I've been struggling to install Windows after my setup got corrupted. This all started when I adjusted my RAM settings. I tried several fixes, but eventually, my PC wouldn't progress past the loading circle when attempting to boot from a Windows drive, so I decided to take a break. The next day, I got an external enclosure for my SSD, and thankfully, I managed to recover all my important files via USB.
After recovering my data, I formatted my drives and reconnected them to my PC, but then I started facing freezing issues whenever I accessed the flash drive. Sometimes, I'd get past the loading circle and into the installation screen, but then I was met with a persistent black screen during the process. I wiped the drives multiple times using diskpart clean and reformatted them several times, but nothing changed. I even flashed my motherboard's BIOS and updated the SSD firmware, but still no luck.
Then, I remembered that my GPU and motherboard are both PCIe 5.0, but my riser is only PCIe 4.0. The problems began that first night when I reset the BIOS to optimized defaults. I adjusted the BIOS settings to set the PCIe x16 slot to Gen 4 speeds, thinking that would fix it. I managed to boot from the flash drive and started the installation, but after a restart, I encountered another black screen when it said "Getting Ready."
I'm really at my wits' end. I ran MemTest86 on my RAM and it passed fine, so I suspect it's a drive issue. I did an ASUS Secure Erase, ran the PC with just one stick of RAM, and even attempted to install Windows on both drives separately, but the problem persists on both. Swapping the M.2 slots didn't help either. Here's my setup for reference:
- GPU: NVIDIA RTX 5090 Founders Edition
- GPU Riser: FormD T1 PCIE4 Riser
- CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix X870-I
- Memory: Teamgroup T-Create Expert 32GB 6000MT CL30
- Storage: 1x Samsung 990 Pro 1TB and 1x Samsung 990 Pro 4TB
- PSU: Corsair SF1000
2 Answers
I did what you suggested and still ran into the same black screen issue. It’s driving me nuts because I feel like I’ve exhausted all the options.
I'd recommend starting by connecting only the drive you want to install Windows on. After that, perform another Secure Erase on it. Before starting the installation, double-check your BIOS settings. You should have CSM off, TPM enabled, UEFI mode on, and Secure Boot enabled—or set them according to your preferences.
It’s super frustrating! Maybe consider checking if all the connections are secure, or trying a different USB port for the installation media. Sometimes, the simplest things can trip you up!