Multiple boots before success

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My x32 Win10 Pro V22H2 is quite functional but often requires a second boot before I can operate it. The first boot may just hang, or end in a BSOD, or lack the mouse cursor. This morning it took four attempts (including Safe Mode) to get it operational and ALL the above happened. I have saved the Event Viewer logs, they are numerous. If someone can diagnose the source of ‘trouble’ from a log (or those logs), I would much appreciate it and will upload one or more logs as requested by you. Typically, there are errors or warnings about kernel power, AFD, SNMP etc which mean nothing to me.

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Just a shot in the dark – I would suspect a failing power supply.

If you need to replace it, pick one with 50% more power.

1 Desktop Win 11
1 Laptop Win 10
Both tweaked to look, behave and feel like Windows 95
(except for the marine blue desktop, rgb(0, 3, 98)

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BSODs are often related to driver problems. Have you updated the drivers for your hardware?

Open Device manager in the Control Panel and see if there are any with a warning triangle.
Check the computer OEM or the device OEM for driver updates for Win10.

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Run Nirsoft BlueScreenView. It may show you why the crash happens.

cheers, Paul

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Pericoloso Sporgersi – I have already replaced the power supply – it is now 800W.

PK Cano- Device Manager does not show any triangles. The PC often does Windows updates. I do not understand ‘Check the computer OEM for driver updates for Win10.’

Paul T – BlueScreenView appears to access C:\WlNDOWS\minidump – it presents a window without any ‘data’ apart from the reference to Minidump. Since the path is specified, I looked there and could not find the minidump. The system is set to NOT hide files.

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Why did you replace the power supply?  Was your pc needing a second boot or more before you replaced the power supply, or did this just start once you replaced the power supply?

Is your boot disk a hard disk or ssd?

Any other hardware changes, such as a new video card?

Does you pc post, but fail to boot into windows, or does it fail to post before needing a restart?

 

 

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Have you tried booting to a bootable USB drive to see if that boots the first time? This is to test if the HDD you have Windows on (your boot drive) is starting to fail as multiple failed boots before a good boot up is a symptom of a failing HDD.

Also, if a laptop, try an ATX reset. ATX reset = Unplug. Remove battery. Remove BIOS battery if accessible. Hold power button down for > 30 seconds.

HTH, Dana:))

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Dr Card – Hard Drive Sentinel says the drive is perfect. I make three clones every week, and access them when needed – not routinely, except for the one that occupies only one of three partitions on a larger drive, just to make sure that it is bootable. I dont remember any stalling or BSOD on it.

The form factor is a desktop tower – NOT a laptop.

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Klang – In March 2020, I replaced 680W PSU with a 775W, to fix the loose strand on a SATA power lead – the 775W may not have been new, I don’t remember. Reseating the power connector to the HDD has solved some booting problems, but rebooting also does – I find that confusing. The drive is SSD. NO new video card. It may stall in POST, but usually it stalls after the Windows logo has appeared. Quite often I will lose the mouse cursor, and so have to reboot. I’ve experimented with different mice in different USB sockets, and even a wireless one.

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I’m looking at this from a hardware standpoint:

In some ways, like E Pericoloso Sporgersi has suggested, this sounds like a failing power supply, but:

You have replaced the power supply, and have not added new hardware (such as a new video card) that might require a heavy power draw.

I’m assuming that when you replaced the power supply, you replaced all cables with the ones that came with the new power supply.

It is possible that the sata cable from the motherboard to the drive is loose.  This could have happened when the power supply was replaced.

I am out of ideas at this point.

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I have just tried a different power lead into the SSD, but it still hung.

More so previously than now, I have had improvement from reseating the leads into the SSD.

THAT is a physical intervention which helped, but ‘nowadays’ I also get that from just re-trying to boot until it works.

I would very much like to ‘meet’ someone who can diagnose from Event Viewer logs.

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The EV logs probably won’t tell you anything as you appear to have a hardware problem that locks up the machine, thus no logging.

Are there any error entries in the “Summary of Administrative Events”? Expand the summary and post a screen shot (save as PNG and click the Select File button below the post).

cheers, Paul

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I’m confused – you write : “EV logs probably won’t tell you anything” yet what you ask for seems to be an entry in Event Viewer.  There are MANY error entries in the “Summary of Administrative Events”.  Only a small portion can be caught in any one screen shot. Do you have advice on how the entire list – which covers about 12 hours or so – can be caught in one shot ? Secondly – wouldn’t it be more useful if the period included a ‘crash’ (whatever form it takes), or if the time of a recent crash was specified by me. MOREOVER, there seem to be errors listed when the PC was not running !

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Those errors look typical for a functioning Windows system. Can you list only the errors via the plus in the summary pane?

Why do you have enterprise device management software?
Check the printer errors. Maybe you have a bad printer driver.
What application is producing the error?

cheers, Paul

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Apparently I have the right pane, but nowhere do I see a reference to ‘summary’; more importantly, I cant see a ‘plus’ option in it anywhere.

WHY ‘enterprise device management software’ ? Are you saying that my Device Manager is (inappropriately) ENTERPRISE whereas my Windows10 is PRO ? I have no answer for you.

Even if I had a bad printer driver – why would it show when I rarely use the printer ? And it is normally unpowered, and insulated (?) from the system, through an individually switched 4 port USB hub.

