My dektop PC refuses to boot (neither into BIOS nor Windows)

The BIOS may have become corrupted. Does your motherboard have a backup BIOS you can switch to? Else you could re-flash the BIOS with latest version.

Is the PSU working OK e.g. do any hard drives spin up and does the power LED on the motherboard switch on as soon as you switch on the PSU switch indicating the +5V standby power line required to boot the PC is working?

Thank you very much for your reply, bobkn. Sorry I did not reply till now. I guess I needed a to get away from it a little . However, I am none the less very eager to get my desktop PC up and going, so I tried moving the CMOS jumper as explained and also had the MB battery removed (and put back in place), before I turned the computer on. However, it neither booted into BIOS nor Windows. So I turned the computer off and disconnected the data cables from all drives, which made it boot to BIOS after some trying. I had the opportunity to set date and time and switch of the scroll lock, but, off course, there was no boot order to be set. I reconnected the data cable to the drive containing my system participation, and turned on the computer again. As far as I remember, it booted into BIOS again, but not into Windows alas. I have not been able to log on to Windows since Oct. 9, when I was relieved to see that my Lumix TZ40 photos seemed to be all still there (on a non-system-partition hard drive which was also perfectly accessible from my wife’s desktop PC some days earlier, - except that the folder with my Panasonic Lumix TZ40 photos was then totally empty).

I think I missed something in my initial post. I mentioned that I had received the error code 0xc000000e, but, unfortunately, I forgot to mention that part of the error message the system’s inability access the file Winload.exe because it was missing or damaged. I am very sorry for that. I guess a copy of the corresponding file on my wife's computer (running identical Windows system) would not help.

Although the issue has now persisted for some time, it is still very important to me to get my computer running, although the most important part is regaining access to my Panasonic Lumix TZ40 photos, which seems to require me to identify myself by logging on to Windows. I am not sure how to overcome that problem. - Most of my other important data are also on non-system-partition hard drives, thank God.

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Ztruker said:

Start removing the memory DIMMS one at a time and trying to powerup. A defective one is often the reason a PC won't post.

I had the RAM checked a couple of weeks ago, and no defects were reported, so to start with, I am not inclined to think that they are the culprit. Also, the computer has shown no signs of lack of RAM. But thanks anyway, Ztruker.

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Steve C said:

The BIOS may have become corrupted. Does your motherboard have a backup BIOS you can switch to? Else you could re-flash the BIOS with latest version.

Is the PSU working OK e.g. do any hard drives spin up and does the power LED on the motherboard switch on as soon as you switch on the PSU switch indicating the +5V standby power line required to boot the PC is working?

Hi Steve
Actually I have thougth about switching to an alternative onlboard BIOS, and I will try that as soon as a get to the computer, and see if it helps.
As to the power supply and the onboard power LED, I think you may have hit the spot here. The red onboard power LED does not switch on, when I switch on the power supply. It does only when I press the power button on the computer case. Could it be the +5V standby power that is missing? As I have described, the fans spin up, when I press the power button on the case, but nothing else seems to happen: The screen says "No signal", and the computer does not boot, neither into BIOS nor into Windows, or at least only once in a while.

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Thank you very much, spunk, for your post (#12). Luckily, my photos are on a non-system-partition hard drive, but I certainly consider backing them up to a hard drive on my wife’s computer.

I will follow your advice as to my boot problems, unless the issue gets solved soon.

JeppeArne said:

Thank you very much for your reply, bobkn. Sorry I did not reply till now. I guess I needed a to get away from it a little . However, I am none the less very eager to get my desktop PC up and going, so I tried moving the CMOS jumper as explained and also had the MB battery removed (and put back in place), before I turned the computer on. However, it neither booted into BIOS nor Windows. So I turned the computer off and disconnected the data cables from all drives, which made it boot to BIOS after some trying. I had the opportunity to set date and time and switch of the scroll lock, but, off course, there was no boot order to be set. I reconnected the data cable to the drive containing my system participation, and turned on the computer again. As far as I remember, it booted into BIOS again, but not into Windows alas. I have not been able to log on to Windows since Oct. 9, when I was relieved to see that my Lumix TZ40 photos seemed to be all still there (on a non-system-partition hard drive which was also perfectly accessible from my wife’s desktop PC some days earlier, - except that the folder with my Panasonic Lumix TZ40 photos was then totally empty).

I think I missed something in my initial post. I mentioned that I had received the error code 0xc000000e, but, unfortunately, I forgot to mention that part of the error message the system’s inability access the file Winload.exe because it was missing or damaged. I am very sorry for that. I guess a copy of the corresponding file on my wife's computer (running identical Windows system) would not help.

Although the issue has now persisted for some time, it is still very important to me to get my computer running, although the most important part is regaining access to my Panasonic Lumix TZ40 photos, which seems to require me to identify myself by logging on to Windows. I am not sure how to overcome that problem. - Most of my other important data are also on non-system-partition hard drives, thank God.

