Windows stuck on loading screen

[Brayan2063]

I've been troubleshooting for 3 weeks.

I've asked for help on countless discord servers and a few subreddits. People gave me troubleshooting ideas and stuff but nothing really worked. I don't know why I haven't made a post on this forum yet.

 

I have a 12700F with an ASRock Z790 Steel Legend WiFi board

G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB DDR5-7200 (F5-7200J3445G16GX2-TZ5RS)

An INNO3D 4070Ti Super Twin OC White and my old a Gainward 2080 Phoenix GS (tried them both but it didn't make a difference)

 

I've been having issues and troubleshooting for so long, I don't even really remember how everything started...

 

I hadn't changed anything to the hardware in a month and everything had been working perfectly before :

 

After a reboot I had difficulties botting Windows 10.

Then I noticed the VGA and BOOT QLEDs go on for 70 seconds with just a cursor on the screen, before actually starting to boot.

So my windows did eventually boot but it took annoyingly long.

Also, drivers were suddenly missing and programms weren't working correctly.

I tried updating everything, which definitely helped but some doftwares were dtill not working properly.

 

So the next day I backed up all my files and reinstalled Windows.

After that, those 70s turned into just a few secs, which is great and everything else seemed to work fine.

I installed all windows updates whick took a while and started to install drivers and softwares.

On the next day I did all my stresstests and fan curve editing like usual and everything seemed great.

Finally, the next day I was ready to play some games again, I installed AssettoCorsa, Content Manager and the drivers for my steering wheel.

I rebooted the PC and it got stuck on that "Rebooting" screen.

So I pressed the Reset button.

 

From that point on a new issue appeared.

I was just getting an infinitely long loading screen when trying to boot Windows. (The spinning circles)

I then wanted to try booting my GFs windows installation on a separate SSD, so I went into the firmware settings and noticed, my GFs SSD was the only bootable drive

and the windows installation I was just trying to play Assetto Corsa on, wasn't bootable anymore.

That means I was seeing those spinning circles when trying to boot from her SSD and not mine, as mine wasn't bootable anymore.

 

I then simply plugged in my USB stick I used a few days ago to install Windows aaand it had the exact same issue.

Just spinning circles.

 

I tried a CMOS reset and updating the BIOS and stuff but nothing changed.

 

I tried Windows 11 23H2, but that only gave me a black screen.

Went back to Windows 10 22H2, which gave me infinite spinning circles.

 

I thought this might be a DRAM issue, so I ran Memtest86+ for 10.5 hours and it was still showing 0 errors.

 

Then I tried Windows 10 21H2, to see if an older version would work and it did!!

After those spinning circles it switched to a dark blue screen like expected, then it took like 15 minutes to actually load the installer, but it worked!!

After reinstalling Windows again, it took extremely long to update everything as this is a pretty old version, but it worked.

The next day I started installing drivers and software aaand, I got the same issue again.

Tried booting the installer again aaand infinitely spinning circles.

 

I tried reseating the CPU, that sometimes causes wonders, but that didn't do anything.

Tried doing another CMOS reset as if that'd change anything.

Tried using my old GPU, cause the motherboard still turns the VGA and BOOT LEDs on on start. But that didn't change anything either.

 

Btw, the QLEDs turn off once it starts booting Windows.

They only turn on before, actually trying to boot anything.

 

And I guess that's where I'm at now.

I'm guessing the Motherboard has an issue and no-one else seems to have a better idea.

I've contacted ASRock about this, it said they would shortly answer... but it's been a week.

Today I also contacted the seller to ask for an exchange.

 

Do you have any ideas what could actually be the problem?

[Brayan2063]

I've been seeing this way too much.

[PDifolco]

50 minutes ago, Brayan2063 said:

I've been troubleshooting for 3 weeks.

I've asked for help on countless discord servers and a few subreddits. People gave me troubleshooting ideas and stuff but nothing really worked. I don't know why I haven't made a post on this forum yet.

 

I have a 12700F with an ASRock Z790 Steel Legend WiFi board

G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB DDR5-7200 (F5-7200J3445G16GX2-TZ5RS)

An INNO3D 4070Ti Super Twin OC White and my old a Gainward 2080 Phoenix GS (tried them both but it didn't make a difference)

 

I've been having issues and troubleshooting for so long, I don't even really remember how everything started...

 

I hadn't changed anything to the hardware in a month and everything had been working perfectly before :

 

After a reboot I had difficulties botting Windows 10.

Then I noticed the VGA and BOOT QLEDs go on for 70 seconds with just a cursor on the screen, before actually starting to boot.

So my windows did eventually boot but it took annoyingly long.

