Random Reset During Initial Setup (Windows 10 Pro Clean Install)

Hey all, been having a problem with initial setup that I can hopefully find some help for here. Today I upgraded my CPU, Motherboard, and RAM in my custom build and after wiping my SSD and doing a clean install I run into a problem with initial setup. When I start my PC after the install completes, I am introduced by the initial setup and am asked my region, keyboard layout, etc. and everything seems to be working fine. However, at a random point throughout the setup the screen goes black and will either stay black or will start back up into either the initial setup again, or to a screen telling me why my PC reset and that "we think this problem cn be fixed with some updates." The PC will eventually black screen again and the cycle continues. I have no idea what can be causing this and I'm really just trying to figure out why my PC refuses to get through initial setup. Any help is greatly appreciated, my specs are as follows (upgraded parts will contain info upgraded from and to):
CPU: AMD FX-8350 > AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
MOBO: ASUS M5A97 R2.0 > MSI B450 Gaming Plus
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti FTW
RAM: 8 GB G.Skill Sniper Series (2 x 4GB) > 16 HB G.Skill Trident Z RGB (2 x 8GB)
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB

First, I would go into the BIOS / UEFI Firmware and set settings to defaults, only changing those settings necessary for your system. Make sure that you are starting without any overclocking. You can always tweak these settings later once you have a stable installation. You may want to pay particular attention to the SATA configuration for the SSD. I would start by making sure the SATA port is configured in AHCI mode.

Next, I'd like to just get a little clarification on a point:

You note that the problems that you are seeing happens "after the install completes". If that is true, then there is no reason that it should go back into setup again. Are you sure that you don't mean that this happens after the first reboot but before setup is completely finished?

The easiest component in this list to troubleshoot is the memory. You might try to see if the memory is fault in one of several ways:

1) If you have more than one stick of memory, try cutting the memory in half and try again. If it still fails, remove the remaining memory from the motherboard and replace with the memory that was previously removed. Test again.

2) You could also run the memory diagnostic utility from the Windows install media.

If that still does not work, post back and we'll try other options.

hsehestedt said:

First, I would go into the BIOS / UEFI Firmware and set settings to defaults, only changing those settings necessary for your system. Make sure that you are starting without any overclocking. You can always tweak these settings later once you have a stable installation. You may want to pay particular attention to the SATA configuration for the SSD. I would start by making sure the SATA port is configured in AHCI mode.

Next, I'd like to just get a little clarification on a point:

You note that the problems that you are seeing happens "after the install completes". If that is true, then there is no reason that it should go back into setup again. Are you sure that you don't mean that this happens after the first reboot but before setup is completely finished?

The easiest component in this list to troubleshoot is the memory. You might try to see if the memory is fault in one of several ways:

1) If you have more than one stick of memory, try cutting the memory in half and try again. If it still fails, remove the remaining memory from the motherboard and replace with the memory that was previously removed. Test again.

2) You could also run the memory diagnostic utility from the Windows install media.

If that still does not work, post back and we'll try other options.

Hello, I suppose I do mean during the first reboot. The install media finishes without a hitch, but when I'm trying to finish the setup for my region, account, pin, etc. my PC will black screen and "No HDMI Detected" appears on my monitor while the PC continues to stay powered on. I tried switching the memory out but that doesn't seem to be the issue. I haven't messed with my BIOS much, but I made sure to reset it back to defaults anyways, no luck there either. I wasn't sure how to check the SATA configuration, so further instruction that would be appreciated! Thanks for the reply!

Okay, I have an idea. Make sure your BIOS is set to initialize the correct graphics adapter. If you have a video card make sure the BIOS is set to use the initialize that adapter and not the internal graphics.

Forgive me for not being more specific. I'm currently in front of a laptop so I can't get you the exact wording of those options. From memory, the options in some BIOSes are something like IGA (Internal Graphics Adapter) or PEG (PCI-E Graphics).

I may be be completely off base but that is one idea that comes to mind.

NOTE: I'll be in front of a desktop later. Will let you know more specifics then if you get stuck.

hsehestedt said:

Okay, I have an idea. Make sure your BIOS is set to initialize the correct graphics adapter. If you have a video card make sure the BIOS is set to use the initialize that adapter and not the internal graphics.

Forgive me for not being more specific. I'm currently in front of a laptop so I can't get you the exact wording of those options. From memory, the options in some BIOSes are something like IGA (Internal Graphics Adapter) or PEG (PCI-E Graphics).

I may be be completely off base but that is one idea that comes to mind.

NOTE: I'll be in front of a desktop later. Will let you know more specifics then if you get stuck.

I wasn't able to find anything about IGA or PEG in my BIOS (or really anything about GPU or graphics at all); however, while digging through settings I was able to confirm that my SATA port is configured to AHCI mode so that doesn't seem to be the issue either, unfortunately. Don't worry about the specifics, I understand and I'm just happy to receive any kind of help! Thanks again for your efforts!

- - - Updated - - -

Well, I took out my GPU and while I was changing it out a hair must've slipped into the PCIE slot and caused the GPU to short or something, because there was one on the contact and after removing it everything is now working fine.

EDIT: Well, as soon as I tried continuing with the install it did it again, so I guess that was not the case after all.

[1] NOTE: Advice for carrying out the fastest and easiest possible solution to your problem is in my last paragraph. I've referenced the solution steps and needed information in that paragraph as well. Everything else is just added things that may fix it but are less likely to or just improve your capability to get things back to normal. If you can't gain access to a later version of Windows installation media, continue to use the one you currently have.

