Please assist me, I cannot install Windows, system crashes
Please assist me, I cannot install Windows, system crashes
Hello everyone, I'm trying to understand what's happening with my rig and want to avoid a hardware problem.
I have an Intel core i7 10700k, an Asus z490-e gaming with updated BIOS, Corsair RM850x 80 PLUS Gold, a Kingston Fury Beast DDR4 3200mhz 2x16Gb (using one stick), and a Samsung SSD 970 Evo Plus.
The system boots into BIOS, but when installing Windows it sometimes crashes or freezes at the ROG logo, and other times I can access the setup but it freezes randomly during or before installation.
I've tried disabling fast boot, enabling/disabling secure boot, using USB bootable Windows, cleaning the disk via cmd in Windows Setup, setting CPU to stock speeds, disabling C states in BIOS, and removing the CMOS battery.
I suspect the CPU or motherboard might be the issue. Are there any ways to test them without an operating system? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I forgot to mention but xmp has always been disabled, even during regular use.
First pass is complete with no errors.
I will continue running until all 4 passes are finished.
If I end up with zero errors at the finish, what could be the cause?
I have also tested various storage drives, and it seems like the motherboard/ram/cpu might be reacting negatively to Windows.
Not always necessary. Memtest86 doesn't heavily tax the GPU, yet Windows installation shouldn't either. Still, if the power supply is unstable and struggles with the GPU's occasional heavy use, the operating system could crash (I'm holding my breath). Have you considered installing Windows 10 (or Linux) without TPM enabled? Or try using Rufus to make a bootable USB drive instead of the Microsoft tool and bypass Windows 11 security features? I’m sure you’ve turned off Secure Boot.
Is this your first time setting up Windows or is it a reinstall due to an issue?
Only have the 970 connected, all other disks/disks disconnected.
If no assistance reseats the 970 in its slot a few times...test.
If no help moves the 970 to another slot...test.
Hi Bob,
I've attempted to switch to another SSD drive and remove the 970, but the issues persist. It seems like a fresh Windows installation is necessary. The computer would freeze during startup, showing the "ROG" logo, and only worked after a forced shutdown. Once inside Windows, everything functioned normally—no problems during games or heavy tasks. Freezing always occurred at that point.
Two days ago, when I turned on the PC, I received a warning: "Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart, we will restart it for you." It didn’t restart automatically; it froze again, requiring another forced shutdown. I couldn’t get into Windows after that, trying multiple times to load the default BIOS and tweak settings.
I planned to fix any corrupted Windows files using the Windows Update Repair tool, but it only worked once it initiated a restart before freezing again at boot. After that, I tried a clean Windows installation, but it didn’t resolve the issue.
Additionally, during Windows setup, I experienced freezing and errors such as:
"clock watchdog timeout",
"whea_uncorrectable_error",
"irql_not_less_or_equal",
"memory_management (0x1a)"
These errors appeared only when installing Windows, not during normal operation. They seem to point toward hardware problems like a faulty CPU, motherboard, power supply, or RAM. Since I never encountered issues after launching Windows, it’s unclear if the problem lies with hardware or software.