My PC turned off and wouldn't turn back on, I changed the motherboard and power supply and it came back on but then kept rebooting a few minutes after I booted it, after a few reboots a blue screen came on and it said 'critical process died' and then it wouldn't let me start my pc up again, just kept taking me to the repair screen. after a while, I decided to just restore my PC which I didn't want to do but it worked, it came back on BUT THEN, it started rebooting again! I tried updating drivers but PC kept restarting before I could, I tried restarting the CMOS battery, didn't work, I tried disabling all the Microsoft apps to see if that was the problem but that didn't work. So I booted in safe mode to see if my PC would restart and it doesn't it stayed on. If anyone can help me I'd be forever grateful!
PC works in safe mode but keeps rebooting in normal mode
- Thread starter Carlo202
- Start date
Cycloid Torus
Posts: 4,892 +1,711
Dead PC repaired by replacing motherboard and power supply. Did you reinstall OS? OS (Windows of some type is my guess) needs to configure how it will run before it can run. It can take an hour to figure your specific system out - and if you are using your old boot drive, it could be confused (trying drivers for your old board on the new one).
I usually replace boot drive with a new one when I replace motherboard... you might invest in that and use old drive as a secondary data device.
Tell us what you discover.
I usually replace boot drive with a new one when I replace motherboard... you might invest in that and use old drive as a secondary data device.
Tell us what you discover.
Well the person that did replace my motherboard and power supply did say I needed to reinstall Windows by restoring it, but I did do that and it still ended up restarting so I don't want to spend any more money just for it to not work again. Is there any way I can boot my PC using a USB drive to see if the hard drive is the problem? Thanks for the help.
CharmsD
Posts: 411 +257
On this site - here: https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6966-hirens-bootcd.html
scroll down to read the posts.
scroll down to read the posts.
Cycloid Torus
Posts: 4,892 +1,711
I just tried booting it up using USB and it seems to be working quite well so far, it has rebooted a few times tho but that was when I tried installing stuff onto the old hard drive. Is there anyway I can still use the old hard drive as the secondary one without it causing me to reboot? And my new motherboard is a ASRock H81 Pro BTC R2.0 and my old one was something like an msi z370-a pro. Also when I restarted my PC I noticed nothing was saved, like my task bar changes, desktop shortcuts, is there anyway to fix that too?
Cycloid Torus
Posts: 4,892 +1,711
Msi z370-a pro is very different from ASRock H81 Pro BTC R2 - different sockets, different RAM, etc.
I'm guessing that you did not build it yourself. Did you have Windows 10 on the old system? Did you buy a new key or are you planning to use the old one (which may require calling Microsoft)?
I think first, you should read the manual for your motherboard. If you don't have it, check online at https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81 Pro BTC R2.0/#Manual and https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z370-A-PRO#down-manual
Having done that you may wish to:
- do a clean install of your OS
- buy a new boot drive and do a clean install to that and then connect your old drive on a second SATA connection and save any data (pix, music, docs) before reformatting it so it can be used as additional storage
I'm guessing that you did not build it yourself. Did you have Windows 10 on the old system? Did you buy a new key or are you planning to use the old one (which may require calling Microsoft)?
I think first, you should read the manual for your motherboard. If you don't have it, check online at https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81 Pro BTC R2.0/#Manual and https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z370-A-PRO#down-manual
Having done that you may wish to:
- do a clean install of your OS
- buy a new boot drive and do a clean install to that and then connect your old drive on a second SATA connection and save any data (pix, music, docs) before reformatting it so it can be used as additional storage
Last edited:
CharmsD
Posts: 411 +257
Yes do what Cycloid said. If you install a new hard drive, I suggest disconnecting the old one during installation then reconnect it later. The windows drive is ordinarily connected to SATA port 1, if you see the drive in BIOS, select the one Windows is on to boot from under > "Boot Options". Save and Exit.
Right click on the taskbar > select Taskbar Settings > move the lock slider to Lock.
That's a mining board it has some insane features, here's the webpage: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81 Pro BTC R2.0/
This is a list of software and drivers, you may need a couple of these.
Realtek high definition audio driver ver:7614*
Windows® 10 64bit 226.13MB***
INF driver ver:10.1.1.8 2.68MB*
Intel Management Engine driver ver:11.0.0.1158
Realtek Lan driver ver:10003 9.27MB*
AppCharger ver:1.0.6 644.25KB*
SATA Floppy Image ver:14.6.0.1029 1.12MB
Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver and utility ver:14.6.0.1029 11.67MB*
VGA driver ver:15.40.7.64.4279 170.95MB*
ASRock 3TB+ Unlocker utility ver:1.1.1 1.12MB
APP Shop ver:1.0.41 3.28MB
Norton Security ver:22.5.1.7 137.13MB
Restart to UEFI ver:1.0.5 1.12MB*
ASRock XFast LAN utility ver:10.10*
CharmsD
Posts: 411 +257
Get a SATA drive, size will generally determine the price. If you buy on the net, search for SATA (hard drive) and sort in cheapest first.
