HELP! windows wont start after latest update, not sure if hardware or software

Forums › Desktop computing › HELP! windows wont start after latest update, not sure if hardware or software

Dstarzero

272 posts

Ultimate Geek

#179421 8-Sep-2015 09:00

hey guys I'm having problems with booting up my pc after the last windows 7 update.

It was last working on sunday night and when I booted it up last night, the problem started.

Normally it goes to BIOS then boots up windows, but now it goes to something called ASUS Express Gate, then a screen that tells me what my mother board is and asking me to "press DEL for set up or press TAB for BIOS end message.." If I don't do anything, It starts Windows up normally then flashes a blue screen which goes by so quick I can't even see what it said, and then dies immediately restarting the whole process.

I even tried system restore or reverting back to the old windows version and they all fail and still does what it does with ASUS expressgate even with the original windows CD's help.

I'm hesitating to just reboot it and install a new version of windows as it will wipe out my files, and I'm also contemplating getting an SSD, or maybe bringing it to a shop, but before I do any of those:

1.) are there any other checks I can do to make sure it is not a hardware issue?

2.) Does this look like a motherboard issue or CPU issue?

3.) can you recommend a good shop in auckland ( preferrably out west or in the city) to take it to, I was thinking playtech but the only time i can get it there would be on Saturday?

4.) how much should I prepare to have something like this sorted?

My specs are as follows
CPU - i7-920@3.6GHz (it's old I know!)
RAM - 12GB ( 3X2 GB corsair dominator triple channel. 3x2gb kingston triple channel)
SSD - 250 GB samsung SSD &
HDD - 2 GB WD Caviar Greed
GFX - EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX780 ti sc
MB Asus P6T Deluxe V2
thanks heaps!

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13765 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1381551 8-Sep-2015 09:04

Try a different video card if you can - all my Win 10 BSOD issues were down to video card drivers - that was an ATI tho, but worth a shot...

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree

sidefx

3711 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1381613 8-Sep-2015 10:29

Have you tried booting in safe mode?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-au/windows/start-computer-safe-mode#start-computer-safe-mode=windows-7

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

Dstarzero

272 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1381624 8-Sep-2015 10:33

will try it tonight but there were no options in booting it in safe mode last night.

just repair windows or start normally

richms

28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1381631 8-Sep-2015 10:38

Usual cause of those boot loops like that has been a failing boot drive on machines I have had to look at.

I had one of my machines with an antique 64 gig SSD in it have a weird failure mode. Partially booted, then bluescreened, rebooted again, it got furthur and then bluescreened. Turned it off, went and did something else and when I tried again it gave smart errors from the SSD and it basically was unformatted when I looked at it with diskpart from a windows bootable stick.

Wasnt too fussed as I had basically cloned its install from the HDD and then put the machine on the shelf ages ago, and I still had the HDD that I cloned from so it only lost a couple of days worth of windows updates that I had done on the SSD since the clone. Not a big deal since it had about 18 months to catch up on anyway.

Richard rich.ms

Dstarzero

272 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1381679 8-Sep-2015 11:33

richms: Usual cause of those boot loops like that has been a failing boot drive on machines I have had to look at.

I had one of my machines with an antique 64 gig SSD in it have a weird failure mode. Partially booted, then bluescreened, rebooted again, it got furthur and then bluescreened. Turned it off, went and did something else and when I tried again it gave smart errors from the SSD and it basically was unformatted when I looked at it with diskpart from a windows bootable stick.

Wasnt too fussed as I had basically cloned its install from the HDD and then put the machine on the shelf ages ago, and I still had the HDD that I cloned from so it only lost a couple of days worth of windows updates that I had done on the SSD since the clone. Not a big deal since it had about 18 months to catch up on anyway.

where can I get the windows bootable stick? I tried the windows installer and detected the seemingly corrupted version of windows but it still can't repair it.

Should I just reformat that disk? or should I try a new SSD?

richms

28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1381695 8-Sep-2015 11:53

The windows installer is the bootable USB stick. Shift F10 will open a command prompt where you can run any of the tools you would use.

There is a problem with the 7 stick on some bioses where repair wont work unless you pull the stick out and put it back in twice before it starts the repair. Otherwise it sees the USB drive as the boot device and repairs the startup files on that rather than the drive in the system. Pulling the stick and putting it back in makes the actual drive get repaired.

