Asus Desktop Won't Boot Past BIOS

[scanner737]

I plugged in a microphone I normally use with a specific program on my computer but noticed that the program wasn't noticing it like it normally did. I restarted the computer hoping that would fix things and it stayed locked on that loading circle on a black screen for a half hour before I finally turned it off and turned it back on.

Now the computer will not boot beyond the BIOS. For the "Boot Priority"/order I only saw "Windows Boot Manager" with my hard drive listed.

It wasn't until I went into the "Advanced Options" and the "Boot" tab and enabled "CSM (Compatibility Support Module)" that I was able to see my hard drive without windows boot manager as well as the Asus DVD option in the "Boot Priority" section.

Changing the priority around so that I put just the plain hard drive first and rebooting from that brings up a blank screen which shows a flashing cursor for just a moment. The cursor jumps closer to the middle of the screen for a second, returns back to the top left, then disappears to all black as the BIOS loads again.

I've done some digging but haven't found anything yet.

Any ideas?

 

[jmcgaw]

Well, the first thing I'd try in your situation would be to try booting from a DVD. It could be a Windows DVD or a Linux DVD -- doesn't matter -- the idea is to find out if the hardware is damaged. If it goes then you might try using the recovery options on a Windows DVD to try a fix. Oh, and you DO have backups? Hope so...

 

[Prostar Computer]

If you were booting without CSM originally, leave it disabled. CSM is usually to support older operating systems.

Sounds like either your OS was damaged, or your main storage drive is having problems. Try some of the Windows repair/recovery options, if you can. Otherwise you may need to run the OEM's recovery tool (which will erase your data).

 

[scanner737]

I tried booting from a DVD but it just brought up the Windows recovery options and none of the recovery options have worked. I've tried system restores, startup troubleshooting, and anything else to no avail. If and when it restarts it defaults to the BIOS regardless of what I do.

I just got a Sata to USB transfer device and it was able to read the drive just fine so I guess that means it's a Windows error, yes? And it's time to wipe and use my USB recovery drive, yes?

 

[Prostar Computer]

I tried booting from a DVD but it just brought up the Windows recovery options and none of the recovery options have worked. I've tried system restores, startup troubleshooting, and anything else to no avail. If and when it restarts it defaults to the BIOS regardless of what I do.

I just got a Sata to USB transfer device and it was able to read the drive just fine so I guess that means it's a Windows error, yes? And it's time to wipe and use my USB recovery drive, yes?

That or a problem with the disk. It might be worth it to run a health check and/or scan for any bad sectors (if it's a mechanical HDD).

If its' just Windows, a format + reload (wipe) should solve it, just understand you'll need to reinstall Windows and the drivers.