Windows won’t boot

ConnorBCFC · 13 Jul 2020 at 16:51

Hi all.

My friend has given me his Windows system, which is about 6 years old, to try and diagnose. The original issue was that it’d boot into the blue screen which gives him options like system restore, start up repair etc.

I formatted his hard drive, reinstalled windows and everything seemed fine. I was reinstalling drivers when the screen just went black and stayed black. System still running but no video.

I gave it time but still nothing, so shut off the system and rebooted. It did the usual ‘Windows spinning circle’, but is now stuck on the black screen after that.

Im not sure on the exact specs and neither is he but the boot drive is a Sandisk SSD PLUS SDSSDA-240G and the HDD is a Seagate 1TB.

I do have my own system on which I can test the drives, but not sure where to start.

Any thoughts?

*EDIT* After a couple more attempts at rebooting, I got a ‘Diagnosing your PC’ and ‘Attempting repairs’ message. The PC now boots without issue.

Could this be a recurring issue? And what can I do to try and diagnose/fix the problem?

*EDIT 2* Again, midway through installing drivers the system has gone blank. Still running, but no video on screen.

FlyingScotsman · 13 Jul 2020 at 17:30

Are you installing the correct drivers? What drivers causes the screen to go black?
Usually windows 10 have most of the drivers available.

ConnorBCFC · 13 Jul 2020 at 17:31

FlyingScotsman said:
Are you installing the correct drivers? What drivers causes the screen to go black?
Usually windows 10 have most of the drivers available.

Cheers for the reply. It’s not one particular driver, it just happens regardless. For example, I had just installed chrome, opened it up and it happened again.

FlyingScotsman · 13 Jul 2020 at 17:46

Need some specs Connor, is it an onboard GPU or a separate one ?

ConnorBCFC · 13 Jul 2020 at 17:52

FlyingScotsman said:
Need some specs Connor, is it an onboard GPU or a separate one ?

I’ve now taken out the SSD and tried to install Windows to the HDD instead but it restarted during installation and now is back at the ‘install’ screen.

It’s a dedicated GPU. Some specs that I know of below:

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P FX
GPU: Gigabyte R7 370 Windforce OC
RAM: HyperX Fury CPMH0891545
PSU: Corsair VS450
HDD: Seagate 1TB
SSD: SanDisk SSD Plus 240GB

FlyingScotsman · 13 Jul 2020 at 17:55

ConnorBCFC said:
I’ve now taken out the SSD and tried to install Windows to the HDD instead but it restarted during installation and now is back at the ‘install’ screen.

It’s a dedicated GPU. Some specs that I know of below:

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P FX
GPU: Gigabyte R7 370 Windforce OC
RAM: HyperX Fury CPMH0891545
PSU: Corsair VS450
HDD: Seagate 1TB
SSD: SanDisk SSD Plus 240GB

Ok so no onboard GPU to try and rule out the graphics card.
What do you have your hard drives set for in the bios, is it IDE, AHCI etc?
If AHCI try IDE and re-formatting

BUDFORCE · 13 Jul 2020 at 18:16

Bad sata cable and or ports?

If make sure the drives are all properly connected, swap out cables if you can.

I'm not saying it'll definitely be this but worth trying.

freddie64 · 13 Jul 2020 at 19:00

ConnorBCFC said:
I’ve now taken out the SSD and tried to install Windows to the HDD instead but it restarted during installation and now is back at the ‘install’ screen.

How are you booting to the install media?

When i first installed from a USB stick, i made the mistake of putting it as the primary boot drive and of course it went straight back to the install screen on reboot.

Agree with checking power and data cables for the drives.