Hello,
I built a computer for my Mother several years ago and keep it update from time to time when I visit my parents. The problem that I'm experiencing is that while Windows 7 works just fine, Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 all freeze during the boot up process. It happens on the black screen with teal Windows logo and the spinning circle is not there. She presses the restart button and after a couple of tries, it eventually boots up and everything works just fine until the computer is turned off and you have to turn it back on again.
My first thought was to update the Asus M3A78-EM motherboard's BIOS to the latest version; however, the latest version, released in 2010, is the one that's currently installed. My next step was to reset the BIOS to the factory defaults. From there, I opened the case and noticed the DVD burner had failed so I unplugged that. I then moved the SATA cable on the hard drive to either port 0 or 1 and pushed on all the wires to make sure they were fully connected. Finally, I used a Windows program to do a S.M.A.R.T. test and I also tested the RAM modules with the tool that comes on the Windows disc.
Everything looks fine to me. I don't what to try next. She doesn't want Windows 7 because it's old and she wants to say current with the latest and greatest technology and I don't really want to replace the old motherboard with another old AM2+ motherboard. Maybe there some Windows setting I could change? If you all have any ideas please let me know.
Sincerely,
Daniel