‘What application is producing the error ?’ If you imply that my crashes occur because of one particular activity, it has not become obvious to me. As far as I can determine, crashes are totally random and unexpected. In any case, I posted an inquiry about the need for several attempts to have a successful boot. My frequent loss of mouse cursor may or may not be related – and while a solution would be welcome, it would be in the nature of a bonus.

I went back to search for a PLUs, and in the process discovered

1. ‘Sort by level’ which results in all the Errors showing first, then the Warnings. Individually and combined they still exceed the ‘real estate’ of a screen shot. Is there a away to capture ALL that information? I found a ‘save selected events’ but that has an extension which I don’t know how to open to see what it captured.  OK it opens in Event Viewer – but comprises just one entry.

2. I have also found the references to Enterprise : DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider  and Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider/Admin

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Post details of the errors for the printer and enterprise software and we will advise.

See screenshot for the summary view.

cheers, Paul

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I can see you have achieved a Summary view in Event Viewer Local, but have no idea how to navigate there myself.

I have managed to do a ‘sort’ in Administrative Events which lists numerous ‘critical’ (all Kernel Power), followed by numerous ‘errors’, followed by numerous ‘warnings’.

I’d love you to see them all, but need guidance opn how to capture those lists.

In the errors, I found a ‘DeviceManagement-Enterprise, clciked on it and a window opened whose snapshot is appended, but I’ve also pasted HERE the results of clicking ‘copy’ in that window. Since it is so bulky, and printing works perfectly well, I’ll leave the printer till you ask for it again.

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider/Admin
Source: Microsoft-Windows-DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider
Date: 8/12/2022 9:14:59 AM
Event ID: 2545
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords:
User: SYSTEM
Computer: DesktopTower
Description:
MDM Declared Configuration: Function (checkNewInstanceData) operation (Read isNewInstanceData) failed with (The parameter is incorrect.)
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event”&gt;
<System>
<Provider Name=”Microsoft-Windows-DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider” Guid=”{3da494e4-0fe2-415c-b895-fb5265c5c83b}” />
<EventID>2545</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime=”2022-12-07T22:14:59.2756173Z” />
<EventRecordID>209</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID=”11432″ ThreadID=”11776″ />
<Channel>Microsoft-Windows-DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider/Admin</Channel>
<Computer>DesktopTower</Computer>
<Security UserID=”S-1-5-18″ />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name=”Message1″>checkNewInstanceData</Data>
<Data Name=”Message2″>Read isNewInstanceData</Data>
<Data Name=”HRESULT”>0x80070057</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

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That error is telling you the software failed, why we can only guess, but it is unlikely to cause the apparent hardware problems you have.

Do you have Fast Start turned on? If so, turn it off and test.
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001762.htm

cheers, Paul

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Not booting first time, and system freezing or mouse cursor disappearing sound like hardware problems.  But, it is nice to confirm and look for clues by booting a completely different installation.  If you have a spare hard drive lying around, disconnect all of your hard drives and install the spare and clean install Windows.  If your problem is bad enough, it may crash before it even finishes installing.  Or, boot a live USB for Linux (Ubuntu is fine) and try some browsing.  If either of these end up in a system freeze, that confirms there is a hardware problem.  Make sure that “lost mouse cursor” is actually system freeze, by trying ctrl-shift-esc or other key combinations like windows key that should open the start menu.

Then you want to try to pinpoint what hardware to fix.  I agree that power supply is common and one of the easiest fixes.  First thing I would check is memory by booting Memtest86+ and running at least one pass.  After that take everything apart except the CPU fan, and dust (using grounding strap) and reconnect wires.  Take pictures of all wires and cables so you know how to reconnect.   If system is still unstable, and you have heatsink compound available, take off, clean and remount the CPU fan.  If that all failed, try another new power supply.

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Thank you for your suggestions. It so happened that in connection with THIS inquiry, someone asked me for the brand and model of the PSU; the PSU was mounted in such a way that the writing was upside down, so I had to work hard at trying to ‘decypher’ the print and in the process, happened to notice that most of the PSU vent holes were clogged with ‘lint’/dirt. After vacuuming that away, the need for multiple boots has not repeated (yet).

 

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WSSebastian42 wrote:

Thank you for your suggestions. … After vacuuming that [‘lint’/dirt] away, the need for multiple boots has not repeated (yet)

You’re welcome and what a nice way to start a new year. Congrats and happy for you.

My original suggestion appears almost spot on, as clogged vent holes also cause PSU malfunction by overheating.

Still I would suggest vacuuming the whole machine, especially all vents and heatsinks, not just the PSU. Clean the fan blades too, if possible.

1 Desktop Win 11
1 Laptop Win 10
Both tweaked to look, behave and feel like Windows 95
(except for the marine blue desktop, rgb(0, 3, 98)

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I was already ROUTINELY cleaning the fluff from the heatsink – but recently discovered that rather than dismantle the heatsink with GREAT difficulty (VERY bad design), I can remove the dirt effectively by blowing it away (with the hose of an ON-vacuum very close by) using a can of pressurized gas. I have now added the PSU vent-holes to the routine of cleanup.

A separate, but possibly related phenomenon – ALSO REDUCED since the PSU cleanup – is losing the mouse cursor. It HAS happened since the cleanup,  but is not nearly as frequent as it used to be.

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