PC will not boot - stuck on PC Specialist splash screen - no access to BIOS

[martianw]

Hi

I tried to start my PC in safe mode using these instructions for Windows 10: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode using the "From Settings" option.

My PC did not and will not boot now. It sits with the PC specialist splash screen showing, with the prompt to "press DEL or F2 to enter UEFI BIOS" showing but neither of these keys or any others I have tried produce a response of any kind.

I'm totally stuck. Does anyone have any advice?

Thank you

 

[ubuysa]

Things to try:

1. If you have multiple displays (or are connected additionally to a TV) then disconnect these extra displays so that only the primary display is connected. Reboot.

2. Power off the PC by holding the power on button down until it powers off. Reboot.

3. Disconnect all peripherals except monitor, mouse and keyboard. Reboot.

4. Disconnect all power to the PC and all peripherals. Leave everything off for 10 minutes. Reboot.

You might also want to run through the advice here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/14106

 

[martianw]

Thanks very much for responding. I only have one display but its connected via a KVM switch. I'll try connecting it directly. Note that I do not have a black screen though. It's showing the PC specialist start-up screen that precedes starting the boot process. Here's what I see:

 

[ubuysa]

Thanks very much for responding. I only have one display but its connected via a KVM switch. I'll try connecting it directly. Note that I do not have a black screen though. It's showing the PC specialist start-up screen that precedes starting the boot process. Here's what I see:

View attachment 12406

Do bypass the switch. Keep everything as simple and basic as you can - ensure only monitor, mouse, and keyboard are (directly) connected if you can. If none of the above work you could try resetting the CMOS PROM by popping the battery out and back in...

 

[martianw]

The initial suggestions did not have any discernible affect. I'm guessing the Windows 10 recovery / restart thing has messed up the bios. The machine is showing no signs of even trying to boot. I'll try the CMOS reset next. Thanks.

 

[martianw]

The CMOS reset had no discernible effect either :-(

 

[martianw]

Called PC Specialist and got the most stellar support. Problem solved. Disconnected both my drives and started up... this forced the system to enter the BIOS. Reconnected my main SATA drive (which I do not boot from) and on reboot, F2 worked and got me into the BIOS again. Reconnected the SSD drive I boot from and.... it booted, displaying the start-up menu with Safe Mode as an option.

11/10 to PC Specialist!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Called PC Specialist and got the most stellar support. Problem solved. Disconnected both my drives and started up... this forced the system to enter the BIOS. Reconnected my main SATA drive (which I do not boot from) and on reboot, F2 worked and got me into the BIOS again. Reconnected the SSD drive I boot from and.... it booted, displaying the start-up menu with Safe Mode as an option.

11/10 to PC Specialist!

Thanks for posting the solution and pleased PCS resolved it!

That’s good to know as well, didn’t realise that could happen, wonder if it’s particular to that motherboard...

 

[ubuysa]

Called PC Specialist and got the most stellar support. Problem solved. Disconnected both my drives and started up... this forced the system to enter the BIOS. Reconnected my main SATA drive (which I do not boot from) and on reboot, F2 worked and got me into the BIOS again. Reconnected the SSD drive I boot from and.... it booted, displaying the start-up menu with Safe Mode as an option.

11/10 to PC Specialist!

Excellent news, and thanks for the useful feedback. That's one to remember.

 

[martianw]

Everyone's most welcome. I'm a great believer in sharing this kind of thing and really appreciated the efforts made here in this forum before I picked up the phone to PC Specialist, expecting to be told my machine was out of warranty and therefore I was not eligible for support.

Exemplary help from the PC Specialist woman who helped. Absolutely classic, systematic troubleshooting and she explained her thinking at every step of the way. And she was funny (which helped my stress levels somewhat!).

Where will I be buying my next PC? No brainer. PC Specialist!

 

[Oussebon]

I'm pretty sure PCS say the support they offer is lifetime: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/about-service/

So if you're out of warranty and a part dies they might not be able to replace it, but they should be happy to help you diagnose the issue.

Sometimes parts have longer manufacturer warranties than the PCS warranty too. So one can either claim direct with the manufacturer, or via PCS as the vendor anyway, even if the 1 year parts (or 2 or 3 years depending on warranty option chosen) cover direct with PCS has expired. Though I gather you got the system in Oct 2015, and these manufacturer warranties are often 2-3 years, so that might not have helped there(!)

That's all irrelevant at least for the time being, and it's great to hear all is working as it should

 

[domrob]

I had the same problem, making me think the SSD was dying as it's been taking forever to reboot when left alone, but tonight, it just didn't move off the splash screen at all!

Tonight, the PC just stuck on the PC Specialist splash screen and I looked up the problem and found this thread about removing any external monitors (my TV is also connected) and disconnect USB cables, and even before I worked out which was the TV cable (it's been hidden from view for 4 years), I took some cables out of the USB slots on the top of the PC, and when I took out the one for the infrared keyboard and mouse (and I saw the keyboard was unresponsive while it was in this state - making going into safe mode impossible), it jumped back into life and got on with it!

MICROSOFT! When will they actually sort this out such that when a problem like this happens, it tells you what the problem is and how to fix it?

 

[ubuysa]

I had the same problem, making me think the SSD was dying as it's been taking forever to reboot when left alone, but tonight, it just didn't move off the splash screen at all!

Tonight, the PC just stuck on the PC Specialist splash screen and I looked up the problem and found this thread about removing any external monitors (my TV is also connected) and disconnect USB cables, and even before I worked out which was the TV cable (it's been hidden from view for 4 years), I took some cables out of the USB slots on the top of the PC, and when I took out the one for the infrared keyboard and mouse (and I saw the keyboard was unresponsive while it was in this state - making going into safe mode impossible), it jumped back into life and got on with it!

MICROSOFT! When will they actually sort this out such that when a problem like this happens, it tells you what the problem is and how to fix it?

To be fair, removing all connected peripherals is universally recognised as step one when troubleshooting booting problems. In addition, how is Windows supposed to know you're having a boot issue when Windows isn't even started at that point?

 

[domrob]

To be fair, removing all connected peripherals is universally recognised as step one when troubleshooting booting problems. In addition, how is Windows supposed to know you're having a boot issue when Windows isn't even started at that point?

I didn't realise that re: just disconnecting things, but re: the boot issue, I don't know how the technical specifics would work, but we've had so many technological advances over the decades, yet still a problematic wireless USB keyboard can stop an entire PC from booting up which is just ridiculous, and it's even more odd (to me, at least), that sometimes it would hang at this point for a while before carrying on, and at other times, it just refuses to move on altogether (well, I gave it ten minutes, but that was far longer than was required previously).

Similarly, go into Device Manager and look up the USB ports and they'll all have the same text listed against them, and how are you supposed to know which one relates to which at the back or top/front of the PC? Why can't it be refined such that it actually points a specific one in order to be more user-friendly?