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Complete System Loss After Latest Tech Preview Installation
Hello all,
I wonder if anybody can help me. Last weekend, overnight, my desktop machine apparently downloaded and installed the latest build of Win 10 Tech Preview. All previous builds had worked without problems.
The next morning, when I switched my monitor on, the computer was stuck on the loading screen, i.e. the Win 10 logo and the spinner. And it stayed like it. Restarting the computer got to that point and no further.
Occasionally, upon trying a restart, I got the message "Preparing Automatic Repair" but, again, that went no further.
Attempted Solution 1: create a boot USB using Rufus with the Win 10 ISO image. Change BIOS settings to boot from USB. When started, received the message "Press any key to boot from USB". Pressed key. The Win 10 loading screen reappeared and went no further. Back to square one.
Attempted Solution 2: create a bootable DVD with the Win 10 ISO image. Change BIOS to boot from CD/DVD. Start machine. Received message "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD". Pressed key. After 10 secs of activity from the DVD drive, the Win 10 loading screen reappeared and went no further. Back to square one.
Attempted Solution 3: check if machine can actually boot from CD/DVD. Booted from an old Win 2000 CD. The Win 2000 setup loaded perfectly. Conclusion: machine can boot from CD/DVD.
Worryingly, the Win 2000 setup program reported that the hard disk was either damaged or unformatted. However, this could be something to do with UEFI rather than actual disk damage.
Attempted Solution 4: disable hard disk as boot device. Changed BIOS settings to do this and booted again from CD. Made no difference.
Hypothesis: when trying to boot from a Win 10 ISO image on USB or CD, my machine goes to the hard disk to load (unknown) Win 10 components and fails.
Result: I am left with a system that cannot be started. Does anybody have any ideas of a way around this, apart from installing an earlier version of Windows (like the Win 2000 I have) and starting again with Win 10? I have lots of data on the hard disk I really don't want to lose, so I'd prefer (somehow) to get Win 10 running again if possible. Most of my important data is cloud-stored, but there are a few hundred gigs' worth of data which were too big to put on the cloud and too big to fit on my existing free space on the external disks I have.
My machine is a 6-year-old Medion desktop with 4GB of RAM, NVidia graphics (can't remember which), a Western Digital 500GB disk with just one partition, and an Intel quad-core processor.
Any help would be gratefully appreciated!
Many thanks
Andy.