PC fails to start into Windows. Stuck at the motherboard logo and the Windows boot animation.
PC fails to start into Windows. Stuck at the motherboard logo and the Windows boot animation.
I can't start Windows on my computer. It has worked well for the past two years. Here are the details of my system:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte X570s AORUS Master
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5950x
- GPU: Nvidia 3080 Ti
- RAM: Gskill Trident Z Neo DDR4 3600MHz (4x16GB)
- Boot drive: WD Black SN770 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen4 SSD
- Power supply: Antec HCG x1000
Recently, the boot process has become slow even though no startup programs were set. Today morning I couldn’t get into Windows at all. I can enter BIOS and everything shows up correctly. After exiting, the system freezes at the motherboard logo with a circular animation below it. This animation continues without stopping.
I’ve tried several fixes:
1. Reset XMP settings to defaults – same result after retest.
2. Restarted BIOS via reset button – same outcome.
3. Switched graphics card to MSI Radeon RX660xt – unchanged.
4. Added just two memory modules in slots 2 and 4 – still no change.
5. Thought Windows bootloader might be corrupted, so I made a Windows 11 USB from Microsoft Media Creation Tool. Booted from USB but the screen stays blue; mouse works but no repair or reinstall option appears.
6. Downloaded ISO with the tool and burned it to USB using Rufus – same issue.
Planned next steps:
- Remove all non-essential connections (RGB, HDDs, etc.) and try booting with only essentials.
- I don’t have a spare motherboard to swap.
- Someone in this forum has had the same problem before? Any advice would be appreciated.
- Please let me know if you need more details. Your help means a lot. Thanks!
It seems the storage might be damaged, causing problems when the system tries to access it. It could be a RAM issue preventing programs from loading properly on the Windows ISO display, or possibly a CPU problem as a backup.
This likely means your storage device is not functioning correctly. Checking if the Windows installer loads after disconnecting all drives would help confirm the issue. RAM problems could also prevent proper loading—try installing without any drives connected to see if it works. Make sure you know whether you have just one NVMe SSD or additional internal/external storage.
My Windows boot disk is an NVMe SSD, but I also have other storage devices. I have a 2.5" SSD along with a few 3.5" spinning drives. I plan to test each drive individually today and also try inserting them into a RAM stick. I’ll update you on the results.