Your computer gets stuck on the boot screen? This is very annoying – and quite scary. You’re probably thinking, I can’t even access the desktop! How am I supposed to fix it? But no worries, you can fix this. Here’s what you can do…
How to Fix the PC Stuck on Boot Screen Issue
You may not have to try them all; just work your way down the list until you find the one that works for you.
Solution 1: Boot your PC without Peripherals
External peripherals can sometimes conflict with your system and trigger errors of all sorts. So before we dive into anything deeper, let’s start with the easiest solution: restarting your PC without peripherals.
1) Press and hold the power button until your computer turns off.
2) Disconnect all peripherals (your printer, scanner, webcam, mouse, etc.).
3) Try turning on your computer again.
If your computer boots correctly, that means that one of the peripherals you removed is causing your problem. You should reinstall each device back into your computer and test them each time. Then, you’ll find the specific device that causes your problem. Replace the device once you’ve identified it. Or, consult the manufacturer of the device for assistance.
If your computer still can’t boot correctly, try the fix below.
Solution 2: Check the RAM
Your computer might be unresponsive during the startup process when your RAMs are not well installed, or in some cases, one or more of your RAM modules or RAM slots is faulty.
1) Press and hold the power button until your computer turns off.
2) Open your computer case.
3) On your motherboard, remove your RAMs from the memory slots.
RAM looks like this:
4) Put your RAMs back into the slot one by one while trying to boot each time.
If your computer starts without one or more of the RAMs, then it could be an issue with your RAM modules. Or in some cases, it is possible that your RAM module is fine, but one or more memory slots on your motherboard are defective. You may want to try removing the modules and placing them in different slots to find if one of the slots is faulty.
If your computer still can’t boot properly, don’t worry. Check the fix below.
Solution 3: Reset BIOS Settings
When you’re booting up your computer, BIOS instructs it on how to boot up the operating system. And improper BIOS settings can cause computer boot issues.
You can reset your BIOS settings back to it’s original to see if that’s the issue for you. Here is how to do it:
1) Press and hold the power button until your computer turns off.
2) Disconnect the AC power cord from the power supply, and then open your computer case.
3) On your motherboard, remove your CMOS battery with your fingernail or a non-conductive screwdriver.
The CMOS battery looks like this
4) Wait for 5 minutes, and then reinstall your CMOS battery.
5) Connect the AC power cord to the power supply, and then turn on your computer to see if your problem persists.
Solution 4: Restore your System to the Previous State
If the issue happened because of a bad piece of software, say an app your installed or a driver that went wrong, you can use the windows build-in System Recovery feature to fix it. System Recovery allows you to roll your Windows installation back to its last working state.
1) Boot your computer into safe mode.
2) Type recovery in the search box on your desktop, and click Recovery in the list of results.
2) Click Open System Restore.
3) Click Choose a different restore point, and click Next to select a restore point before the issue occurs.
4) Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the restore.
If you don’t have a restore point in System Restore, move on and try the next fix below.
Solution 5: Repair Corrupted System Files
Computer boot issues are likely to occur when certain system files get corrupted somehow. To see if there’s any broken or missing system files, you can run a scan with the System File Checker provided by Windows.
1) If you can’t log into the system, you need to perform the scan in safe mode. Use this guide if you don’t know how to enter safe mode in Windows.
2) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key, type command prompt, then select Run as Administrator. (If Windows prompts for permission, click OK to continue.)
3) Type SFC /Scannow, and then press Enter.
4) Type DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth, and then press Enter.
Solution 6: Perform a Fresh Install
If none of the solutions works for you, you may have to do a clean reinstallation of Windows 10. Note that this will wipe all files and data that you’ve stored on the computer.
Hopefully, this article helped! Please let me know which method helped you, or if you have a better idea on how to fix this issue. I would love your thoughts!
