[phillpower2]

Not sure what has been going on with your updates but if you check Speccy you will see that the last update shown to have been installed was in February of this year.

 

2/10/2021 2021-02 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 10 Version 2004 for x64 (KB4601050)

 

Long shot but try doing a reset in the recovery options, see info here I would choose the remove everything option, then update to version 20H2  before reinstalling Photoshop etc.

 

Whatever you do, do not reinstall Avast once you have got this sorted, as to why explained below;

 

Avast is no longer widely recommended by any forum as it has become a monster, it foists all sorts of stuff on folk without them knowing and causes various problems by installing browser plug ins that cause conflicts etc, it can also be a nightmare to uninstall as it leaves traces here there and everywhere if you are not careful, you don`t need any third party AV or Firewall as Windows own Defender and Firewall are more than up to the task of protecting your computer, they were also found to be passing on users info to marketers through a subsidiary named Jumpshot.

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Thank you, Sir!

 

Here is vol. 17 of the Saga.

 

- opened the Recovery Options page;

- clicked on Remove Everything option;

- clicked on Local Reinstall (this did not matter actually because of the next step);

- in the Choose Settings dialog screen, set settings to

                Clean data? -> Yes

                Download windows?  -> Yes

                Del files from all drives? -> Yes

- clicked on [confirm] which opened a "Getting things ready" screen;

 

- after a minute or so, the next screen opened:

 

There was a problem downloading

 

Unable to download. Please try to reset this PC using the local reinstall option.

 

 

I did try Local Reinstall earlier. Whatever it did, it ended up with restarting the computer, and me logging on with the PIN and seeing all old icons on desktop. Tried to open Photoshop, got an error.

 

A - possibly - associated issue. Every time after a reboot now, I must login to the second computer, even though the "always" check box is checked.

 

Another - possibly - associated issue. Sometime ago, I started getting "Microsoft account problem" messages. Clicking on the message, opens the Settings/Shared experience screen. It only asks to re-enter the PIN, after which I read "All accounts are working correctly".

 

[BerDov]

Thank you, Sir!

 

Here is vol. 17 of the Saga.

 

- opened the Recovery Options page;

- clicked on Remove Everything option;

- clicked on Local Reinstall (this did not matter actually because of the next step);

- in the Choose Settings dialog screen, set settings to

                Clean data? -> Yes

                Download windows?  -> Yes

                Del files from all drives? -> Yes

- clicked on [confirm] which opened a "Getting things ready" screen;

 

- after a minute or so, the next screen opened:

 

There was a problem downloading

 

Unable to download. Please try to reset this PC using the local reinstall option.

 

 

I did try Local Reinstall earlier. Whatever it did, it ended up with restarting the computer, and me logging on with the PIN and seeing all old icons on desktop. Tried to open Photoshop, got an error.

 

A - possibly - associated issue. Every time after a reboot now, I must login to the second computer, even though the "always" check box is checked.

 

Another - possibly - associated issue. Sometime ago, I started getting "Microsoft account problem" messages. Clicking on the message, opens the Settings/Shared experience screen. It only asks to re-enter the PIN, after which I read "All accounts are working correctly".

 

[phillpower2]

Not sure about saga, more of a disaster tbh 

 

Tried doing things the quick and easy way without success so you now have to go all in I`m afraid, you are going to need a couple of USB pen drives, one to back your drivers up to and one to download the latest Windows 10 ISO to.

 

Use the second option here to create a bootable USB flash drive.

 

How to backup drivers using Command Prompt on Windows 10

 

How to Install Dell Drivers in the Correct Order

 

 

After you have clean installed Windows 10 the first thing that you must do is install the chipset drivers for the MB, the storage/SATA drivers and then any add on GPU drivers, do not let Windows check for/install any Windows updates until these drivers have been installed, you will get serious problems if you were to do so, Windows has a habit of installing the wrong drivers if you let it.

[BerDov]

I created a (hopefully) bootable USB drive and copied 71 drivers - all as per the instructions.

 

Before proceeding further, I need a bit of hand-holding please.

 

But first, the abbreviations. Is MB = mother board? is GPU = G(what??) processing unit?

 

Does the install process begin with a) computer OFF; b) flash drive IN ; c) computer ON?

 

Will I be prompted to "look for drivers" at some point? How do I know which driver set is, e.g. " chipset drivers for the MB" so it can be copied FIRST? The folder names are not too descriptive. OR - does the system select these drivers once it's pointed to E:\DriverBackup\?

 

I'd like to understand what to expect before I stick the stick.

 

Assuming all drivers are installed properly and in a correct order, should Windows be allowed to check for updates on the web?

 

Need a drink...

 

Thank you!

[phillpower2]

MB = Motherboard and GPU = Graphical Processing Unit (video card or chip) hence why we use MB and GPU.

 

Before you begin you need to change the boot order in the BIOS so that PC boots from a USB device first, see link below, once done, you put your bootable USB device into one of the black USB 2.0 ports and then restart the computer, the PC should then boot from the USB device with you following any on screen prompts along the way. 

 

Dell XPS 8700 Boot from USB to install Windows

 

 

Regarding the drivers, not suggesting that we cut corners but being that this is an older machine I would just install the chipset drivers and then check for Windows updates which should take care of the rest, Windows 10 has generic drivers for most devices but MB chipset drivers are an exception.

