Windows 10: Windows 10 bricked our Dell

I'm the computer guy for a small volunteer fire company. Got a Dell Inspiron 3459 that had been running Windows 7. This model is not cleared for Win 10 upgrade. Somebody triggered the Windows 10 update on/around July 10 2019. It might have been part of the scheduled updates. Nobody claims responsibility.


PC is now bricked.


Dell/Win 7 restore tools don't recognize OS. Win 10 won't recognize OS/ system partition (which is why not cleared for Win 10 - yep).


Tried various BIOS/UEFI/diskpart / bcd repair hacks.


1) Is there some way I can recover the PC short of buying a Windows 10 USB install license?


2) If I buy the install license, do I need a new hard drive to fix the model incompatibility?


Many thanks.

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Tweaking the DELL

Having attempted to upgrade at least 3 Dell boxes, I'll give you step-by step "upgrade" instructions:

Unlatching the heatsink but don't pull it off.
Place a brick on the heatsink so it stays put.
Boot the computer,
Run Prime 95 and SuperPi (32M)
While those are running, grab the brick and whack the heatsink off
Watch the chip explode

Buy a new compter - that's your upgrade *Big Grin

Edit - step 1 is buying safety glasses

 

Unlocked Realtek HD Audio Drivers Windows 7 & 8 (With Dolby Digital Live and DTS Interactive)

DTS supported natively by Windows 8/8.1 and it should work on windows 10 too just DDL require to unlock your driver .