and try that one

Is the plan to replace my current ssd with the new blank ssd and try boot the windows usb?

lord filbuster · 19 Oct 2025 at 22:51

There's a youtube video here that hux linked above:

about rebuilding the bcdboot files. If you're not worried about losing the files on the drive, it probably can't hurt?

Obviously manually editing the boot partition could make matters much worse, so unless you are prepared to wipe the entire drive if it goes wrong, I wouldn't recommend!

NotLewis · 19 Oct 2025 at 23:10

lord filbuster said:
There's a youtube video here

about rebuilding the bcdboot files. If you're not worried about losing the files on the drive, it probably can't hurt?

Obviously manually editing the boot partition could make matters much worse, so unless you are prepared to wipe the entire drive if it goes wrong, I wouldn't recommend!

I can only get the windows boot command line up if I do this;

"
Another thing ive tried

Setting CSM back to enabled and plugging in a windows 11 usb (i think it was created from the media creation tool - not 100% sure as I was give it by my work)
Selecting "M.2_1: Samsung SSD 990 Pro 2TB" OR "VendorCoProductCode 2.00" (NOT the UEFI version)
1. Give me the windows 11 Setup (hurray)
2. Select Repair my pc
  1. Troubleshoot -> Start-up Repair does nothing
3. I do have the option for command prompt though so I could give what @hux has suggested?
With CSM disabled the only options i have to boot from are "UEFI: VendorCoProductCode...." and "Windows Boot Manager...". Booting either of these just gives me the TUF logo and a black screen

"

I cant get the windows usb to boot any other way. When I first built the pc I had no issues at all booting it

NotLewis · 20 Oct 2025 at 19:41

@aaronyuri

Well, I got another SSD and put that as my main drive. I can see it in the bios. But again booting from the windows usb just presents me with a black screen. With and without a gpu installed

I have 3 usbs with windows installed now XD I tried them all on another pc and they all got to the windows installer. Each one of them gives me the TUF logo and then a black screen

What does this point to? Motherboard is fcked? Not sure what else I can try at this point