Finally got this sorted out. Turns out the issue was the installation drive itself—some supposedly "official" Windows media I bought. The technician just wiped it and installed his own version of Windows, then I punched in my own key to make everything legal again. It’s honestly mind-blowing how you can buy an official retail drive and still get junk. My tech mentioned he’s seen one of those faulty sticks fry a motherboard before. Just a heads-up for anyone else dealing with similar headaches: watch your hardware. Thanks everyone, take care.
Richard Lee47 said:Just grab the latest Windows media creation tool. If it still fails, it’s an RMA situation.
I already hauled it back to the repair center. Even they couldn't get Windows to install, so they're flagging it as a likely motherboard failure. I've got my receipt and the warranty, so now I'm just stuck waiting for them to fix it.
If you grab a retail version of a Windows 10 Key, it stays with you even after a hardware swap. You just have to give Microsoft support a call to get it sorted out.
Just picked up some brand new parts for a build: Ryzen 3 3200 g, an ASUS Prime 320M-K motherboard, and 8GB of Kingston RAM (2x4GB sticks). I'm trying to install a clean copy of Windows 10 Home onto a blank 120GB WD SSD, but I'm hitting a wall. First, I switched the BIOS to UEFI mode. The boot starts, but then it just hangs on a blue screen. Nothing happens for over half an hour. It’s like staring at a brick wall. Then, I switched back to Legacy mode. The USB loads fine, but once it hits the setup screen asking for language, region, and keyboard layout, my mouse and keyboard just die. They stop responding entirely. It’s as if Windows doesn't even know they exist. In the BIOS, everything worked perfectly fine. Need some help here. Thanks
wearymason4 said:I just skimmed the manual looking for +5VSB settings, but it looks like there isn't a jumper on this motherboard or an option in the BIOS (try disabling "keyboard power on" if you haven't already). http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList...a74gm-s2_e.pdf
Q: Why does my keyboard or optical mouse stay lit up even after the PC shuts down? A: Certain motherboards keep a tiny trickle of standby power flowing even after shutdown, and that’s what keeps the lights on.
PS: Check your specific manual because these boards have different hardware revisions.
Thanks for the tip. I checked, and that's definitely the right manual. Tried disabling the keyboard power in the BIOS, but no luck.
Hey, since I stumbled upon this thread, I’ve got the exact same mouse issue. Every time I shut down my PC, the mouse stays lit up. I never noticed this before because my old mouse was just a basic model without any LEDs. I tried digging through the BIOS to find a way to cut power to the USB ports after shutdown, but I couldn't find anything. My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2, so if anyone knows how to kill the power to those ports, I'd appreciate the help. Thanks in advance.
Larry Ortiz5 said:Honestly, it seems pretty reasonable to me. I’m sitting at about 40 GB used myself—and my Windows setup hasn't been touched in almost a year. I keep everything updated, sure, but I just noticed my virtual memory is set to 8GB (which happens to be exactly how much RAM I have). If I were to tweak that, I’d actually claw back another 8 GB of space. Anyway, I wouldn't sweat it too much if I were you. Usually, it's the virtual memory and System Restore that eat up most of the storage, and since you've got those disabled, you should be fine. Maybe try running CCleaner if you haven't already? That might free up a little extra breathing room.
Alright, thanks for the input. Hopefully, everything runs smooth after this.🙂
Hey there. I’ve got a situation. First off, is it actually normal for Windows to eat up 20GB on the C drive? I only have a few small programs installed, so they shouldn't be taking up much room. I just picked up a 60GB Crucial SSD and installed Windows 7 ultimate on it. I already disabled the paging file and system restore, but 20GB still feels like overkill for just the OS itself. Just a heads-up, this is including the Windows updates. Any advice would be appreciated.
It’s just like a broken engine stalling out right when you hit the highway. Total nonsense. Quote : Andrew Peterson2 says: The Windows folder is fine, but everything else? It depends. You’ve got to look at your page file size, whether hibernation is toggled on, and how much space that Recycle Bin is hogging. Each one of those can easily eat up several gigabytes.
It’s called a partition, not a musical score you'd find in a sheet music shop. 😁
Yeah, you're right about the partition. My mistake there. Hibernation was turned on, but like I mentioned before, I cleared out the system restore points and disabled hibernation entirely. Now everything's running smooth. Windows is only taking up 20 gigs instead of that bloated 30. Thanks!😂
Larry Ortiz5 said:Here is a video on how to wipe those system restores. It’s basic stuff, really:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F1dKOXcjIQ
And here is how you disable hibernation.
Just run CMD as an admin and type powercfg -h off. It's not rocket science.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAcQwvwpVtY
Thanks a lot. I followed those steps and everything is running smoothly now. Total usage is down to just 20 gigs even with all my software installed. Cheers!🙂
Benjamin King2 said:Is the Windows folder really taking up 30 GB or what?
I just did a clean install of Windows 7, and my C drive is showing 30 gigs used. I've barely installed any small programs yet.😢The Windows folder itself is sitting at 16.1 GB, and with all the other folders on the C drive, it totals 18.9 GB. It makes zero sense why the system claims it's eating up 30 GB of hard drive space.
Larry Ortiz5 said:Turn off hibernation and wipe out your system restore points. Use CCleaner to clear out temp files and all that other junk, and you'll see more space on your drive. I’m running Windows 8.1 Pro, and after a proper cleanup, I clawed back 18 GB. And that’s not even saying I have many programs installed.
Not sure how to disable hibernation or clear those system restore points. As for CCleaner, I already scrubbed everything.🤷
placidwalker53 said:Sure, Windows 7 eats up more than Windows XP, but 30GB right out of the gate? That's overkill. Maybe you didn't actually wipe the drive, so you're still seeing leftover XP files.
It's a brand-new hard drive, freshly formatted. It was a clean slate just last week.🙂
About a month ago, I finished installing Windows 7 Home Premium. Since I was running Windows XP before this, some things just aren't adding up. Is it actually normal for Windows 7 to hog this much disk space? My C: drive only has the OS and a handful of tiny programs on it, yet the system is already sitting at 30 gigs. Maybe it's all those updates piling up?
Larry Ortiz5 said:The BIOS temps are what actually matter here. It’s the most reliable source, so you don't have to worry about software glitches 😁 but if you haven't opened up your rig to blow out the dust in ages, you might want to look into it... maybe swap the thermal paste on the CPU too. Honestly, the processor temps aren't even that high, so there's no real need to mess with the paste unless you're doing a full cleaning anyway..