I'm installing Windows 11 on a new PC with a Gigabyte H510 motherboard, 10th-generation Intel i3, RTX 2060 6GB, 16GB DDR4, and a 512GB SSD. The SSD appears normally in BIOS, and the computer can remain in BIOS for at least 10 minutes without shutting down. However, when I select the UEFI entry for a Windows installation USB, I see the Gigabyte logo followed by a black screen, then the system reboots before Windows Setup appears. I've tried creating the installer with both Rufus and Microsoft's official media tool, using two USB drives and multiple USB ports, disabling Secure Boot, and confirming that the USB is detected in the boot menu. What could cause a reboot specifically when starting the installer? Could an outdated BIOS, memory or graphics issue, power supply, motherboard setting, or another hardware problem be responsible?
2 Answers
Since you clarified that it is rebooting rather than losing power completely, the system may be crashing while initializing the installer. Try loading BIOS defaults, then boot with only one RAM stick installed. Test each stick and slot, reseat the graphics card and power cables, and temporarily remove unnecessary USB devices. Also try creating the installer with Microsoft’s tool using another known-good computer or USB drive.
Start by checking the exact motherboard revision and updating the BIOS to the latest version from Gigabyte. H510 boards may have BIOS updates related to UEFI and Secure Boot keys. Use the board’s built-in Q-Flash feature from BIOS with the update file on a FAT32 USB drive, and don’t interrupt power during the update.
I’m not sure whether the BIOS is current, so I’ll check the motherboard revision and look for the Q-Flash option.