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I've been custom-building my desktop Windows boxes for 20 years, but I've never seen anything like this. My primary Windows 10 system started having explorer / context menu problems, whereby whenever I right-clicked just about anything, the expected window would open and then close by itself after a second or two. I spent a lot of time troubleshooting this issue and eventually decided the next logical step was to perform what we used to call a "System Repair" (a live re-install, retaining files and installed applications, etc.). But I wanted to make a backup first, so I used Eassus Todo Backup Pro to make a clone of the system partition to another disk. That's when things started going crazy...
I booted into the BIOS to ensure all the system monitors (CPU and mobo heat and the like). But when I went to the BOOT page, there were 12 bootable partitions listed even though I only had 4 disks, and only two had bootable partitions! So I disconnected everything except a single SSD with only a single bootable partition, went back into the BIOS, and it still showed a dozen boot "slots", including disks that were no longer even connected! Wha??? I It was like there were "ghost disks" on the system. Not only that, but none of them booted, not even the actual boot partition on the SSD that was actually connected.
I tried unplugging that computer for 16 hours, hoping that some memory-type component would run out of juice and reset, but nothing changed. I had a lot of older system clones, and I eventually found one that booted, but I couldn't get the wired keyboard and wireless mouse to work at all. I'm gonna try clearing the CMOS next, but first I thought I'd ask for suggestions for what else I might ttry.
Thanks!
I booted into the BIOS to ensure all the system monitors (CPU and mobo heat and the like). But when I went to the BOOT page, there were 12 bootable partitions listed even though I only had 4 disks, and only two had bootable partitions! So I disconnected everything except a single SSD with only a single bootable partition, went back into the BIOS, and it still showed a dozen boot "slots", including disks that were no longer even connected! Wha??? I It was like there were "ghost disks" on the system. Not only that, but none of them booted, not even the actual boot partition on the SSD that was actually connected.
I tried unplugging that computer for 16 hours, hoping that some memory-type component would run out of juice and reset, but nothing changed. I had a lot of older system clones, and I eventually found one that booted, but I couldn't get the wired keyboard and wireless mouse to work at all. I'm gonna try clearing the CMOS next, but first I thought I'd ask for suggestions for what else I might ttry.
Thanks!
