Windows 10: Refurb Dell Optiplex 5040 won't run Windows 10.

Hi all!

I recently acquired a refurbed Dell Optiplex 5040 and have run in to odd issues.

Being a refurb, I suspected it probably had a custom media installation-type deal of a Windows 10 install.. and it did. Even came with VLC Media player! I ignored all this and let Windows Update run for the first time. All seemed well until it tried to install the 20H2? update where it froze at "Getting things ready.. 75%" and then proceeded to no longer recognize the SSD.

Since then, I have:

* Successfully flashed the BIOS to the latest version from Dell. (1.16.iforgetwillupdatelater)
* Installed Windows 10 using two different DVDs (Home 64bit and Pro 64bit)
* Replaced the SSD's SATA data cable.
* Swapped out RAM and UDIMM slot placements.
* Ran a sfc /scannow, which found and fixed problems. A scan later yielded no problems.
* Ran chckdsk on the drive externally, outside a Windows environment. No results.
* Turned off any troublesome settings within Windows when the system stayed stable enough long enough to allow me to do so, such as the Windows 10 "fast boot" stuff. No dice.

- Note about the RAM: the system has 16GB total, in two mismatched pairs. One pair is 2x 4GB of Samsung, and the other is 2x 4GB of Micron. This in and of itself is bad, but the particular lingering problem I'm having persists even when I break the pairs apart and only run 2x4GB. Also, within Windows, System Properties lists "15.9GB usable".. so something somewhere is apparently reserving some memory; or something else is going on there.

- Note about the SSD: It's a "Kingfast" 2.5" SATA SSD (SATA III, I assume), which apparently are not good at all. It had 3 partitions on it from the start: the system partition; the OS partition; and the recovery partition of 750MB.. which was empty. It had 100% free space regardless of how I checked it. (Inside and outside of Windows; also connected to another PC via USB adapter.)

I'm currently running the latest version of memtest86 off of a flash drive on all of the memory. Last I looked, it was about 70% complete with pass 3/4, with 0 errors.

Now on to the problem.. the machine will boot to Windows and let me log on to the user profile, which seems to lag ever so slightly even for having only on-board video support at the moment. If I do nothing and just let it sit on the desktop idle for a while, something seems to be going on in the background, then eventually calms down.. but if I go to do anything else such as open Edge, or try to do anything with the task bar/start menu, the system starts to immediately hang until it ultimately BSODs with a "CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED" error.

After this, upon rebooting automatically, the system will no longer detect the SSD. Rebooting a second time solves this, or if you boot to the setup menu and in to the BIOS (which also fails to detect the SSD at this point), then just exit the BIOS and reboot normally.

As for this system's specs entirely:

* Core i5-6500
* 16GB mismatched DDR3L 12800 (memtest states 11-11-11-28 timings)
* 256GB "Kingfast" SSD

It's using the on-board video, on a 1080p monitor for setup purposes. Also worth noting, it has a Logitech wireless mouse plugged in, which seems to operate just fine everywhere, and a Razer Cynosa Chroma keyboard which also seems to function normally. (It belongs to another PC; it did come with a wired USB keyboard/mouse however.)

Sorry if I've been too vague or too descriptive, but I'm honestly at a loss here. It's beginning to look a lot like this SSD is either not good at all, or about to completely die. It's strange because there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it at all.

Has anyone had a similar issue with any refurb computers like this? I just can't seem to get it to maintain stability no matter what I do. I thought perhaps that the BIOS update would help (1.16.1 -- it was last updated June of 2020; the version installed was from 2018 -- v1.92.iforget).. but no dice.

Starting to seem like a faulty SSD to me, especially based on the track record of the brand. Having the mismatched memory is also an issue to me; I know they aren't supposed to be mismatched.

Other than the possibly-obvious hardware ideas, I'm out of ideas.

Also: if the Windows Version Number is actually necessary for a good starting point at any of this, I will definitely update the thread to include that as soon as memtest86 is done running on the system in question. Had I known I'd need that prior to running it, I'd have jotted it down to include initially. My apologies!

And of course, thanks in advance for any input!

:)

 

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