PC will only boot to BIOS

[Cracker_T]

I have now purchased and installed a new nvme drive in, and attempting to put Windows on it. When I select the thumb drive as the priority drive, it takes me back to the BIOS.

Also, when I plug my old SATA SSD in (boot drive), my PC won't even go to the BIOS and just black screens.

Previous post on LTT:

VGA light on mobo and won't show display (fixed as updated bios)
Parts:

• PSU - Corsair Rmx750
• GPU- GTX 1070
• RAM -Corsair vegenace DDR4 2x8gb 3200
• CPU- i3 12100F
• Motherboard - MSI PRO b660m-a

How did it happen? - Random. The white VGA light has been on since I've owned it and me being a noob thought it was normal.

What I've tried:

• GPU: Reseating, swapped for another card (fans currently spinning on old card), booted without GPU, plugged into mobo port
• RAM: Reseating, booting with only one stick
• Other: Cleared CMOS with a screwdriver (this has got me into the BIOS, but no further. On top of that, it's not recognising my SATA SSD boot drive, (boot drive light is green))

 

[Bomby569]

in the BIOS does it recognises the nvme? Everything can be going on, but not recognising 2 different drives it's weird. The SATA stopping it from going into the BIOS is also very weird.

 

[Cracker_T]

in the BIOS does it recognises the nvme? Everything can be going on, but not recognising 2 different drives it's weird. The SATA stopping it from going into the BIOS is also very weird.

It doesn't recognise the 1 drive, which is the one that is stopping it from posting/booting whatever. The BIOS recognises the new nvme and all the other drives I've tried bar the dodgy one.

 

[Tatty_Two]

I know with my MSI board that using the M2 slot means that I cannot use the SATA 8 port, I think it's a lane thing, checking the OP's motherboard specs it's the same thing for the Pro B660 m-a, OP can you confirm which SATA port you have your boot drive in?

 

[Cracker_T]

I know with my MSI board that using the M2 slot means that I cannot use the SATA 8 port, I think it's a lane thing, checking the OP's motherboard specs it's the same thing for the Pro B660 m-a, OP can you confirm which SATA port you have your boot drive in?

I was having issues before i acquired the nvme. But I'm not using the bottom nvme slot, and I'm not using data 8 atm. I'm trying to boot with my USB drive to put a new windows install on the nvme drive

 

[Bomby569]

you can try and connect the sata to other ports or even better why don't you forget it for now and just install windows on the nvme, why do you need the sata to install Win on the nvme?!

 

[Cracker_T]

you can try and connect the sata to other ports or even better why don't you forget it for now and just install windows on the nvme, why do you need the sata to install Win on the nvme?!

I am trying to do that, but my PC keeps taking me to the bios every time I save when I set my USB drive to boot priority. All my other drives are disconnected.

 

[izy]

Did you try a bios upgrade?
It happened to me , it seems that sometimes if i reset the computer the NVME drive its not recognised anymore and i have to full shutdown my computer and restart, if i dont have another drive with OS (or bootable) plugged in it will go directly into bios (you can try and boot from an USB stick with Windows Setup / Linux and see if it works like that)
Is your HDD set to AHCI in the BIOS? If not you should set it to AHCI (or you can try CSM just to test it out).
Do you have Fast Boot turned on? Try switch that too.

 

[Cracker_T]

Did you try a bios upgrade?
It happened to me , it seems that sometimes if i reset the computer the NVME drive its not recognised anymore and i have to full shutdown my computer and restart.
Is your HDD set to AHCI in the BIOS? If not you should set it to AHCI (or you can try CSM just to test it out).
Do you have Fast Boot turned on? Try switch that too.

Yeah, I updated it after having issues with my vga light being on. I don't have any other drives hooked up at the minute. Tried CSM and my screen has gone black with a little white line (like when you're about to type something).

 

[Bomby569]

what about downgrading the BIOS? search and see if anyone is having issues with that BIOS version. That's really a cycle of doom you have there. You could clone the disks without the usb drive but the sata is not recognized lol

 

[Bomby569]

When I connect my pc via DP cable, I don't get a signal, only when I use HDMI. Any ideas?

ports on the mobo or the gpu?

