Cannot Reinstall Windows or boot from USB - very strange need help.

Hi all,

I have had a home built PC running for 4 months or so with a new Graphics Card (RTX 4090) with no issues. The rest of the hardware is af few years old (memory, Mobo, CPU etc)

I booted the other day and got the "preparing automatic repair message" stuck screen.

I can get into BIOS. I prepared a bootable USB and tried to boot from it, no luck. I get the windows screen and the 5 circlng dots forever.

I removed the M2 drive that I was using as boot drive (1TB Samsung 980 I think). I put it in an enclosure and plugged it into a laptop and could read it no problem. I could also boot to it no problem on the laptop. I then "reset windows" reinstall on the same M2 drive. I could boot the laptop no probem with the new windows install from the M2 drive.

I reisntalled the M2 in the problem desktop PC and tried to boot - got "preparing automatic repair" again. Put in the bootable drive, got the same issue stuck on windows screen with the 5 circling dots.

I am at a loss - the M2 drive is fine. I can get into BIOS. I can select boot device. It will not boot.

I can start in safe mode but it just goes immediately into BIOS if I proceed (Ameritrends screen).

I have never seen anything like this. The Mobo (Hero Maximus x tii wifihink) says "A0" . I am really stuck because I Can select the boot priority and use the USB but it doesn't progress. I tested the USB on my laptop and it takes you right to the windows install screen so the USB is fine.

Update - just updated the BIOS to 2801

What mode is usb booting IE uefi or legacy if it's wrong type it won't work try removing hard drives and see if USB boots compare boot mode with laptop

Pentagon said:

Try to switch off secure boot in BIOS
You don't need a NVMe driver to boot your USB!

This is incorrect - some pcs will not even boot the usb drive if a suitable nvme driver is not in boot.wim.

My laptop will not.