Windows 10 finally booted to desktop after 4 hours of freezing on boot. What do I do so that this doesn't happen tomorrow?

Anonymous
2024-07-25T02:30:12+00:00

My computer restarted overnight (assuming from an update) and froze on the boot screen where it shows the motherboard logo. It's also been freezing at the 'Preparing Automatic Repair' screen about 9/10 times.

I've tried resetting the CMOS by unplugging the power cord and holding down the power button, but it didn't help.

The few times I managed to access the troubleshooting tools and the command prompt I tried the bootrec /fixboot commands but I ran into the problem of "Path not found" at the attrib c:\boot\bcd -h -r -s step. On the final restart before I was about to plug in the bootable USB to reinstall windows, it booted to desktop with everything working as normal.

I feel like this is only temporary and I'll run into the same problem the next time it restarts. What do I need to check/fix so that this problem doesn't happen again? Or do I just need to bite the bullet and do a fresh install of Windows?

(I'm not sure if this was due to my fiddling around but I now have 2 recovery partitions on my C drive, and an addition EFI System Partition on an external HDD.)

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

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  1. Ramesh Srinivasan 87,965 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2024-07-26T15:01:02+00:00

    If the slow boot or freeze issues are solved, you may skip running chkdsk, IMO.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-07-26T13:28:07+00:00

    The last time it ran on boot it bluescreened with a DPC Watchdog Violation error. I’ll try it again.

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  3. Ramesh Srinivasan 87,965 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2024-07-26T13:23:26+00:00

    Glad you narrowed down the issue to the cable, which was one of the things we discussed earlier in this thread.

    Removing the peripherals is probably the most efficient way to troubleshoot and eliminate them as a potential cause.

    Does Chkdsk run correctly now?

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-07-26T13:13:38+00:00

    Thanks for all your help, I figured out what the problem was after a lot of testing.

    Weirdly it’s because of a USB cable. When it’s plugged in, the computer freezes on boot. When it’s unplugged the computer boots normally. It doesn’t even need to be connected to anything, just by being plugged in it breaks the computer somehow.

    What confuses me is that I’ve been using it for months without issue and only now does it cause problems.

    EDIT: The dskchk never unfroze after freezing. I ended up rebooting after waiting an hour.

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  5. Ramesh Srinivasan 87,965 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2024-07-26T11:56:37+00:00

    I wonder if there has been any progress. What's the ETA mentioned?

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