windows 10 update 1511 fail

[BionicJohn]

I'm not a happy bunny and apologies if I rant.

The update started downloading seemingly automatically, so I let it do its business. It was a big download so I left the room. When I came back later (over an hour) the system was showing the start up page. I clicked for the list of users but nothing happened. I tried again and it appeared the system had hung.

Ctrl+Alt+Del did nothing so I pressed the PC reset button. The PC didn't load Win10 indicating a Boot Manager error. It was then clear that I had no C: drive. Booting from the Win10 disc found my backup image but the process halted as no C: drive could be found. Similarly for the repair and other options.

Now the BIOS seems corrupt and I cannot get the PC to start at all as after switching on, it switches off. Then it switches on again and repeats the cycle until the power supoly is switched off.

Looks like a serious rebuild this weekend and praying that Windows 10 will work properly in future.

You can't make this up.

Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[BionicJohn]

I've done a CMOS reset as per the handbook, removed the battery for an hour and replaced it with a new battery, tried to start with just screen and mouse connected, but there's no change. It cycles through start, restart, Gigabyte Splash screen, then a screen with the title "GIGABYTE - UEFI DualBIOS" and nothing else, and then another restart.

It seems the BIOS is corrupted and won't reset to factory defaults.

I've found many other users with the same problem, but can't find a solution.

Looks like a new motherboard - to replace the existing which is Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H with an Intel i5 CPU.

Any suggestions for either getting the existing to work or a suitable replacement?

[Update]
Tried to re-flash the BIOS but no menus to appear even though the USB stick flashes to indicate it's at least recognised..
[/Update]

Many thanks.

Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[linney]

Will something along these lines run on your PC. They might show you what is broken whether it is a hard drive or motherboard?



"A live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs in a computer's memory, rather than loading from a hard disk drive; the CD itself is read-only."


The LiveCD List

https://livecdlist.com/

You might be able to make use of BartPE (a mini XP self contained on a bootable CD and run from CD).

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

 

[BionicJohn]

Thanks for the ideas.

I'll give them a go but I suspect the BIOS is corrupt and I need to restore it.

The Win 10 installation disc loads just fine. It finds my image on the USB drive but won't proceed as the C: drive is not there.

I have thought about replacing the C: drive as its boot sector is probably damaged, but there is a worry that it will make no difference as I can not access the BIOS.

Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[linney]

How To Fix The Windows Bootloader

http://www.tweakhound.com/2012/11/13/how-to-fix-the-windows-bootloader/

Fixing the Windows Bootloader via the setup DVD

https://neosmart.net/wiki/recovering-windows-bootloader/

How To Access Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8, 8.1, or 10.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/open-advanced-startup-options-windows-8.htm

You can access the advanced startup options/safe mode menu by:
Depressing the Shift Key while clicking on Restart at the Login Screen (Bottom right corner).


Manually shutting down (forcibly) three times in a row will bring you to the same screen.


On a working Windows 8.1, or 10 machine, see Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Recovery\Create a Recovery Drive.

Create a Recovery Drive and use that to boot from in a faulty machine and try accessing the advanced startup options/safe mode then.


Or Boot with your Win 10 installation disc and enter the repair options that way (if you can).

 

[BionicJohn]

Thanks for the suggestions but I can't get anything to see the C: drive. Everything halts when a boot or installation HDD is asked for.

Win 10 repair won't run because it can't find <windir>.

The DVD drive and the USB3 ports seem OK, but there's no C: drive. I've put the HDD on another port, but no difference.

I've given up now as nothing seems to change and the same switch on/restart cycle continues, so I've ordered a replacement mo-bo (all but identical for £80) and a new 1TB HDD for £51.

Thanks for your help, but I still can't believe all this has happened because I let the Windows 10 update 1511 run automatically and unattended, and it was probably the screen saver kicking in which fouled everything up. There's a warning there to others.

I also see the updated version 1511 has been at least partially withdrawn. Click here. So something's not 100%.

Attachment (a bit large) shows the blank BIOS screen which appears during the switch on.


Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[linney]

Let us know the outcome and result of installing new drives.

Have you got a System Image to run over the drives to get Windows installed? If not how far back with a Windows (edition) do you have to go?

 

[BionicJohn]

I'm going to try installing the new mo-bo with the old HDD, then running the Win 10 repair or restore image option - I have very recent image on a USB3 HDD. Hope that'll work, and there's no issues with a modified system.

If this doesn't work, it'll be the new HDD starting with Win7. Then the SP1 and upgrade to Win 10. Then all the apps. And data, from backups and the old HDD.

Kit should arrive tomorrow and I've earmarked Wednesday for the job. Still annoyed at the chaos this update has caused me.

(Off to Anfield on Thurs to let off some steam!)

Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[rclarke250]

You don't need to go to windows 7 first, your win 7 key has been converted to a win 10 key, you could just download the windows 10 media creator and install win 10 and use your existing key that was used for the upgrade.

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

Can you access the BIOS at all?

the idea behind a dual BIOS is one is your running BIOS and you have a hot spare that doesnt get written to.
There is a method or two do get the backup BIOS to work.

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/49279-gigabyte-z77-d3h-bios-flash-failure.html

ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[BionicJohn]

I tried all those suggestions but only ever got an unstable blank screen.

Like this:

However, All is now well, but I think I have been very lucky. I have avoided going back to Win7 and consequent newer installations of both Windows and applications, and no data has been lost.

The guy from the components store phoned to say the Gigabyte mo-bo I'd ordered was out of stock and it'd be some time before the next batch would arrive. He recommended a slightly higher performing ASRock Z75 Pro3 which naturally cost more, about £10 + VAT.

We had a chat about why I was buying it and it was reassuring to hear that in the past few days they'd had several people looking to get their Win 10 Update 1511 PCs sorted, though none seemed as bad as mine. Most of the updates they'd done had been fine.

He did suggest that after I'd installed the new ASRosck mo-bo I attached the old C: drive - it may boot up he said.

Installing the new mo-bo was a long careful task - it took me about 3½hr to completely dismantle the PC, remove vid card and RAM from the mo-bo, Dyson out the case and fans, clean the CPU and heat sink/fan and transfer it all to the ASRock for fitting back into the case. It also took a long time to figure out the pins for Power switch, Re-set, Power on LED and HDD Activity, but I got there. The details in the handbook were just adequate.

It's always a tense moment firing up newly assembled and configured kit, but with only a mouse, keyboard, old HDD, speakers and the network cable attached, the system started as expected. The ASRock splash sat there for ages but then something like "detecting devices" in the Win 10 font and the rotating arcs appeared, which was re-assuring. After a couple of what seemed like reboots, the message "All your files are exactly where you left them" appeared, followed by others like "We've got some new features to get excited about - don't turn off your PC" and "We've made some tweaks to make Windows better". Then finally, the update was successful. That must have taken about 20 minutes. I logged in as Admin to check the device manager, and I was surprised there were no yellow exclamation marks.

I then attached all the other devices (new HDD as yet unused, video camera, USB drive, scanner, &c) and tidied up the internal cabling, rebooted and all is well.

And for some reason I had to reactivate MS Office over the phone, which was a nuisance but otherwise no problem.

I have to take back some rude comments about the update because the recovery was quite spectacular with everything intact, but the sequence of locking up, re-starting, Boot Error, running installation disc but no C: drive and then a blank UEFI screen does make me wonder what else I could I have done and how much the Update 1511 was responsible.

Thanks for listening in and being positive.



Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.