Windows 10: System won't boot to W10 (even USB, WinPE, WinRE)

Hi All,

I bought an old, but in good condition Dell Inspiron 560 for cheap off some people who had recently purchased a new machine. I thought I'd use it as a sort of test system while studying for my CompTIA A+ exam. First thing I did was upgrade the BIOS so I could put a better CPU in it, and then I also upgrade the RAM. I also installed a 120GB SSD and kept the old 750GB installed for storage purposes. Additionally, I installed a new PSU. The system originally came installed with W7, but had been upgraded to W10 when Microsoft forced it upon everybody. I upgraded it further to W10 Pro since I wanted to play around with Hyper-V. I followed Kari's tutorial on moving the User's Directory to my storage drive to free up space on the SSD and to help the system boot up faster. Everything at this point worked fine.

However, a couple of weeks ago I started receiving some SMART errors on boot up, so I purchased a new HDD to replace the one currently in the system (the drive with the User's Directory). I installed it a few days ago and performed a clean install of Windows 10 Pro Fall Creator's (1709) edition. I did the same procedure as before and installed Windows on the SSD while moving the User's Directory to the new HDD. This time, however, I've encountered some boot problems. I originally thought maybe I messed up somewhere in the process of moving the User's Directory to the HDD, so I redid it. Unfortunately, the boot issues still exist.

Basically, the computer boots up to the Dell Splash screen and the "loading" bar either gets all the way to the end of about halfway and then the computer reboots, and then ultimately ends up in a reboot cycle. Periodically, it will make it to the Automatic Repair screen, but then reboots before completing. And then, sometimes it makes it through the repair process and tells me Windows could not repair the problem. Rarely, it will even make it all the way to the login screen, I will login, and everything works normally.

I was initially able to enable boot logging and in the log file I noticed numerous "not_loaded" errors that seem to be related the driver loading process. Unfortunately, I failed to save the text file to a USB drive when I had the chance and now I can't get back to it (I will keep trying). I've since tried to boot in to Safe Mode and use various options under Troubleshooting in the W10 Recovery Environment, but every time I try to run one of the options the computer reboots. I have even tried booting to my W10 USB drive, but the computer reboots when I tried to boot from it as well. I've used two tools to make a W10 USB drive (Rufus and Media Creation Tool), but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I've tried various other troubleshooting methods including running the built-in Dell Diagnostics (everything passed), taking out the new RAM and using the old RAM that originally came in the system, unplugging the storage drive and just leaving the System Drive plugged in, replacing the CMOS battery, verbose boot mode, reset BIOS/Cleared CMOS, etc. I've come to the conclusion that it's likely some sort of hardware compatibility problem.

On a whim, I tried a Linux Live USB and it booted perfectly. I then made a W7 Install USB using Rufus and it booted just fine as well. This pretty much makes it seems like it's something specifically with W10. I plan on trying to install an older edition of W10 to see if it works. Haven't done so yet, though.

(Other Notes: I created my W10 USB in Rufus using "MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI-CSM" since it is an older system, but it still doesn't work. The System Drive (SSD) is plugged into the SATA 0 port. Boot sequence in BIOS is correct. I even disabled booting from everything but the system drive.)

Anyone have any ideas on what I might try to get this system working with W10? I'm at a loss.

Thanks

:)

 

Force load MS Generic SD Card Reader Drivers in WinPE

Hi, hoping someone can help.

I boot into WinPE from a USB Flash drive (the device is installed with Windows 10 Pro) with no issues, however I need to access an SD Card while in the WinPE Environment for various reasons. WinPE does not load the required driver to access the SD Card,
now I know that by using DRVLOAD.exe I can 'force' load drivers, but, the driver I require is a standard MS Generic one.

According to Device Manager (when booted into Windows 10) the driver required is disk.sys .. loaded from disk.inf found in System32\DriverStore\FileRepository in the folder disk.inf_amd64_879a35d65b2a8a7d .. I have copied this folder onto my USB WinPE boot
drive, booted into WinPE and executed the command DRVLOAD.EXE XX\DRIVERS\SD\DISK.INF (where xx is the drive letter of the USB flash drive) and I get the message that the driver has been successfully loaded ... but .. I still cannot access the SD Card, the
card does not even show up in DISKPART.

Am I missing something obvious here?

I have two other devices, one that requires the Realtek SD Card driver to be loaded via DRVLOAD.exe, and another that does not use UEFI booting and uses the MS generic drivers that load upon boot .. both recognize and allow access to the SD Card when running
in WinPE.

Is it something to do with the UEFI secure boot (even though one of other devices is UEFI and I can still force load the Realtek SD driver and gain access to the card)

Really frustrating me so any assistance would be really appreciated.

