Windows 10: BSoD has Incapacitated Computer - Cannot Reboot

The Dell web site says that Service Code (4T97CD1) is for a OptiPlex 745 Desktop. #3 is the power button.





Is there anything else connected to your computer other than the display, mouse and keyboard. If yes, disconnect it. Unplug your Ethernet cable as well. Really not needed until after the install completes.

 

I bought another Lexar 16 GB 2.0 Flash Drive. I am now downloading Windows 10 ISO again. A Techie at Malwarebytes wrote in an email that I should try another Download because the first one might be corrupted.

It won't finish downloading until after midnight, so I'll try to boot with it tomorrow. After the attempt, I'll post with the results.

I tried booting with the Flash Drive plugged into one of the Front USB Ports, but it didn't boot.

I don't have any other devices connected to the BSoD computer; the Printer, Speakers, and the Ethernet are all unplugged.

A woman salesclerk at Office Depot told me that I could bring in the BSoD computer and that they would boot it with a Flash Drive free of charge. She seemed confident that they would be successful in booting it.

I asked what software they had on the Flash Drive, and she wouldn't tell me. I asked if it was Windows 10 ISO alone or in combination with Rufus. She told me that there were many types of software that can be used to boot from a Flash Drive. I would bet that she didn't know what kind of software was on the Flash Drive; all she knew was that you plugged it in, and the computer booted.

After booting it, she said they would do a diagnostics check on the computer's software. I'm sure that if they discovered any bad software that they would offer to sell me a replacement.

 

Lets go over the steps to create the flash drive one more time.

1. Download or copy the Windows 10 ISO to the Windows 7 computer. This is the ISO you get via the Media Creation Tool.
1. Insert the flash drive into a USB port.
2. Start Rufus.
3. Browse to the Windows 10 ISO and select it.
4. Select MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI in the Partition scheme and target system type drop down.
5. Make sure the flash drive is selected in the Device drop down.
6. Click on Start.

 

I just downloaded the WIndows 10 Home 64 bit:

Win10_1709_English_x64.iso it's sha256 value is 2db4cd9934ee41c25c382a9b7ac361085d1cc0cd45f7651b5c0adfbc418c8ce5

I used Option Three: To Directly Download Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft. That should tell you if you have a corrupted ISO or not.

 

I went to Hash Check Shell Extension, but I could not find a starting point. There was no "Step-by-Step" as to how this App is to be used.

There's just an outside chance that the ISO File is corrupted; however, at this point, I am ready to check out everything.

Now, whenever I try to boot the BSoD computer, all I get is the message: Performing automatic IDE Configuration....

And then it freezes up. In can no longer get anything when pressing the F-12 or F-2 Keys. At his point, the situation looks bleak. I don't think the people at Office Depot would be able to boot it using a Flash Drive. They most likely have Windows 10 ISO either alone or in conjunction with Rufus.

With my limited knowledge, I would guess that the Hard Drive needs to be replaced. If that is the case, I think I would be better off just buying a different computer.

Something that puzzles me is why my anti-virus software (Windows Defender & Malwarebytes Antimalware) were not able to detect the BSoD software and delete it. I'll have to find out what one does when one gets one of the BSoD screens; the ones that say that there has been an error and the computer has to be restarted. It cooly states that they'll take care of the restarting for you. Then gradually, more and more BSoD screens appear with various messages until, finally, as in my case, the computer is completely locked up.

In the future, I'll have to address any BSoD screens immediately since they appear to multiply if you don't do anything.

 

Just install Hash Check Shell Extension. As I said, It adds a Create Checksum File choice to your right click Context Menu. You right click on the ISO you downloaded, select Create Checksum File, specify where you want it to be written then click Save. The program runs and the files is written where you told it to be written. It defaults to the same folder the ISO is in. Mine had a filetype of .sha256 so I had to tell Windows what to open it with. If you tell the program to call it .txt that makes it easier. Otherwise, right click on the sha256 file and select Open with and select Notepad.

A better choice is Ray Lin's MD5 & SHA Checksum Utility . No installation is required. Just download and run it. Use the SoftPedia download link as Cnet basically sucks.

Boot into Setup using F2. On the Maintenance page, Load Defaults which Restores system setup options to their factory defaults.
Under Post behavior, turn off Fast boot for now so you can see all messages during boot. Maybe something will show that helps id the problem.

Set boot Sequence to:

Onboard SATA Hard Drive
USB Device
Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive

Disable (Press the spacebar to enable or disable a device. (Enabled devices have a checkmark.))
Onboard or USB Floppy Drive
Onboard Network Controller

Press F10 to save and exit. See if it boots now.

 

I am now downloading another copy of Windows 10 OSI; this will take to later this evening. So I have to wait for the download to complete before I can switch my cables over to the BSoD computer.

By the way, the last time I attempted to boot the BSoD computer, I was not able to get any response from tapping the F-12 and F-2 Keys. That means that I can't perform any of the changes you suggest in your above post.

I'll give booting another try tomorrow afternoon after I run a few errands.

It appears that whatever kind of bug the BSoD software contains has totally incapacitated my computer. I am now looking into buying another one.

 

A problem with the OS will not affect the hardware or BIOS. That is a separate problem. Do you have another keyboard you can try in the BSOD computer?

 

I tried another keyboard but got the same results. I tried it with a GoldTouch -- an ergonomic keyboard.

Now, it freezes on the Dell Logo page -- the so-called Splash Page. When the Dell Logo page does load, when I press the F-12 and F-2 Keys, it does not bring up the Boot Device Menu or Setup.

Both times I downloaded Windows 10 ISO, the number of kilobytes was exactly the same. This would be an indication that the software is not corrupted.

At this point, I am going to give up. I bought a refurbished Dell Series 745 computer on Ebay. I'll have to buy a version of Microsoft Word to go with it; I'll buy Word 2016.

It appears that the BSoD software had completely disabled the BIOS.

I thank you and zbook for all of your suggestions. I don't think the people at Office Depot or anyplace else could solve the problem, and I'm sure it would end up costing me more than buying a different computer plus Word.

 

One last thing to try before you give up. Power off, remove the CMOS battery then power up and try F2. Start tapping it every second or so as soon as the Dell logo appears. If you can get into Setup, insert the flash drive, load setup Defaults, press F10 tyo save and exit, then tap F1`2 every second or so as soon as you see the Dell logo.

See what these steps do. WOn't take long to try.

The CMOS battery is not required for the computer to function. It's needed to remember the setup configuration.

 

Failure to boot can be Windows or hardware.
Ubuntu/Linux can be used as a boot option.
A Ubuntu bootable flash drive is created and boots a non-problematic computer.
If this drive is then successful booting the problematic computer it then indicates that there was a problem with Windows.
If this drive fails to boot the problematic computer it then indicates that there is a problem with the hardware settings or the hardware.

Ubuntu tutorials

 

I tried removing the CMOS battery, etc., but the computer reacted the same as before. The message that came up was:

Performing automatic IDE configuration....

It also told me that the date and time were not set.

The Ubuntu option looks to be quite complicated; I might try it at some later date. For now, I'll be waiting for the delivery of the computer I bought on ebay.

Thanks again guys for all of your suggestions.

 

I should have told you to set the date and time when I said to Load defaults. Both need to be done.

 

Things have gotten so bad that I have not been able to access Setup or the Device Boot Menu. So I was not able to reset the time or do anything else.

 

Look carefully at the system board with a flash light. Look for any capacitors that are bulging or leaking. It sounds to me like the system board has gone bad.

Examples here: pictures of bulging or leaking capacitors on system boards