EDIT: All sorted. Massive thanks to everyone, as always.

This morning I walked away from my music PC for ten minutes, and when I returned it was restarting in a loop. I'd get to the BIOS screen then a screen that said "Preparing Automatic Repair", then it would just shut down, rinse and repeat.

Despite being on Windows 10 I tried to load from a Windows 7 recovery disc just to see what would happen. It would give me the loading files screen, then shut down, then boot back up and the same thing.

Anyone got an idea how I should go about figuring out the problem?


Thanks

 

Last edited: Nov 15, 2016

Ctr + Alt + Del ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

but seriously, that sucks!
i hope you manage to fix it

 

My feeling is that if I can't even load from a disc then it must be some kind of hardware problem, but damned if I have any idea what. Hard Drive, RAM stick, etc? God if it's a RAM stick I'll fall over from relief.

My OS and my actual musical work are on separate hard drives, so I'm fairly confident that I can at least recover whatever work wasn't already backed up. Hard drive failure would be a bitch though, since I'd have to go and reinstall every damn thing I have... but it'd still probably be preferable to the CPU since that's like $350 if it's not still under warranty.

I gotta think it's not the MB, since I can still get into the BIOS menu... but tbh I don't actually know that that's what that means

 

Last edited: Nov 15, 2016

maybe try taking all but one ram stick out. if that doesnt work, take that one out and put one of the others back in.
good place to start i suppose

 

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139576-startup-repair-infinite-loop-recovery.html
Maybe this helps?

 

Unfortunately, I can't even boot from disc. (plus I'm on windows 10, not seven, but maybe the fix would be the same) At this point, I'd happily just do a system restore. My OS drive didn't really have much except DAWs and plugins.

 

I tried testing the RAM sticks. No luck there. I have a feeling it's either the processor or the SSD. I'm not smart enough to validate that yet, but it seems logical that if the MB was failing it wouldn't load the BIOS settings at all.

 

Try to boot using Ubuntu Live CD (a usb-memory-stick version should be available) and pray... without installing it, of course.
Ubuntu check the computer while loading. Let us know.

 

Last edited: Nov 15, 2016

If you have some good friend, he can maybe test some parts for you. Also don't exclude PSU, which are many times main problem.

 

do you have dual bios inside the machine?

then swith to the backup bios and see if it starts normally.

i had a similar situation with my w10 rig after one of those sudden updates windows does on its own, and somehow it triggered something in my boot/bios order or something.

switching bios got it back online.

 

Bro, i also had a BSOD this morning, though i bought an Asus GT730 and just had to install the latest drivers to fix it.

You need the blue screen view, tells you exactly which drivers are the culprit.
Small program that diagnoses very accurately.
Usually its the drivers or sometimes a failing RAM or a dying HDD.

Download links are at the bottom.If you need additional help just ask.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

 

If you can't boot from disk it's to 99% the disk. I'd supsect a corrupted mbr.

 

No dual bios... I even disabled W10 automatic updates. I had professional from when it let you access the gpedit parameters.

 

Sorry... what's mbr?

 

Ok i just read you cant load into windows.Can you at least go into safe mode?(F8)?
I have fixed quite a few pcs and laptops this year.Can get frustrating but CPUs rarely, very rarely die.
I suspect its your HDD.
Run HDD sentinel in safe mode to see if your HDD is fubar.

 

open the case if u need, and try resetting the bios

- to rule out the hd, a live linux CD is enough.

any beeps or codes from the bios ?

( mbr = master boot record )

 

yes, i would open and reset the bios too.
the times ive been caught in a loop its the bios that fixed it. after testing everything.
another one that touches the same issue but doenst work every time but some is turning of the machine, off and pull the plug from the wall. and leave it alone for sometime. i dont know the magic limit but at least 15 minute.

the name "loop" says a lot about it, sometimes, odd stuff like that gets it out of the "loop"

what is your motherboard model?

 

Alright... reset all the BIOS stuff to default. It booted up! No idea why, but I'm crazy relieved. Went and made a backup of everything before I left for work

False alarm guys. Thanks to everyone for your input.

 

Excellent man - glad you got it sorted!

 

Seriously though, love you guys.

The only reason I didn't shit my brain out in panic is because I've made lots of friends on a site full of brilliant dudes who I knew would have an answer, one way or another. Thank you x1,000,000