| Sysop: | Amessyroom |
|---|---|
| Location: | Fayetteville, NC |
| Users: | 27 |
| Nodes: | 6 (0 / 6) |
| Uptime: | 37:59:48 |
| Calls: | 631 |
| Calls today: | 2 |
| Files: | 1,187 |
| D/L today: |
22 files (29,767K bytes) |
| Messages: | 173,681 |
An old workhorse PC froze before boot, at 4 on the 10 second countdown to loading Windows 10. No reaction from mouse, keyboard, Ctrl+Alt+Alt. I switched off and rebooted; it went through automatic repair, diagnosis, then into boot and froze at the same 4.
I restored from a Macrium backup. There are, therefore, no logs available. Now it all works fine and passes all tests; over 10 hours running, memory ok, SSD ok, DISM and sfc/ scannow, temperature below 45-#C.
The damn thing won't give me a clue what to fix; and the dictum "leave well enough alone" seems inappropriate here.
Is it possible that I just settled a semi-unplugged item round the back when I un/replugged them all? Would that cause a freeze even before Windows starts to load?
BTW the backup was only a day old, and there are no Updates awaiting.
Ed
On Sun, 9/28/2025 10:00 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:
An old workhorse PC froze before boot, at 4 on the 10 second countdown to loading Windows 10. No reaction from mouse, keyboard, Ctrl+Alt+Alt. I switched off and rebooted; it went through automatic repair, diagnosis, then into boot and froze at the same 4.
I restored from a Macrium backup. There are, therefore, no logs available. >> Now it all works fine and passes all tests; over 10 hours running, memory ok, SSD ok, DISM and sfc/ scannow, temperature below 45-#C.
The damn thing won't give me a clue what to fix; and the dictum "leave well enough alone" seems inappropriate here.
Is it possible that I just settled a semi-unplugged item round the back when I un/replugged them all? Would that cause a freeze even before Windows starts to load?
BTW the backup was only a day old, and there are no Updates awaiting.
Ed
OK, so you are referring to a Boot Menu in a black coloured screen
with an F8 option also shown ? It has a count-down timer for the
OS selection. Maybe the Tile based Boot Menu also has that timer ?
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu True # Change from Tile Boot screen, to WinXP black text-based menu
It should not be doing anything, during that wait time, as it is
expecting you to edit your multi-boot OS choice from the menu
during that time. The CPU may be running hard on one core,
while it is waiting.
This is an example of a menu offering F8 that I use here,
but the timer on your Tile Version should be the same concept.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/W3dK3Vkv/multi-boot-menu-delay-example.gif
Paul
Paul wrote:
On Sun, 9/28/2025 10:00 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:
An old workhorse PC froze before boot, at 4 on the 10 second countdown to loading Windows 10. No reaction from mouse, keyboard, Ctrl+Alt+Alt. I switched off and rebooted; it went through automatic repair, diagnosis, then into boot and froze at the same 4.
I restored from a Macrium backup. There are, therefore, no logs available. >>> Now it all works fine and passes all tests; over 10 hours running, memory ok, SSD ok, DISM and sfc/ scannow, temperature below 45-#C.
The damn thing won't give me a clue what to fix; and the dictum "leave well enough alone" seems inappropriate here.
Is it possible that I just settled a semi-unplugged item round the back when I un/replugged them all? Would that cause a freeze even before Windows starts to load?
BTW the backup was only a day old, and there are no Updates awaiting.
Ed
OK, so you are referring to a Boot Menu in a black coloured screen
with an F8 option also shown ? It has a count-down timer for the
OS selection. Maybe the Tile based Boot Menu also has that timer ?
-a-a-a bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu True-a-a-a-a-a-a # Change from Tile Boot screen, to WinXP black text-based menu
It should not be doing anything, during that wait time, as it is
expecting you to edit your multi-boot OS choice from the menu
during that time. The CPU may be running hard on one core,
while it is waiting.
This is an example of a menu offering F8 that I use here,
but the timer on your Tile Version should be the same concept.
-a-a-a [Picture]
-a-a-a-a https://i.postimg.cc/W3dK3Vkv/multi-boot-menu-delay-example.gif
-a-a Paul
No black screen; just the normal one that's been there for years, blue coloured, and is there now after the restore.
You've jumped to the wrong conclusion here, Paul.
Ed
On Sun, 9/28/2025 3:07 PM, Ed Cryer wrote:
Paul wrote:
On Sun, 9/28/2025 10:00 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:
An old workhorse PC froze before boot, at 4 on the 10 second countdown to loading Windows 10. No reaction from mouse, keyboard, Ctrl+Alt+Alt. I switched off and rebooted; it went through automatic repair, diagnosis, then into boot and froze at the same 4.
I restored from a Macrium backup. There are, therefore, no logs available. >>>> Now it all works fine and passes all tests; over 10 hours running, memory ok, SSD ok, DISM and sfc/ scannow, temperature below 45-#C.
The damn thing won't give me a clue what to fix; and the dictum "leave well enough alone" seems inappropriate here.
Is it possible that I just settled a semi-unplugged item round the back when I un/replugged them all? Would that cause a freeze even before Windows starts to load?
BTW the backup was only a day old, and there are no Updates awaiting.
Ed
OK, so you are referring to a Boot Menu in a black coloured screen
with an F8 option also shown ? It has a count-down timer for the
OS selection. Maybe the Tile based Boot Menu also has that timer ?
-a-a-a bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu True-a-a-a-a-a-a # Change from Tile Boot screen, to WinXP black text-based menu
It should not be doing anything, during that wait time, as it is
expecting you to edit your multi-boot OS choice from the menu
during that time. The CPU may be running hard on one core,
while it is waiting.
This is an example of a menu offering F8 that I use here,
but the timer on your Tile Version should be the same concept.
-a-a-a [Picture]
-a-a-a-a https://i.postimg.cc/W3dK3Vkv/multi-boot-menu-delay-example.gif >>>
-a-a Paul
No black screen; just the normal one that's been there for years, blue coloured, and is there now after the restore.
You've jumped to the wrong conclusion here, Paul.
Ed
I think both boot screens have countdown timers, do they not ?
I don't use the Tile version all that much, as I like
easy access to F8 Safe Mode.
My BIOS does not have any countdown timers. It does have
time constants, but the time is never displayed for any
of those intervals, as the machine advances through POST.
Whereas the boot menus can have timers, if you are multibooting.
Machines with only one OS on them, there is no need for
timers since there is only one OS choice. Linux works
that way too. One OS, on with the show.
In any case, I cannot think of a good reason for something
to be acting before the time constant has expired.
And the fact it stopped at the same number when you
repeated the test, that's ... really weird. Even if we
could think of reasons, it would be hard to justify
the activity stopping at the same digit value.
Paul
An old workhorse PC froze before boot, at 4 on the 10 second countdown
to loading Windows 10. No reaction from mouse, keyboard, Ctrl+Alt+Alt. I switched off and rebooted; it went through automatic repair, diagnosis,
then into boot and froze at the same 4.
I restored from a Macrium backup. There are, therefore, no logs available. Now it all works fine and passes all tests; over 10 hours running,
memory ok, SSD ok, DISM and sfc/ scannow, temperature below 45-#C.
