Windows 10: Windows 10 update 1903 continued woes

My PC has been trying and failing to update from 1709 to 1903 all year prior to that it would fail with earlier updates due to lack of disk space, but I subsequently did some housekeeping and this wasn't the cause of the 1903 failures, although nothing would really indicate its cause. It was incessant in its attempts, popping up annoying dialog boxes on screen asking me if I want to update now and although it was usually inconvenient and I know from bitter experience, futile, occasionally it caught me out when I was typing in another window and off it went an another doomed quest to install the latest update, leaving me without a PC for another 40 minutes.


However, quite inexplicably, on 27th December 2019, an update was inadvertantly triggered and it worked! Well, it took a round about route to "working", after this update attempt I was getting a BSOD KMODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED but with no details as to why, no driver name or anything to go on. After a few failed attempts to auto repair and a trip via Safe Mode the PC decided it would boot up just fine. Much to my amazement, it welcomed me to the latest version of Windows 10 and I was surprised to see it was now successfully running 1903! After so long and so many failures, it had finally done it. However, my celebrations were to be short-lived, for the next day, turning on the PC I got the BSOD again, and this time I couldn't shake it off. Every reboot/repair attempt resulted in another BSOD. Safe Mode and various other recovery options to no avail, I relunctantly selected to restore to the previous Windows Update and here I am again, back at 1709 and typing into this form at answers.microsoft.com, facing another potential long road of update attempts/failures.


I have removed a bunch of old software that I don't use anymore, checked my drivers are all up-to-date, run a hardware test and checked again that disk space if all fine - which it is. This should be a very healthy system. I am now waiting for the new storm to arrive, as I dare not invite the Update I know is coming any earlier for fear of losing more days of productivity.


I've long had the sneaky unsubstantiated suspicion that this may be related to my Sound Blaster Z-Series, although I'm on L13_1_01_06 which is the latest version. The reason I have this feeling is because in the past I had problems with the driver and I had to uninstall/reinstall it to get it working. Twice. Also, during my aforementioned BSOD boot loop problem, occasionally I'd start hearing static from the sound card, although all sound is working just fine again now back in 1709.


If I get another BSOD in the days or weeks ahead, are there any tricks I am missing for determining the driver that caused it? The boot log didn't help, and I noticed when it is reporting KMODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED that it seems to spend a short time recording some data. Is that data all going into the event log, seems unlikely to me? Or is there some other secret stash of information that might help me narrow down the cause?


Also I have heard that 1903 was full of bugs and sounds like I've found a fair few of them myself. 1909 is out ... is it worth trying to go straight from 1709 to 1909, or is that just going to make my life ever more complicated?


All I ask is for a PC that boots every day without issue. A tall order, perhaps ... heaven knows, I've been in the PC business since Windows 3.1. Perhaps I should bite the bullet, give Windows the final kick goodbye and install Linux instead. At least when Linux goes wrong I have more than half a chance of debugging it and figuring out where the problem lies and fixing it.

:)

 

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.

 

Windows 10 Update

Well just noticed a pretty large one pop up coming in at 914MB, seems it makes some pretty serous updates.

KB3172985
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3172985

This security update includes improvements and fixes in the functionality of Windows 10 Version 1511 and Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4. It also resolves the following vulnerabilities in Windows:

• 3175677 MS16-094: Security update for secure boot: July 12, 2016
• 3174060 MS16-093: Security update for Adobe Flash Player: July 12, 2016
• 3171910 MS16-092: Security update for Windows Kernel: July 12, 2016
• 3170048 MS16-091: Security update for .Net Framework: July 12, 2016
• 3171481 MS16-090: Security update for Kernel Mode Drivers: July 12, 2016
• 3170050 MS16-089: Security update for Windows secure kernel mode: July 12, 2016
• 3170005 MS16-087: Security update for the Microsoft Print Spooler: July 12, 2016
• 3169999 MS16-085: Cumulative security update for Microsoft Edge: July 12, 2016
• 3169991 MS16-084: Cumulative security update for Internet Explorer: July 12, 2016

 

Cannot update to 1903

O_O thats a lot of steps. Starting in a few mins. Quick question though:
You list a set of instructions for "Windows 10 iso as an in place upgrade repair" with links, and then you included a box for "Routine troubleshooting steps" with 13 steps including links.

Which should I be following first?

PLEASE don't hate me for asking this as this just occurred to me. Should I try the update in Safe mode? I downloaded the MediaCreationTool 1903, but it wasn't successful in doing the update, nor was it successful in creating Usb install.