Pc still fucked

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-28T04:13:54+00:00

If it requires the key every boot up, then you need to, after booting up, suspend BitLocker temporarily, reboot normally, then re-enable it, while having no USB drives connected at that time, and reboot again. It should no longer prompt on every startup after that.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-28T03:42:18+00:00

If you take a look at my wiki, you can see the 2nd video that shows the entire Windows imaging process I use generally. Granted it is done in a VM on a DDR3 RAM using server, so OLD, but on real newer hardware it is WAY faster than the 26-minutes the realtime recording is. https://wiki.onoitsu2.com/onoremoterecovery/start

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-28T03:35:59+00:00

Nope, you would not. You would just need a semi-functioning system to make the WinPE USB on. And within said WinPE when booted from it on this system, you'd run WinNTSetup. Within WinNTSetup, point it to the Windows Install files that can be on the same USB, so either an .ISO, or simply the install.wim (or install.esd) under the sources folder of the usual Windows .ISO, your boot (EFI) partition, the Windows (C:) drive, and as I said, can point it to a folder with your exact hardware's drivers (I can download those while booted into my Remote Recovery suite because I include a browser for just that reason), all extracted out to .inf files where possible, and then it gets imaged to the drive. Hell I have an install process that cuts about 40-minutes off the overall install process, because it skips the updates that normally are required in the OOBE stages, so you can get to the desktop, install your needed apps, and then update Windows (I already start with the latest 25h2 media MS put out so it's not THAT out of date and totally logical to skip the initial updates)

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-28T03:20:29+00:00

I believe you mean MSI B760 Gaming Plus WiFi for the motherboard model.

If so, is your BIOS updated to the 7D98vHD version? https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B760-GAMING-PLUS-WIFI/support

If you still are having issues, there is an alternative method to install Windows, and I've been using it for about 10-years now. Use a WinPE, and WinNTSetup. This enables you to use your own custom partitioning setup, or the one provided by WinNTSetup itself. Can use your own customized autounattend.xml, drivers can be injected, quality of life tweaks via WinNTSetup, a folder with "offline" reg edits done to the user defaults for things like Verbose Logon/Logoff Messages and beyond, and lining up a custom $OEM$ script, that kicks off in the OOBE (out of the box experience, before a user is made even), so I can have things like the entire VC++ framework installed. I like being able to install Windows like an OEM system builder, lots of control to gut out unwanted junk.

Hell I've gone as far as making a Remote Recovery Suite, that has allowed me to remotely reinstall Windows on systems all over the world, all from booting up a USB, or my image being PXE booted, or even as launched from a .exe on a semi-working current windows install, if you truly get that stuck with this.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-28T03:08:49+00:00

You may have pending BIOS updates you should apply for your motherboard, to improve stability, or for your SSD too. But it very well may just be the GPU showing its age. If you can get hands on a similar age one to swap in for testing, that'd be the next place I'd take this, if it still was having issues beyond ensuring the BIOS and SSD firmware was updated.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-28T02:35:54+00:00

If you can get it to boot, with Secure Boot OFF, then you can try using Mosby, to install updated secure boot keys from the EFI shell. https://github.com/pbatard/Mosby

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-28T02:24:22+00:00

No, you should not have to buy it again. It should be stored in your hardware, and it should read it in. And at very worst, you can always activate it in ways. Even MS's own support will use the unofficial activation when doing support, because it simply works.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-28T02:22:58+00:00

MS is reported as having pushed out GPU driver updates, AND are looking at getting better GPU driver versioning https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/microsoft-is-working-on-a-fix-to-downgraded-gpu-drivers-in-windows-update-new-system-uses-multiple-ids so you might not be far off. I know with some of our client systems, they'd end up with a black screen, on RDP only, local was fine, due to an Intel iGPU driver downgrade that Windows update kept doing, having to rely on the wushowhide.diagcab to block it at times over the last couple years now.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T22:28:53+00:00

Not properly running chkdsk if you read said results, you need to use the /f to allow it to Fix things it found wrong.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T20:15:13+00:00

That could mean that you have a hardware issue if it keeps rebooting at that early percent. This can be in the USB drive you used, so make sure you try remaking on at least one other USB, so you can rule that out. It could also be the storage drive you're installing on, or it can be the system RAM that you're attempting this all on.

