Windows hangs on boot, not drive or RAM

[BJG]

This is a bit strange; a Dell 9030 AIO (out of warranty) will boot into Safe mode, but won't complete a regular boot or a re-image.

 

What's surprising is that if you swap the SSD and RAM with a known good machine...the fault stays with the same machine. I've also successfully updated the BIOS with no change.

[noelmm]

What happens when you try and re-image? Are there any error codes? what software are you using?

[PurpleTentacle]

At times like this I'd run hardware diagnostics on it. I use PC-Check by Eurosoft to do this. There may be free alternatives, but I find this works well.

[Sonic007]

Can you get to diskpart and clean and clear partitions, make a new active partition and start again.

Sometimes the machine name is still remembered and can cause problems.

[BJG]

...thing is, it can't be the drive...a second identical machine will work with its own drive, or the faulty machine's drive, while the faulty machine won't work with either. Same with the RAM.

 

The fact that it will boot as far as the Windows logo, or into Safe mode, but no further, I find very strange. If it was a problem with the CPU, or fans, say, I'd have thought it would either boot fully or not at all...and I've also tried resetting/updating BIOS. (It's all worked fine until now.)

 

I'll see if I can get it into Safe mode and run hardware diagnostics...

Edited November 22, 2018 by BJG

[Sonic007]

Hmmm, Im thinking possibly motherboard issue then maybe?

[BJG]

...I think it must be. Just fixed it through my usual method of random tinkering, but it's a strange one...

 

I found it worked if I turned off loads of stuff in BIOS, then narrowed it down to a setting called "Intel SpeedStep" in the "Performance" section. If this is enabled, the machine cannot be persuaded to work, but it's fine if you disable it. All the other identical machines in the suite have it enabled without any problem, so, dunno, something awry in some chip somewhere I guess.

Edited November 27, 2018 by BJG

[chazzy2501]

I'd guess that you upgraded the BIOS, but did you re-seat the CPU? and check the pads and pins for anomalies. Also thermal compound and that the CPU heatsink is seated and working as expected.

[BJG]

^^^

 

(...for the record, this was evidently a CPU failure even though the built-in diagnostics didn't find anything wrong. It failed completely shortly after, and swapping out the CPU brought it back to life along with SpeedStep etc. I think that's the first time I've ever fixed a PC by swapping the CPU out...)