Windows 10: I did a PC reset with Windows 10, it failed & now I have no OS at all

It's been a while since I updated my BIOS but it should be UEFI capable. Perhaps I will try to update it now anyway while I try to get this install going. Thanks for the idea!

 

Hi Aquapod, I can help you.

You have a UEFI capable motherboard. You'll want to use that capability.

What graphics card do you have? (this is important because pure UEFI boot requires a modern graphics card) (*1)

In your BIOS/UEFI options, you should see something under the boot tab of the advanced section called "Compatability Support Module" or something similar. This is how ASUS UEFI boards boot in legacy mode.

Ideally we'll want to disable that module, but ONLY if your graphics hardware supports it. This will enable pure UEFI boot mode.

If you have "fast boot" enabled, disable it for now.

If your compatability support modue is enabled, make sure the 4 options underneath the enable/disable option are set to "UEFI first, then legacy".


Follow each step exactly.
To prepare a flash drive to boot the Windows 10 ISO installation data in UEFI and get your computer running do the following:

1) On another computer, format the flash drive as "FAT32"
2) Mount the Windows 10 Techbench ISO file (or use 7zip to open it, if you cannot mount it)
3) Copy all the files from the ISO to the flash drive.
4) Once the files are copied, safely remove the flash drive from the computer.
5) Power off the computer you intend to fix.
6) Insert the flash drive
7) Power on the computer.
8) Either enter your UEFI/BIOS setups, or spam the F8 key while the computer is starting up.

(If in UEFI/BIOS)
9a) In advanced mode, open the boot tab.

10) Locate the entry for the flash drive. It should be prefixed with "UEFI" and look similar to this
[ UEFI: Flash Drive Name (size in GB) ]

11) Select that entry to boot the setup.
------------------------------------------

Now once booted, you want to format your system disk. The cleanest way is to do this from the command line, if you're not comfortable with the command line, you can use the setup GUI once you reach the partition selection menu.

[To quickly fix via the command line]
Press Shift + F10 to open a console.
Type the command
Code: diskpart[/quote] Once that loads type the command:
Code: list disk[/quote] Identify the system disk you wish to install Windows to. (make sure 100% that you identify the correct disk)
It should have a number in the entry like: "Disk 1 Online 10240MB ... ... ..."

Type the command
Code: select disk 1[/quote] The format the whole disk, (all data will be lost) use the command:
Code: clean[/quote] Now convert to GPT
Code: convert gpt[/quote]
Now let's create the ESP partition. The size part is very important.
Code: create partition efi size=100[/quote] Now format that new partition so it works properly.
Code: format fs=fat32 quick[/quote] Create a new partition for windows
Code: create partition primary[/quote] And format
Code: format fs=ntfs quick[/quote] Now we can exit the console (you enter this command twice like it shows below)
Code: exit exit[/quote]
Now you can proceed with the install, and everything should work properly.

If your graphics card supports UEFI we'll disable to CSM after you're all set up.



==Notes==

 

Hydranix, Thanks so much for that very detailed response. I have 2 graphics cards, Radeon HD 5830s in Crossfire X.
I am looking in my BIOS & I am having trouble finding the 'compatibility support module' or 'fast boot' options. I looked in all the options in the Advanced & Boot tabs. By the way my BIOS version is 1503. I will start prepping the Win10 ISO, but I am not sure about those settings I mentioned.

 

*UPDATE*

Thank you again for all replies so far, I appreciate them.

Also, in my fuss to fix this, I feel I may have neglected a piece of important information about my PC. I am not sure if I mentioned that I run a dual RAID0 configuration. 90gb SSDx2 in RAID0 for booting OS, 1tb HDD x2 in RAID0 for apps & data. I now believe this is the root of my problem.

The other day I caved in & took it to the Windows store, because I was getting nowhere. They got Windows 10 on my PC, & when I booted up in the store, & noticed that only a single 90gb drive was showing up, which I pointed out to the tech ( not the tech who worked on my PC...of course my was not in when I picked it up). So we rebooted it, entered the BIOS & RAID was not turned on. Turn RAID on, reboot.

Black screen, blinking cursor. Same issue I was having at home before I brought it in. So at this point I'm figuring its an issue with Windows 10 & RAID. I took it home as is, because at least it had an OS again & they didn't seem to be able to do anymore for me there & I didn't want to leave my PC there again. ( On the plus side though, they dusted the hell out of my PC & all staff were very pleasant)

Whether it is simply a driver issue or RAID compatibility as a whole I am not yet sure. I suspect that when I did the initial Win10 Reset feature, that it might have wiped out my existing RAID driver which is why I would get the 'device driver missing' error (mentioned in my initial post) when I tried using a Win7 disc.

I am planning on reinstalling RAID driver & seeing how that goes. I have my Win7 driver still I believe, but perhaps I should try to find an updated one for Win 8 or 10. If anyone knows of these already & could save me some searching, that would be appreciated. (My motherboard is an Asus Crosshair Formula V)

Or if anyone has any other ideas on what might be causing the RAID issues, I am all ears. Thanks.

 

Interesting, thanks for the follow-up. I am sorry I have very little experience with RAID setups, so I won't be of much help, but hopefully someone else here will chime in.

 

If you feel you are completely dead in the water why not try a new hdd , load it win 7 then update to win10 , load all your programs then clone to the old hdd , this way you have a buffer if a problem come up.

 

Thanks Robert, but that was an earlier post. System is not dead in the water, & it is now booting up. However, it is only on a single drive, not a RAID0 array like it should be.

 

And that's why I've recommended removing the Reset PC tutorial or better just redirect it to Refresh PC one as the preferred and safer choice. Sad story, really. And you are not alone.

I would have enabled this option only after this first year - it's so stupid now, when most people are supposed to do in-place upgrades. That means most people wont create an installation media. And if something goes wrong, bye-bye setup files from the root drive.

 

I had a very similar situation to you Aquapod. I also had RAID 0 configured hard drives.
Windows 10 refused to do a clean 'RESET' (and admittedly it took about 5 attempts to get it upgraded from Windows 7, eventually working via the media creation tool).
It would get to 99% restart and then restart without a OS, repairs did nothing.
Changing the RAID configuration to RAID 1, installed without a hitch - and worked first time!
Now fingers crossed, it doesn't freak out over the initial upgrade licensing! Time will tell.

RAID 0 + Windows 10 beware!