Sometimes PC won't boot unless I press reset or force power off

[Scottyboy99]

In last few months (maybe only since fall creators installed but that may just be co incidence) I have had issues when switching my desktop on. It’s happened about 3 or 4 times where it goes past post and then nothing happens. I’m still stuck staring at the ASUS logo on the loading screen but there is no attempt to load windows. The spinning dots indicating windows is loading don’t show at bottom of the screen. When this happens there is no keyboard illumination or anything. But the desktop is all on as I hear the fans spinning and all the lights are on on the case itself and innards of the case. The only thing I can do is tap the power button on the desktop which switches the machine right off or (as i discovered yesterday) press the reset button on the PC case which restarts the machine. Either way, the pc then turns on again and everything loads up fine. It’s an SSD so after POST it’s normally just a few seconds to boot. This is pretty rare as it’s only happened I reckon 3 or 4 times since September-ish and hadn't happened until yesterday for a quite a long time (probably over 100 succesful boots in a row I guess) but it’s just slightly worrying. I wonder if it’s a windows issue or maybe a power issue. I made sure the power supply was firmly in when it happened for the first time but it has happened again since. The pc is connected to a UPS but I doubt the UPS is at fault because it also powers the monitor and an imac and they never have any issue. I thought maybe the BIOS could be to blame so I updated that a few weeks ago as I was very out of date but it’s happened since that was updated. I even checked reliability monitor to ensure the shutdowns were clean and there are no complaints in here. It can’t be heat either because the times it has happened can be shortly after it had already been on or after a whole day or so of being off. I know it’s clutching at straws a bit but has anyone experienced similar maybe since fall creators ? It maybe co-incidence that it's started happening since then but Microsoft's bug riddled track record with Windows 10 since it's release isn't great. Maybe if it's so rare I can live with it and hope Microsoft's next attempt with the scheduled Spring Creators Update might nullify this issue. The PC specs are in my signature.

Thanks,
Wayne

 

[ubuysa]

I'm wondering whether your problem is related to Fast Boot? As I'm sure you know, with Fast Boot on (which it is by default) the kernel is always hibernated on shutdown and then resumed on boot. I have heard that some older motherboards don't play well with Fast Boot, so the first thing Id try is turning Fast Boot off. With an SSD you almost certainly don't need it in any case.

Go to Power Options (the old dialog, not the Windows Settings one) and click 'Change what the power buttons do'. You'll find Fast Boot as a checkbox at the bottom, uncheck it and shutdown. Then try a reboot.

 

[Scottyboy99]

I'm wondering whether your problem is related to Fast Boot? As I'm sure you know, with Fast Boot on (which it is by default) the kernel is always hibernated on shutdown and then resumed on boot. I have heard that some older motherboards don't play well with Fast Boot, so the first thing Id try is turning Fast Boot off. With an SSD you almost certainly don't need it in any case.

Go to Power Options (the old dialog, not the Windows Settings one) and click 'Change what the power buttons do'. You'll find Fast Boot as a checkbox at the bottom, uncheck it and shutdown. Then try a reboot.

Thank you, that’s certainly a logical response. I agree on fast boot with an SSD. It’s not needed and I don’t like that MS has it in by default. I will double check the setting but I am sure it’s off as it’s one of the first things I do after any feature update is switch it off and then re enable system restore.

 

[Scottyboy99]

Thank you, that’s certainly a logical response. I agree on fast boot with an SSD. It’s not needed and I don’t like that MS has it in by default. I will double check the setting but I am sure it’s off as it’s one of the first things I do after any feature update is switch it off and then re enable system restore.

Yep just checked and fast boot is off. Done several cold boots and restarts since it happened yesterday and they’ve all been fine but I guess at some point it will happen again. One quirk of my machine is every now and then the mouse pointer is not available on cold boot or restart. It’s rare and easily fixed by unplugging the usb it’s in and re inserting. I wonder if in some strange way that’s involved. I’m going to order a new one and try that out. But it’s always been like that ever since I got the pc a couple years back whereas this intermittent failure to boot has only manifested itself since the fall creators update. I also wonder if the internal card reader is in some way involved, it doesn’t work anymore although there is no exclamation mark in device manager. I wish I’d never opted to have that in hindsight!

