Hi all, my old desktop pc, on window 10 stucked on a black screen on start up. Tried selecting optimised default on bios, still no luck. Any idea how to get around it? Thanks
P/S Since I need pc quickly, also might get a durable laptop in the mean time. What suggestion you have? Looking to replace desktop with laptop. No gaming, mainly just surfing, work, and plex.
What's hard reboot?
Power on/off 3 times in succession.
Do you wait in between each one?
Is the 'old laptop' maxxed out storage wise? Dead-ish CMOS? Not enough power getting to the MoBo?
I don't think it's Maxxed out last I checked? Not sure about others
Had a similar issue and changing the CMOS worked for me. To change, make sure to pull all components out of the board and the old CMOS for a few minutes then put everything back in with the new CMOS battery.
In the BIOS, are the drives detected?
Remove all but one stick of RAM and reboot. Then put in the other sticks of RAM one at a time.
Yes, all drives detected. Will update on ram. You suspected ram issue?
Your RAM will be all right. The BIOS/motherboard sometimes glitches and the change in memory configuration will rejig it back to life.
Sometimes if I reset, it will stuck on window logo, with "please wait" at the bottom too. Thanks
PRIORITY>Double check the PSU health/power levels
How old is the main disc it loads from?
Is it HDD?
How long has it had 11 on it? Genuine version?
Has it been 'dropping any hints' before the BSOD?
Do you ever defrag or clean the disc(if it's not SSD)
Yikes, bad advice. Why and how should each thing be done?
OS is probably corrupted.
In terms of laptops and durability you really cannot go past Apple. I would recommend an M1 Macbook Air (currently $1359 refurbished).
You will struggle to find a Windows machine with the same speed and build quality near that price.
Yeah a Mac can simplify your life if Windows has been giving you headaches, that's been Apple's selling point for decades. So intuitive even a child can use it.
That's expensive for a refurb.
Can get 5x 8th gen Intel T480s Thinkpads for less and I bet they last just as long with replaceable RAM and SSD too.
This is just anecdotal but I don't know anyone with a windows laptop that travels with it daily that last more than 5 years. I have had my Macbook for almost eight years and other than a few scratches it looks brand new. While I wish I could upgrade the CPU/RAM, it is sufficient for my needs and nothing else has broken.
Never been on apple ecosystem, probably unlikely due to how overpriced apple is normally.
Boot with the Win11 install media. If it boots then your OS is probably corrupt, otherwise it is a hardware issue. Try the Repair your computer option. If you can't repair, then reinstall.
Yeah, sounds like the Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID Partition Table (GPT) is corrupt.
Download a copy of Windows onto a portable thumb drive (USB drive), set your BIOS / UEFI to load first from the USB drive and see if it loads.
This is not everyone's cup of tea obviously especially on a tech forum but my computer needs are pretty basic (no gaming or heavy duty stuff) my beloved macbook's battery swelled and broke my keyboard and rendered my macbook dangerous and useless but I couldn't decide what sort of replacement to get so in the meantime I bought a refurbished desktop off amazon for under $200 while I decided. That was over 12 months ago and I am still using it. It has been absolutely fine and capable and I am still deciding. I'd like another new macbook but I don't like the lack of ports on the new models as I like having a monitor and keyboard plus other things connected and don't want to use a hub so I am stuck LOL.
TL/DR
An in a meantime substitute could be a refurbished desktop of Amazon. Cheap and useful until you get your primary computer fixed
Can I ask why you dont want to use a dock? I agree 2x USB-C was a mistake from Apple but even on a machine with lots of IO I use a USB-C dock. It's so convenient to only have to deal with one cable for charging/screen/keyboard/mouse etc.
Yes I know it is not a major problem I am just annoyed at all the add on's. I have a love/hate relationship with apple. Probably the reason I hate it is also the reason I love it. I hate that you have to jump through hoops to get the compatibility (remember I am a non-tech old lady so want everything simple) but I also love that all THEIR devices just mesh so well. To connect my old monitor I will have to get an adaptor. Everything requires an adaptor (sigh). From what I have read the older M1 is better than the M2 but then if I am buying new I want it to last considering my now dead macbook was a 2012 model, the longevity is a great drawcard Eventually I probably will get another but I think I have commitment issues as well as being indecisive LOL. There are so many USB-C docks available and because I am not tech savvy am also indecisive about those, Which do you use (if you don't mind me asking)?
For work I have the 14" M1 Pro Macbook Pro and I have this dock. Even though the laptop has HDMI and an SD card slot, I still use the dock as it is just so convenient. I am sure there are better docks but that does the job for me as I only have one external monitor.