 

[izy]

Yeah, I updated it after having issues with my vga light being on. I don't have any other drives hooked up at the minute. Tried CSM and my screen has gone black with a little white line (like when you're about to type something).

Yes , its exactly what happens on my MSI system if i dont have any valid drive with OS on it. Try and boot from USB stick (make sure you installed correctly the stuff on it ) and reinstall windows on your drive, probably the boot is faulty.

 

[Cracker_T]

ports on the mobo or the gpu?

Nevermind to this question.

Yes , its exactly what happens on my MSI system if i dont have any valid drive with OS on it. Try and boot from USB stick and reinstall windows on your drive, probably the boot is faulty.

I'm trying to boot from the USB but it keeps taking me to the bios

 

[izy]

Nevermind to this question.

I'm trying to boot from the USB but it keeps taking me to the bios

Disable Fast Boot then try boot from USB with CSM or UEFI on (try both).
Edit: DId you try that USB stick in another computer and see if it works or not?

Also when you check the drive in the bios does it show as UEFI? (see pic)

If you have GO2BIOS it should be disabled. ( Setting GO2BIOS option to Enabled allows you to boot the system directly to bios setup when you press the Power button for 4 seconds.)

 

[tussinman]

Windows 10 or windows 11 ? I did an Alderlake build recently and I had to enable both UEFI and CSM mode in the bios before it would allow me to actually use the USB

 

[Cracker_T]

Disable Fast Boot then try boot from USB with CSM or UEFI on (try both).
Edit: DId you try that USB stick in another computer and see if it works or not?

Disable Fast Boot then try boot from USB with CSM or UEFI on (try both).
Edit: DId you try that USB stick in another computer and see if it works or not?

Also when you check the drive in the bios does it show as UEFI? (see pic)

Tried both. CSM goes to a black screen, uefi goes to bios. Fast start up disabled. Usb works as I put windows on it (on mac)

Windows 10 or windows 11 ? I did an Alderlake build recently and I had to enable both UEFI and CSM mode in the bios before it would allow me to actually use the USB

win10. i only have the option for either or

Disable Fast Boot then try boot from USB with CSM or UEFI on (try both).
Edit: DId you try that USB stick in another computer and see if it works or not?

Also when you check the drive in the bios does it show as UEFI? (see pic)

If you have GO2BIOS it should be disabled. ( Setting GO2BIOS option to Enabled allows you to boot the system directly to bios setup when you press the Power button for 4 seconds.)

My usb drive shows uefi when in uefi (not csm). I have the same as yours msi click bios 5

 

[izy]

Tried both. CSM goes to a black screen, uefi goes to bios. Fast start up disabled. Usb works as I put windows on it (on mac)


win10. i only have the option for either or


My usb drive shows uefi when in uefi (not csm). I have the same as yours msi click bios 5

Its not mine , its just a pic from net , im on AMD, anyway I think its something wrong with your boot drives rather than the motherboard .
I think that there is an option in the bios to boot directly with drive you want (i think under save and exit ) , did you tried that? (you can test different drives from there without rebooting)

 

[Cracker_T]

Its not mine , its just a pic from net , im on AMD, anyway I think its something wrong with your boot drives rather than the motherboard .
I think that there is an option in the bios to boot directly with drive you want (i think under save and exit ) , did you tried that? (you can test different drives from there without rebooting)

EDIT: I tried the last option, booting to the USB, but it takes me a black screen with a flashing line in the top left

 

[izy]

View attachment 261608View attachment 261607
I tried the last option, but it comes up with te second picture and does nothing. I have a secn=ond USB drive I could try

I see that your motherboard didnt detect any valid BOOT drives , under "Boot Override" you should see all the working BOOT drives, you should try another USB stick, as i said my motherboard has the same behavior when i dont have any VALID BOOT drives connected. (probably your drives are corrupted)

Edit: it should look like this:

 

[tussinman]

Yeah if the BIOS is set up to accept Windows 10 (csm and uefi turned on) then I would try either another USB stick or start putting the current USB stick in different slots to see if you can get it to show up as a "bootable device"

 

[Cracker_T]

