Issues with startup on freshly installed Windows 10 system
Issues with startup on freshly installed Windows 10 system
Hello everyone, I just completed assembling a new PC but am facing some strange boot problems, even after a full day of use. The system runs a Ryzen 5 7600x3d with 32GB DDR5 memory at 6000MHz, paired with an MSI 3080 10GB NVMe drive. After the build, I installed Windows 10 from a USB ISO and everything worked fine. Once inside Windows, I checked the other two storage devices—500GB NVMe and a 500GB SATA SSD—and everything seemed clean and ready for formatting. I didn’t encounter any issues there. I spent a few hours gaming last night and was impressed by the performance. After sleeping in, I woke up to find my PC still in BIOS mode. I’ve been trying to figure out what went wrong. The boot priority was hidden, which suggested something was blocking it. I researched and discovered that my Secure Boot settings might be interfering. I changed Secure Boot to "other OS" and set CSM to UEFI/Legacy, which helped bypass BIOS but still showed the "Please select proper boot device" warning. I tried various combinations of Secure Boot and CSM settings, but nothing resolved it. Now, when I go back into BIOS, my priority options are normal again, and the 1TB NVMe is selected as primary. Still, I keep seeing that warning. I’m curious if the 1TB drive might have been formatted while the PC was asleep—could that be the cause? I’m heading to work now and won’t have time to investigate further, but I plan to reinstall the ISO USB drive to check the initial setup. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
secure boot applies mainly to UEFI systems but isn't strictly necessary for them. It's unclear what format your installation media was when you first installed it, as this affects whether it uses MBR or GPT. MBR requires CSM or legacy boot, while GPT is compatible with UEFI. If you manage to boot into UEFI and press F12, it should be GPT-based and require UEFI support. Since the CSM option is hidden, it suggests something went wrong during installation. The fastboot feature in Windows might be involved—there could be a corrupted hibernation file. Disabling sleep functions and fastboot in Windows may help prevent boot corruption. On some boards, BIOS access is restricted; you'll need to enter troubleshooting mode via Windows, hold Shift during reboot, or even crash the system three times. Drives sometimes lose partition data after brief use, which isn't typical. If you reach troubleshooting mode, open a command prompt and run: powercfg.exe /hibernate off. This should reset the hibernation settings and allow normal booting afterward.
The AM5 setup needs a fresh Windows 10 install unless you used an older installer and configured CSM. It’s unlikely this is the issue. A typical problem occurs when Windows splits boot partitions across drives during installation, especially with multiple drives. Formatting another drive might have removed a required partition for booting. For a clean install, temporarily remove extra drives while installing on the main one. Restore BIOS settings to defaults beforehand to ensure proper UEFI configuration and avoid unexpected features being enabled or disabled. After reinstalling, you should be able to connect all drives without issues.