Win 10 load new machine after 1st login stalls at Win logo spin dots

Having exhausted all answers in Google search, please can someone help.

2 weeks ago rebuilt my main machine with 4 new SATA drives (Barracuda 1 Tb), mobo (Gigabyte GA AB350), Crucial DDR4 Dimms as 2 x 8gb, and Ryzen 5 1600 CPU and Asus Vid card (GTX 1050 T1 Phoenix). Loaded & registered my spare Win 10 licence from latest ISO with only one SATA drive connected. All booted up fine 3 or 4 times after connecting other 3 drives.

3 days ago went to boot and it stalled at spinning dots with Win logo, tried clear CMOS, tried re-installing Win to one of the other drives with first one disconnected, still stalls. Can't get to safe mode. Can get to BIOS, made sure legacy mode enabled and secure boot disabled. All other settings correct, still stalls. I can't access any function or utility on the machine, Windows or any other. I follow all correct procedures, earth strapping etc. It is my 8th machine rebuild, never had a problem before.

Tried my current Win 10 version EasyRE rescue disc, that stalls in any mode. Their help desk looked at picture I took of screen at stall, only suggestion was make sure legacy boot enabled and secure boot off. I clear CMOS before each new effort. EasyRE is the only one that after stall the drive activity light remains solid, all other efforts the HDD light goes out.

I have tried every rescue utility disc I have, Acronis and others, same result.

When I tried reinstalling Win10 to a different drive using a fresh ISO download, the install got as far as completing loading the initial files then dropped back to the spinning dots, 3 dots appeared then it stalled.

The only thing that changed between pre Xmas switch off and the stalled boot is that I fitted a 4 port USB 3.0 to the old floppy drive bay, and correctly connected it to the USB 3 header. After it started stalling I disconnected that and every other USB attachment bar the dongle for the mouse/keyboard

As I have a work crisis for the work the machine is built for (architectural 3D rendering), I have ordered another board, Asus Prime B350 Plus, But, I would like to/need to see if I can recover this new Gigabyte board and sell it to recoup cost.

I see that others with similar prob ended up buying a new board. If it is a board failure, I can get refund (Novatech). Their tech have no solutions.

It is as if some boot corruption has got hard coded into CMOS that a reset does not remove. I have not tried flashing BIOS in case it renders board unusable for definite.

Regards Jonathan

Hi nextenso.

First there are several Gigabyte AB350 boards. I went with manual for AB350 Gaming. As such the attached could be wrong. What is full model name.

First disconnect all drives except the one you want to boot from. I suggesting you start over.

In BIOS
Set Secure Boot off (although I did not see that option in manual, pretty standard these days)

Set Fast Boot to disable

Set Windows 10 Features to Windows 10

Set CSM support to Disabled

Set Storage Boot Option Control to UEFI only

Use the clean install tutorial to re-install. I think it is step 13 in which you delete all existing partitions. MAKE sure you don't have anything you need in any of these partitions.

Clean Install Windows 10

Assuming system installs and boots you can go back and enable Fast Boot and Secure Boot ( not a password, see they have setting called Security Option)

Again assuming it boots you can connect other drives. Have a look at other drives for system partitions or active partitions. Connect them one at a time. If present they have to be addressed as device is finding them and potentially booting from them in some strange state.

I see a Sata Support option in BIOS which may help. Again I could be looking at wrong manual.


Ken

Very sorry to hear about your wife, I trust everything is okay.

I don't think this is a virus. Clean install should have taken care of any pests.

First just to confirm you can see your files on another machine and you have all your data backed up.

I still think we are dealing with a conflict. The settings I gave you are for a UEFI boot and your disk must be GPT.

You did Step 13, deleting all existing partitions, correct? (especially on new disk)

You could try this on new disk. Boot from USB key. When the first screen comes up press shift + F10. In the command window that opens run the following commands. This will erase the entire hard drive!

diskpart
List disk
select disk 0 (ensure zero is where you want to install)
clean
Convert gpt (if required for UEFI)
exit
exit

Then try the install. You won't need step 13, the disk is wiped. You need to have only one disk present. Diskpart is ruthless, wrong disk selected, it doesn't care. I thought when you got help from the help desk they wanted you set things to legacy, I'm suggesting UEFI.

Could you also please use the Media Creation tool from Microsoft to make the USB boot key. No ISO, Rufus, etc. You need 8GB key.

Ken