 

Windows 10, Custom Winre.wim and install.wim Recovery problems

Hello,

I have been attempting to create a custom deployment image with a Winre & recovery image in case the system is not bootable. I was able to create a winre.wim image and able to boot to the RE environment, but my recovery image isn't being seen and the reset
feature doesn't function.

The winre.wim image was created with the following directions link: custom winpe 5 – A random blog from a sysadmin

The recovery install.wim image was created using the WinPE dism image capture tools.

The winre.wim image is stored on the recovery partition with the following directory "Recovery\WindowsRE\winre.wim". The install.wim image is stored on the same recovery partition, but in a different folder with path "Recovery\RecoveryImage\install.wim".

The winre.wim & install.wim images were registered using the ReAgentC tools in the winPE system before the system boots for the first time. I'm guessing this is working correctly because I'm able to boot to the recovery environment.

There must be something I'm missing causing the RE to miss the install.wim image. If more information is required please let me know and I will do my best to provide it.

Regards,

Lee

 

Start the computer and press F2 and Boot into Setup (Bios) On the Left panel expand System Configuration highlight SATA Operation. Make sure AHCI is selected and not ATA, IDE or Legacy
If booting from a USB Flash drive created with Rufus, Under General/Boot Sequence, Move USB Storage Device to First Boot Device. Save and Exit. Or press F12 at bootup to do a one time Change of Boot Order.

 

Hi Spunk,

Thanks for the response. Yes, it's set to AHCI. Forgot to mention I had checked that. I've checked so many things I'm having a hard time remembering what I've already done *Smile

 

And what about booting from USB? Did you change the Boot order?

 

Please clarify:
1) booting using windows 7 iso > no problems
2) booting using Linux > no problems
3) booting using windows 10 iso > unable to break loop
4) new CPU
5) new 120 GB SSD
6) new PSU
7) BIOS upgraded
8) upgrade history: windows 7 > windows home > windows pro
9) Users folder on 750 GB HD
10 SMART errors on 750 GB HD > replaced HD drive
11) clean install SSD > Users on HD > repair loop
12) have you consider another clean install (HD removed) and creating a new user on the SSD to check compatibility issues?

 

Copy the contents of the Windows 10 ISO
to a FAT32 Formatted USB
Use F12 if needed to boot from USB Stick..
Do Not Use Rufus.................

 

Hi ZBook,

Yes, looks like you got everything except for new RAM. I haven't tried another clean install because when I try to use my bootable W10 1709 (Fall Creator's Update) USB it hangs and then restarts as well. However, I just created another bootable USB with W10 1703 and it boots to it just fine and looks like it's going to allow me to go through with the clean install process. Wondering if either A) My system just isn't compatible with 1709 (not sure why that would be the case) or B) I've got a corrupt/bad 1709 ISO?

I tried using 1709 ISOs from 2 different sources: 1) The Heidoc Windows ISO Downloader and 2) The Microsoft proprietary Media Creation Tool. Neither work.

I'm going to use my bootable 1703 USB to wipe the drive and then reattempt to clean install 1709 on just the SSD to see if it works. I'm also going to download a fresh 1709 ISO and use it instead of the one I previously downloaded. I'll let you know what happens.

 

Yes, boot order is correct. I can boot to any USB (Linux, W7 Pro, W10 1703) except for the bootable W10x64 1709 USB I created.

Although, I was able to boot it to it originally to do the clean install, but now for whatever reason I can't anymore.

 

Hi Kyhi,

Can you expand on the problem with using Rufus? I also attempted this with the Microsoft proprietary Media Creation Tool and it still doesn't work.

 

See if you can make a new windows 10 iso: Download Windows 10

 

Will do. Is it ok to use Rufus? Or should I just allow the MCT to create my USB? As stated, I've tried both previously and neither worked.

 

It's unclear as to why the computer cannot boot using a bootable windows 10 iso and can boot with a windows 7 iso.
Try these troubleshooting steps:

1) Boot from USB Drive on Windows 10 PC Installation Upgrade Tutorials
2) Try another USB stick
3) Try all USB ports (2.0 and 3.0)
4) Maybe when using UEFI Bios you have to temporarily switch to Legacy in BIOS settings
5) Turn off temporarily fast boot, secure boot, CSM if enabled

 

I've previously tried #2 and #3. Typically, to boot from a USB I just tap F12 a boot up and select the appropriate USB device. This worked from W7 USB and W10 1703, but not for W10 1709. However, I just booted the W10 1703 USB, clicked "Repair This Computer" and launched a Command Prompt and wiped the SSD. I have now downloaded a new 1709 ISO and made a new bootable USB and it appears to be working. I'm at the setup screen to select Language settings and such. I didn't attempt to move the User's directory this time and will see if that's what was causing the issue.