Odd Issue

[Jon Ward]

Hello, new user here,

   I have an odd issue. I can not seem to get the fix on it, but my computer has one heck of a time powering up. I have run into this issue before but it ended up shorting my motherboard. In the rebuild, I of course did my best to inspect the parts. But it can take 2/3/4/5 times to start the computer. All the pretty lights come on except for the keyboard and mouse before it actually starts up. The computer was prebuilt originally from CLX. I used to work for Dell as a field technician, I have replaced the motherboard and power supply, replaced the RAM 3 times, ran the computer through a different outlet (yes the "turn it off and then back on again" didn't fix it XD) and reloaded Windows more times than I can count, (I ended up getting corruption of files somehow), I have even flashed and updated the bios. At first, I thought it was an issue with Windows Insider so I got rid of that when I did the new build and I am right back to where I started. The computer doesn't crash under load. gpu seems to be just fine (GeForce RTX 3060ti) I had a green screen and a blue screen each once a year ago. Ran memory tests and all of that. This computer has become one heck of a way for me to release stress and rejoin society after the army, I have spent twice maybe three times what the computer is worth by now,,, Please help!

[SecurityIsAnIllusion]

Man -- sorry to hear of your problem PC.   Unfortunately a new PC might be the only answer.  Other possible causes like MOBO circuit faults would be very difficult to find and fix.   Then you can get back too release your stress and rejoin society.   Thanks for your service BTW.

 

[Jon Ward]

3 hours ago, SecurityIsAnIllusion said:

Man -- sorry to hear of your problem PC.   Unfortunately a new PC might be the only answer.  Other possible causes like MOBO circuit faults would be very difficult to find and fix.   Then you can get back too release your stress and rejoin society.   Thanks for your service BTW.

 

A full new build? I have already replaced the motherboard, ram, case and power supply.... the only old things are the hard drives, gpu, and cpu. I do have a small over clock but that had been added after the issue started... it's almost a new one already... could a short or something on a gpu cause this?

[podkall]

If it's long loading time to boot, it could be drive related

[SecurityIsAnIllusion]

On 12/15/2023 at 11:39 AM, podkall said:

If it's long loading time to boot, it could be drive related

You have already replaced a ton of stuff.    I know this is primarily for hardware issues but I hope this checklist may be useful to you.

 

My apologies - I just dabble.   Not really an expert.    Tools I use are basic.   My apologies if you have done all of this before.   I am assuming from the way you are talking that you run a  Win 7/10/11 machine.

 

SPECCY, CPU-Z and HWINFO lets me monitor all of my components at once so I can check temperatures of CPU, RAM graphics cards.   Diagnostic tools include ESET's SysInspector_NT64.       Also have you tried using SAFE BOOT if you're using a windows machine.   If it loads much faster, then drivers may be an issue since only "safe" drivers are loaded into a virtual environment.    Check you have more than 20% capacity on your system drive and the drives are healthy (see later).

 

Also, and this is really basic, have you tried doing a proper cold boot with ethernet and wifi and any other internet connection turned off.  What happens?   Do SAFE BOOT again without internet.   My "proper" cold boot" =  internet off, reboot, wait for PC to boot up, shut down and turn power off at wall for 5 minutes.   Start up in SAFE BOOT without any internet connections.

 

KEEP ALL INTERNET CONNECTIONS OFF FOR THE NEXT BIT

 

Torn on BIOS verbose communication at boot.   Are you saying that the problem is at POST (power on self test) or further into  the boot sequence when the BIOS is looking for peripherals before it loads the OS?

 

Do WinKey-plus-X at the same time and goto "Event Viewer" and check the logs there -- are there any log  entries that are red or flashing or look suspicious?

 

The next bits are tedious I'm afraid:

 

Do WinKey-plus-X at the same time and goto "System".  check all of the tabs for anomalous/flashing entries.

Do WinKey-plus-X at the same time and goto "Device Manager".  check all of the tabs for anomalous/flashing entries.

Do WinKey-plus-X at the same time and goto "Disk Management".  check all of the tabs for anomalous/flashing entries.   Check disk health here.

Do WinKey-plus-X at the same time and goto "System".  check all of the tabs for anomalous/flashing entries.

Do WinKey-plus-X at the same time and goto "Computer Management".  check all of the tabs for anomalous/flashing entries.  Also look at "Task Manager for any unscheduled or unrecognised items" and also explore the "processes" tab for items consuming large amounts of CPU cycles or RAM; look at the "performance" tab do the same;   Look at "StartUp" tab to see if there are any unrecognised items that may be consuming valuable memory or slow to load.    Linux soes a boot up runlog listing time in seconds as processes begin and end.   I have yet to find any similar tool for windows.

 

I assume you have already done antiviral checks.   Do them again still disconnected prom the net as some viruses/worms are polymorphic or able to store themselves elsewhere to avoid detection.  ESET has an excellent offline tool or you can use the Windows Defender.

 

Lastly, I am afraid I cannot remember these sites but there were two unusual sites with very technical people.   They were excellent but slightly intrusive and often took up to two weeks to get a very reliable answer.   The methodology was you write in with your question which gets triaged and then you get a form to fill out if your question is accepted.   An email conversation then ensues to gather further information.   You may be required to download a tool which analyses your PC passively with the internet off.  When the tool has finished it sends the data back to home base and deletes itself.   Further conversation ensues ending with a series of emails that require the user to follow particular steps (perhaps in registry) in a particular sequence.   Once complete, feedback ensues and you're done.   These guys were excellent.   

 

My apologies for not being able to identify them.    Hopefully other folk might be able to help out.

 

TURN INTERNET ON !! (Duh - slaps forehead).

Best of luck.

 

 

 

 

[Whatisthis]

On 12/14/2023 at 3:43 AM, Jon Ward said:

A full new build? I have already replaced the motherboard, ram, case and power supply.... the only old things are the hard drives, gpu, and cpu. I do have a small over clock but that had been added after the issue started... it's almost a new one already... could a short or something on a gpu cause this?

Disconnect thr non-system drive and boot. If the problem persists, disconnect the system drive and install windows on the other drive.

 

From the sounds of it, the drives and cpu are the only real possible culprits. If the above doesn’t fix it, CPU replacement is the next step.