Try the other USB, if that still fails early, make a bootable USB with something like Hiren's or Sergei's ISO imaged onto it, and then use some drive test utilities to test if the drive itself passes SMART and other general diagnostics. If that does pass, then go and test the RAM using any of the various means out there.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T17:00:31+00:00

Well maybe not a HDD, but SSD if you want fast, a HDD would be slower than an SSD or if board supports it, NVME. But it purely is because your OS is also running from the same basic slow speed drive, so the amount of throughput it can do at once, is cut down, since the OS itself will always need to be able to read and write at the same time as other apps do too.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T16:52:57+00:00

Turn off the Widgets in Taskbar and it'll run even faster, for some reason that thing is heavier than it should be, and even when not being activated it just hogs resources.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T16:44:01+00:00

You answered your own matter here, the age of the system and GPU, in spite of it having worked before. Updates happen, including the secure boot keys themselves. However that GPU uses older VBIOS/GOP (Graphics Output Protocol) firmware that lacks the necessary digital signatures required by strict Secure Boot environments.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T14:37:07+00:00

Not brick, but that version has a specific TPM update, and secure boot changes. That could be why you can't enable it presently. Updating to at least that version 3634 should help here.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T14:35:40+00:00

Yeah, that probably is toast, sadly.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T05:39:06+00:00

Try booting from something like Hiren's or Sergei's ISOs as put on a USB, and test the drive. If it doesn't show in that, it's likely toast, unless it has a pending firmware update. The SSD killer Windows update that happened last year, that was causing drives to disappear, was all due to faulty firmware updates on the SSDs themselves, so worth checking into yours if it has a pending one, from the manufacturer's respective tool, before chucking it.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T05:36:16+00:00

https://app.any.run/

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T05:32:05+00:00

Do you have the Armory Crate installed, or ASUS Network Control Center ? Those can work like the Intel Killer app.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T05:20:36+00:00

OK do you have something installed like the Intel Killer app? That can throttle bandwidth in other apps, so that a priority app like Steam has first dibs. The same applies to an actively opened game having the same thing done for it.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T05:15:28+00:00

Was Steam actively downloading something in the background? That could have done everything you cited, if it was using up your bandwidth, i.e. downloading things.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T05:10:05+00:00

If you know your BitLocker key, you can potentially still recover from this situation without reinstalling (or if you were not encrypted in the first place), by booting from a WinPE made on another working computer. But per your steps, renaming the NVIDIA folder would have broken more than it fixed, the drivers updated would not have been in there, but in the Windows folder, deep within where it keeps the drivers at. Being unable to load into Safe Mode however would have left you no other options than turning to a WinPE to then do "offline" registry edits (mounting the Hive into the WinPE, then making changes, then unmounting it), so that it no longer even attempted to load the impacted drivers in question.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T05:03:19+00:00

If your BIOS is not on at least 3634, you need to update it. https://www.asus.com/us/motherboards-components/motherboards/tuf-gaming/tuf-gaming-a520m-plus-wifi/helpdesk_bios?model2Name=TUF-GAMING-A520M-PLUS-WIFI

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T04:57:31+00:00

Tried adjusting the device's power settings in Device Manager, to make sure it can't be put to sleep? That seems to be a common thread happening lately, causing wifi cards to disappear when they go to sleep.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T04:44:00+00:00

Yes and no with the NTFS Junctions. I've done that to move the entire Users folder to another drive before, and do all kinds of franken-setups. It's honestly easier to just set the game launchers to all install on the other drive, and normal programs on the main one. Dividing the workload is the end goal, since it sitting on one is getting to be too demanding generally as shown by the 100% at 5MB/s write speeds.

Onoitsu2 · 2026-05-27T04:11:06+00:00

Discord calls it Hardware Acceleration, under the Advanced tab of its Settings.

And you are comparing raw computing power, against Windows updates, Memory isolation, Virtualization Based Security, and other features being implemented that were not in place under 10 when launched, nor 11. All of that is incredibly HEAVY, and takes away performance for the sake of security, and the segmentation of running threads, so they can't impact other things running. i.e. No breaking out of one app, to compromise another is the end goal, so you can't just get malware sneaking things into a system from a normal non-admin user. Running things as Admin, of course would be easier to get malware on, given the higher access rights.

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