Calling all geeks,PC is playing up

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Calling all geeks,PC is playing up

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Okay,

I have been messing round with this PC as it stopped working in December.
PC boots fine but has no network or sound. Both are red X in the taskbar.
Device manager shows no issues.
Clicking on network shows no connections and shows options to add a VPN setting.
I have updated to the newest bios & cleared the CMOS.
Tried booting up W10 ISO from USB. It stalls at the splash screen.
Tried refreshing but again this just does nothing.
Selecting advanced start up tools led to a black screen.
Can't get the PC to start in safe mode.
Hanging on restart,requiring a push of the reset button.


specs.

Running Windows 10
OS is on a 120gb SSD
Wired internet connection
Gigabyte mobo z97p -D3
G3258 CPU (standard clock)
8gb of ram
Nvidia GTX 460
550w PSU

ram,cpu and mobo are about 6 months old.
system was stable with no issues until the symptoms appeared.
I'm leaning to a dodgy mobo?

Ta
 
Okay,

I have been messing round with this PC as it stopped working in December.
PC boots fine but has no network or sound. Both are red X in the taskbar.
Device manager shows no issues.
Clicking on network shows no connections and shows options to add a VPN setting.
I have updated to the newest bios & cleared the CMOS.
Tried booting up W10 ISO from USB. It stalls at the splash screen.
Tried refreshing but again this just does nothing.
Selecting advanced start up tools led to a black screen.
Can't get the PC to start in safe mode.
Hanging on restart,requiring a push of the reset button.


specs.

Running Windows 10
OS is on a 120gb SSD
Wired internet connection
Gigabyte mobo z97p -D3
G3258 CPU (standard clock)
8gb of ram
Nvidia GTX 460
550w PSU

ram,cpu and mobo are about 6 months old.
system was stable with no issues until the symptoms appeared.
I'm leaning to a dodgy mobo?

Ta

Ok,

Let's get this sorted, I.T support is my career :)
Did you know - Windows 10 has fast boot, ill explain below.

When you shut down Windows 10 it will hibernate the kernel as this part of the boot process (loading the kernel into ram) take the longest.
So when shutting down and powering back on, it boots very quick - even when using an old hard drive (your using an SSD like so it will be even quicker).
When this happens - the kernel is loaded from the hibernating file, very quick and will be in the same state prior to you shutting it down.

If there has been any driver updates (to the network or audio) then the update will not take its change until the kernel has been loaded fresh, in other-words you need a cold boot.

A cold boot is not like it was prior to Windows 8.1 (8 did not have fast boot)
A normal cold boot, you would expect to shut down, power off, power back on... not anymore bud.

The easiest way to perform a full restart of the machine and have it running fresh (not loaded from fast boot etc etc and any drivers updates take there change) then you will have to start up the PC... click start (windows logo as you know) and then choose the Restart option.

This does a traditional restart of the whole O/S and the fast boot is not used - you will see it will take a few seconds longer to boot for the first time when you do this as its starting up and loading the kernel from your SSD bit by bit and not a snapshot of the kernel that was hibernated into large file...

Try that first, see if the devices start to work.
As you say its wired - i suspect that the NIC (network card) is on the motherboard (built in) as the audio will be too, if this is the case - make sure you have latest BIOS installed from manufacturer website then make sure you have the very latest chipset drivers installed and then also any further drivers relating to your NIC or Audio.

Can you post me a screenshot of your device manager?
If you can, expand the Network Adaptors bit and the Sound, Video and Game controllers bit.

I have had the same issue of you and so have hundreds of others.

Let us know how you get on, pitty you dont have alternative internet connection on that PC as i could remote in and just simply fix it for you lol.

Also, just to point out - there was a huge windows update for windows 10, called threshold 2 that fixed tons of bugs and the update was a re-install of windows 10 (with the option to not loose anything) - if this was the case, you may need to re-install your drivers and do the restart as above.
 
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screen grab of device manager attached.

Latest bios installed.
I tried to install the latest graphics driver from usb dive but this failed.
There is one unknown item on the device manager. Dont know what,but it is tagged to PCI bus 1 if that helps.
It has had a full restart,hung for around 5 minutes before completing the cycle.

ta
 

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ok, can you download the latest drivers from your mobo manufacturer and copy them to your ssd, disable any antivirus and install them all, reebooting properly each time.

also try another ethernet cable and another port on your routerc/ modem first.

and finally, you have most of the drivers installed allbeit maybe not latest... the sata ahci is running a generic driver as you can see by its name but anyhow the nic is installed and looks ok, as for the unknown driver, right click and hit proprties then check your tabs in properties and you will find one with a drop down list, look for device id, highlight the pci ven string and copy it, search google by pasting it in and you will probs find out what device it is

hope this helps, might even need as full reinstall to be sure, doubt the NIC has died onboard.
 
