PC takes several tries to boot, crackling audio over time

Hi all,

Been a while since I've posted here but I can't figure this one out. Some time ago, my PC started to fail to boot consistently. It'll shut down while on the motherboard loading screen, and I have to reboot it several times before it will successfully boot. After the 2nd restart it usually goes into Automatic Repair, which doesn't fix anything; I just restart it again and eventually on 3rd-4th restart it does boot.

First time this happened I remember using Repair to go back to a recent system restore point which helped; but I've stopped doing that each time as I've realized it does manage to boot after a few restarts.

The other thing that happens is after a couple of days of being on (I've stopped shutting it down each day for this reason), the audio gradually starts to crackle until it's unbearable. Unplugging and replugging my audio interface (Focusrite 2i2) doesn't help, only a restart does. So I have to shut down and go through the cycle of trying to boot again. I think there was an update that at some point was rolled back during one of these restarts as well?

My basic specs are in my signature but please let me know if I should provide some further information or logs or something. Would appreciate any help or pointers. I know I could probably do a Windows reinstall but would like to avoid the hassle if I can help it.

Thanks!

 

Hi, I would try sfc /scannow and MRT (Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool).
sfc is run through Terminal Admin and MRT is used in Run.

 

Thanks. sfc /scannow didn't find any integrity issues, but I'm running MRT now - full scan, so will take a while. I'll report back when it's finished, although 10 infected files have been found already so that's interesting. Thanks for the suggestion.

Is there something that made you suspect this is a malicious file problem or is this just profilactic?
Thanks.

 

No in answer to your question.
System Files Check is not going to cause problems but will find File problems and correct them or advise method to follow.
MRT is builtin the OS and results are what we need to know.

PS. My Gigabyte M/B was refurbished unit and all worked great after I built the comp. Then I got sound problems and I figured it might be part of the Refurbishment trouble.
I purchased a Soundblaster Z SE card and have had no further troubles with the Audio.

 

So the MRT scan revealed those 10 files and removed them. I didn't shut down my computer until today when the audio crackling did progress to a bad point, but fortunately at least this time the PC started from the first try. Not sure if that's just a coincidence or if something helped. I have to use it for work so I don't currently want to do more shut downs for testing but I will see if the audio crackling starts to happen again.

Thanks for your pointers so far. Let me know if you have any other ideas/thoughts.

 

Thanks for your update. I hope it all settles down and starting will standardise itself.
No new ideas at this point in time.

 

Hi Evan,

Yes it is installed on an SSD and is running 24H2. I have not tried unplugging all extra peripherals yet, I can try that at some point. I'm also afraid to reset my BIOS because I had to flash it to an updated version to fix something else (I forget what it was). A friend actually suggested updating the BIOS again to try to fix this, would that be a good idea?

PS - computer lasted longer this time before the audio went scrambly and I had to restart, took 3 tries this time. So looks like the MRT scan didn't help sadly.

Thanks for the help.

 

Hi, Just an interesting question, what BIOS Version are you running?
I have Version F37G which I had to Flash to get Ryzen 9 5900X to run correctly in my X570 AORUS PRO WIFI Gigabyte Motherboard.
I would be wary of updating BIOS unless it is absolutely necessary.

 

@retiredlearner I am running Bios version F10.
Yeah, I don't usually update my BIOS, I had to flash F10 for some reason that I think was also related to my processor.
What else could these issues such as with the audio be an indicator of? Or should I be seriously considering just reinstalling Windows at this point? Not sure if it feels more like a hardware or software issue.

 

Have you investigated this Audio Driver yet?
B550M AORUS PRO (rev. 1.0) Support | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

 

I use a Focusrite audio interface so I'm not sure that driver would matter in my case. I suppose I could try to reinstall the driver for the interface. Also this driver is from a few years ago and this only started happening recently so I'm not sure if it would be related?

 

I am not familiar with this interface. If it is a Software package with it's own drivers, you may need to look in BIOS and switch off the Gigabyte Default Sound.
You may have a clash with Sound drivers.
When I put the SoundBlaster card in my comp, I had to make the Card the Default unit in BIOS.

 

It's a USB based audio interface (Scarlett 2i2). I'll have a look in the BIOS next time I restart to see if I can turn off the Gigabyte default sound, I've never heard of that before.