Really need help - cannot boot from USB to reinstall windows + more

[animalmom]

Hi All,

Happy new year, really need help.

I was using my PC and I was having trouble logging into an online game so I was going to reboot the PC. Malwarebytes was running. Very strange as I couldn’t stop the scan or kill the program from Tasks window. Not sure if that matters. I just hardware reset the PC .

I then got the “preparing Automatic repair” screen forever as I have seen is common on the internet. Tried many things to fix it from googling, no avail so was jut going to reinstall windows. I made an install USB on my laptop. I booted to it (I can still get to BIOS) and instead of going to the windows install screen it said “repairing drive E” - which was the USB. I was confused. After a while I was able to log on to my normal windows install on my M2 drive. Strange.

I then rebooted normally to see if it was fixed (perhaps dumb I know) and it wasn’t - I am back to where I started with the exception that the USB drive will not repeat what it did before, it will not take me to the windows install screen, it just does the loading screen with the 5 dots going in a circle forever.

I then tested the USB on the laptop - it works normally there - I can boot it and get to the windows install screen as expected.

I cannot get to the windows repair directory by hitting f8 - it just takes me to the boot select screen. I took the M2 drive out and tested it on my laptop via enclosure - worked fine. I reinstalled windows on it via laptop and reinstalled it in my PC (which is a massive pain as I need to remove the hard shell water lines and take out the GPU to get to the M2 slot- managed to dump a bunch of fluid on my PSU and had to leave it next to the space heater all night - luckily no harm done)

Tried again no change - goes into preparing to repair loop/same thing with USB

Took the M2 out again and formatted it - put it back in - same thing.

So the weird part is that it still gives me the option to boot from the M12 drive via windows boot manager but there is no windows left to boot from on that drive (I formatted it - it is empty)

So I think something strange like it’s not even getting to the part where it really tries to boot or something but I’m truly at a loss.

I updated Bios too - Screenshots:

https://imgur.com/a/LVOyAGY

System (Not overclocked now)

I9 10900 KF*3700
64GB DDR4 Corsair Dominator 3200Mhz
MSI RTX 4090
Asus Hero Maximus Xii Wifi
Asus BIOS UEFI 2801

The PC in question (I know it’s ugly RN)

https://imgur.com/a/e3Hy7g5

Any ideas?

 

[animalmom]

I have solved this - I found a thread on Tom’s Hardware where someone had the exact same issue.

It came down to having to remove the M2 drive completely and then you can boot from the USB. Evidently having the same drive in the slot causes the issue. I got a new M2 drive and it’s installing now with now issues.

Oddly, the old drive seems to still be working fine. I have it in an enclosure and it works fine on the laptop so it doesn’t appear to be an issue with the drive itself.

Steps to correct if you have this issue:

1: You have “preparing to repair” loop
2: Your drive won’t boot from USB bootable media
3: Remove drive that had windows on it.
4: PC will boot from the USB

 

[EarthDog]

So, the USB never showed up as a bootable item in the bios???

I've always left the drove in there and could boot from windows usb. Must be that wonky repair loop or something (which ive seen but still able to use usb).... but you should still have been able to reach the USB in the bios (before windows/bootloader gets a hold of it).

Weird. Glad it's fixed!

PS- Worth noting, you can take screenshots of the bios by pressing f12 and save to usb. Also, its best to attach images through the forum as these(imgur) will go away eventually.

 

[animalmom]

No, it did. That's the issue. It showed up as bootable device but would not boot. Trust me it's maddening. But here is the solution.

 

[rainless]

Why is there a towel in your computer?

 

[JLK03F150]

Why is there a towel in your computer?

I see a cup of water in the lower left. I'm guessing he was filling and/or topping off the water cooling and was still leak checking the loop when he took the picture.

 

[rainless]

I see a cup of water in the lower left. I'm guessing he was filling and/or topping off the water cooling and was still leak checking the loop when he took the picture.

Oh? That's the first thing you think of...?

...as opposed to maybe he shrank himself down REALLY small and was using the towel as a bed and the rest of his computer as central heating in his fabulously lush computer/new apartment?

 

[JLK03F150]

That was the first thing I typed. My first thought was related to the Hitchhiker's Guide, but I usually don't type my first thought...

 

[MaddMutt]

Just to help others with this problem. Did you set the USB drive as the first boot drive and then the NVME as the second?

Post magically merged: Jan 13, 2024

PS- Worth noting, you can take screenshots of the bios by pressing f12 and save to usb. Also, its best to attach images through the forum as these(imgur) will go away eventually.

^ I can Truly State this sucks This was a problem several years ago when looking at older posts and it would be missing the pictures BUT still have comments. I can SEE this is the problem so you need to do this to fix it.

 

[magellan]

This issue wouldn't have anything to do w/setting up your BIOS as UEFI instead of legacy would it? I have a similar problem where I can't boot off my USB DVD-RW -- it's as if it's invisible to the BIOS when I'm in UEFI mode.