Same sort of thing as here https://neosmart.net/wiki/setup-was-unable-to-create-a-new-system-partition/ - cant recall when to pull and replace it, I think it was when I was on the screen with the list of windows installs it found.

Richard rich.ms

Dstarzero

272 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1381711 8-Sep-2015 12:34

richms: The windows installer is the bootable USB stick. Shift F10 will open a command prompt where you can run any of the tools you would use.

There is a problem with the 7 stick on some bioses where repair wont work unless you pull the stick out and put it back in twice before it starts the repair. Otherwise it sees the USB drive as the boot device and repairs the startup files on that rather than the drive in the system. Pulling the stick and putting it back in makes the actual drive get repaired.

Same sort of thing as here https://neosmart.net/wiki/setup-was-unable-to-create-a-new-system-partition/ - cant recall when to pull and replace it, I think it was when I was on the screen with the list of windows installs it found.

I'll give that a go but is it not the same as putting in the windows 7 installer disk?

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

richms

28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1381713 8-Sep-2015 12:38

If you still have an optical drive, then yes it would be the same as that. Not installed off a disc since the vista days myself. Did a friends machine off a DVD and had issues with the boot order making it boot the disc UEFI even tho the machines drive was set up for partition table, so it was not able to repair it. Off DVD you get 2 messages about press enter to boot from DVD, the first will be UEFI, and the second will be Legacy boot. So see if you are in the right one.

Windows will not fix a UEFI install when booted legacy or vice versa. Stupid legacy installs are still being done. I got a new PC from PB for my sister on the weekend and the stock install on the HDD in it was legacy. So I reinstalled UEFI to the the SSD I was putting in rather than cloning over their install.

Richard rich.ms

MaxLV

656 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1382128 9-Sep-2015 00:22

Dstarzero: hey guys I'm having problems with booting up my pc after the last windows 7 update.

It was last working on sunday night and when I booted it up last night, the problem started.

Normally it goes to BIOS then boots up windows, but now it goes to something called ASUS Express Gate, then a screen that tells me what my mother board is and asking me to "press DEL for set up or press TAB for BIOS end message.." If I don't do anything, It starts Windows up normally then flashes a blue screen which goes by so quick I can't even see what it said, and then dies immediately restarting the whole process.

I even tried system restore or reverting back to the old windows version and they all fail and still does what it does with ASUS expressgate even with the original windows CD's help.

I'm hesitating to just reboot it and install a new version of windows as it will wipe out my files, and I'm also contemplating getting an SSD, or maybe bringing it to a shop, but before I do any of those:

1.) are there any other checks I can do to make sure it is not a hardware issue?

2.) Does this look like a motherboard issue or CPU issue?

3.) can you recommend a good shop in auckland ( preferrably out west or in the city) to take it to, I was thinking playtech but the only time i can get it there would be on Saturday?

4.) how much should I prepare to have something like this sorted?

My specs are as follows
CPU - i7-920@3.6GHz (it's old I know!)
RAM - 12GB ( 3X2 GB corsair dominator triple channel. 3x2gb kingston triple channel)
SSD - 250 GB samsung SSD &
HDD - 2 GB WD Caviar Greed
GFX - EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX780 ti sc
MB Asus P6T Deluxe V2
thanks heaps!

This may be useful as a problem solving starting point.

http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/e/exprgate.htm

ASUS Express Gate

ASUS Express Gate is a technology developed by ASUS and introduced with their P5E3 series that utilizes Splashtop, which is a Linux environment that is integrated into the motherboard. With this technology, users can turn on their computer and within five seconds have access the Internet using Firefox, online e-mail, Skype, and the Splashtop desktop. These programs and features are available while their operating system is still loading.

How can I disable ASUS Express Gate?

Enter the BIOS/CMOS setup.
Move to the Tools tab and then down to Express Gate.
Change Express Gate from Enabled to Disabled.
Press F10 to Save and Exit.

The official Splashtop web page can be found at: http://www.splashtop.com/

Dstarzero

272 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1384874 10-Sep-2015 11:17

I tried a few things in the past few nights and ended up hiring an IT guy to try and fix it. turns out the last update really corrupted the OS and we had to reformat the harddrive. it kinda works now but it seems noticeably slower. I might have lost my OC settings