I'm going to have a guess at dodgy mobo. I had a very similar board on a Core i5 and it did exactly the same thing but when I installed a new graphics card (AMD Radeon HD 7875XT). Even when reverting back to the old card the NIC and Audio refused to work. Like yours it showed up in device manager as having no issue but just wouldn't work!

I also had a workstation board which had bad PCIe lanes and managed to corrupt a RAID array I had on a LSI Raid controller in a PCIe Slot.

Try making a ubuntu live CD / USB and boot from that. Take particular attention to the boot up screen and look for any "pciport AER: multiple correct error". This will also evaluate if the hardware works outside the Windows environment (y)
 
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I'm going to have a guess at dodgy mobo. I had a very similar board on a Core i5 and it did exactly the same thing but when I installed a new graphics card (AMD Radeon HD 7875XT). Even when reverting back to the old card the NIC and Audio refused to work. Like yours it showed up in device manager as having no issue but just wouldn't work!

I also had a workstation board which had bad PCIe lanes and managed to corrupt a RAID array I had on a LSI Raid controller in a PCIe Slot.

Try making a ubuntu live CD / USB and boot from that. Take particular attention to the boot up screen and look for any "pciport AER: multiple correct error". This will also evaluate if the hardware works outside the Windows environment (y)

some good points there, i have never come across a faulty mobo in all my time in I.T (20 years or so), i have seen mobos ruined by overclocking and incorrect bioses etc but never a chipset issue... or nic issue that was not resolvable.

can you not put a temporary drive and reinstall windows 7 or win 10 to see if it starts working... also try a live cd as you said above and also try booting hirens and test mini windows.
 
Sorry for the delay guys. Been swamped.

Dunno where I'm at.
Bought a new SSD.
PC wouldnt boot up an installer within Windows 10 (Windows simply is working right,though its stable)
Booted a W7 install from USB. Hung at set up is starting.
Faffed around for ages on that.
Then tried with W10 via USB,same issue.

Tried booting Ubuntu from USB,got the splash screen offering install,boot from USB etc and before I could select anything, this happened.

IMAG1884.jpg

This is with all hard drives disconnected except the original W10 SSD.
Graphics card removed,using onboard HDMI.
all but 1 stick of ram removed.

Tried hooking up an old usb wifi adapter (tested working on another W10 PC)
Showed in device manager but didnt install any drivers.
 
Thats an issue with the live cd your using, make sure your usb stick correctly formatted before copying a bootable o/s to it.

Windows 10 might not have drivers for your wifi stick and without an internet connection it wont be able to find any online.

If you have the drivers for it, try manually install them.
 
Thats an issue with the live cd your using, make sure your usb stick correctly formatted before copying a bootable o/s to it.

Windows 10 might not have drivers for your wifi stick and without an internet connection it wont be able to find any online.

If you have the drivers for it, try manually install them.

Tried the only drivers available. W10 wasnt happy with them. Though the internet enabled W10 PC was fine with it.
I'll try another go at the linux stick later/tomorrow. Heading out just now.

Cheers
 
right,Ubunto 15.10 is running fine off the usb. Has network and sound :D
However it seems to be sticking at preparing to install?
Tried it with and now without 'install updates/3rd party software'
Doesnt seem to be moving on though?

EDIT: just rebooted and the PC booted to the Ubuntu install menu and then presented the same/similar error page. accompanied by 2 separate mobo beeps
 
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It could be the ram, try all sticks one by one and see if one fails, if you have have hirens bootcd then you can do a memtest.

Where abouts are you based?
 
Tried swapping out the ram including an old stick I had. no difference.
Linux is now crashing out every time on boot now.
Boot has been slow too with beeps and no video.#I had assumed it was the switch to onboard,so set the bios to onboard only.
No change.
I have just rebooted again from the linux error page and had a few beeps and am sitting with a black screen.

just timed it from cold boot.
1 minute 40 seconds for a beep and display of the linux install options the on the screen. followed by a beep,followed closely by another beep as it brings up the linux error.
 
Are you booting in EFI / UEFI mode or Legacy "BIOS" Mode?

other than BIOS misconfiguration it sounds very much like Motherboard death to me. Perhaps disabling all but the essential peripherals in the BIOS and see if that adds stability.

Set as legacy & UEFI
Setting to UEFI finds nothing to boot
Setting to legacy only finds the standard linux USB stic,options and error page.
 
Pitty your in Edinburgh.
UEFI and Legacy should not cause any difference in the USB booting.
It should only cause issues if the USB drive was configured for UEFI (doubt it).
Your SSD / HDD will most likely be configured to UEFI or AHCI, legacy will be slower and is generally only used if your swapping drives from an older setup to a newer one.

I would love to get your computer in front of me, as Chris said, disable everything possible that you can and see how you get on, also flash the latest bios and make sure the board is not shorting on the chassis...

Replys will be a bit slow at the moment as im very busy and trying to get everything done with a broken foot.
 
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