For what it is worth, I love that laptop. It is the same size/weight as my personal 2015 MBP (so probably smaller/lighter than your 2012 one) but has a bigger screen, better keyboard and is the fastest laptop I have ever used. For most people it would be way overpowered but going for the most modern CPU is probably worthwhile for the addition of AI-specific cores. Given the prevalence of AI in all modern apps this will likely be the biggest factor in terms of longevity going forward. For example AI upscaling an image in Adobe Lightroom takes 15 seconds on the M1 Pro and 5-10 minutes on my 2015 MBP.
So you can get into the bios, you also see the windows loading circle? But when it is supposed to display the windows login screen it is black? You need to get the PC into the windows recovery environment which is where the first post talking about 'three hard resets' suggestion comes from. If windows has trouble booting 3 times, it will go into this environment and then you need to select safemode with networking:
Follow these steps to enter Safe Mode from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE):
At the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot.
At the Troubleshoot screen, select Advanced Options.
At the Advanced Options screen, select Advanced Startup Options.
Select Startup Settings.
Select Restart.
The computer restarts and enters the Startup Settings menu. Select 4 or F4 to start the computer in Safe Mode. If you must use the Internet, select 5 or F5 for Safe Mode with Networking.
Once in safe mode, I would suggest downloading DDU and doing a full clean of the graphics drivers. I would also open powershell as admin and run 'dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth' followed by 'sfc /scannow'
Alternatively you can download a WindowsPE environment such as Hirens https://www.hirensbootcd.org/ which has many tools to help with PC repair/diagnosis. Chuck it on a usb and tell bios to boot from USB.
You could also try some linux distro's just to check them out. If booting from Hirens or Linux distro displays a black screen then you may have further issues other than software.
P.S I wouldn't bother with a macbook, overpriced and expensive to repair. Jump on FB Marketplace and grab a Dell second hand for $100 (especially if you can't claim on tax), I've chucked Chrome OS Flex on mine (laptop from 2012) works great, even on a laptop from 2008 it works good.
OP Do the 'right thing' and "IF" you discover the issue ,post what it was so the community learns from your experience.
Will do, but kinda hard when I don't even have a second pc/ laptop to use.
I have had this happen twice - once as a result of a BIOS update and once as a result of a failed drive. I've also run into issues with memory errors, though it didn't present in that way.
Expanding on two comments:
Looking to replace desktop with laptop. No gaming, mainly just surfing, work, and plex.
I would look at a refurb posted here - 8th gen plus. If you do go the desktop route, 8th gen tiny PCs would also fit your use case. I recommend 8th gen plus as it is more future-proof with proper support for Windows 11. If this is not a concern, pretty much any refurb would be fine.
The Macs which are suggested are awesome machines but are costly by comparison to refurbs and are likely overkill for what you want.
OOI, where is the Plex server running?
Wow, thanks for opening my eyes to mini pc. Didn't know they're rather powerful now these days. I wonder why is it so cheap compared to laptop? Is it because mainly no dedicated gpu and monitor?
As for plex server, it's just running on Chrome on the pc. Nothing fancy. I just turn on and chromecast as needed.
No screen, keyboard, battery, etc.
You'd be looking at about 250 for a 8500t USFF PC or about 300 for a 8th gen laptop. Value may be in favour of the laptop depending on the use case.
I have a m700 with a 6400t CPU which cost about $100 delivered. That would likely be ok for light web use. Windows 10 has 2.5 years life left but you can run windows 12 unofficially on older generations as well.
When you say 8th gen, you meant the Intel chipset yea? Let's say I want one of the best mini pc, with best graphic performance, what would be the pinacle? Id rather not have tower pc anymore. Gaming days are way past me, plus I'm more into console gaming now.
When you say 8th gen,
Intel CPU.
If you're going refurb, 7060 with 8500 or 7070 with 9500t for about 500 are both posted fairly often. You will be limited on onboard graphics.
Next step might be a NUC or ITX or mATX build with APU - eg 5600g. I'm a bit out of date on knowledge though. I built my partner a ITX system in a Nr200p.
All really depends on budget.
* windows 11
Gave up trying to fix myself, as I didn't know how to back up files without being able to access window. Turned out the SSD is fine, just corruupted window. Paid a PC shop $180 to fix.
Just curious, if same thing happens again, could I still recover data in the drive myself externally, if window is corrupted.
Thanks for letting us know the resolution. In my experience, windows very rarely corrupts itself.
It could be a sign of failing hardware or malware. In my friends case, it was a failing PSU.
If the same thing happens again, ideally you'd have backed up already. If not, you should be able to access the drive using a USB adaptor or enclosure.
I have thought of upgrading to window 11 pc. I wonder what's the cheapest way to go about it?
3 hard reboots should trigger recovery mode - try startup repair from the advanced options screen.
If you still have installation media, boot from that and use the repair options.