No BSD - just crashes & restarts itself.

essenbe said:

Yes, it is. You should be able to do a clean install, but there have been a lot of people who have had issues activating. By all rights, you should not. If you are willing you could try an upgrade install, just install from within your current OS. If that doesn't do it, then try a clean install.

I think I'll go the clean install route. The old "slap me once" rule!

essenbe said:

OK, see if this helps https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1...n-install.html . Make sure you back everything up first, and disconnect all drives except the one you are installing Windows on.

So far, so good Steve. It was quick & simple.

I have a theory why I was having issues. After the clean install I got a power error when plugging my Wacom pen tablet into my keyboard USB port, stating there wasn't enough power on that port. It then occured to what may of happened.

As an upgrade, Windows 10 must of inherited many of my settings in Windows 7. Namely, I used an Apple keyboard that has USB ports on both sides. On an Mac computer these USBs are fully powered as a hub at 500mA. But, Windows does not. Windows sets the max power for each port at 100mA. On Windows 10 the Apple keyboard USBs supply plenty of power for a mouse but not a USB thumb drive or camera reader or my Wacom.

Four years ago, while on Win7, I found this "hack" on YouTube how to change the power to these to 500mA using the registry. When upgrading, this hack might of carried into Win10 but Win10 didn't like it. What I notice was my Wacom pen tablet seemed to work but wasn't responding correctly & many crashes happened while trying to use it. After the clean install I got errors when plugging in the Wacom to the keyboard port.

I found my old post at the Win7 forum but the original YouTube how fix this video has been removed. The changes need to be made in the registry which looks much different than Win7.

It would be nice to plug into the keyboard's USB because the Wacom's cable is very short. I have a post asking for help to change the keyboard's power from 100mA to 500mA but no suggestions yet.

Anyway, I believe that was the main issue. Doing a clean install the PC seems much faster & no issues.

essenbe said:

Do you have a USB 3.0 port to plug into? USB 3.0 I believe, puts out 500mA, but a USB 2.0 port puts out much less.

I have 2-USB 3s & several USB 2s. I was just trying to avoid adding more wires.

My PC mid-tower sits in on confined shelf below the desktop of my computer cabinet. I need 6' of cables just to get to it from the slide out for the keyboard. The Wacom came with about 2' of cable so on Win7 it wasn't a problem plugging it into the Apple keyboard's USB after changing the hub's USBs from 100mA to 500mA. Now on Win10 I'll need to purchase a long USB extension or a long USB2 cable (type A male to micro-B-male shown below). I was just trying to avoid more wires.

It's not a big deal to purchase longer cables. It's just I know there's a solution to be found in the registry, as I did on Win7. It just seems weird that Mac treats the keyboard as a fully powered USB hub & Windows reduces to power from 500mA to 100 mA max.

Attachment 29556

essenbe said:

You can also get extension cables or a powered USB Hub. As far as reducing the power, it has always been my understanding that the USB Standards is that USB 2.0 puts out much less power than USB 3.0. I may be mistaken there. I know that I have a Logitech Gaming keyboard I used to use in a powered USB Hub and never had a problem.

I don't know how much power the Wacom needs but it's certainly more than 100mA. I'll get an extension or a longer exact cable & use one of the USB 3s. Far simpler than screwing up the registry!

I also noticed the MS Intellimouse had issues with the keyboard USB, too. When booting to the Start Screen, the red optical beam on the mouse wasn't lit. Unplugging / plugging in would fix it & it would be OK until the PC went into sleep mode, then unplugging / plugging in would be needed . When plugged into a different USB this didn't happen.

Thanks again!

GARoss said:

I don't know how much power the Wacom needs but it's certainly more than 100mA. I'll get an extension or a longer exact cable & use one of the USB 3s. Far simpler than screwing up the registry!

I also noticed the MS Intellimouse had issues with the keyboard USB, too. When booting to the Start Screen, the red optical beam on the mouse wasn't lit. Unplugging / plugging in would fix it & it would be OK until the PC went into sleep mode, then unplugging / plugging in would be needed . When plugged into a different USB this didn't happen.

Thanks again!

My Windows 10 Setup told me to uninstall my Watcom drivers before it would proceed.