[2] There honestly may be an issue with your installation media. As a side note, your PC might be configured to boot into your CD/ROM or USB storage before your Windows Boot Manager or internal storage entry. Taking out the disc or USB after your installation is complete so that it boots into your OS. Getting back to my first point, there may be an issue with your installation media. If that doesn't work and you have access to a different computer, download a different version of Windows installation media. Once you boot into the installation media, at the startup:

[3] 1.) Do Shift+F10 to open Command Prompt (just easier than going through repair, advanced options, then command prompt and having to enter back into USB storage again),
2.) Run ' diskpart ', ' select disk 0 ', ' clean ', ' exit ', ' exit '
3.) Go through the installation steps as you did before, obviously installing Windows onto the newly cleaned disk drive.

Installation a different version of Windows would help, cleaning the disk could remove many possible errors.

[4] Also, after detaching the installation media after it's installed, if it restarts again, boot into Safe Mode (no networking). Keys differ from OS to OS, but usually F8 shows advanced boot options. This will remove many services that could be causing issues. If you can't figure out how to show advanced options with your PC then boot into your installation media from Command Prompt in Advanced Options or just do Shift+F10 and run ' bcdedit /set {default} safeboot <mode> ' (<mode>: Normal is ' minimal ', Network (wifi/ethernet) is ' network ', for Safe mode with Command Prompt you need to run the command twice, once using ' minimal ' and the second time with ' alternateshell yes '. After that reboot and when you get into the Command Prompt environment run ' explorer.exe ' to launch the Windows environment.

[5] From there you can setup an account using ' net user /add [*username] [password] ' (ex. net user /add THISISAPAIN ughgoddammit), then run ' net localgroup administrators [username] /add ' (ex. net localgroup administrators THISISAPAIN /add ). Run ' bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot ' to boot back into a regular Windows experience.

[6] Now, if that doesn't work I know something that might, it's what I had to do to fix this kind of thing before, but it's a pain... Keep in mind it won't change whatever is actually causing the privacy settings experience to reboot the system. Could be a permissions issue of some kind or a corrupt file that's used in the process, I'm not sure. But this way...help. You can disable the privacy settings experience. The experience may even stop you in safe mode, which can become a pain. By booting into your installation media and using Command Prompt, you can rename osk.exe to osk.exe.bak and then create a copy of Command Prompt and rename it to osk.exe. After that, you can launch Command Prompt with administrative rights from the logon screen without issue by clicking the Accessibility icon, then 'On-Screen-Keyboard'.

[7] With that setup you can run gpedit.msc. You have Windows 10 Pro so it should have Group Policy Editor, but if it doesn't you can install it with this commands:

pushd "%~dp0"

dir /b %SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientExtensions-Package~3*.mum >List.txt

dir /b %SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientTools-Package~3*.mum >>List.txt

for /f %%i in ('findstr /i . List.txt 2^>nul') do dism /online /norestart /add-package:"%SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\%%i"

pause

[8] This will enable Group Policy Editor, from there you can run it using Command Prompt the same way on the logon screen and select Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > OOBE > ' Don't launch privacy settings on user logon ' and click ' Enable '. Also select Computer Configuration > System > Logon > ' Show first sign-in animation ' and click ' Disable '. Sadly you can't run Group Policy Editor from Windows installation media since you'll be unable to create a Snap-in, so if you can't even get to the login screen in Safe Mode this won't work. You can also launch Local Security Policy by running ' secpol.msc /s ', then select Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > ' Don't display username at sign-in ' and enable it by selecting ' Enabled '.

[8] You can also enable the guest account by selecting Accounts: Guest account status in Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options and select ' Enabled '. You can even rename it by selecting ' Accounts: rename guest account ' in Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options and type whatever you want in as the Guest account. This account doesn't login locally by default so using it may allow you to work some stuff out in the Windows environment which we can discuss if you get to this point, if the difference in how the Guest account works changes anything about the automatic reboot issue. I don't think it even allows you to check privacy settings on first login anyway.

[10] Once again, in order to boot out of Safe Mode after doing all this you can open Command Prompt from your installation media or the login screen and running ' bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot '. In order to login to the guest account you can restart the login UI while still in Safe Mode by running Command Prompt from your Accessibility settings icon on the login screen and running task list, then find ' LogonUI.exe ' and run ' taskkill /f /pid <processID of LogonUI> '. This will restart the login screen with the new policy settings. Then you can type in ' Guest ' or whatever username you set the Guest account as if you chose to edit it with the ' Accounts: rename Guest account ' and hit enter. The Guest account doesn't require a password by default. You can allow the Guest account to do anything you want it to be able to do by adding it to the user list for any permission policy in Local Security Policy ( secpol.msc /s ) > User Rights Assignment, just don't allow it to logon locally.

[11] If any of this leads to progress or a change in the issue you're facing, please post any updates. If this solves your problem, great! The first option, disconnecting the installation media after your installation is complete (paragraph [2]) (and booting into Safe Mode to have a chance at disabling the Privacy settings experience if it still reboots but not back into setup (paragraph [4]) would be the easiest and fastest possible solution to carry out. If those two don't work or they make some progress, then try enabling the Guest account next (paragraph [8]-[10]). After that, the rest of my instructions are fair game.

Hope this helps,
Yokiaza