I see that your motherboard didnt detect any valid BOOT drives , under "Boot Override" you should see all the working BOOT drives, you should try another USB stick, as i said my motherboard has the same behavior when i dont have any VALID BOOT drives connected. (probably your drives are corrupted)

Edit: it should look like this:

CSM shows more drives like my nvme. this is uefi with my new USB drive, and its doing the same exact thing

 

[izy]

View attachment 261611
CSM shows more drives like my nvme. this is uefi with my new USB drive, and its doing the same exact thing

It doesnt show your USB , to create a valid USB stick you can check this out (but its done from a windows machine):

Create installation media for Windows - Microsoft Support

Learn how to create installation media for installing or reinstalling Windows.

support.microsoft.com

Can you try CMS with your USB and see if it works? I think your Windows USB installation is not right , you can try make a bootable USB with LINUX and check if it works.

Create a bootable USB stick on macOS | Ubuntu

Ubuntu is an open source software operating system that runs from the desktop, to the cloud, to all your internet connected things.

ubuntu.com

Edit:
check this:

Creating Windows UEFI Boot-Stick in Windows - Thomas-Krenn-Wiki-en

In this article you will find information about how you can create a Windows UEFI Boot-Stick in Windows.

www.thomas-krenn.com

and this (Create Windows 10 (UEFI Only) Bootable USB on Mac OS X 10.14):

Seems is not that straightforward to make an Valid USB Windows installer on Mac.

How to create a windows 10 bootable usb from iso on macOS? - Microsoft Q&A

I'm a computer novice and i wanna reinstall my windows 10 for my HP laptop since it was crashed, but i have a macbook pro, so I was wonder if it's possible to create a windows 10 bootable installer USB on macOS without terminal?

docs.microsoft.com

 

[Cracker_T]

It doesnt show your USB , to create a valid USB stick you can check this out (but its done from a windows machine):

Create installation media for Windows - Microsoft Support

Learn how to create installation media for installing or reinstalling Windows.

support.microsoft.com

Can you try CMS with your USB and see if it works? I think your Windows USB installation is not right , you can try make a bootable USB with LINUX and check if it works.

Create a bootable USB stick on macOS | Ubuntu

Ubuntu is an open source software operating system that runs from the desktop, to the cloud, to all your internet connected things.

ubuntu.com

Edit:

Creating Windows UEFI Boot-Stick in Windows - Thomas-Krenn-Wiki-en

In this article you will find information about how you can create a Windows UEFI Boot-Stick in Windows.

www.thomas-krenn.com

And this (Create Windows 10 (UEFI Only) Bootable USB on Mac OS X 10.14)

the sandisk cruzer blade is the my USB thumb drive with win10, I've downloaded the iso file on both thumb drives under exFAT (not MS-DOS)
I'll try linux tomorrow. CSM didn't work with win10.

 

[izy]

the sandisk cruzer blade is the my USB thumb drive with win10, I've downloaded the iso file on both thumb drives under exFAT (not MS-DOS)
I'll try linux tomorrow. CSM didn't work with win10.

In my view im like 90% sure that your USB bootable drive is not valid , i dont know what else it can be. If you have access to a Windows system you should try install the "Windows installer" on a good USB with "Create installation media for Windows" and if it doesnt work we can see from there. (or you can try to create an USB with Linux)

 

[skizzo]

(csm and uefi turned on)

it's one or the other. you cannot enable CSM AND UEFI simultaneously

CSM shows more drives like my nvme. this is uefi with my new USB drive, and its doing the same exact thing

that's normal. CSM will list all drives whether they are actually "bootable" or not. In my experience, if you were to select a drive that has nothing but data on it, no OS, it would go the next drive in the boot order until it finds one with a bootable OS

the sandisk cruzer blade is the my USB thumb drive with win10, I've downloaded the iso file on both thumb drives under exFAT (not MS-DOS)
I'll try linux tomorrow. CSM didn't work with win10.

exFAT?! you need the USB drive to install Windows to be either Fat32 or NTFS....I just don't remember which one off the top of my head. Regardless, if you made the USB install drive correctly it would have been formatted correctly by Windows Media Creation Tool.