Windows 10: How to Fix a Non-Booting PC Remotely

My father's Windows 10 Pro PC v1607 build 14393.1715 won't boot and just shows the spinning circle. The computer just suddenly went off whilst using Windows (no BSOD) and hasn't worked since. I'm trying to fix his PC by talking to him from 300 miles away so you can imagine the difficulty! He should have an automatic Reflect full backup to an external drive so I can always recover from that when I next see him in several week's time.

His PC has a Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3 motherboard and SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD system drive.

We have done the following so far via telephone:

• Entered the BIOS and verified the SSD is connected
• Booted to the Windows Recovery Screen / Advanced Options and tried the following:

• Automatic Startup Repair - ran but didn't fix the problem
  
• Restore to a restore point a few days ago - ran but didn't fix the problem

I suspect the system disk or boot configuration is corrupted. I next plan to ask him to boot to the command prompt and run some commands including:

• chkdsk c: /f
• sfc / scannow

What other commands can I usefully run from the command prompt to repair his PC? What command prompts do I run to try and fix his UEFI boot configuration?

I've also sent him Kyhi's excellent recovery disk from the forum and could try using the Macrium boot configuration recovery tool. Is there anything else on this disk I should try?

:)

 

How to recover files from a non-booting phone

pls how can i on or start up my phone whiles is fully charged and cannot on any more

pls what should i do now to on it , because i cant access my files .

***Subject edited for clarity by the moderator.***

<Original subject: help>

 

Remote Desktop - Windows 10

 

Suggest you start by running HD Tune from Kyhi's disk to test the disk. The Health tab and Error Scan are the useful ones. That comes way before chkdsk and SFC.

If that's ok, then you could try Macrium Fixboot. However, it sounds more like a hardware issue including possible disk problems.

Why might a PC suddenly go off? One common reason apart from failure is thermal cut-out. If that had been the case you would have expected it to reboot - but it hasn't.

 

The windows operating system is 1607.
Was there a problem that had prevented a windows upgrade from 1607 to 1703?
Or was this a failure of an automatic upgrade?

Another option is registry repair when in the bootable iso windows advanced troubleshooting menu.

 

I defer updates for a while - I was just about to allow the PC to upgrade before this issue happened.

 

Are you using the bootable windows 10 iso command prompt: X:\windows\system32\cmd.exe?

What was the method that you had used to prevent upgrades?

 

It's the Pro version... so I guess Defer Feature Updates... so whatever happened seems unlikely to be related to upgrade issues. 'Suddenly went off' sounds hardware related, so I wouldn't suggest trying to fix Windows as the first step. And I'd discount thermal cut-out as it should have rebooted if it had been that.

RAM tests, stress tests, disk tests... check out the hardware first.

 

Thanks. I thought there might also have been a power glitch which corrupted the OS. There is life in the SSD system drive and motherboard since I can boot to the recovery screen and the system restore command apparently completed. I've sent him Kyhi's recovery disk so will test the SSD in a couple of days.

I fear I will have to recover from the Macrium backup when I visit in a few weeks.

 

Yes, I plan to use the command prompt under the advanced repair options. Updates are deferred under PC settings and group policy as advised in various posts on the forum.

 

What is the total RAM in the system? And how many modules?

 

He has 2x 4GB modules - these "Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900 C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit BLT2CP4G3D1869DT1TX0CEU "

I might run these checks:

chkdsk c: /f
sfc /scannow
bootrec /scanos

Can I run a memory test from the recovery command prompt?

I might also try repairing the boot configuration (UEFI boot & UK build) like this:

diskpart
sel disk 0
list vol - note number with FAT32 (probably 2)
sel vol 2
assign letter = z:
exit
cd /d z:\efi\microsoft\boot
attrib Z:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD -h -r -s
bootrec /fixboot
ren Z:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD BCD.old
bcdboot c:\Windows /l en-gb /s z: /f ALL

 

The RAM /DIMM /MB can be tested using Memtest86+ version 5.01.
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
The testing is not done by time but by passes.
To use the test results you need to have 8 or more passes.
The more the passes the better.
If fewer than 8 passes are made during the testing there is a significant number of false negatives.
A false negative is a pass when there is malfunctioning RAM.
When using Memtest86+ version 5.01 it takes approximately 1 -2 hours / GB RAM.
So testing can be start in the evening and finish sometime the next day with 8 GB RAM.
Just 1 error is a fail and you can abort testing.
Then test 1 RAM module at a time in the same DIMM to detemine which RAM module is malfunctioning or to determinine whether there is a problem with the DIMM /Motherboard.
When the RAM are tested 1 module at a time the testing again is by passes and 8 or more passes are needed to have a usable test result.
When the testing has completed 8 or more passes use a camera or smart phone camera to take a picture and post an image into the thread.
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

Microsoft Community
MemTest86+ - Test RAM Windows 10 BSOD Tutorials

 

Thanks - I manged to run the Windows memory test (mdsched) from the command prompt which showed no errors. Chkdsk also ran without errors. I tried the boot configuration repair in my post 10 but that didn't work.
The PC repair will now have wait until I visit and recover from the Macrium Reflect backup. There seem to be two ways to do this:

• Boot from the Reflect repair USB and recover the system drive backup partitions or
• Boot the computer from a Windows 10 USB flash drive in UEFI mode (CSM disabled). Delete every partition on the drive, and install Windows to the unallocated space. Windows will set it up as GPT partitioning and create the EFI System Partition. Then boot the computer from the Macrium Reflect rescue USB flash drive and restore the image of the old Windows right over the top of the newly created Windows partition. Then you might also have to run the Fix Windows boot problems utility from the restore menu of Macrium Reflect.

Which is the most reliable method?

 

Not sure I understand why you would use method 2, which appears to be a clean install which you then overwrite with a prior Macrium image.

If you want to do a clean install, that's fine---but why would you then overwrite it? The premise of imaging is to save you from having to do a clean install and then all applications.

Am I grossly misunderstanding something?

Is the hardware on the machine the same now as it was when the image was made?