Intermittent Boot Error

[Chispaluz]

Hi all,

The other day I updated a client's laptop drivers using Snappy Driver Installer (they'd updated from Windows 7 to Windows 10 Home). Everything was working well (aside from a hotkey error that I couldn't resolve on the spot). We dinked around with it for a bit. Client was happy.

The next day, the client told me that his wife had been playing a game when the laptop shut down and restarted, but wouldn't boot to Windows. An error message appeared on the screen:

JMicron JMC25X Gigabit Ethernet Controller Version 1.0.9.0***
PXE- E61: Media Test Failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: exiting PXE ROM
Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press any key

He said he'd tried rebooting, and the same error occurred repeatedly.

I came back, picked up the laptop. Must be the drivers that caused the error, I figured. I was ready to check boot device order, HDD health, etc.

Got it home, plugged it in, and it booted up beautifully to Windows 10. I tried this a few more times, just to double-check. Boot order is all set. HDD: healthy. Memory: no errors. Chkdsk: no errors or bad clusters.

Specs:
CLEVO P170HMx
Win 10 Home x64
16 GB RAM
1 TB HDD

So, what gives? Any thoughts as to what could have caused the error? Btw, I'm waiting on an email from the client to find out what game she'd been playing so I can try to replicate the error.

Thanks!

 

[Markverhyden]

That error says that it is trying to boot only from PXE and cannot find any other boot devices.

 

[Chispaluz]

Thanks, Mark. That was my understanding as well. Any reason why it would be booting to the hard drive now?

 

[Markverhyden]

It's rare but I've seen where BIOS somehow looses it's settings, going to defaults or something else. It may also have been a temporary problem with the HD itself. If the HD was not present at power up, for whatever reason, it would not be in BIOS. This would make BIOS skip to the next available boot device, in this case PXE. Having happen multiple times is odd though. Did he hard power it down each time? Have you looked at Event Viewer to see if there are any HD related entries? How about a SMART test on the drive?

 

[nlinecomputers]

I'm thinking bad HDD, bad power, or incompatible with FASTBOOT, hibernation, or other power mode.

 

[Computer Bloke]

Before you start stripping the computer down have you tried booting it while connected to your network over (wired) Ethernet?

If you get different booting results at your site and the client's then you need to pin down the difference, and my money is on the physical network connection - without that connection the BIOS will skip trying to boot using PXE which should explain why you're seeing a different result.

 

[Chispaluz]

I'm not sure if he hard powered down or not.
1) I ran WMIC, and results came back that the disk is OK. Should I use a different program to test further?
2) I tried booting with a wired connection, and it booted normally.
3) I have never done any work with power supply issues, so I can't speak to that. Frankly, I typically don't go inside the machine aside from hard drive work, RAM upgrades, and to clean the chassis.
4) I checked Event Viewer and did not see anything regarding disk problems. Is there something specific I could look for to narrow it down?

So, it's booting fine -- whether wired connection or not. No problems whatsoever.
The issue for me is that I am concerned because it failed to boot properly hours after I'd updated their drivers. I can always do a System Restore pre-driver updates, but if there is no issue that can be found, is that what you'd do?

Thanks again.

 

[Larry Sabo]

You plugged it in and it booted up fine. Have you tried booting with just the battery? My thought is that if the battery doesn't have the juice to spin up the hard drive, that could explain it not being detected and the boot sequence continuing with whatever is next in the preference sequence. If the HDD is removable without a lot of work, I'd remove it and check it out slaved to your system.

 

[Chispaluz]

Thanks, Larry. Tried battery power, and no problems there. They leave it plugged in all the time anyways.
Slaved the hard drive and everything was readable.
I'd like to get the machine back to them today, so I'm going to call it good. The client was very understanding and thankful for my attempts to diagnose it. Since I was just there a few days ago, I'll only charge them for the pick-up and drop-off.

They're nice folks, and very understanding. On a side note, they are only 69 and 73 -- both physically disabled, and living in an assisted living facility. They cannot drive and have no family in the area, so they pretty much play computer games all the time as an escape. The majority of my clients are in their 80's, so in comparison, these guys are young and also quite computer literate. Could be good clients if they're happy with the service.

Thanks again everyone for all of your help and advice. I truly appreciate it. Enjoy your the rest of your weekend!

 

[ZenTree]

It shouldn't be drivers as the PXE boot stage is before windows is involved.

 

[4ycr]

have you booted then just shut the lid for 10 minutes, then open it back up. Have you booted it then selected sleep from the power menu and then woke it back up?

 

[Chispaluz]

It shouldn't be drivers as the PXE boot stage is before windows is involved.

Thanks! I didn't think that drivers would be involved at that stage of the boot process, but wasn't sure. It's reassuring to know the error is most likely unrelated to the driver updates I did.

 

[seedubya]

It is a bit worrying that it would suddenly do this. I wouldn't be surprised to get this back, if I were you.

 

[Chispaluz]

have you booted then just shut the lid for 10 minutes, then open it back up. Have you booted it then selected sleep from the power menu and then woke it back up?

I did all of those things. I tried several different power options, and always got a normal boot. I couldn't get the error to reoccur. The owner has it now. Hopefully it will continue to boot normally for him. I did of course image the drive just in case he did run into problems. Thanks again for your advice!

 

[Chispaluz]

It is a bit worrying that it would suddenly do this. I wouldn't be surprised to get this back, if I were you.

I know. Fingers crossed.