Desktop PC Issue - Help Appreciated!

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concordnz

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#3368162 28-Apr-2025 09:00

The issue will be 'boot order'

The drives show twice - but what is important is the one with "Windows Boot Manager" (iirc), at the end, is the one which is at the top.

If the 'raw drive name' is the one at the top, - you will get this issue.

lvmarv

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#3368168 28-Apr-2025 09:12

Mrcutiepatootie:

How about turning off CSM in boot option or switching it to just UEFI with Secure Boot on? Apparently it's another solution.

Also check CLRTC pins are not shorting.

Cheers! Everything looked fine with the CLRTC pins. I will check your recommendation regarding CSM and UEFI. Unfortunately he needed the PC so has taken it home to use as is, but I will grab it again over the next few days to continue troubleshooting.

lvmarv

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#3368169 28-Apr-2025 09:15

Gordy7:

Interesting... curious... found another suggestion.

With blank/unwanted SSD create a new Windows installation from fresh bootable USB installation media.

See what happens... see if that boots up Windows automatically.

Not sure why this may work...

I was thinking about chucking in a faster Gen 4 NVMe drive that I have here and giving that to him as a faster boot drive. I will try doing a clean install and see if i helps. He has taken the PC home as he needed it and is using it as is, so I will grab it again over the next few days to continue troubleshooting.

lvmarv

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#3368173 28-Apr-2025 09:25

concordnz:

The issue will be 'boot order'

The drives show twice - but what is important is the one with "Windows Boot Manager" (iirc), at the end, is the one which is at the top.

If the 'raw drive name' is the one at the top, - you will get this issue.

Hey mate! I know what you mean but in this case/this bios, the only drive in the boot order is the "Windows Boot Manager" one, there is definitely no option in the boot list for the drive name only.

Gordy7

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#3368183 28-Apr-2025 09:54

lvmarv:

Gordy7:

Interesting... curious... found another suggestion.

With blank/unwanted SSD create a new Windows installation from fresh bootable USB installation media.

See what happens... see if that boots up Windows automatically.

Not sure why this may work...

I was thinking about chucking in a faster Gen 4 NVMe drive that I have here and giving that to him as a faster boot drive. I will try doing a clean install and see if i helps. He has taken the PC home as he needed it and is using it as is, so I will grab it again over the next few days to continue troubleshooting.

You certainly have thrashed the living daylights out of this problem.... but some simple point has been missed.

Did the PC boot up ok in the past? Has the problem only recently happened after some game was installed?

So, I am suggesting -KIS- a simple fresh Windows install on a spare SSD to see if the system behaves itself and boots properly.

Then perhaps with your brothers game drive do a Windows reinstall keeping his personal stuff - however game apps may get lost.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

lvmarv

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#3368187 28-Apr-2025 10:16

I like to think I am ok at troubleshooting things, but this one has got me stumped and also determined to resolve it!

Overall the system is a mixture of used parts previously used by me/my wife, and a couple of new parts (SSD, PSU, Ram) to complete the build. When I built it, everything was functioning perfectly and there was no issues. He said that the problem actually developed a couple of months back, but has only mentioned it to me recently and I have just started looking into it. He could not think of anything different he has done with the PC to trigger the issue - he installs very little on it, plays the same few games and would have absolutely 0 reason to go into the bios as there would be nothing there for him (I don't even think he would know how to get into the bios). The only things I know he does regularly on the system in terms of maintenance is GPU drivers, and Windows updates.

My overall gut feeling is that the CMOS battery was dead and caused the issue, and even though I have replaced it and it is now better I feel the dead battery has caused some sort of longer term issue.

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Gordy7

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#3368188 28-Apr-2025 10:18

Other things to consider:

How do you power down RAM and CMOS to remove resident malware?

How do you install a BIOS update to prevent a corrupt BIOS from modifying the new install?

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

lvmarv

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#3370233 3-May-2025 18:09

@MadEngineer

I cannot find any refence to PCH Storage Config anywhere in this bios, and the only thing anywhere in this bios that mentions RAID is what I mentioned previously, in the "Advanced" tab then "Sata Configuration" which I can change to RAID.

lvmarv

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#3370234 3-May-2025 18:10

I am trying a clean Windows 11 install now, with a different blank spare SSD.

lvmarv

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#3370296 3-May-2025 22:40

lvmarv:

I am trying a clean Windows 11 install now, with a different blank spare SSD.

No difference with a new Windows install. During the restarts while doing the re-install, the system stopped at the same place when posting, with the same error.

Gordy7

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#3370298 3-May-2025 22:45

lvmarv:

lvmarv:

I am trying a clean Windows 11 install now, with a different blank spare SSD.

No difference with a new Windows install. During the restarts while doing the re-install, the system stopped at the same place when posting, with the same error.

That is a pain. Therefore, somewhere in the Bios or motherboard.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

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MadEngineer

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#3370300 3-May-2025 22:50

Anyone able to find a PDF copy of the separate RAID manual for this motherboard?

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Gordy7

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#3370381 4-May-2025 16:50

Maybe these sata raid drivers might help:

https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-b550-a-gaming-model/helpdesk_download/

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Gordy7

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#3370701 6-May-2025 08:57

If there was a raid issue then you would think that loading a fresh copy of the BIOS would set the raid to non-raid mode.

Is there any raid jumper on the motherboard that may have been disturbed or lost?

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

lvmarv

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#3370707 6-May-2025 09:15

So I had the computer again briefly for another night and tried a few things.

I noticed that when I enabled Raid in the motherboard and reset, doing this created a new option in the bios that was previously hidden and was found in a dumb place - RAIDXpert2.

I went into this utility and note that there was a RAID that was active, with only the boot SSD showing. I deleted this Raid array (which deleted everything off the drive) and then changed the bios back to ACHI and re-installed Windows on the drive. The same error message is still showing on boot, but going back into RAIDXpert2 does not show any sort of Raid array anymore.

I feel like this is progress, but still didn't resolve the error message. What I have done as a super temporary measure is to set the bios to ignore the error message, which means the system sits on the post screen for an extra 3 or 4 seconds and then boots past the error into Windows fine. Its not fixed as such, but its still more tolerable than what it was.

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