Newish PC cant get past Windows boot

squirrel

squirrel

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Hi guys. Built a PC a couple of months ago and had no problems whatsoever until now. The PC keeps on restarting whilst Windows in booting, and afterwards it asks to repair which either fails or sometimes allows me to boot normally, then will blue screen in Windows. When I boot normally the Realtek audio manager pops up and says a microphone is plugged in/out as well. Safe Mode works 100% and I can boot into and works fine. Last night I managed to get to the desktop normally before going out, and started updating antivirus etc, but when I returned a couple hours later it was at the boot repair menu, so it obviously restarted at some point.

Does this sound like a hardware or software issue? Thinking about just reinstalling Windows and seeing how it works from there or trying another hard drive. Is it possible the hard drive or motherboard is dying?
 
Sounds like a bad driver/hardware issue. Perhaps a CPU overheating or something causing a conflict.

Try reinstalling windows
 
Also, have you changed any hardware recently? Have you tried to do a system restore?
 
The problem is that the PC does not belong to me, so I am not entirely sure what has been changed recently, although it does sound like it could be a driver issue. I asked the owner if anything was changed recently and he said no. I did find some software called PC 'something' Pro installed recently that was asking for payment for full version that I uninstalled. Windows Update is not set to automatic. No hardware has been changed.
 
I'd start with RAM. If you have two modules, try remove one, check the system's stability and then try the otheer. That ofcourse doesn't discount the fact you might just have two dud sticks.
 
Safe mode, disable all startup programs and extra drivers through msconfig. Load windows and update everything
 
I had a pc some time ago which had similar symptoms, turned out to be the ram that was buggered.
 
Heh, I like to dabble in Linux myself every now and then, but not for friends/family :) Anyways, an update... so since coming home last night to the recovery window (after booting), I cancelled and it booted fine. Managed to install/update/run Security Essentials, Spybot and ComboFix which all returned nothing. I then ran Windows Update. I also tried updating the BIOS since I saw it was out of date via the Foxconn Windows utility - this thing SUCKS, it says it's 'updated' but after rebooting still the same bios... even tried the second-latest one and it said it's the same as the one I have (even though versions were different)... automatic BIOS update (grabs file for you) does not work either! Ran CCleaner.. rebooted multiple times, and all good.

Only thing I can think of that was causing problems is this 'Speedy PC Pro' software. That's the only thing that was installed recently and it's a known trouble causer. Also left some files after 'uninstalling' but I've since deleted everything I can find.

Guess now the only thing to do is stress test to make sure there's no hardware issues. Any recommendations on what to run? Maybe just good old Super Pi, Prime95 and Sisoft Sandra?

EDIT: Oh yes.. the only problem left, when restarting it says 'You just plugged a device into the audio jack' except nothing has been plugged in...

EDIT 2: For those wondering.. it has 1x 4gb stick
 
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Leave the BIOS you are asking to brick it. Sounds like it was that bs program that was causing the problems.

Also you can run memtest on the ram if you want to give that a good test.

Uninstall the audio driver/software and grab the latest version from the motherboard driver page, install it and restart then check windows update for an update to it if possible.
 
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PC was working fine for a solid day at my house, however the PC was taken back and reports of explorer, thunderbird etc crashing and rebooting. Guess the PC needs to go off to suppliers for assessment :/ Guess it's a RAM or HDD problem..
 
bekdik said:
Try changing which plug it's plugged into, remove all mains extenders, another room is better. It may be a power problem caused by bad wiring.
Click to expand...

Hmm could give that a go. The supplier is charging just under r200 to check the PC for problems since I built the PC from their components instead of letting them do it.
 
bekdik said:
Use the same power cable that worked at your house
Click to expand...

For reference, the PC has been in the same room using the same plugs, and there is another PC in the same room that is not having problems. Reinstalling Windows at my house and will take it from there..
 
Update: Tried reinstalling Windows, but couldn't even do that without errors. I burnt Memtest to CD and ran the test which instantly showed hundreds of errors. Busy trying another stick of the same ram (Axtrom DDR3 1333 4GB) and so far so good... guess I found the culprit.
 
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