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I had the RAM checked a couple of weeks ago, and no defects were reported, so to start with, I am not inclined to think that they are the culprit. Also, the computer has shown no signs of lack of RAM. But thanks anyway, Ztruker.

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Hi Steve
Actually I have thougth about switching to an alternative onlboard BIOS, and I will try that as soon as a get to the computer, and see if it helps.
As to the power supply and the onboard power LED, I think you may have hit the spot here. The red onboard power LED does not switch on, when I switch on the power supply. It does only when I press the power button on the computer case. Could it be the +5V standby power that is missing? As I have described, the fans spin up, when I press the power button on the case, but nothing else seems to happen: The screen says "No signal", and the computer does not boot, neither into BIOS nor into Windows, or at least only once in a while.

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you very much, spunk, for your post (#12). Luckily, my photos are on a non-system-partition hard drive, but I certainly consider backing them up to a hard drive on my wife’s computer.

I will follow your advice as to my boot problems, unless the issue gets solved soon.

First check that the LED on your motherboard is meant ti light to show the +5V standby signal is working and is not to inicate the motherboard is powered on. The PC will not start if the +5V standby voltage is not working. You could check the PSU output on the +5V line with a voltmeter and use the 'paperclip test' to check the PSU operation - Is my power supply dead?: The Paperclip Test :

JeppeArne said:

Thank you very much for your reply, bobkn. Sorry I did not reply till now. I guess I needed a to get away from it a little . However, I am none the less very eager to get my desktop PC up and going, so I tried moving the CMOS jumper as explained and also had the MB battery removed (and put back in place), before I turned the computer on. However, it neither booted into BIOS nor Windows. So I turned the computer off and disconnected the data cables from all drives, which made it boot to BIOS after some trying. I had the opportunity to set date and time and switch of the scroll lock, but, off course, there was no boot order to be set. I reconnected the data cable to the drive containing my system participation, and turned on the computer again. As far as I remember, it booted into BIOS again, but not into Windows alas. I have not been able to log on to Windows since Oct. 9, when I was relieved to see that my Lumix TZ40 photos seemed to be all still there (on a non-system-partition hard drive which was also perfectly accessible from my wife’s desktop PC some days earlier, - except that the folder with my Panasonic Lumix TZ40 photos was then totally empty).

I think I missed something in my initial post. I mentioned that I had received the error code 0xc000000e, but, unfortunately, I forgot to mention that part of the error message the system’s inability access the file Winload.exe because it was missing or damaged. I am very sorry for that. I guess a copy of the corresponding file on my wife's computer (running identical Windows system) would not help.

Although the issue has now persisted for some time, it is still very important to me to get my computer running, although the most important part is regaining access to my Panasonic Lumix TZ40 photos, which seems to require me to identify myself by logging on to Windows. I am not sure how to overcome that problem. - Most of my other important data are also on non-system-partition hard drives, thank God.

- - - Updated - - -



I had the RAM checked a couple of weeks ago, and no defects were reported, so to start with, I am not inclined to think that they are the culprit. Also, the computer has shown no signs of lack of RAM. But thanks anyway, Ztruker.

- - - Updated - - -



Hi Steve
Actually I have thougth about switching to an alternative onlboard BIOS, and I will try that as soon as a get to the computer, and see if it helps.
As to the power supply and the onboard power LED, I think you may have hit the spot here. The red onboard power LED does not switch on, when I switch on the power supply. It does only when I press the power button on the computer case. Could it be the +5V standby power that is missing? As I have described, the fans spin up, when I press the power button on the case, but nothing else seems to happen: The screen says "No signal", and the computer does not boot, neither into BIOS nor into Windows, or at least only once in a while.

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you very much, spunk, for your post (#12). Luckily, my photos are on a non-system-partition hard drive, but I certainly consider backing them up to a hard drive on my wife’s computer.

I will follow your advice as to my boot problems, unless the issue gets solved soon.

First check that the LED on your motherboard is meant to light to show the +5V standby signal is working and is not to indicate the motherboard is powered on. The PC will not start if the +5V standby voltage is not working. You could check the PSU output on the +5V standby line with a voltmeter and use the 'paperclip test' to check the PSU operation - Is my power supply dead?: The Paperclip Test :

Hi all

I finally got access to my computer again, and it seems to be stable. What I did was switching to the other Bios by moving the Bios selection jumper. The BIOS is ASRock UEFI, and the version now in use is P1.90; the version in use before was P2.40. Do you think there is any reason to update the Bios?

Huge thanks to all for thoughtful replies to a difficult question and especially to Steve C, who actually hit the mark.

Only problem when I had changed the Bios was that Windows did not recognize my three non-system-partition hard drives right away. Only when I had changed the Bios settings from IDE to ACHI did Windows see the three drives.

Thanks for all your efforts. It was such a relief to finally be able to access all my photos and other important stuff on my computer.

I'm pleased v1.9 works. Reflash the other BIOS to the latest version then switch back to it to see if that now works.