I probably killed my PC (help please!)

[wolf strider shooter]

I overclocked my i7 6700k on water to 5 GHz 1.3 volts disabling three out of four cores just to see what would happen, I didn't change my RAM profile settings (off XMP). Basicly my Windows boots to a black screen with no courser all I can do is press shift five times to get a sticky keys message. I went back to default settings in the bios and nothing changed. Then I tried memtest86 with the bios setting back to what they were when my OS wouldn't work and I tried XMP too. memtest came back with 0 errors and I have no idea what to do or what happened at this point. I also made sure my SSD still works by plugging it into my brothers computer and looking through the files it seems that nothing is missing.

 

Update 4-8-17: I booted a Windows Recovery Drive and used SFC.exe and DISM.exe to scan and repair the drive, both work sometimes but don't seem to fix my issue. I tried using BCDBoot.exe to copy the boot files from the Windows Recovery Drive to my OS and now I just get an infinite loop of loading and I can't scan the drive with SFC, nither can I acceses it through my brothers PC. The only way I can access it is through the CMD on the Recovery Drive. I still want to keep all my files or back them up somehow but, I have no idea what to do now I'm really just stuck at this point.

Edited April 8, 2017 by wolf strider shooter
Update 4-8-17

[zMeul]

most likely you corrupted the OS, boot from the install media (USB stick) and repair the OS

do not OC while repairing

[wzrd]

What motherboard are you using?

 

Does the BIOS recognise the CPU? It's unlikely that you killed your PC if it boots to the BIOS and that far into the OS.

[wolf strider shooter]

How exactly would just a CPU overclock corrupt the OS? Also I'm using an ASUS z170-a and yes the bios recognizes the CPU.

[wzrd]

Newer versions of Windows aren't designed to run on single-core architectures. By disabling all but one of the cores, it may have corrupted the system. It is rare but can happen. Also make sure that you have fully reset the BIOS by removing the battery as opposed to just using the jumper, to be safe. Some newer UEFI BIOS do not fully clear settings when using the jumper (designed to save you from having to reset the clock, etc., every time), but this can some times cause bad settings to be retained in rare instances - better safe than sorry!

 

You can download the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10.

 

Use this to make a bootable USB stick as if you were doing a clean install. Boot the USB and select repair my computer, and this will fix any problems in the OS.

[wolf strider shooter]

Thanks a lot for responding and helping me out guys I will try your fixes! Btw how long do I remove the battery for?

[wzrd]

Remove it for 10 seconds to be on the safe side. Remember to disconnect the system from any external power and use a rubber tweezers or another non conductive tool to remove the battery. Hold down the power button for a couple of seconds after you remove it.

 

Try booting your system again after this - removing the battery also cleanses the NVRAM, and so your system might work again in the unlikely event that this became corrupted and caused the problem - worth trying before you go to the trouble of going through the repair process.

[wolf strider shooter]

Alright, will do.

[wolf strider shooter]

Oh, and also is it possible that just an overclock could corrupt the OS without disabling cores? What about if I disabled just two cores, could that cause any problems?

[wolf strider shooter]

Could I use latex gloves to remove the battery? I'm pretty sure I can but I just wanna make sure.

[wzrd]

Technically yes, but it's extremely unlikely - even when disabling cores it's rare. It's also far more common in Windows 10 because of the way it self-optimises for CPU architecture.

 

Yes, as a general rule you should be grounded when touching anything on a motherboard, so ground yourself against a metal radiator, power supply, etc. and you'll be fine.

 

Let us know how you get on.

[wolf strider shooter]

Alright, sure.

[wolf strider shooter]

Well, it ended up not working. Is there anyway I can reinstall my OS without everything in my SSD being wiped?

[wzrd]

Not working in what way, exactly?

 

Was it unable to repair the OS, or were you unable to boot to the USB at all?

 

If you have an external disk available it's usually possible to keep your files before reformatting, yes.

[wolf strider shooter]

Sorry for the late response, the USB device ended up not being able to repair the OS. Is it possible I could try to repair the OS myself because I have save files and registry edits I don't want to redo. Is it possible I could try to do something with the boot files, maybe there corrupted and can be fixed?

[wzrd]

Possibly, do you have your data files on a separate partition?

 

You could then use something like the bootable version of Partition Wizard to wipe the boot partition without an OS, and then just reinstall Windows on the boot partition without touching your files. That would probably be the best/most elegant option.

 

Otherwise your best bet is to use a bootable Linux distribution like GParted and using the included mc commands to manually copy any files you wish to keep to an external drive before reformatting it and reinstalling the OS.

 

Also, this is a long shot but try removing your GPU (if you use one) and running with the onboard graphics if you haven't already, in the tiny off-chance that your GPU is actually the problem.

 

 

[wolf strider shooter]

I tried removing the GPU and it didn't change anything. Would the first option be like if I upgraded to Windows 10 from 7? For example it would just be like replacing the OS or would all the old files including the Windows installation be on another partition? Sorry for taking so long to respond back.

[wolf strider shooter]

Well I guess I'm on my own now... :\