Desktop stuck and won't boot freeze at spinning dots

andysolaini said:

My pc shut down in sleep mode and I have not been able to get it to boot up again after trying literally 100s of things.What happens is most of the time I can't get any display when I turn it on and the keyboard lights don't come on. Then some time I can get it to boot to the BIOS screen. When I select anything to boot I get as far as the first windows screen and after about 3 dots (of the spinning dots) appears it just freezes and I have to power it off. At the point where it freezes the lights on the keyboard also go out which I think might be significant (but I don't know what it means!) I just can't get it past that point!!!The same thing happens with Windows 7 CD, WIndows 10 media creation tool, blank HDD to install fresh. Literally everything I have tried does the same thing. I have replaced the motherboard for a brand new one so it's not that.I have tested with another graphics card, another power supply, other cables/adaptors etc.If I plug the HDDs in to my laptop all the files are visible and normal. HDD health software says disks are in good health.The only thing I haven't been able to test is the cpu. Would a failing cpu cause these problems? If you can help I would be eternally grateful because I'm looking at the possibility of having to bin a £1000+ computer because I can't fix it.

Andy

[Can't get zip file of computer data because I can't boot the computer]

Sounds like a hardware issue. Open it up. Start it. See if the fans are working. If they are: Check power supply. Sometimes flaky behavior ( more often than not), is caused by the PS taking a dump. Either way, FIRST thing I'd do, is replace the PS, they're cheap enough to buy on a whim.

If the PS checks out ok:

Pull ram, and re-seat. Pull any bus cards, re-seat. Unplug the power from the board, re-plug (ONLY with power OFF). If you have a spare video card, or can acquire one (an old, compatible, working one for testing purposes will do, it would be a good idea to see if it'll work. If it does, replace your old video card).

If that don't work:

Pull Heat sink/CPU, re-seat, and re-gel the CPU, and clean the fan and heat sink (Wouldn't hurt to clean the entire computer for that matter).

If that doesn't work, you may need to replace the board (or try and reflow the southbridge chip, but that's best left to idiots, like myself to attempt).

If the fan doesn't work:

Pull CPU, re-seat, re-gel. Replace with a new fan.

Either way, I'd start thinking about getting a new PS.

I've also seen bad SATA drives cause this.

Anyone who owns a PC, and doesn't want to pay to have it fixed, should have at a minimum on hand:

Spare PS (200watt PS is cheap!)
Two, spare, 2gb sticks of ram (compatible with your machine), to use to boot into BIOS, and test your ram sockets ($12).
Spare video card ($15-20).
Spare hard disk (120gb SATA can be had for as little as $5).
Thermal gel. It's not quantum physics to re-gel a CPU ($15).

ANY old, known working test equipment that's known compatible with your system will work

andysolaini said:

I have just submitted an RMA request!

The problems started under the old board and have continued to the new one. I am using all the same components as before but with a new motherboard.

I think whatever is causing it the major clue is that it is ALWAYS at the point where the windows spinning dots first appear that it freezes. No matter what I do (normal boot, recovery, safe mode, trying to use windows 10 ISO/USB to fresh install) it always does the same thing at the exact same point.

I just don't know enough about computers to know what this clue is indicating!

It is indicating that your SATA drive, CPU, or Ram is failing. I would say change all this, one at a time to test, but you're cutting it close on warranty, and are better off taking it back. After thinking about it, I think your hard disk has failed, however, I'm not hands on your system to know for sure, but I have seen it a few times. SATA drives do WEIRD stuff to your system, when they fail.

I would like to recommend acquiring these items from Ebay, for future use:

Spare compatible CPU, if you can afford it.
Two, spare 2gb sticks of compatible ram. Dirt cheap.
A 160, or so gb compatible SATA drive. Also dirt cheap.
For testing purposes.

Also, I would like to recommend getting an inexpensive 2.5" external USB2.0 case ($3-15 on Ebay), and a small capacity 2.5" SATA hard drive to put into it from Ebay ($10-20), download Macrium Reflect (It's free), and image your computer to that external drive with it. No sense in the stress of losing your data, settings, drivers, and O/S needlessly.
NEVER trust, or rely on a "Recovery partition". I've seen many a tear shed because a hard disk failed, and the owner failed to image the disk, and failed to make a system repair disk. I've been building computers, writing code, and doing computer repair since 1978, and this has ALWAYS been an issue!

Good Luck!
Regards.

I think you should keep the new board, and little by little, build another system with it. Do it on your own. Use YouTube, and Google-Fu to help you along. Someone on this board will always be willing to help you. Just need to ask.:)

It would be good to do this, and you may even have a good time doing it. If you like to learn, you'll love this project. There are few things more satisfying, than scavenging Ebay for parts (or the local rubbish heap, I've done this too!), building a system from scratch, learning how to do a perfect software setup, and enjoy using your new "Frankenstein". After a bit, you'll build another, and sell your old one. Just keep track of the parts cost, so you can make a few Ducketts! Don't worry about adding your labor cost into it for awhile, you're being payed the wages of knowledge. Be content with that for awhile. People will be amazed when your "Franken'Puter" smokes their new "Ferrari's"

Just a few pieces of advice:

Be patient, and be careful! Static electricity is a computer killer, as is anything strongly magnetic. Get yourself an ESD strap to wear on your wrist.

Maintenance, maintenance, MAINTENANCE! Weekly. Daily if you surf a lot. NOTHING slogs your computer like lack of maintenance.

Get, CCleaner (free), Avast free antivirus, malwarebytes (free), and manually clean out your temporary internet files. This goes a LOOONG ways in keeping your computer healthy, and trouble free. It doesn't cost anything but 3 to 5 minutes of your time daily, or weekly.

DO NOT use "Memory optimizers", Registry cleaners", registry "defraggers", tweaking programs, or exotic "tweaks". These will be either of no effect, or can even wreck your system. There ARE some tweaks that do work, and will nominally "speed up" your system, BUT.... Whatever you enhance in one area, you're going to give something up in others.

Stay away from pirated software! Most of It has cooties!

If you can't afford a new copy of windows, download a Linux Mint 17.3, or 18.xx .ISO (Linux is FREE!), and build a really nice Linux box. Linux Mint is fantastic for internet, video, and imaging applications (Gimp is pretty decent, and LibreOffice is excellent), unless you're a gamer, then it's pretty useless.

You can get really good at it if you want to.

I rebuild laptops, and I'm confident enough in the systems I build, and my software setup routine, that my local customers get a limited lifetime warranty with their computers!

I have yet to replace a computer that I have sold.

If you choose to do this, Good luck!

Regards!