PC keeps booting into BIOS

[ZuParadox]

I turned on my PC just now and it just boots into the BIOS - it was working fine earlier this morning.

Attached are some screenshots of what pops up on the screen as well as the BIOS itself.

Every time I exit it just boots back in again. I’m stumped 🤔

 

[Martinr36]

Check all the connections on your drives and reseat RAM, GPU etc

 

[RichLan564]

I turned on my PC just now and it just boots into the BIOS - it was working fine earlier this morning.

Attached are some screenshots of what pops up on the screen as well as the BIOS itself.

Every time I exit it just boots back in again. I’m stumped 🤔

What hard drives and SSD's have you got in the system ?

A few pointers here:

How to Fix 'PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, Check Cable' Error

PXE-E61 errors like 'Media test failure, check cable' most likely mean that the computer isn't configured to boot to the HDD. Here's what to do.

www.lifewire.com

 

[TonyCarter]

Is the system meant to only have one stick of RAM, and should XMP profile be disabled?

 

[ZuParadox]

Checked cables and all seem fine

This is the spec (it’s my machine from 6 year ago)

Motherboard	ASUS® Z97-P: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)	8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card	4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card	NONE
3rd Graphics Card	NONE
1st Storage Drive	1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

 

[Martinr36]

Move the windows boot manager to the top of the boot priority list, rather than the bottom

 

[ZuParadox]

Move the windows boot manager to the top of the boot priority list, rather than the bottom

I do that and still boots into BIOS and puts it back down the bottom again 😩

 

[Martinr36]

I suspect you have a dead drive then

 

[ZuParadox]

😬

Does this mean everything is lost on it?

 

[Martinr36]

Not necessarily, what i would suggest is that you get a new drive, download and install w10 following these instructions:

Download a new copy of Windows using the Media Creation Tool to an 8GB (min) USB.
Boot that USB and choose a Custom Install.
Delete all UEFI partitions on the system drive (EFI System, Recovery, MSR Reserved, Primary).
Select the unallocated space that results and click the Next button. The installer will create the correct partitions and install Windows.
Run Windows Update repeatedly, even across reboots, until no more updates are found.
You may need/want to download and install the latest graphics driver from the Nvidia/AMD website (they change so regularly the latest version isn't always in the Windows libraries).

And then maybe we can see if it's possible to recover any files on there, which should really have been backed up to somewhere such as onedrive or dropbox

Maybe @SpyderTracks or @ubuysa could offer up some advise

 

[SpyderTracks]

It's possible it's just the windows boot manager that has an issue and we could try a startup repair using windows media.

Firstly though, when you're changing the boot priority, you are saving and exiting?

 

[ZuParadox]

It's possible it's just the windows boot manager that has an issue and we could try a startup repair using windows media.

Firstly though, when you're changing the boot priority, you are saving and exiting?

Yeah but I change the order and when I press save and exit it just says

“You have not made any changes to the BIOS settings”

But even changing another setting so it saves it still doesn’t save the boot order for some reason 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[SpyderTracks]

Yeah but I change the order and when I press save and exit it just says

“You have not made any changes to the BIOS settings”

But even changing another setting so it saves it still doesn’t save the boot order for some reason 🤷🏻‍♂️

What happens when you mash f8 on boot, does it load the boot manager? If so select the windows boot manager as the boot device

 

[ZuParadox]

What happens when you mash f8 on boot, does it load the boot manager? If so select the windows boot manager as the boot device

Hmm I don’t seem to have the option for windows boot when mashing F8 (see attached)

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hmm I don’t seem to have the option for windows boot when mashing F8 (see attached)

That is a bit concerning. But it's registering the drive itself which is that huge partition that it's got placed as the primary boot.

So all may not be lost.

Next thing to try is create a windows USB from here:

Download Windows 10

Boot from that, and follow this guide to repair the start up:

How to Boot or Repair Windows computer using the Installation Media

Guide to repair Windows 11/10 installation in-place using the bootable Installation USB or DVD without losing data. Repair UEFI or BIOS bootloader.

www.thewindowsclub.com

If you turn around and say you're still on windows 7 then I'm going to kick myself!

 

[ZuParadox]

Haha no no - im on windows xp

😄 na I’m on 10 dont worry

Thanks, I will try that first thing tomorrow morning and will let you know. Thanks for all your help on this guys 👍🏻

 

[ZuParadox]

That is a bit concerning. But it's registering the drive itself which is that huge partition that it's got placed as the primary boot.

So all may not be lost.

Next thing to try is create a windows USB from here:

Download Windows 10

Boot from that, and follow this guide to repair the start up:

How to Boot or Repair Windows computer using the Installation Media

Guide to repair Windows 11/10 installation in-place using the bootable Installation USB or DVD without losing data. Repair UEFI or BIOS bootloader.

www.thewindowsclub.com

If you turn around and say you're still on windows 7 then I'm going to kick myself!

Doesn’t look good I’m afraid

“Startup repair couldn’t repair your PC”

Any other options/steps? 😩

 

[SpyderTracks]

Doesn’t look good I’m afraid

“Startup repair couldn’t repair your PC”

Any other options/steps? 😩

That was booting off the USB?

I would do as @Martinr36 suggests then, get an SSD as a new boot drive, setup windows from scratch on that and see if it can read rhe data partition off that drive to recover data.

 

[Insane.Pringle]

Further to @Martinr36 and @SpyderTracks, i'd also disconnect the failed(?) drive just to ensure the W10 install doesnt try and pick that drive to install on. it shouldn't but if youre not paying attention to the install process you might end up picking that drive to install to then you really will lose your data

 

[Martinr36]

Further to @Martinr36 and @SpyderTracks, i'd also disconnect the failed(?) drive just to ensure the W10 install doesnt try and pick that drive to install on. it shouldn't but if youre not paying attention to the install process you might end up picking that drive to install to then you really will lose your data

Very good point, then reconnect it once you've FULLY configured the new install