Windows 10 doesn't boot on my new system

[Pervaiz Ahmad]

Hi. I live in the UK and built my first ever pc in the beginning of January this year. Specs are as follows:

• i7-8700K
• ASRock Z370 gaming K6
• G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
• Zotac GTX 1080 Ti AMP (Only thing which I bought used)
• Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe SSD
• Corsair RMx 750 W

After building it, I had problems with the system not turning on and took it to a Gaming PC shop nearby. Turned out that one of the 24pin cables in the power supply wasn't all the way in. (Not related but the only "problem" I had with hardware)

I bought Windows 10 Home from that shop and install it onto my NVMe SSD. Windows didnt instantly boot like I expected it to but everything worked fine for about a day. However the next day when I went to power on my PC windows didn't boot. I waited and waited and after about 15 minutes it finally booted. I then had further problems where I couldn't type in the windows search or any of the windows apps (I was able to type in calculator for some reason). Also I had problems with the video output to my monitor. The quality of the video output was very bad. I reinstalled the nvidia driver which temporarily fixed that issue. But unplugging and plugging the HDMI cable back into the graphics card brought the problem back. I assumed this was due to the windows problem so I left it as it was.

 

I tried everything I could think of to fix this. Reinstalled windows 3 times but every time the problem would come back after a day or 2 and windows would take anywhere from 20-30 minutes to boot. Frustrated, I took my system to the PC shop where I bought windows from. I paid for a full hardware diagnosis and everything was fine. My only other option was to pay them to reinstall windows to my system just in case I was an idiot and installed Windows incorrectly. I brought the system back and it worked fine. I did nothing on the system other than browse the internet for the next 2 days and as expected, the problem came back... 

 

I took it back to that shop and they did further testing including updating the BIOS to the latest version (3.3), reinstalling windows and running stress tests on the system. They did this for about a day or 2 and they didn't experience the same problem I was having. Thinking the bios update solved the problem, they gave the system back to me. It worked fine. Windows booted instantly and I was finally happy... until one day windows decided to take longer than usual to boot. About 30 secounds but that was long enough for me to realise the problem wasn't fixed. After a few reboots it took longer and longer to boot until I was back to waiting half an hour for windows to get it's shit together. The exact same problems came back. I couldn't type in windows search or any windows apps and the video output was very bad.

 

I called ebuyer because I got my motherboard from them, explained the problem and they told me another person had the same problem. It turned out that the 970 EVO wasn't supported by the default BIOS of the motherboard and would be fixed if I update the bios to the latest version. However the bios was already updated and windows wasn't booting. I took the system back to the PC shop and told them to install windows on one of their SATA SSD and test the piece of SHIT for a week. They did exactly that. They first tested my ssd and then their sata ssd and after a week I was told once again that they didn't experience the windows problem. I lost my shit and had an argument with them. I was able to get a refund for the windows installation they did. They wiped their install of windows and returned the system back to me.

 

And here I am now... I have the tendency to pour gasoline on the useless pile of expensive hardware lying beside my bed, light it on fire and throw it out my window.

I was advised by friends and family to sell the individual parts or return them saying they are faulty. I have until 31st of January to return my parts so can someone please tell me a solution to my suffering before it's too late.

[Zondaa]

Hi,

 

I know this isn't too helpful but there are certainly issues with specific model of motherboard that is causing an array of issues with windows booting on your drive. A simple google search shows that a fair few owners are having issues with m.2 drives in the board. It may be worth trying to get the board refunded and purchasing one from a different manufacturer.

 

Also, here is a compatible drive list for the motherboard

Edited January 29, 2019 by Zondaa
Attaching image

[Pervaiz Ahmad]

2 minutes ago, Zondaa said:

Hi,

 

I know this isn't too helpful but there are certainly issues with specific model of motherboard that is causing an array of issues with windows booting on your drive. A simple google search shows that a fair few owners are having issues with m.2 drives in the board. It may be worth trying to get the board refunded and purchasing one from a different manufacturer.

Well can you tell me which motherboard definitely supports the 970 evo?

[Zondaa]

Funnily enough even this board claims to support the 970 evo, but is acting extremely erratic in it's behavior as you mentioned. I'll have a look for what board would suit you best.

[Zondaa]

Okay, I think i've found something that may be helpful and hopefully shouldn't require changing out the board.

 

http://asrock.pc.cdn.bitgravity.com/Manual/Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming K6.pdf

 

On page 77 of this manual for the board you should be able to change the operating mode of the drive in the bios.

 

You'll need to go into advanced mode on the bios, then look for Storage configuration .

 

Once you've found that look for the following options:

 

>M2_1/SATA_0_1 SWITCH

>M2_2/SATA_4_5 SWITCH

 

Click on both of these options and change them from AUTO to FORCE_M2

 

Hopefully that should solve the issue

 

Also if you know what m.2 drive slot (1 or 2) you populated then just change that one option.

 

Good luck, and if that doesn't work then attach some pics of the storage configuration in your bios.

 

 

[Stormseeker9]

20 minutes ago, Pervaiz Ahmad said:

Well can you tell me which motherboard definitely supports the 970 evo?

B450 gsming pro carbon AC

 

never mind see you have intel cpu. Take the Intel equivalent to this board

[Pervaiz Ahmad]

50 minutes ago, Zondaa said:

Hi,

 

I know this isn't too helpful but there are certainly issues with specific model of motherboard that is causing an array of issues with windows booting on your drive. A simple google search shows that a fair few owners are having issues with m.2 drives in the board. It may be worth trying to get the board refunded and purchasing one from a different manufacturer.

 

Also, here is a compatible drive list for the motherboard

My SSD is the Samsung 970 EVO 500GB. I don't see that on the list.

[Zondaa]

4 minutes ago, Pervaiz Ahmad said:

My SSD is the Samsung 970 EVO 500GB. I don't see that on the list.

Third drive down is the 970 evo 250gb, I'd safely assume that the 500gb applies the same in terms of compatibility, did you try applying the fix i mentioned above?

[Pervaiz Ahmad]

36 minutes ago, Zondaa said:

Third drive down is the 970 evo 250gb, I'd safely assume that the 500gb applies the same in terms of compatibility, did you try applying the fix i mentioned above?

Yea I did. And its working fine right now. The thing is that it takes a while or it to stop working fine. I will keep a close eye on it but if you find another solution please let me know. 

[Zondaa]

Let me know how it goes dude,

 

Best of luck

[Pervaiz Ahmad]

18 hours ago, Zondaa said:

Let me know how it goes dude,

 

Best of luck

Yea so it hasn't even been a day and the problem seems to be comming back. I'm just gonna get a refund on as many parts as I can and sell all the others as used (If you wanna buy, let me know).

 

Also, I have always noticed something off about windows yet never brought it up cause I didn't think anything of it. Its a bit late now but worth a shot.

When windows is booting, the windows logo doesn't show. Only the loading icon below the logo shows. This has been the case since day 1 and I have never seen this happen on any other system. Would you know what this could be? Is it a common thing? Was I sold a sketchy version of windows?

 

I mean, it's probably pointless by now but this has been bugging me for a long time.

Edited January 30, 2019 by Pervaiz Ahmad