Windows 10: Build 1511 wouldn't boot following Windows Updates

Hello Everyone,


I've solved the immediate problem, but am posting here in the hopes that someone may be able to confirm my theory as to why this problem occured... and possibly to further my own understanding.


Firstly, a bit of background, so you're not lost at the start:


My auntie has an Acer Aspire ES1-512-C5YW laptop, that was origionally a Windows 8 machine, but she took the free upgrade offer to Windows 10. She brought the laptop to me with concerns as performance had dropped right off and there was an issue with the Internet Security software.


When I first saw the laptop, it was running build 1511 of Windows 10 (64 Bits). The laptop has 4 GB RAM, a 500 GB Hard Drive (I am unable to say if it is SSD or mechanical) and an Intel Celeron Processor that runs at 1.8 GHz.


The facts of the problem, as best I recall, follow:


Performance had indeed dropped right out (unresponsive to clicks, simple programs (e.g. mspaint.exe) taking 1 minute plus to load, etc.) I eventually found that the laptop had about 30 Windows updates that were in the process of trying to install. Most of these appeared to be security updates, but there were a couple of Office 2007 updates and a Serial IO (which I later found out has something to do with the laptop's touchpad) driver update.


After a wait of about 1 hour and 25 minutes, the install process completed and I clicked on the Restart button. There was then a very long wait (I regret that I did not think to look at the time to determine how long, but must have been at least 45 minutes) before the laptop eventually restarted, but Windows failed to reboot. We were stuck at the Acer logo on a black screen with the spinning white dot circle, with no progress beyond that (We left it at that point for an hour, just to be sure).


I could not get the laptop to display advanced startup options, so tried that time honoured technique of restarting the laptop three times to force Automatic Repair. That did get the laptop to show the Starting Automatic Repair message, but Automatic Repair did not start.


This is how I solved it:


Fortunately, the laptop would boot my Linux Mint Live DVD, so I was able to use that to access the laptop's hard drive and back up my Auntie's documents to an SD card and download drivers for the laptop from Acer's website.


I then set to work with an installation DVD I created previously with Build 1903 of WIndows 10 on it to wipe the laptop's hard drive, reinstall Windows, the drivers I downloaded, some software for her to do work and restored her documents. I then left the laptop to perform the needed Windows Updates (which this time worked perfectly) and put some Internet Security software on.


So the good news is the laptop is now working.


This is my working theory of what went wrong:


Something in the Windows Update processes corrupted something in the Boot Sector and / or Windows portion of the laptop's hard drive, causing it to fail to boot. But because I do not have a created DVD for build 1511, I did not want to try to use my build 1903 DVD to repair the laptop.


So, what I wanted to ask was:


Has anyone ever had anything like this happen and knows for certain that a Windows Update was the cause? Also, now that the laptop has a build of Windows 10 for which I DO have an installation DVD, would I be safe to use that to try to do a startup repair if anything like this happens to my Auntie again (since she does not really have much knowledge of what to do when things like this happen)?


Any thoughts anyone can give me would be greatly appriciated, and I sincerely apologise for the lengthy post (and it's somewhat vauge nature).


Thanks.

:)

 

Now wouldn´t that b a cool feature...

Hi,



I just read an article in the new Linux magazine on the use of Ramdisks. Using those as a file system can drastically speed up read and write performance. That would be a cool feature to build in the OS of mobile phones that hold a memory card anyway, wouldn´t
it. Then saving a large Excel sheet wouldn´t take ages as it does now (on my E61 anyway), but just a few seconds...

Regards,

 

Windows 10 Pro doesn't show update 1511 (build 10586)

I have Windows 10 Pro and it doesn't show the update 1511. I've followed all the steps commonly advised:

• I ensured "Defer Upgrades" is not enabled in Windows Settings (Settings -> Update & security -> Windows Update -> Advanced options) or Local Group Policy (Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update -> Defer Upgrades and Updates);
  
• I've updated from Windows 8.1 but it has passed more than 31 days since;
  
• I haven't installed 1511 update previously.
  

What else can I do to make Windows Update to show it, without installing the update from the ISO manually?

 

What is the difference between build 1511, and the initial build (July 2015)?

Thanks very much for your detailed reply, Andrea.

I have tried a couple of different configurations but the re-install still hangs. I'll follow some more of your suggestions, and try again later, when I've finished doing actual work on my computer.

I'm fairly computer savvy (I build my own), and my comp is running well. I'm just bemused about the build numbers.

I have build 10240, and windows update insists everything is up to date. I do NOT have build 1511 (10586).

Checking windows update history on the support website leads me to this:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12387/windows-10-update-history

There are two lists, one for 1511, and one for Windows Initial, which is what I have. Why are there two different lists, and what is the difference between them?

Thanks again,

Rip