 

You are welcome, good luck and we are here if you have any other questions along the way.

[BerDov]

Well, I am not having a good luck.

 

First, I followed the instructions on https://www.infofuge...-boot-from-usb/

• As soon as DELL logo is displayed, watch for the F2 prompt to appear, and then press F2 immediately
• The boot menu should be displayed where you can select your USB drive

The <Boot> tab in the BIOS menu did contain a line reading "Enable USB Boot Support ... [Enabled]  and another group titled "Boot Option Priorities"  where Boot Option #1 was set to [Onboard NIC (IPV4)]  but nowhere on option to change Boot to USB.

 

However, I noticed an option to press F12 when the Dell logo appears, which I did, which opened a screen titled Boot Mode Is Set to UEFI, with 3 options. One of them was "USB1 - UEFI OS ( PMAP)". Executing that option, opened a Windows Setup screen, language choice screen, and then a screen with an [Install now] button!

 

The next important screen was "Where do you want to install Windows?" with 5 drive/partitions options:

 

Drive 0 Partition 1                  Primary

Drive 1 Partition 1: ESP         System

Drive 1 Partition 2                  MSR (Reserved)

Drive 1 Partition 3: OS           Primary

Drive 1 Partition 4                  Recovery

 

"Drive 1 Partition 3: OS          Primary" was highlighted, so I pressed on [Next]

 

This brought a message about creating a "Windows.old" folder.

 

Pressing [Next] started the installation.

 

After about a minute or two, this screen appeared:

 

"The installation was cancelled.

Windows could not set the offline locale information. Error code: 0x80000010"

 

Now what?

[phillpower2]

Windows could not set the offline locale information. Error code: 0x80000010"

 

 

You can get the above error when the storage device is bad or when you are trying to install Windows on a partition that is either too small or one that is protected.

 

Being a Dell I should have considered the spanners that they like to throw into the works 

 

What you need to do is select the Custom installation option, some suggest formatting the entire drive but on OEM machines like Dell I don`t and instead clean install Windows on a partition that I know is large enough, get Windows installed and fully up to date and then go back later to sort out the other partitions.

 

You only really need from step 11 onwards but please take the time to read all of the info @ Here's How: here you are in the category that does not need to enter a product key as your Windows 10 is already registered on the Microsoft servers. 

[BerDov]

Thank you, I will try my best.

 

BTW, the " Drive 1 Partition 3: OS Primary" which I understand is the location for the OS install, is 221.7GB total, 133.4GB free space. Don't know for a fact but assume it's enough space for the OS.

 

While I was away for about 20min, something triggered this blue screen:

 

"You device ran into a problem and needs to restart...

... If you call a support person, give them this info:

Stop code: MEMORY_MANAGEMENT"

 

Have a great weekend. As for me, I WILL BE BACK.

 

;-)

[phillpower2]

BTW, the " Drive 1 Partition 3: OS Primary" which I understand is the location for the OS install, is 221.7GB total, 133.4GB free space. Don't know for a fact but assume it's enough space for the OS.

 

 

That is an ideal size for installing Windows on, if you are able to format this partition and reinstall Windows 10 to it just remember to not store any personal data to it in the future, keeping Windows on it`s own partition helps to protect if from corruption and malware attack, it also makes backing it up so much easier.

[BerDov]

Thank you!

 

I, actually, do not store ANY data on C:\ drive, only programs. All data is kept on an external dive.

 

Planning to study the tenforums.com article and another attempt to reinstall the OS right now.

 

Is it possible that the error message "Stop code: MEMORY_MANAGEMENT" and the strange behavior are caused by a memory chip going bad?

[phillpower2]

It is just as likely to be driver related, we can take a look at any recent crash dmps that you may have before you start the clean install.

 

1. Copy any dmp files from C:\Windows\Minidump onto the desktop.

2. Select all of them, right-click on one, and click on Send To> New Compressed (zipped) Folder.

3. Upload the zip folder using the Attach button, bottom left of the dialogue input box 

[BerDov]

There is no \minidump folder in this computer.

 

In the Windows directory, there is a there is a memory.dmp file, 3.7MB in size, modified o 7/3/2019.

 

Searching for 'minidump' on c:\ brought back only 1 result: minidump-analyzer.exe in

\program files\mozilla firefox\

[phillpower2]

As you are doing a clean install shortly it makes no sense to pursue the BSOD but fwiw getting  a BSOD but no crash dmp suggests that they are not enabled on your computer.

[BerDov]

Got it, thanks.

 

There is a paragraph in the tutorial:

 

"Before you get started installing Windows 10, be sure that you temporarily disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot in your UEFI firmware settings until finished. Some motherboards may not support booting from a USB flash drive while these settings are enabled."

 

Is this something I should do? If Yes, where to find the setting?

 

Yesterday, I Was able to start  the install process by tapping the F12 button ("...which opened a screen titled Boot Mode Is Set to UEFI, with 3 options. One of them was "USB1 - UEFI OS ( PMAP)". Executing that option, opened a Windows Setup screen, language choice screen, and then a screen with an [Install now] button!"

 

I was planning to proceed the same way, but after reading about disabling Secure Boot I am a bit confused.

[phillpower2]

Use the Dell F12 One Time Boot option like you did yesterday.