Cannot Reinstall Windows 10

[oliacym]

Hi everyone, had my new PC a couple of weeks, had reinstalled Windows 10 on it, then one day out of nowhere I get a bluescreen crash that I wasn't quick enough to catch the error code for. After that, the PC wouldn't start, it just reached the PCS logo, the whirling dots, and just stayed there.

So, I figure something terrible has happened to the OS, weird, but I will just reinstall. Unfortunately... the same thing happens when I try and boot off any USB, in any slot. It reaches the logo, the dots, and gets no further. I've tried all kinds of UEFI/BIOS settings in order to make this happen but nothing seems to do it. I have reset my UEFI/BIOS settings periodically to default just in case.

I get slightly further if I enable CSM, which brings up the Windows logo, and the whirly dots... but never further than that. Occasionally a BSOD of varying code cuts it short, I've had "Attempted write to readonly memory", "Driver irql less or not equal", but more often than not it just hangs at the install logo.

I'm absolutely gutted as my OS seems to have just self destructed. Am I being dense? Is there some specific configuration to reinstalling from the USB that I'm just missing? I'd be incredibly grateful if anyone knows what's doing this or how to fix it, before I consider sending it back to the professionals.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi everyone, had my new PC a couple of weeks, had reinstalled Windows 10 on it, then one day out of nowhere I get a bluescreen crash that I wasn't quick enough to catch the error code for. After that, the PC wouldn't start, it just reached the PCS logo, the whirling dots, and just stayed there.

So, I figure something terrible has happened to the OS, weird, but I will just reinstall. Unfortunately... the same thing happens when I try and boot off any USB, in any slot. It reaches the logo, the dots, and gets no further. I've tried all kinds of UEFI/BIOS settings in order to make this happen but nothing seems to do it. I have reset my UEFI/BIOS settings periodically to default just in case.

I get slightly further if I enable CSM, which brings up the Windows logo, and the whirly dots... but never further than that. Occasionally a BSOD of varying code cuts it short, I've had "Attempted write to readonly memory", "Driver irql less or not equal", but more often than not it just hangs at the install logo.

I'm absolutely gutted as my OS seems to have just self destructed. Am I being dense? Is there some specific configuration to reinstalling from the USB that I'm just missing? I'd be incredibly grateful if anyone knows what's doing this or how to fix it, before I consider sending it back to the professionals.

Is this a PCSpecialist system? Can you post your full specs from the order page?

 

[oliacym]

It is a PCS build yes, here are the specs:

Case: AVP MAMBA BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700 (3.0GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard: ASUS® PRIME Z390-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM): 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card: 6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 Ti - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive: 1TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply: CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

 

[SpyderTracks]

It is a PCS build yes, here are the specs:

Case: AVP MAMBA BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700 (3.0GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard: ASUS® PRIME Z390-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM): 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card: 6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 Ti - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive: 1TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply: CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

It doesn’t sound like it’s booting off the usb. Have you changed the boot order in the bios?

 

[oliacym]

It doesn’t sound like it’s booting off the usb. Have you changed the boot order in the bios?

I'm pretty sure it's booting from USB as the logo changes from the PCS one to Windows when I have CSM enabled. I just tried an Ubuntu installation, and it gets to the initial stage, however it then throws up an error message that may or may not help:
"Segmentation fault
Segmentation fault
Segmentation fault
Segmentation fault
malloc(): unsorted double linked list corrupted
Aborted"

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm pretty sure it's booting from USB as the logo changes from the PCS one to Windows when I have CSM enabled. I just tried an Ubuntu installation, and it gets to the initial stage, however it then throws up an error message that may or may not help:
"Segmentation fault
Segmentation fault
Segmentation fault
Segmentation fault
malloc(): unsorted double linked list corrupted
Aborted"

Firstly, where did you source the windows installation? And how did you write it to usb?

 

[oliacym]

I used the Media Creation tool from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

 

[ubuysa]

As SpyderTracks says, you need to be 100% certain which device you're booting. Use the boot option priority in the BIOS setup to ensure that the USB device containing the Windows installer is first in that list. You shouldn't need CSM because the Media Creation Tool you downloaded creates a UEFI bootable USB drive.

The 'segmentation fault' errors you see when apparently trying to install Linux are virtual memory errors (trying to access memory that the process isn't allowed to access). That makes me wonder whether you could have a RAM issue - which is going to be hard for you to prove because you only have one RAM card, or an SSD error - which is going to be hard to prove because you only have one drive.

If you can be 100% certain that you are booting the Windows installation USB and you still have problems then I'd suspect a hardware issue and your best option is then to phone PCS I'm afraid.

 

[oliacym]

Well I've put in another hard drive to see if it boots, but I'm still getting the same thing. SSD seems to work okay in an enclosure on my laptop. I did try the RAM in another slot, but that didn't seem to make a difference. Might be the stick itself?

I'm pretty certain that I'm booting from the USB in UEFI mode, but honestly with this stuff I can't be sure of anything anymore it sounds from what you're saying like this is not normal and probably a hardware fault... Therefore I will start patching the box back together... Ugh. Thanks everyone for the help anyway

 

[ubuysa]

If you're not able to be certain that your booting the right device it's best if you send it back. You'll need to phone PCS first though.

 

[oliacym]

If you're not able to be certain that your booting the right device it's best if you send it back. You'll need to phone PCS first though.

Will do, thank you for the help. Im pretty certain it's booting from the right usb, as I've been selecting it directly from the F8 Boot Menu. But I haven't adjusted the boot order yet, figuring that my F8 selection would trump that. Will make sure I try that too before I call them. I REALLY hope they can tell me what caused this as I'm more curious now than anything else.