Windows 10: W10 Reset pretty much broke my pc

So upgrading went good, my problems started when I used the reset option on my computer. the first time the reset froze at 99% and I went to bed with it going, 5 hours later it was stuck on a black screen so I rebooted and was able to get a option to do another reset when I was trying to boot in safe mode.

Well that did the same thing it froze at a black screen, I rebooted and now it just loads up the dell logo goes to a black screen and just loops.

My pc is prebuilt and it didn't come with a W7 Installation disc, I tried calling dell but they said it was out of warranty and it cost 100+ for help.

I'm not sure what I can do, I have my windows xp instal disc from a old pc. Is there anyway to install that on my pc and upgrade to W10 from that?

:)

 

Microsoft Bluetooth Designer mouse cannot connect to window 10

Broke my designer mouse (dropped it and broke the scroll wheel). Bought a replacement which is not recognised by Bluetooth on the PC it was originally working with. It is recognised by a brand new PC also running W10 but I need to use it with the older
PC (also W10).

Advice from MS was to remove the driver (which was listed) and restart. After restart the designer mouse has not reappeared in the device list.

Have tried to download the driver from MS website but no driver download is offered under the designer mouse downloads page.

 

Noka N8 Screen

Just dropped my pretty much brand new n8 off my bed and it's broke the gorilla glass...



Anybody have any idea on where to get a replacement part in the Uk?



Cheers



Nick

 

Did Dell put a Factory Restore partition on your hard drive? If so you could restore back to Windows 7 and then do the upgrade to 10 again.

 

I tried spamming f8/f9 and it wont go anywhere, is it because windows wont load? If I install windows xp would I be able to check and use the partition that way?

 

There is probably a different key to get into the Factory Restore when Windows can't boot. A Google search might turn it up.

 

See: How to restore your Windows 7 computer to factory settings

Do you have a Win7 System Repair disc (you would have created it before hand).
If you know someone with a machine that has Win7 on it and it is the same bit depth (32 bit or 64 bit) you can create one on that machine and use it to look at your partitions. It might be possible to boot right from the Dell recovery partition if it's still there.

I should probaly ask: Did you create the Dell recovery discs - most people don't.

 

I don't have a Win7 install disc and I can't find someone with one, I tried dell and since I was out of warranty they said they would only help me if I paid for a one time something advanced tech help for 130 dollars or a year warranty for 100, so yeah forget that.

I talked to Microsoft support and they recommended I download windows 10 ISO and put it on a usb drive. So I'm going to get a usb tomorrow but I'm concerned that if I install windows 10 how I would get my drivers and my network going, I have a drivers and utilities disc that came with my pc would that still work on windows 10?

 

Now why didn't I think of that? *Smile

The new Media Creation tool allows you to download and create the install media (DVD or Flash drive)
See: Windows 10 ISO Download - Windows 10 Forums
In step 5, select USB flash drive instead of ISO file shown in the image
You could alternatively select ISO file and then put it on the flash drive using the Rufus utility
See OPTION TWO in USB Flash Drive - Create to Install Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Once you have the Win10 install media created (DVD or Flash drive) you can use it to investigate more options.
1. Can you use the Win10 advanced options to roll-back to Win7?
2. Is the Dell recovery partition intact?

Post again after you have the install media and members can help you answer those questions.

The last ditch option is to download the Win7 ISO from Microsoft and do a clean install of Windows 7.
You need the the key from COA sticker on the machine.
See: Microsoft Software Recovery

The Windows USB/DVD Download Tool is a utility to put the ISO on a DVD or Flash drive
See: Windows USB/DVD Download Tool - Microsoft Store

This really should be the last choice since your installed programs and your data will NOT be available after a clean install. If your data is backed up or on an external drive, then only your installed programs will be lost. You'll need to locate the license key for any software your previously purchased to reinstall those.

The best hope is that booting the Win10 install media, selecting repair .. advanced options will get your Win7 back.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Don't worry about your drivers yet - Windows is very good at providing drivers, you might have to get any that aren't supplied or chose an OEM driver over the one windows update provides, but that's about 10 steps out.

 

Sounds like a real mess.

The F8 key is the one used to launch the factory restore option:

http://www.dell.com/support/article/...9/SLN129659/EN

It's basically a BIOS option. If you can't get into it, it makes me wonder about the state of the partitions on your HD.

One option: if you got the free upgrade to activate, you can now use bootable media (USB thumb drive, DVD) to do a clean install of Win 10, and that will activate.

 

The free upgrade should of activated once I downloaded it right?

 

Activation occurs during the upgrade, not the download. It should be automatic - in other words the process verifies that your base OS qualifies and then does the upgrade.

I completed the process without entering my Win7 key - it used the Dell OEM key and registered the device on the MS activation servers and placed a token in firmware. License keys are a thing of the past, if you look at System Information (msinfo32), you'll see a partial key that is the base Windows 10 key for that edition. This will be the same on every install of that edition (Home or Pro) and has no real bearing on genuine Windows. Win10 license keys are more like OEM keys of the past - one key is used to install Windows, but the real validation is in firmware.

At least that's the way I understand authentication for Win10.