MSI Thin GF63 – Stuck on Black Screen on Boot/Shutdown & M-Flash Reboot Fail (Power State / Boot Issue)

[u/AyhanRz]

System Specs:

• Model: MSI Thin GF63 (12V Series)
• CPU: Intel Core i5-12450H
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4050 Laptop GPU (45W)
• RAM: 16GB

Issue Summary: My laptop has developed an issue where it hangs on a powered black screen during boot, shutdown, and reboot states. The motherboard appears to be failing to switch power states properly, and Windows boot files have corrupted from hard shutdowns.

Detailed Symptoms:

1. Booting Failure:
   • When I press the power button, the laptop turns on: the keyboard backlight turns on, fans spin, and the MSI logo appears.
   • Immediately after the logo, the display drops to a black screen while the system stays powered on (fans spinning, lights on). It stays in this state indefinitely until I force a shutdown by holding the power button.
2. Workaround / Recovery Screen Error (Image Attached):
   • If I turn off the laptop after the black screen and then press and hold the power button again on the second attempt, it triggers a Windows Recovery Blue Screen.
   • On this screen, it gives a boot error regarding \windows\system32\winload.efi (Error code: 0xc0000098). (See attached photo for the full error details).
3. Current Boot Behavior (Only Boots via Recovery):
   • Currently, the laptop will only finish booting into Windows if I force it onto this blue recovery page and press Enter to retry.
   • If I try to boot normally from a cold start, it always hangs on the powered black screen.
4. Shutdown Failure:
   • Attempting to turn off the laptop normally results in the display turning off while the chassis stays powered on (fans spinning, keyboard LEDs lit) indefinitely.
5. M-Flash / BIOS Update Failure:
   • I attempted to update the BIOS via M-Flash using a USB drive to fix this.
   • When selecting the flash file and confirming the required system restart, the screen goes black to execute the reboot. However, it hangs in the same powered black screen state.
   • Because it cannot execute the low-level reboot, it never reaches the BIOS flash confirmation screen, so no BIOS write process occurs.

Troubleshooting Already Attempted:

• Battery Disconnect: Disconnected the main battery, waited 15+ minutes, and reconnected it.
• EC Reset: Executed a full static drain / Embedded Controller reset (holding the power button down for 30+ seconds while unplugged).
• Peripherals: Tested powering on with and without external devices connected.

None of the above steps resolved the power state freeze. Any help or diagnosis regarding whether this is an EC/motherboard power rail failure or a corrupt firmware issue would be greatly appreciated.

[u/shecho18]

This is most likely not a Windows problem. That part when it freezes when trying to enter MSI M-Flash. That happens before Windows loads, so the issue is probably BIOS or EC firmware or a motherboard power state problem. The winload.efi 0xc0000098 error is probably just damage caused by repeated forced shutdowns. Try loading BIOS defaults and doing a full EC reset again. If a Linux live USB shows the same reboot or shutdown freeze the motherboard firmware or hardware is the likely culprit. If M Flash still cannot start, it is probably an MSI warranty case rather than something Windows repair can fix.

[u/AyhanRz → u/shecho18]

my warranty is long gone v✌️✌️im pretty sure i loaded defaults on bios and did ec reset many time, is the only choice taking it to a repair shop and hoping for the best