I've been using my PC without issues for about a year, with the exception of a GPU and PSU upgrade last year. But now, after coming back from work, my PC turns on, shows the ASRock motherboard screen, then shuts off and restarts on its own. It keeps doing this until I turn off the PSU. I can't even access the BIOS to troubleshoot, and I'm hesitant to buy new parts without a better understanding of what's wrong. Any suggestions on how to diagnose this?
1 Answer
Have you checked for any diagnostic lights on your motherboard? Most boards have some kind of indicator that can tell you what's going wrong. If you don’t have the manual, look for the model number printed on the motherboard itself—it's usually near the RAM or the GPU. Also, if you have a USB drive and another computer, you could try booting from a Linux USB. Sometimes Windows just forgets how to boot, and doing this might help recover files until you can reinstall.
You can definitely enter BIOS even if the MBR files are corrupted. Sometimes, it's tricky with fast startup enabled; what works for me is turning off the power for a few minutes and then rapidly hitting the BIOS entry key as soon as I power it back on. If you’re using a wireless keyboard, it might not register quick enough—switching to a wired one might help.