Something is wrong and I have no idea what :(

Hey there. Finally got my rig back up and running after sitting idle for six months—bought a new drive since the old one finally kicked the bucket—installed Windows 11 Pro 64-bit, and then this happened:

http://s8.postimg.org/pvduix6f9/Untitled.jpg

I tried to Reset BIOS, but then things went sideways. Now, every time I boot, all the fans spin up at full blast, the system stalls for a few seconds, and then just restarts itself... I'm starting to worry the hardware is actually dying on me. To give you the timeline: first boot showed 4GB installed (only 2GB usable); second boot was 4GB installed (3.5GB usable); third boot (after flashing the UEFI) dropped to 4GB installed (1.99GB usable); fourth boot gave me a "disk boot failure" despite the brand-new drive; fifth boot finally stabilized. Everything was working perfectly before this mess started.

The motherboard is an ASUS P55 UD3.

So, how is the RAM set up: 2 x 2GB?
First thing you should do is run some tests. Let MemTest86 run through a few cycles...

Or, just pull all the sticks out first. Clean off any dust or oxidation on the contacts with a hard eraser (especially if the PC hasn't been used in a while), then try booting them up one by one...

I'm guessing you're running on integrated graphics that just pull memory straight from the system... maybe you could try going into the UEFI and capping it at something like 512 MB...

electricharbor30 said:I'm guessing you're running on integrated graphics that just pull memory straight from the system... maybe you could try going into the UEFI and capping it at something like 512 MB...

That motherboard doesn't even have integrated graphics!

But why would a PC suddenly start acting this erratic during boot? I mean—all the fans spin up to full blast, everything freezes for five seconds, and then the machine actually kicks on.
A quick update: after scouring some foreign forums where people suggested flashing the UEFI, I went ahead and did it—updated from version F3 to F9. It worked fine for about an hour and a few restarts, but then the computer just started cycling on and off by itself... I don't even want to touch it anymore; I'm terrified the constant power cycling will fry whatever components are still working. Is there anything else left to try, or is it obvious that certain parts are ready for the scrap heap?

Actually, that processor doesn't have integrated graphics at all 😉

EDIT: Did you happen to catch what Michael Jackson10 wrote in his post?

Larry Ortiz5 said:Actually, that processor doesn't have integrated graphics at all 😉

EDIT: Did you happen to catch what Michael Jackson10 wrote in his post?

So, I spent all day yesterday testing everything—live and otherwise—and here’s where things stand.
The PC won't boot if anything is plugged into any of the SATA ports on the motherboard. Fine—faulty motherboard, easy enough to swap out for a new one. But here’s the real headache: I have two brand-new Seagate BarraCuda drives (one is ten months old, the other was unboxed three days ago), both 1TB, and they’re showing a total capacity of only 32 MB! I don't think the drives are actually dead—they sound perfectly fine, nothing like that dreaded "click of death." Apparently, Disk Partition Recovery requires a 32-bit system, and I'm stuck with a 64-bit laptop... If anyone knows a fix, I'll buy you a drink!

Alright, let's assume you've already done the physical check on the RAM and ran some tests like I suggested earlier. Just one super basic question though: since you went ahead and did a Reset BIOS, did you actually hit "Load Setup Defaults" once you were back in the UEFI?

Also, I'm a little confused here—how did you even figure out the drives were messed up if the PC is totally bricked? Did you check them on another machine? Or maybe tried wiping them and re-initializing?
I feel like saying you "tried everything under the sun" doesn't really give us the full picture of what you've actually attempted. No offense intended, but we deal with all kinds of users here; for some, a simple fix is second nature, while for others, it's basically open-heart surgery...

Michael Jackson10 said:Alright, let's assume you've already done the physical check on the RAM and ran some tests like I suggested earlier. Just one super basic question though: since you went ahead and did a Reset BIOS, did you actually hit "Load Setup Defaults" once you were back in the UEFI?

Also, I'm a little confused here—how did you even figure out the drives were messed up if the PC is totally bricked? Did you check them on another machine? Or maybe tried wiping them and re-initializing?
I feel like saying you "tried everything under the sun" doesn't really give us the full picture of what you've actually attempted. No offense intended, but we deal with all kinds of users here; for some, a simple fix is second nature, while for others, it's basically open-heart surgery...

Here is the situation (pardon the rushed posts—work is a madhouse right now and I am absolutely exhausted):

Earlier this spring, my hard drive died. Since money was tight, the PC sat idle until three days ago. I picked up a new drive at Best Buy a few days back, hooked it up, and installed Windows 10 without any issues. That's when I noticed in This PC that while 4GB of RAM is installed, only 2GB is usable. After digging through some hardware forums, I realized quite a few people with this specific motherboard (an ASUS model) hit similar walls due to supposedly incompatible memory—which is bizarre, because I never had an issue with it before.

