Member Avatar for knoxlawyers

I worked this issue for over 10 hours yesterday and got nowhere. Maybe the braintrust here has some ideas.

I have an Asus essentio desktop, with Win 7 Ultimate SP1 installed. Yesterday AM I discovered that it was completely hung,so I turned it off and turned it on. First, I got a black screen, so I turned off and turned on again. This time it booted, but hung on the startup screen. Off, and on, and it went to the F8 screen. Start Windows normally, and it hung on the pasword screen. Off and on, F8 screen, safe mode selected, got past password and it hung. Same result when restarted in normal mode. Essentially, any attempted action would result in a hang.

With this Essentio, there was at first no F8 option for startup recovery. Eventually, I was able to do a memory test and it appeared to be OK. Memory sticks show up normally in BIOS. I did mess around with some BIOS settings and eventually returned BIOS to default settingsbut it did not improve the situation; if anything, it may have caused the computer to begin a restart loop -- Asus splash, F8 screen with 2 choices [startup recovery and start win normally], either choice failed and computer restarted.

Created a recovery disk on another computer. failed with message that it was imcompatible with Widows installation. Burned a Win 7 Ultimate SP1 install disk -- wouldn't even boot with it.

Meanwhile, BIOS kept changing. Boot options added options and eliminated options.

Eventually, I was able to get the onboard system recovery to run, and it completed. The computer ws then able to boot through the password, as much earlier in the day, but still hung when it got to the desktop.

I know this has been very non-specific, but it was a very long day, and I wasn't taking notes. What I am wondering is whether this sounds like a HDD failure, a motherboard fault, or a windows/software problem? I am bummed because this is the computer I use exclusively for audio recording, and it has a bunch of specialized software on it. Replacing it will be a MAJOR pain.

Help?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by klasanezop

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A few practical points based on the symptoms you posted, . A system that gets to the password screen but then hangs at or right after logon — and that also shows BIOS/boot-option instability — strongly narrows the likely causes to three buckets: (A) a failing or corrupted system disk/boot structure, (B) a low‑level driver or add‑in hardware (audio interface, PCI card, etc.) that loads at logon, or (C) motherboard/firmware/PSU instability. Protecting your audio projects and license data must be the first priority.

First action: preserve data. Power down and attach the problem drive to another machine (internal SATA or a USB–SATA bridge) and create a sector image with a tool that can handle bad sectors (for example, an imaging tool with retry/rescue behavior). If imaging isn’t possible, copy irreplaceable folders (user profile, project folders, license files) off the disk. Only after you have an image or backups should you run write-heavy repairs like chkdsk /r — those can make a dying drive harder to recover.

Next, use targeted isolation to decide hardware vs software. Remove all nonessential USB devices and unplug any audio or PCI cards so Windows boots with only motherboard defaults. Check the BIOS storage mode (IDE / AHCI / RAID) and make sure it matches how Windows was installed; a mismatch can cause hangs. Boot a recovery/PE USB and enable boot logging, then inspect C:\Windows\ntbtlog.txt for drivers that fail to load. Run the drive manufacturer’s offline diagnostics and a multi‑pass memory test. If BIOS settings keep resetting or the machine restarts, inspect the CMOS battery, motherboard caps, and PSU voltages.

Recommended sequence: 1) image the drive, 2) disconnect extras and try a bare‑bones boot, 3) run diagnostics (disk, memory, PSU/motherboard), 4) if the disk is failing, migrate the image to a new drive and reinstall. ’s hardware checks and ’s recovery reminder are useful starting points — focus first on cloning/backing up the data, then use hardware isolation to guide repair versus rebuild decisions.

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Member Avatar for tarael1

Aloha, You don't say how old the ASUS is but if you are running Win7 it is likely at least 5 years old. It sounds to me like you have multiple problems likely due to age. If the BIOS keeps changing you probably need at least a new CMOS battery. That can cause a lot of wierd problems. Perhaps a BIOS update is in order as well. How is the date/time in the BIOS?
If it won't boot to your HDD I would suspect bad sectors on the drive or damaged or missing .dll files. If you can take out the hard drive and test it with another computer using something like Hard Disk Sentinel "hdsentinel.com" you will get an idea if the drive is physically bad or you need to reinstall. Can you download a copy of "Ubuntu live or install"? That will tell you if your optical drive is bad or not. If it is the only computer you have then you need help from some one else.
A new hard drive and install is a good bit of work especially if you do not have the installation media. You may be able to get it from ASUS support. If your drive is bad but still spins up you may be able to retrieve your files using another computer with a USB3 to SATA adaptor or just plugging it in to another SATA port on another working computer. BE careful to unplug it when you're messing about inside!
If your are using bootlegged software that could be an issue as well.
good luck
Tarael

Member Avatar for klasanezop

Shut down your laptop > boot into system recovery (press f11 repeatedly as soon as you press the power button) > then, select "Troubleshoot"> "Advanced options"> "System Restore". Then, follow on-screen instructions to finish.

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