Use Amazon for speedy shipping (sometimes) Newegg for having a little sense in a mad-mad world. WalMart stocks everything on earth now, shop their site if you'd like to drive over and pick it up. Or order groceries and toss the drive in! "Tech 'n Soup"
If you only want one drive, don't buy a terrabyte if you don't produce and store a lot of files, many of us don't. I run my PC's with Windows 10 from a 250, 480, or 500gb drive, that's more than I need for personal stuff. I 'save' media files to other drives, they're "plug and pray", the same as USB so can be moved easily.
Use Amazon for speedy shipping (sometimes) Newegg for having a little sense in a mad-mad world. WalMart stocks everything on earth now, shop their site if you'd like to drive over and pick it up. Or order groceries and toss the drive in! "Tech 'n Soup"
If you only want one drive, don't buy a terrabyte if you don't produce and store a lot of files, many of us don't. I run my PC's with Windows 10 from a 250, 480, or 500gb drive, that's more than I need for personal stuff. I 'save' media files to other drives, they're "plug and pray", the same as USB so can be moved easily.
Thank you verrrrryyy much 
I appreciate you guys helping me (for free as well)
You guys are like... Online superheroes ?
Keep doing what you're doing, your helping so many people ?
I'll tell you how it goes
I appreciate you guys helping me (for free as well)You guys are like... Online superheroes ?
Keep doing what you're doing, your helping so many people ?
I'll tell you how it goes
IT DIDN'T WORK
I swapped the hard drive with a new one and it still reboots, first it came up with a blancco report or something so I search it up and it turns out I needed to put windows on it, so I did that then as it downloaded windows it just rebooted
and then it kept rebooting till it took me to the repair screen... I am slowly dying inside right now.
Cycloid Torus
Posts: 4,892 +1,711
This appears to be a very difficult troubleshooting. The best approach I know is to confirm each component on a known working system. This takes time and organization as you take components one at a time and confirm it is 'OK'. Be sure to keep grounded as static is not your friend.
Another approach is to take the system apart and then, following the instruction in the motherboard manual, rebuild it outside of the case. Starting with just CPU and motherboard and power supply, you turn it on and note the beep error code (or LED display error code if you have one), then you add the part which to code identified (CPU fan, RAM, video adapter, etc) hopefully satisfying the error and moving to the next. When you encounter an error that does not go away, you may have identified the part which is broken.
(See YouTube for videos of both of these procedures.) CareyHolzman has some good ones. Using search on "PC troubleshooting" gives many others.
It would be sad to learn at this time that the issue is a misplaced motherboard standoff or a loose screw under the motherboard or a bad power switch or bad wiring in the front case connectors or a weak power supply - all of which have happened to me over the decades..... and many, many others.
Another approach is to take the system apart and then, following the instruction in the motherboard manual, rebuild it outside of the case. Starting with just CPU and motherboard and power supply, you turn it on and note the beep error code (or LED display error code if you have one), then you add the part which to code identified (CPU fan, RAM, video adapter, etc) hopefully satisfying the error and moving to the next. When you encounter an error that does not go away, you may have identified the part which is broken.
(See YouTube for videos of both of these procedures.) CareyHolzman has some good ones. Using search on "PC troubleshooting" gives many others.
It would be sad to learn at this time that the issue is a misplaced motherboard standoff or a loose screw under the motherboard or a bad power switch or bad wiring in the front case connectors or a weak power supply - all of which have happened to me over the decades..... and many, many others.
D
DelJo63
* because it boots into Safe Mode, there's NOTHING wrong with the drive!
* because it fails normal boot, the issue is the OS configuration or an infection
I would begin with MSCONFIG, disable as much as possible and then reenable each component and reboot, repeat until the last one fails again-- THAT'S the component to again disable. Skip over it and resume enable, reboot, repeat and go as far as possible.
Now OBVIOUSLY this is as paintakingly as all get out -- so unless your data is SUPER precious, just perform a fresh install.
* because it fails normal boot, the issue is the OS configuration or an infection
I would begin with MSCONFIG, disable as much as possible and then reenable each component and reboot, repeat until the last one fails again-- THAT'S the component to again disable. Skip over it and resume enable, reboot, repeat and go as far as possible.
Now OBVIOUSLY this is as paintakingly as all get out -- so unless your data is SUPER precious, just perform a fresh install.