 

[ubuysa]

Yep just checked and fast boot is off. Done several cold boots and restarts since it happened yesterday and they’ve all been fine but I guess at some point it will happen again. One quirk of my machine is every now and then the mouse pointer is not available on cold boot or restart. It’s rare and easily fixed by unplugging the usb it’s in and re inserting. I wonder if in some strange way that’s involved. I’m going to order a new one and try that out. But it’s always been like that ever since I got the pc a couple years back whereas this intermittent failure to boot has only manifested itself since the fall creators update. I also wonder if the internal card reader is in some way involved, it doesn’t work anymore although there is no exclamation mark in device manager. I wish I’d never opted to have that in hindsight!

How did you install Fall Creators? Did you upgrade in place or did you download new installation media and do a clean install?

Many people report niggly issues after an upgrade in place. Yes, it's supposed to work, but there are so many different hardware and software configurations out there that some end up with strange issues.

I always download a fresh installation using the Windows Media Creation Tool to a USB stick. I then do a clean install from that and I've never had any issues. Yes, that does mean I have to reinstall all third party programs and set up the Windows configuration to suit me again, but I've done that so many times now that I can clean install a new version of Windows 10 and all my third party programs and be up and running again in about 2 hours.

If you did an upgrade in place to Fall Creators I would strongly recommend a clean install of Fall Creators before you spend any money buying new hardware. I also allow Windows Update to install all drivers (on both my PCS laptop and my PCS desktop) and it's always found the right drivers for everything.

 

[Scottyboy99]

How did you install Fall Creators? Did you upgrade in place or did you download new installation media and do a clean install?

Many people report niggly issues after an upgrade in place. Yes, it's supposed to work, but there are so many different hardware and software configurations out there that some end up with strange issues.

I always download a fresh installation using the Windows Media Creation Tool to a USB stick. I then do a clean install from that and I've never had any issues. Yes, that does mean I have to reinstall all third party programs and set up the Windows configuration to suit me again, but I've done that so many times now that I can clean install a new version of Windows 10 and all my third party programs and be up and running again in about 2 hours.

If you did an upgrade in place to Fall Creators I would strongly recommend a clean install of Fall Creators before you spend any money buying new hardware. I also allow Windows Update to install all drivers (on both my PCS laptop and my PCS desktop) and it's always found the right drivers for everything.

Hi, it was installed via windows update. The machine has been through several feature updates since I acquired it. But it's certainly good advice. Keeps the machine lean and mean. Unfortunately I do try to avoid clean install. We have so much installed it would take days to get back to where we were. But if the issue persists/worsens I may have to give that serious consideration. I just think it's really odd that it happens very occasionaly. I am sure since Fall Creators in September the machine has been either restarted/cold booted almost 200 times (it normally gets switched on at least once a day and sometimes more often) and this happened just 3 or 4 times. You'd think if it was a hardware issue it will happen far more often!

 

[Scottyboy99]

Hi, it was installed via windows update. The machine has been through several feature updates since I acquired it. But it's certainly good advice. Keeps the machine lean and mean. Unfortunately I do try to avoid clean install. We have so much installed it would take days to get back to where we were. But if the issue persists/worsens I may have to give that serious consideration. I just think it's really odd that it happens very occasionaly. I am sure since Fall Creators in September the machine has been either restarted/cold booted almost 200 times (it normally gets switched on at least once a day and sometimes more often) and this happened just 3 or 4 times. You'd think if it was a hardware issue it will happen far more often!

Hmm, just happened again. What if it’s the internal card reader to blame. What’s the best way to disable it ?

 

[ubuysa]

Hmm, just happened again. What if it’s the internal card reader to blame. What’s the best way to disable it ?

I completely understand your reluctance to reinstall, however it is essential to eliminate software as the cause before suspecting hardware. This is particularly true in your case because you noticed the issue after the OS upgrade. It would be an amazing coincidence for hardware to fail just as you did a software upgrade....

To give you a quick way back to where you are now should a reinstall not solve the problem, install Macrium Reflect (free) and take a full disk image of your system drive before you do the reinstall. That way, if the reinstall doesn't fix your problem, you can restore the Reflect disk image and be straight back where you are now.