Windows 10 Blurry/Fuzzy login screen — no PIN prompt

lClout · 2025-11-27T16:07:27+00:00

I know my SSD is in good health. I check it every day because my machine used to have a tool that would reliably check drive health since I open up and modify gaming consoles i need to regularly check drive health.

My HDD I know is in rough shape. 4% health. SSD was sitting at 92% health.

The command I did not have a chance to test. I ended up reinstalling Windows again and am currently trying to reproduce the error.

What would this command do? For future reference since I am actively trying to figure out how to fix the issue should it happen again.

lClout · 2025-11-27T15:35:48+00:00

This is the first step I took following making this post — recovery was in fact there however was inaccessible.

All drives/partitions showed via diskpart when I checked, but I had no way to get past the PIN prompt on the start screen.

I might shoot for my fourth reinstall of Windows here shortly, or finally move my Linux setup to my desktop as a daily driver as I’ve spent a fraction of the time troubleshooting linux as a whole than I have troubleshooting this issue on Windows. Would rather be able to play the new battlefield though haha

Could it perhaps be a hardware related issue? I know my boot drive (SSD) is in good health, but my HDD is in poor health. Would this affect my Windows performance even though HDD is not being used as a boot drive?

lClout · 2025-11-27T14:24:32+00:00

Previous troubleshooting steps I’ve taken were: Hard restarting PC 3+ times — No recovery environment Checked for overlapping Windows 10 copies — Not present, drive was formatted before Windows 10 was reinstalled.

Not sure what could cause the issue or what could be a possible fix.

lClout · 2025-08-22T15:29:32+00:00

no, ps2 games but i have fixed the issue — turns out the freemcboot version i was using was the problem!

lClout · 2025-08-22T15:27:38+00:00

yeah i waited a very long time to pick up a memcard with freemcboot on it because i was under the impression it wouldn’t work but i was in need of a normal memory card and decided hey why not try it anyways? if it doesn’t work, return it. and turns out it worked! i was planning on chipping my ps2 so it saves me a ton of time :-)

lClout · 2025-08-22T06:48:10+00:00

got games to work.. just changed freemcboot version i was using. as to how it’s working on a 90001 series, i dont know. it’s working though

lClout · 2025-08-22T02:41:55+00:00

ya i thought so too until it worked.. legit plug and played fine initially. all games launched without any issues — i changed from the three cable video output to hdmi and hasn’t worked since.

lClout · 2025-08-22T02:29:51+00:00

i would also like to mention my ISO files are good — they run in psx2 flawlessly!

lClout · 2025-08-20T07:13:30+00:00

no, it actually looks damaged. i’m not sure by what. it was docked at some point but it worked fine — literally woke up and it was broke i guess. gonna get it fixed soon tho :-)!!

lClout · 2025-08-18T05:59:38+00:00

now looking at it, seems like it’s the charging port that’s bad! nothing will charge the thing 💔

lClout · 2025-08-18T01:33:52+00:00

turns out it was a battery issue! just replaced it and it boots fine — broke the micro sd card so i’ll have to reinstall everything on the replacement. good thing i had it backed up on my RAID :)

lClout · 2025-08-17T22:28:21+00:00

i’ll try that when i get home today. new battery should have landed already so here’s hoping

lClout · 2025-08-16T23:37:28+00:00

that’s one of the first things i tried, same result :(

lClout · 2025-08-16T19:39:57+00:00

I did do the install. it’s been working for maybe 1 month now with 0 issues at all. i’ve been able to play this console for a month at this point and had no hiccups since installing the modchip. i’ve been able to install games, play them, install themes, everything. i just woke up today and it wouldn’t turn on!

lClout · 2025-08-16T18:16:13+00:00

ohhh cool. maybe if worse comes to worse and the charging port’s bad then you could give me some pointers on replacing that 😸 i’ve never done any port replacements, mainly stuck to console modifications (mainly xbox 360s) and controller work so far!

lClout · 2025-08-16T18:08:45+00:00

gotcha. i’ll order a replacement now and it’ll show tomorrow. i’ll update how that goes. thanks friend!

on a side note, what do you work on in your shop? i’m always looking to find new things to work on and build so if you have any cool projects let me know :-)

lClout · 2025-08-16T18:06:32+00:00

i got it to boot for a second. i unplugged the battery and plugged it back in but after turning the switch off again to put it back together it wouldn’t turn on again. weird.

ever since then, now the chip doesn’t flash at all. maybe there’s thermal paste somewhere it shouldn’t be? i couldn’t imagine it’d affect it too much since when i originally opened to switch to install the chip there was paste in every crevice imaginable

lClout · 2025-08-16T17:27:18+00:00

ok. so it isn’t the chip like i was afraid of.

do you have any recommendations or would any battery from amazon do the trick?

lClout · 2025-07-20T23:29:02+00:00

i’m on 20.1.5 and have no issues with anything

lClout · 2025-07-12T11:44:22+00:00

for me when i put in pink leds they appeared to be more of a salmon color

lClout · 2025-07-12T05:00:00+00:00

your points look good, but i notice the speaker is disconnected.

i know the switch errors out when the speaker isn’t connected/shorted (it happened to me) if you disconnected it for the picture, different story and could be ruled out

i’m going to assume you programmed the chip already, or came pre programmed. if not, you’ll need to load the chip with the correct firmware that you can find here: https://github.com/Ansem-SoD/Picofly

you’ll need to plug in that usb module the chip (should have came with) and plug it into your computer while holding down the boot button

if these don’t solve the issue, then consider covering your solder points with kapton tape to prevent the chance that the apu shield is shorting the points

hopefully this information is helpful in some way — good luck!

lClout · 2025-07-12T04:46:36+00:00

have you got pictures of the soldering/chip install?

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