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PC Freezes trying to install windows. Will post.

MaKo82
Level 9
My PC boots into the BIOS just fine. All my drives, cpu and memory seem to be running fine. Currently running memtest and so far no errors. I have a boot disk (USB) to install windows and the farthest i've gotten is inputting the Key. then the PC locks up and is frozen.

BIOS has not been updated, its a brand new out of box MB Strix Z790E, i9 13900K, Corsair 7200 Vengence.

This is the second USB That i have tried and I'm getting the same result. Any ideas?
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53 REPLIES 53

tomersa
Level 7
My acquaintance/friend doesn't have spare motherboard with a same socket so we are not able to test CPU, but he said that by what I told him and by his experience that this must be 99% a faulty CPU. So I will send the CPU back and request for a new one. Will keep you posted.

tomersa
Level 7
Hi.
So, after 6 frustrating weeks I have finally received new CPU yesterday. It really took a long time.
But anyway, the new one is working as it should and even the temperatures are much lower. Benchmark with Cinebench is showing average temperatures around 81 with a pick to 93 degrees celsius. Previous CPU Cinebench temperatures immediately went to 100, that was why I've limited to 90 degrees in BIOS.
Although this time I've changed ASUS motherboard's original CPU frame with Thermalright contact frame, I don't think this was the issue with the temperatures. When I was changing frames, I have noticed that original frame wasn't screwed in as it should be. When I wanted to unscrew the screws, all four of them were really loose. I literally didnt have to use any force to unscrew them. So maybe that was the problem with higher temperatures or even maybe some bad connections between MB and CPU pins and that is why maybe CPU died. Motheboard was new and I didn't fiddle with the screws before first installation because I had no reason to do that. I really dont know how the screws can be so loose on the CPU frame or anywhere from manufacturing process. From now on I will always check this whenever I will buy new motherboard and I advice everyone to do this also before installing CPU.

deltaboy
Level 7

I found this thread after "desperately" searching for solutions to an identical problem on a different platform: Asus ROG gaming laptop model GA401QM. BIOS: American Megatrends v412.

The problem is related to power saving mode/features. Attempting a fresh install of Win 11 from USB bootable media would freeze at random points of progress during the "installation files" phase of the installation.

Observed:
Keyboard Aura backlighting and Num Lock LEDs stopped illuminating. No change when attempting to turn back on or reenable. Also no Caps Lock. Touchpad also unresponsive. Indicated power to input devices was shut off.
Testing with external USB keyboard produced exact same symptoms of complete power loss. Indicated that USB bootable media was also no longer readable.
Output devices seemed to remain powered on. Monitor remained backlit with frozen UI state and no artifacts. HDD/SSD LED continued to blink; however, at a constant and regular interval.
Onboard AMD graphics and RAM appeared to remain powered on, as indicated by the frozen UI graphical state. I have no way of knowing about the state of the GPU.
No crash report, error messages, or BIOS/CMOS beeps. Indicated power to CPU and CMOS had been disrupted.

In summary, the observations were of a system in hibernation and not waking on IRQ. It seems that the hardware platform and Windows 11 installation were somehow in miscommunication.

My suspicion became further bolstered when using the Win 11 installation media's bundled console. Running console proved to be stable, even during long periods of idle neglect. I used DISKPART to examine my SSD and perform a complete format; a relatively expensive process which produced heat and caused the cooling fans to kick into higher speed. System remained stable with no perceived glitches.

Using the above information, I was able to workaround and install Windows 11 via the following process:
Boot from the USB Windows 11 installation media.
Use the "Repair Windows Installation" option and click on the "Troubleshoot" option. From there, launch the bundled Windows console.
The console defaults to "X:\>sources" directory. Change directory to the root of X via "cd ../" or "X:" commands.
From the root of X, execute "setup.exe". This will relaunch the Windows 11 installer, but as a child process to the stable Windows console. With the console hosting the installation as a child process, the system remained stable and I was able to install Windows 11 start-to-finish without interruption.

That solved the problem with installing Windows 11 from USB. However, the OS itself was also unstable and continued to freeze at random points. Same symptoms as during the installation: perceived hibernation state.

Solution to unstable OS: As soon as possible, create a new "Power Plan" from within Windows. For both "Plugged In" and "Battery" conditions, I disabled all hibernation/sleep options. Set minimum and maximum CPU quotas to full 100%. Anything that had an option for "Maximum Performance" was set to exactly that. In short: I told Windows that power was not an object, and that I did not give a rat's butt about the environment or my electric bill. No doubt, there's a more rational configuration. However, my frustration had reached a point of satisfaction with hitting the nuclear button.

For the first time since my debacle began, I am now at 72 hours of Windows 11 with no crashes, freezes, or undue restarts. Hopefully this helps others. As stated earlier, almost all of my symptoms were identical to those at the heart of this thread.

One big difference, for which I have no solid explanation: Even with the bootable USB detached, the system would still randomly freeze or restart during POST. But once inside BIOS, everything remained stable. I hypothesize that there was some rogue configuration lingering from a previous installation of Windows 11. That older installation was stable, and I never had issues... my laptop came bundled with Windows 10 and I upgraded it to 11, as opposed to fresh install. This recent adventure resulted from my decision to clean my SSD and start fresh with a new Windows 11 installation from media.

I suspect that my problem was the result of at least 2 independent bugs; one from Asus/BIOS, and the other from Windows. This will be daunting for respective developer teams to debug and confidently resolve.

** As an addendum: I did also attempt to install Ubuntu Linux from USB media. That failed with a reported ACPI error, in addition to some pre-existing files (I did not note the names or locations of those files, but the Ubuntu installation was finding them on the SSD). I could be incorrect, but I get the feeling that Ubuntu failed due to, yet, its own issues with the installation media... as I had used Rufus to create a bootable USB, and there were conflicts reported with some dependent libraries. Rufus claimed to have resolved those, but I am skeptical.

Additional notes:
I attempted virtually all of the recommended solutions mentioned in past comments to this thread. Upgraded my RAM from the stock Hynix 8GB expansion card, to Corsair Vengeance 16GB. The freezes and restarts did seem to be inline with my past experience with bad RAM, so that was my first step towards a trial/error resolution. The new RAM card made no difference. Windows installation attempts remained unstable.

I swapped the stock 1TB SSD with a known good PNY 500GB SSD. Again, no change.

No changes in BIOS configurations seemed to make a difference. Including "Default Optimized" settings. I also re-flashed CMOS to v412 of BIOS (I did not take note of the prior version, if different). Again, no change in stability.

I also don't know if the Windows side of the issue is new to Windows 11, or if there is a persistent bug from Windows 10. As stated above, the system shipped with Windows 10 bundled and pre-installed. I immediately upgraded to Windows 11 and had been running that for over a year without issue. I only encountered problems after deciding to clean my SSD and reinstall Windows 11 fresh from USB. No hardware, hibernation/sleep issues prior to that.