Hey everyone,
I'm dealing with a frustrating issue where my computer crashes hard shortly after starting to load the OS. It doesn't matter if I try Windows 10, Windows 11, or even a lightweight distro like Damn Small Linux from a CD—my computer either shows no signal on the display, or it sometimes reboots itself instead of hanging. Windows gets as far as copying files but crashes at random points, while Linux can't even display the desktop and either shows splash screens or crashes with some error messages.
The temperatures are fine, sitting in the low to mid 30s when idle in the BIOS, and interestingly, it can sit in the BIOS for a long time without crashing.
Here are my specs:
- TUF B450M-PRO GAMING motherboard
- Ryzen 5 2600x CPU
- 4x4GB HyperX 2133MHz DDR4 RAM
- SAPPHIRE RX470 4GB GPU
- Chieftec 600W power supply
- 256GB m.2 drive
I've tried a bunch of solutions: reflashing the BIOS, resetting CMOS, reseating components, swapping GPUs and power supplies, testing RAM sticks one by one (with memtest), ensuring proper cooling, unplugging unnecessary devices, and even installing the OS from a DVD instead of a USB drive.
The irony is that I had a working version of Linux Mint installed on this setup before I attempted to install Windows 10. Now, I'm left wondering if my BIOS settings are off or if there's a hardware issue at play. How can I diagnose this further with the limited ability to boot, as I can only access Damn Small Linux? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
This sounds a lot like a memory issue, either with the RAM or the storage drive. Since your computer runs fine in the BIOS where memory usage is minimal, it points towards a problem occurring during OS loading. Even though you've already run memtest and the RAM looks fine, have you tried a different hard drive? If the drive has damaged sectors, it could be causing your crashes, especially if critical OS files are stored on those bad sectors. You could potentially have both a working OS and a broken one on the same drive depending on where issues exist.
Just to add to that thought, while memtest is good for checking RAM, if you're experiencing crashes even when trying to load OS from a thumb drive or DVD, it's likely not just the primary drive causing issues. Keep in mind that faulty hardware like the motherboard or PSU could also manifest these symptoms during the loading process. You might want to test with a different set of RAM if possible or even try booting with minimal hardware to isolate the problem.
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