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diagnosing desktop tower (Resolved).

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Best Answer Zook , 27 December 2017 - 02:41 PM

thanks for the response! My hunch yesterday was that it seemed like the machine was skipping bios and going straight to the OS because the input last used was VGA and I was using HDMI. So I managed... Go to the full post »


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#1
Zook

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Specs from newegg.com: https://www.newegg.c...N82E16883113202

 

This is an older machine that my parents had been using originally on Windows 7. When Windows 10 was first launched and began automatically installing on eligible machines, my parent's machine was one of them which updated to Windows 10 without their consent. Since then they have noticed it would sometimes hang on shutdown and subsequent updates would take hours upon hours. Now over the Christmas holiday I came home tried updating it to the latest big update release. This turned out to be a massive mistake as the computer froze during the update and now cannot boot back up. Upon power up the machine doesn't even display the Gateway logo or provide the window of opportunity to load into BIOS. It instead attempts to load directly into one of the user profiles, freezing in the process. I cannot tell if this is a hardware problem or whether the OS is so screwed up nothing is recoverable. Any ideas of how I can determine the cause of problems to begin fixing? 

 


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#2
dmccoy

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Do you have a Windows 10 install disk that you can use for troubleshooting? If not, it can be downloaded and created by following the link below. Are you able to boot to Safe mode? if so, then we can try some troubleshooting methods or you can follow the steps below to Reset, Reinstall or Clean install Windows 10. It would also be helpful if you can provide the make, model and list of major hardware for the computer. Let me how you would like to proceed and if you have more questions

 

How to make a bootable DVD or USB via the media creation tool

 https://www.microsof...nload/windows10

 

Once you have that then I would recommend Resetting Windows 10 as follows or you can perform a Reinstall or clean install as well

 

To refresh your Windows 10 follow these steps:

 

Do Not perform these steps unless you have Current Backup!

 

Refreshing Windows 10 will cause you to lose all your installed apps, third party programs but you will allow you the option to keep your personal files. 

 

  1. Boot to Safe mode using one of the options in the following link

https://www.howtogee...8-the-easy-way/

 

  1. After your computer restarts choose Troubleshoot.
  2. Now click Advanced.
  3. Choose Reset this PC and choose Keep my files.
  4. The refreshing process will start. This will take a while so be patient.

http://www.thewindow...eset-windows-10

 

How to perform a Clean install of Windows 10

https://answers.micr...81625b08?auth=1


Edited by dmccoy, 26 December 2017 - 05:21 PM.

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#3
Zook

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✓  Best Answer

thanks for the response! My hunch yesterday was that it seemed like the machine was skipping bios and going straight to the OS because the input last used was VGA and I was using HDMI. So I managed to get my hands on a VGA cable today and voila, the BIOS appeared. From here I selected the drive and it miraculously gave me the option to reset the PC and luckily it was able to do so successfully. 

 

Presently I am now reinstalling Windows 7 from an installation disc I have. Do you know if they are still automatically updating Windows 7 machines to 10 or has that finally ended?


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#4
phillpower2

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Presently I am now reinstalling Windows 7 from an installation disc I have. Do you know if they are still automatically updating Windows 7 machines to 10 or has that finally ended?
 

 

 

Windows 10 is no longer offered as a free upgrade and so has to be purposely installed by the end user.


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#5
Zook

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excellent. I've gotten a fresh copy of Windows 7 reinstalled on the machine now.


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#6
phillpower2

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A job well done on your behalf then Zook  :thumbsup:


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#7
Ztruker

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You can still do a free upgrade of Windows 7 to Windows 10. I did it yesterday. It will all come to end (so Microsoft says) at midnight on December 31 2017, but that's what they said back in on July 29 2016.

 

Actually, you can do a clean install of Windows 10 using a Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 key until 12/31/2017 at midnight as well.

 

I've done many free updates and clean installs with no problems and fully activated with a digital license.


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#8
phillpower2

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I think that Zook was worried that the initial free Windows 10 upgrade that was installed without permission may automatically be reinstalled Rich.


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#9
Zook

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yep exactly, I don't want windows 10 on the machine 


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#10
Ztruker

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Ah, okay, sorry I missed that.

 

No, the automatic upgrade to Windows 10 is no longer being done so you will stay at Windows 7. That did actually end on July 29 2016.


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