# Windows 10 freezing on initial boot up



## killerquagmire (Sep 17, 2015)

I really hope someone can help me because this problem is driving me insane. Every time I power up my PC, it freezes after I reach the desktop. Sometimes this happens almost instantly and sometimes it may work fine for about 5 minutes but it always hangs at some point. Now here's the crazy thing- after it freezes and I hit the reset button everything works fine. So this only happens when I initially boot up my PC. It's extremely annoying because every time I start my PC I have to either hit restart once I get to desktop (if it doesn't hang first) or do a manual reset. This is a clean install of Windows 10. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi and Welcome to TSF!

Are all of your drivers and BIOS running their latest versions?


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## killerquagmire (Sep 17, 2015)

All drivers are updated. Also, I should probably also mention that I had windows 7 on this system prior to installing windows 10 and experienced no problems. I have the latest motherboard bios. The motherboard utility/ drivers have not been updated but the website only has drivers for windows 8.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

You're issue may lie there then. If you don't have Windows 10 drivers from your motherboard, it may be using incorrect ones currently.


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## BIGBEARJEDI (Aug 8, 2012)

Please provide make/model of your computer that's freezing. This is so we can better analyze your problem and suggest solutions.

Is this a desktop PC or a laptop/tablet?

Have seen this type of problem occur more on laptops than desktops, and it's usually due to a failing or failed hard drive. OS upgrades such as Win10 exacerbate failures in hard drives for some reason.

I suggest you download the free *SEATOOLS* drive diagnostic from seagate.com. Run *BOTH* short and long tests. If *SEATOOLS* returns any errors, your drive has failed and must be replaced. 

By the way, just because your hard drive was working ok on Win7 doesn't mean it didn't have problems. If you had a Win7 computer, that means it was 4-6 years old or so; and hard drives especially in laptops fail in 2-3 yrs.

*<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>*


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## killerquagmire (Sep 17, 2015)

BIGBEARJEDI said:


> Please provide make/model of your computer that's freezing. This is so we can better analyze your problem and suggest solutions.
> 
> Is this a desktop PC or a laptop/tablet?
> 
> ...


It's a custom built desktop.I will run the seatools diagnostic and post the results here. One thing i don't understand though is why a manual reset fixes the issue. If it were indeed a hard drive issue, I would think I would still experience the problem after a manual reset. The fact is i only experience the issue when starting from a cold boot. Once it freezes and I hit the reset button, everything works fine.


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## BIGBEARJEDI (Aug 8, 2012)

The matter at hand is fixing your problem, right? Hard drives are known to do some squirrelly things; I had a Acer laptop 3 years ago that took me 7 weeks to finally fix that had a very similar problem to yours. Upon initial boot or reboot, the laptop would hang right in the middle of Windows, even with no open programs running (Win7); the cursor would freeze and you could do nothing. Multiple reboots were required to operate the laptop. This would happen to my Customer 6-8 times per day. I ran all the diagnostics at my disposal including MEMTEST, SEATOOLS, and other drive diagnostics. They all passed 100%. 

My conclusion was that the Motherboard had failed; so I ordered a factory replacement and swapped it out. 2 days after I pronounced it fixed and returned to the Customer, the problem returned. After posting my problem here on TSF, some of the Mods suggested it still might be the hard drive. I didn't understand how that could be or why, and I'm somewhat of an expert in that field as I worked for 4 hard drive manufacturers designing them. I was told to have faith and just try it. I'm going to tell you to do the same thing. Explanations can come later. It's very easy to match your hypothesis to the problem once you have solved it.

So, after you post the results of your SEATOOLS test, it will either return obvious errors and you must replace the drive, or it will pass and the problem persists. At this point, the 2 most likely causes of this kind of problem are the HDD and the Mobo. The Mobo can be 3-8 times the cost of a new HDD, depending on whether you are in the USA or overseas. This can be $800-$1500 depending on your location. It's very much cheaper to replace the HDD, probably under $100 on ebay or Amazon in USA. If the problem persists, then the only conclusion you can come to is that the Mobo is gone (you haven't mentioned the make/model, as I had asked you) and must be replaced. If you are outside USA, this could be up to a $1500 replacement process depending on whether you do it yourself or pay to have it professionally done. Since you have a self-built rig, of course it will be cheaper to do yourself, but the part could be very expensive; up to $800. 

So, now the question is, will the cost of ordering the part cost you more than the cost of replacing the entire laptop. Unless it's something like a high-end Sony, Dell XPS, or an Alienware laptop, you can get quite a nice laptop for under $800, the cost of a new Mobo. That is of course a decision only you can make. Bear in mind, if your Mobo and other hardware was built on a Win7 platform, then it is 4-6 years old and most likely is outdated. 

Microsoft has publicly stated that if you're hardware can run Win8.1, Win10 will run successfully in most cases even if your Mobo has been WHQL tested and approved by Microsoft. Running the MS UPGRADE ASSISTANT prior to you Win10 upgrade would have told you that. It sounds like you didn't do that, or knew to do that, that's the #1 route to failure on Win10 upgrades. You said you got all the latest drivers from the Mobo website for Win8, but that's not the same as 8.1 or 10. If you omitted this step, you could have save yourself a whole lot of problems.

Lastly, the other thing to check are your PSU voltages. If you haven't done so, it would be helpful to do that too. You can download the free SPECCY program from piriform.com and post the result back here to this thread. We can look at this for you and quickly examine your voltages (especially the +5V & +12V rails) and determine whether your PSU has failed or is inadequate. 

Without having all the Tech Specs on your rig, it's really hard to guess what your freezing problem is due to, but I've given you the most common things to try. If you aren't up to providing us the information we need for in-depth analysis, so be it. Go with what I've told you and most likely you will resolve your problem one way or the other.

*<<<BBJ>>>*


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