[Closed] PC Help Needed Please

Not very helpful, but first, do check the ram is properly seated. I know it sounds silly, but I had this, where I couldnt understand why a new build wouldn't start up, and one of my two ram sticks wasn't properly seated.

My next issue was that I'd not put them in the correct motherboard slots.

Suspect you know more than me, but these are simple things to check.

Also, ram could be faulty - does the machine still boot up if you put the old ram back in place? Do check. if it still does, then try one ram stick at a time, and see if it still boots up. Try both as the single primary to see if either of them are faulty.

Also check all motherboard conections, you may have knocked one.

As said check they are in the correct slots, mine has 4 and you need to install them in a particular sequence.

RAM is properly seated and in all configurations it shows up in the BIOS.

I've tried all slots and an now back with the old RAM in the original slots.

It's currently on a big blue screen that says

Recovery
It looks like windows hasn't loaded correctly

I have two options;
See advanced repair options
and
Restart my PC

Restarting goes back through the MSI splash screen and occasionally flashes up the the Windows lock screen

I've tried a system restore but it didn't complete successfully.

First, check that you haven't disturbed the SATA cables / power cables to the drive.

Then, boot into MemTest from a USB pendrive. NB it'll run tests continually so once it's completed everything once and hopefully hasn't lit up like a Christmas tree you can just pull the power.

I’m loathe to press any options willy nilly in case I wipe his SSD or something

It'll be fine, everything's backed up right?

If it sometimes boots into the OS, even unsuccessfully, then it might be a bit late for that and we're looking at a reinstall / recovery scenario. But we'll jump off that bridge when we come to it.

I've just tried a system restore again and it's telling me there are no restore points.

@cougar it's getting to be outside my comfort zone now...

Ah, cross posts.

See advanced repair options

Try "Startup Repair" from there.

It sounds like the new RAM was faulty and it's corrupted the OS install. Leave the old RAM in for now until we get stable again.

Once we're happy, MemTest the new sticks before attempting to boot the OS again.

it’s getting to be outside my comfort zone now…

Normally at this point I'd say "where are you geographically?", but we're in Tier 4 so unless you can easily get it to East Lancashire...

Already tried startup repair, didn't work.

Tried it again, didn't work.

Just did a clean install and that hasn’t worked either. Got to the bit where it needs to connect to the internet and it died.

Restarted and it’s back at the recovery screen. I’m stumped.

I don't have Cougar's expertise, but at that stage I'd download "Hiren's Boot CD", burn it to a CD and boot from it. It runs entirely in memory so changes nothing unless you ask it to, but allows you to diagnose the state of the hard disk. It run Linux, but you don't need to know to Linux to use it.

Could potentially have damaged the ram slot in the motherboard, try with one ram stick, first in slot 2, then 4 if it doesn't work, then the other stick if still no luck. Check your motherboard manual for which are the primary ram slots.

After trying every other option I finally got a result with an install from the recovery page. Fortunately he doesn't have any important data on there.

Then it failed to reboot... FFS!

Hard reset and it booted OK. Not touching it again tonight, I'm going to have trouble sleeping as it is. I'm going to ask the IT guys at work what they think and proceed from there.

Thanks to all who offered help.

I will add; at every attempt, the RAM was recognised in the BIOS.

And it doesn’t shut down properly now. If I select shutdown I get a yellow shutting down screen and the the monitor stops receiving a signal but the cpu fan keeps going.

Long shot, but does he have a Corsair keyboard by any chance? The last windows update broke the corsair driver which resulted in a lot of people including me getting the boot loop of death. If yes, then if you can get in, uninstall the CUE software. It can be reinstalled after but worth googling it quickly as they suggest a few more bits to do after the uninstall ie removing a few registry keys.
*edit* although if you have reinstalled windows then I doubt it's this.

I will add; at every attempt, the RAM was recognised in the BIOS.

That doesn't necessarily mean anything. Not exactly the same situation but I treated myself to a PC for Christmas. Ran fine at first with the initial 2x8GB. I then installed another 2x8GB and it stopped working. At all times in the BIOS I could see all 4 sticks, all the XMP profiles worked, didn't get any of the motherboard error LEDs, everything appeared fine, it just wouldn't get past the spinning wheel just before the Windows login screen. Occasionally got a Windows blue screen. Turns out one of the new 8GB stick was duff despite BIOS not having a problem with it.

@papamountain it is a Corsair KB & mouse. I will try a different KB & M later when I finish work.
After the fresh install it didn't prompt me to load any software for the Corsair KB & M.

It's was the keyboard software driver getting corrupted so changing keyboards wont make any difference. It's only the Corsair keyboards that have backlit keys i think, K65 k70 etc. It's the CUE software. Keyboard would still work without installing its software, just wouldnt have the software features - key lighting effects etc.