Also, drivers were suddenly missing and programms weren't working correctly.

I tried updating everything, which definitely helped but some doftwares were dtill not working properly.

 

So the next day I backed up all my files and reinstalled Windows.

After that, those 70s turned into just a few secs, which is great and everything else seemed to work fine.

I installed all windows updates whick took a while and started to install drivers and softwares.

On the next day I did all my stresstests and fan curve editing like usual and everything seemed great.

Finally, the next day I was ready to play some games again, I installed AssettoCorsa, Content Manager and the drivers for my steering wheel.

I rebooted the PC and it got stuck on that "Rebooting" screen.

So I pressed the Reset button.

 

From that point on a new issue appeared.

I was just getting an infinitely long loading screen when trying to boot Windows. (The spinning circles)

I then wanted to try booting my GFs windows installation on a separate SSD, so I went into the firmware settings and noticed, my GFs SSD was the only bootable drive

and the windows installation I was just trying to play Assetto Corsa on, wasn't bootable anymore.

That means I was seeing those spinning circles when trying to boot from her SSD and not mine, as mine wasn't bootable anymore.

 

I then simply plugged in my USB stick I used a few days ago to install Windows aaand it had the exact same issue.

Just spinning circles.

 

I tried a CMOS reset and updating the BIOS and stuff but nothing changed.

 

I tried Windows 11 23H2, but that only gave me a black screen.

Went back to Windows 10 22H2, which gave me infinite spinning circles.

 

I thought this might be a DRAM issue, so I ran Memtest86+ for 10.5 hours and it was still showing 0 errors.

 

Then I tried Windows 10 21H2, to see if an older version would work and it did!!

After those spinning circles it switched to a dark blue screen like expected, then it took like 15 minutes to actually load the installer, but it worked!!

After reinstalling Windows again, it took extremely long to update everything as this is a pretty old version, but it worked.

The next day I started installing drivers and software aaand, I got the same issue again.

Tried booting the installer again aaand infinitely spinning circles.

 

I tried reseating the CPU, that sometimes causes wonders, but that didn't do anything.

Tried doing another CMOS reset as if that'd change anything.

Tried using my old GPU, cause the motherboard still turns the VGA and BOOT LEDs on on start. But that didn't change anything either.

 

Btw, the QLEDs turn off once it starts booting Windows.

They only turn on before, actually trying to boot anything.

 

And I guess that's where I'm at now.

I'm guessing the Motherboard has an issue and no-one else seems to have a better idea.

I've contacted ASRock about this, it said they would shortly answer... but it's been a week.

Today I also contacted the seller to ask for an exchange.

 

Do you have any ideas what could actually be the problem?

 

To test if the GPU is the problem, you need some way to get video with another GPU (as yours don't have an iGPU)

Else may be a defective drive, at the point you've reached check it, reformat it if it's working, and reinstall windows

[Brayan2063]

2 hours ago, PDifolco said:

 

To test if the GPU is the problem, you need some way to get video with another GPU (as yours don't have an iGPU)

Else may be a defective drive, at the point you've reached check it, reformat it if it's working, and reinstall windows

Like I said, I did try my RTX 2080 instead of the RTX 4070Ti Super and that didn't change anything.

 

And this happens no matter what drive I use. No matter what USB drive or SSD. 

And I try every drive separately, with no other drives connected.

But changing the drives doesn't seem to change anything.

[PDifolco]

1 hour ago, Brayan2063 said:

Like I said, I did try my RTX 2080 instead of the RTX 4070Ti Super and that didn't change anything.

 

And this happens no matter what drive I use. No matter what USB drive or SSD. 

And I try every drive separately, with no other drives connected.

But changing the drives doesn't seem to change anything.

Huh, you mean you got the boot loop issue whatever drive and GPU you use, after a BIOs reset ?

That stinks of a corrupted  BIOS (some boards have a backup BIOS) or a dying CPU...

[Brayan2063]

2 hours ago, PDifolco said:

Huh, you mean you got the boot loop issue whatever drive and GPU you use, after a BIOs reset ?

That stinks of a corrupted  BIOS (some boards have a backup BIOS) or a dying CPU...

Yeah, but I did a BIOS update, which should fix any corrupted BIOS right? Unless the hardware is damaged, in which case I have the replace the motherboard.

But, that's what I'm currently thinking. (unfortunately)

It's most likely the motherboard, that's why I'm trying to get it exchanged.

But I'm still trying to find a solution while waiting for a response.

And yeah the CPU is an option too, but it's much less likely and if it is broken, I don't think I can exchange it, I would simply have ti buy a new one.