New Build Black Screen (not bsod)

[familyman01]

First off, new build works excellent when running well. It's been up for a good month or two now, it's mainly a HTPC that plays games on the big screen.

Other times (well all the times it's plugged in) I have a DVI connected monitor on my coffee table for silly things like photoshop, facebook etc...

Problem is this: 1 in 5 all the way too 1 in 10 times I either shut down then turn on the machine in the morning OR restarting, either A) having the external HDD plugged in (but turned off so it's should NOT be being read at boot up or B) By having my HDMI cable plugged in or C) by having my bluetooth dongle (yup, I use the correct terminology, DONGLE) plugged in, the PC will boot to a black screen with only my cursor showing.

Now, I know it is one of the three items because those are the items I pull to boot correctly, amazingly, even though the KB/mouse is on a USB transmitter (logitech unifying) that will boot fine.

Now the BIG issue is this, do I really have to waste the time and energy by pulling the items one at a time then rebooting indefinitely to repeat the issue hoping the issue repeats (like taking your car to the shop only for your car to NOT make the noise it's been making) or is there something in the software that creates a log file? I haven't seen a log file since windows vista. (I'm on win10x64)

In order for my PC to continue to be used as a gaming HTPC, all these items have to work. External HDD plugged into back usb 3.0 port. HDMI is obviously on the onboard HDMI port and the bluetooth dongle is on a rear usb 2.0 port with an extender as recommended by the manufacturer.

PSU: Raidmax Scorpio 535w
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced 2x 8 gig DDR3
CASE: Rosewill micro atx tower
Optical: Lite-on dvd burner
MOBO: Asrock FM2A88M PRO3+CPU: A6-7470K
Bluetooth: Pluggable brand, updated drivers
HDD Internal: 640gig WD
HDD External: 1tb WD Blue in rosewill usb 3.0 case


Like I said, this lil thing sucks up everything I throw at it, never overclocked, and it never misses a beat, bluetooth never lags etc... Just this darn boot up issue.

 

[Nukem]

have you gone into the bios settings and check your boot order (no USB HDD) Some mobo's once you plug in a drive will "see" it even if it's off, but still plugged in. as for the Display, I have had issues with that on multiple machines a time or 2. I think it's a windows thing. Something goes wonky when trying to use 2 monitors...

Have you tried using different USB plugs? I have a Nexstar HDD dock that I can ONLY use a BACK usb 3.0 with. (Front USB or 2.0 and it will not work)

I have seen this before and from what I remember it's USB related. I would suggest you experiment with placement of devices and try to figure out what works where.

 

[familyman01]

I use only the rear on-board USB ports as they are fastest to the mobo, and everything seems to work great, no bluetooth lag, fast 3.0 transfers to HDD etc...

So, I think the BIOS issue will be the first thing I try, however, if it's dual monitors, then this will just be a PITA for me due to it's intended use.

Ill give it a day or two after changing the boot order and will get back here with the results.

Thank you

 

[familyman01]

Solved / Not solved.

Went into BIOS and internal drive was already checked to boot first. However I went ahead and manually checked it again.

Then windows had an update, that killed my audio drivers and killed my games. Updated audio drivers.

Not a problem since. WTH?