Windows 10: Black screen every Thursday, PC quit sleeping this past week.

Just shoot me already....

 

Wow when it rains it pours. Some of these may or may not mean trouble. Don't dive in too deep. Warnings are just that.

The BSOD is what you have to be concerned about. I found a thread and it was around AMD. You recognize your video card is older.

So you need to get your wireless dongle, update your chipset and then update or downgrade your AMD driver. Wish I knew the direction. I would first start with the most recent AMD drivers.

That said this is a little like whack a mole so please do the other two things prior to moving on to AMD. Then if the newest AMD driver doesn't work move back several versions using the drivers on the AMD site.

Again it might be better to check out licensing to go back to Windows 7.

 

I agree - it's like having to rebuild the whole PC already. Question is, can I backup the HD with a clone, then install Win 7 with my system disks, then get all my stuff installed back onto it. OR is it just time to spend this time setting up that Win 8.1 refurb that I bought, installing all my programs on it, then transferring all data to them and saying goodbye to this box? Question is, if I have massive data that was written with Win10, will it be ok on programs that are installed on 8.1?

I just realized that I have a GeForce 6200 in a box here. Not sure if it's older or newer than this card. Been sitting here for years. We were thinking of using it in another box.

 

Helpppppp...!

 

Not sure where to start. Yes there is software to copy, clone and image. There is no reason to clone box. Your install is very suspect so you should not keep it. If you want Windows 10 I would start fresh.

Copy your data to an external drive, which can be called your March backup, and start with what every version of OS you want. Yes Windows 10 data can be read by Windows 8.1 or 7. Actually it is just data. If you had appropriate apps you could read data on XP.

Seven is a trickier install. It does not find the drivers the way Windows 10 does. I would have shop do it for you. Save a lot of stress.

Your data should be in your primary libraries, Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos. That said some data can be a little more difficult to find, like address books in Firefox or Outlook 20xx files. Not sure what you use for mail

Not sure you have any of this data but you said kids had games. Not sure how much of this needs to be saved.

If you are considering a machine rebuild then take the time to find all the app disks, the licensing keys etc. Ask where is data stored for each program if not in libraries.

Ken

 

Well the refurbed PC I bought has 8.1. So the essential thing I'd need to do is get it up and running, then install ALL my programs fresh on it, then transfer all my data from this PC to that one and phase this one out, I suppose. As long as all the data works backwards on 8.1, I should be fine - just a matter of installing and moving the data over. Then I suppose at some point, I could just format this one and install a fresh OS of Win 7 on it, from the original disks, then donate it to someone who could use it.

No, we don't have any kids or games. I'm 68. *Smile

 

I made the mistake ( BIG mistake! ) last night, of trying to roll back the video driver and see if that would help. Since then, it was blue screening every 10 minutes or LESS and driving me bat crazy. So I found a AMD Catalyst driver that apparently JUST came out last month, and just installed that, and things seem to be stabilized so far, where at least I can use my PC now. Jeeez....

 

Sorry mixed you up. Your data is 100% transferable. This is good on driver. Now we know it works, so we can hopefully cross that off list. Now new wireless dongle and updated chipset drivers.

 

This is something that I had forgotten about for awhile, but before the Windows 10 upgrade, I THINK the BIOS settings may have gotten reset wrong. Don't recall exactly when it was. But I have the Asus Essentio ASUS CG5270-BP004 MOTHERBOARD E4576_P5QL-VM EPU

If I wanted to go through and check all the BIOS settings that came with the PC, is there a place where I could download and print them all out, then go through and check them all in the boot menus?

 

Normally the BIOS settings are within manual. I did find one Essentio and they listed nothing, just how to enter BIOS, so no help at all. To find more info you will likely need model number from machine label.

If you just want to reset to the settings it was shipped with then usually within the BIOS there is an option to load defaults. I looked for boards like P5QL and then looked at their manual. Found a P5QL-CM

Assuming it's a close substitute for yours, enter the bios and click on exit tab.

You should see "Load Setup Defaults". If it is not under exit tab snoop around until you find. On some it is on opening page but the words should be the same.

This will zero out any mods you may have made.

Before you do this you may want to make some rough notes on current settings or if you have digital camera take pics. This way you will have a record should something need to be reset after load defaults.

Sound like you are planning to install Win 7 yourself.


Ken

 

No, if I can save this thing and still keep Windows 10, that's ideal.

If I set up the refurbed newer PC next to this one, and just run an ethernet cable between them, will I be able to easily copy data across, fast, using a two panel file manager like my Altap Salamander? ( it's a modernized version of the old Norton Commander, which is really cool, if you remember that! )

 

I just reset the BIOS to default settings, then it BSOD'd twice in about ten minutes. This whole time, it always seemed to be when I was moving the mouse cursor around rapidly. It was like it was tripping up the video. So I got curious and checked the mouse settings, and discovered that the mouse speed was set at the very max, from years ago. I turned it down to about 2/3 and will see if that helps any. Meanwhile, I need to install the new wireless dongle, and then find out how to upgrade the chipset, by which I think you mean the BIOS?

It has some kind of "Easy Flash" BIOS, from what I saw in the settings there. Perhaps they upgraded it for Windows 10?

After that, I'm even thinking that a new video card wouldn't cost all that much, or am I trying to save a dead horse here, when I have that much newer refurbed 8.1 PC on the sidelines waiting?

Just dug up the old Asus Win 7 recovery disk and it says it's from 2009. Whew...

 

Great.

I would not update BIOS unless you have to. A BIOS update can brick your machine. (Bricking - as in turns it into a brick.) Now this doesn't happen often but it can happen.

Now given all the stuff and crashes you've had maybe you should update BIOS but that decision has to rest with you.

By chipset I meant updating the chipset drivers. You ran a tool from Intel and it told you newer drivers were available.


Ken

 

Oh ok. Dont recall if I checked to see if there were BIOS updates anyway.

Oh yeah, ok. Yeah, I have the Intel Driver Update Utility Installer here. Let me see how this week goes. Thanks!

 

If the wifi dongle and chipset update don't work, I'm thinking a new video card. I don't play games, so it just needs to be newer tech, nothing expensive. A PCI Express, I think.( The existing one is Radeon HD 5670 )