Windows 10: OK, I screwed the pooch. Booting to a black screen

I have a Acer Veriton VN4620G. Basically an i5 Revo. I haven't used it in a while and wanted to reinstall Windows 10. Before doing so I noticed there were maybe 15 partitions in the only drive C:\. I have dealt with that before successfully (with your help) so, I went ahead and identified the boot and the erecovery partitions. I left them alone and decided to extend the boot partition to absorb all the other unallocated memory using the mini tool partition wizard. All went well until the tool stated the computer had to be rebooted. Now it boots to a black screen.

So, that apparently wasn't enough stupidity for a day. I figured, what the heck why not just try doing a clean install with the MS media creation tool. I was able to boot from the USB. Ran in to several difficulties there. It would not allow me to use the boot partition. I deleted and formatted that partition and it still will not let me install Windows using this tool. I think it was regarding the MBR or GPT file structure. Something like that. I simply did not understand the problem.

I can access the UEFI / Bios. However I still boot to a black screen. From what I have gotten I need to somehow prepared the hdd structure before it will let me install Windows.

Can someone keep me from chucking this thing in the dumpster?

:)

 

windows 10 creators updates completed after several re-boots. System is left in an unstable won't boot.

system state startup options are ignored and only attempts startup repair , safe mode is available but option does not function.

boot.log unavailable as all startup options are ignored and all system does is loop through startup repair and never gets passed the

failed startup screen. what choices are there to boot this system. It appears that windows updates have screwed the pooch.

 

n97 firmware mid to late december. so where is it?

Perhaps it is now mid to late January. As usual, Nokia has screwed the pooch AND dropped the ball. Still no Skype!!!

 

When I do a clean install I always delete all partitions on the drive then then do the install. I don't do a format. I let the installer handle making all the partitions.

 

Not sure where to go from here. Seems the media creation tool will not accept the drive as-is. Since I boot to a black screen I can no longer look at the drive to see what partitions I have or how they are formatted. Is there disk tool I can install and boot from usb?

 

Ditto!!!! Things seem to go much better that way. Usually I use a bootable GPARTED CD to wipe a drive or put a drive in a dock attached to my Linux computer with GPARTED installed on it.

 

Try Kyhi's bootable rescue disk. You can call up disk management from it and inspect your drivers. Black screen may be as simple as replacing/updating video driver.
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk

 

Attempting Kyhi's tool now.

 

Not so good. I used rufus to creating a bootable USB with Kyhi's tool. The USB doesn't boot to the program. Still working with it

 

1) Find 3 flash drives that you can format ( > or = 8GB )
2) Create a bootable Windows 10 iso:
Download Windows 10
3) Create a bootable Memtest86+ version 5.01 flash drive
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
Memory problems. - Microsoft Community
MemTest86+ - Test RAM Windows 10 Tutorials
4) Create a Ubuntu flash drive:
Create a bootable USB stick on Windows | Ubuntu tutorials

5)If there are any problems booting perform the following steps and view these links:

a) Boot from USB Drive on Windows 10 PC Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials:
Boot from USB Drive on Windows 10 PC Windows 10 Tutorials

b) If you have fast boot or ultra fast boot enabled in your UEFI firmware settings, then you will need to temporarily disable fast boot or ultra fast boot to be able to boot from a USB:
How to Enable Fast Boot or Ultra Fast Boot in UEFI Firmware Settings for Windows:
Enable or Disable Fast Boot in UEFI Firmware Settings for Windows Windows 10 Tutorials

c) Try all USB ports (2.0 and 3.0)
d) Maybe when using UEFI Bios you have to temporarily switch to Legacy in BIOS settings
e) Turn off temporarily fast boot, secure boot, CSM if enabled

 

Thanks, zbook. All I can say is WOW. Before pursuing your recommendations let me tell you what I have. I can load the Windows Media Creation Tool on an USB. I can select my OS. Next screen, shows my HDD partitions. I see my original Windows partition now labeled Drive 0 Partition 12 461.3 GB free Primary.

When I select it and click next I get a dialog box, "We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one". I see the "NEW" option, but it is grayed out. I have tried everything from deleting that partition to reformatting that partition. Nothing will get me past this point.

It is a small blessing, but I am happy to see the Windows Installation program on screen. Beats the black screen *Sad

 

When using the bootable windows 10 iso there are initially two options: Install or repair your computer.
When clicking install to make a clean install all partitions are deleted then an unallocated drive is created and then you can do whatever you want with the unallocated drive.
Clean Install Windows 10 Windows 10 Tutorials

If you want to see what is on the drive then instead of clicking install > look in the left lower corner and click repair your computer

If you want to repair you can start with system restore (oldest restore point and work your way to the newest restore point)
If system restore fails or if there are no restore points then click startup repair.
If start up repair fails then move to command prompt.

To see what is on the drive please use a camera or smart phone camera to take pictures and post images into the thread.
To post images you can use one drive or drop box or google share links.

1) open command prompt > administrator: X:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe > X:\Sources> type:
a) c:
b) dir
c) d:
d) dir
e) x:
f) bcdedit /enum
g) bcdedit | find "osdevice"
h) diskpart
i) list disk
j) list volume
k) select disk 0
l) list partition
m) select partition 1
n) detail partition
o) select partition 2
p) detail partition
q) select partition 3
s) detail partition
t) select partition 4
u) detail partition
v) continue in the same fashion to view the information on all partitions on disk 0
w) select disk 1
x) list partition
y) exit

 

How much is the computer worth to you?

That is, how much loss would you suffer by chucking it out?
Versus, how much would you spend to have it fixed?

Just take it to a shop and let them fix it. Maybe $100?

 

I don't care if I lose everything on the drive. Iat this point I am just trying to install a clean copy of Windows 10.

 

Are you deleting all the partitions and not just clicking on them?