Reading further, I saw mentions of CPU issues caused by bent pins, but that's impossible; the last time the processor was touched was eighteen months ago during a repaste, and everything worked perfectly after that. Then, I tried a Reset BIOS by pulling the battery for a few seconds, and that triggered this strange boot loop—the fans spin to max, everything shuts down after five seconds, then it boots normally. Because of that weird startup, I jump straight into the UEFI and select "Load Setup Defaults," but it does nothing; after a restart, the same thing happens. Regardless, I let the computer finish booting, enter Windows, and suddenly the usable memory dropped from 2GB to 1.99GB. Another suggested fix was flashing the UEFI, which I did (moving from F3 to F12), followed by what you told me: "Load Setup Defaults." Suddenly, This PC and Task Manager showed 3.25GB usable. I rebooted again, and the system finally recognized the memory properly (though that odd boot behavior persisted after every reset). Once I installed the GPU drivers and antivirus, a UEFI checksum error popped up, saying it was retrieving a recovery source from the HPA. From there, it was total chaos. Sometimes, pressing the power button just starts a continuous loop of turning on and off, and on the rare occasions it actually stays on, I get a disk read error. I took the drives over to my brother's place to see if they survived those violent power cycles, and there I found the capacity listed as only 32MB—formatting won't touch it. Apparently, this happens with certain ASUS and Gigabyte boards when the UEFI fails...

What kind of power supply are you running? Are you absolutely certain it’s holding up okay? I've seen these exact symptoms pop up before when a PSU is either too weak to handle a rig like yours or it's just on its last legs and about to give out entirely.

Michelle Gonzalez11 said:Here is the situation (pardon the rushed posts—work is a madhouse right now and I am absolutely exhausted):

Earlier this spring, my hard drive died. Since money was tight, the PC sat idle until three days ago. I picked up a new drive at Best Buy a few days back, hooked it up, and installed Windows 10 without any issues. That's when I noticed in This PC that while 4GB of RAM is installed, only 2GB is usable. After digging through some hardware forums, I realized quite a few people with this specific motherboard (an ASUS model) hit similar walls due to supposedly incompatible memory—which is bizarre, because I never had an issue with it before.

Reading further, I saw mentions of CPU issues caused by bent pins, but that's impossible; the last time the processor was touched was eighteen months ago during a repaste, and everything worked perfectly after that. Then, I tried a Reset BIOS by pulling the battery for a few seconds, and that triggered this strange boot loop—the fans spin to max, everything shuts down after five seconds, then it boots normally. Because of that weird startup, I jump straight into the UEFI and select "Load Setup Defaults," but it does nothing; after a restart, the same thing happens. Regardless, I let the computer finish booting, enter Windows, and suddenly the usable memory dropped from 2GB to 1.99GB. Another suggested fix was flashing the UEFI, which I did (moving from F3 to F12), followed by what you told me: "Load Setup Defaults." Suddenly, This PC and Task Manager showed 3.25GB usable. I rebooted again, and the system finally recognized the memory properly (though that odd boot behavior persisted after every reset). Once I installed the GPU drivers and antivirus, a UEFI checksum error popped up, saying it was retrieving a recovery source from the HPA. From there, it was total chaos. Sometimes, pressing the power button just starts a continuous loop of turning on and off, and on the rare occasions it actually stays on, I get a disk read error. I took the drives over to my brother's place to see if they survived those violent power cycles, and there I found the capacity listed as only 32MB—formatting won't touch it. Apparently, this happens with certain ASUS and Gigabyte boards when the UEFI fails...

I honestly don't get it, no matter how much I try to wrap my head around it. What kind of drives are we even talking about here? Did you make sure they're plugged in right, and what are you using to check them? Like, what does an actual drive testing tool say?

And regarding the UEFI, well, you should know what the error message was—did the update actually go through or did it just crash?

I honestly can't wrap my head around how those drives would just "shrink" on their own, especially since there wasn't even a UEFI update or anything like that happening. We're talking about two separate devices here. A motherboard issue might mess with how things run, sure, but it isn't going to magically shrink a disk's capacity with a magic wand. If the file system got corrupted? Fine, I get that...

And if you ask me, he was wrong to jump straight to blaming the firmware. The PC hadn't been used for six months and had been sitting in who knows what kind of conditions. Personally, I'd start by doing a deep dive into the actual hardware components first.
Plus, I still haven't figured out if he actually did anything regarding the RAM—he didn't mention a single thing about it...