Windows 10 boot loop question - USB OS load vs. System Reset

Gamingws34 · 07 Aug 2015

PC worked great day one of my upgrade; games were running way better and I was happy with 10. However, last night I put the PC to sleep; when I woke up, I noticed PC on so I powered the monitor and the tool bar on the bottom left (cortana, windows button, etc) was not responsive. Upon restart, the PC loops repeatedly in this order: "Preparing Automatic Repair", window pops up and disappears then "Diagnosing your PC", then "Automatic Repair" with the options "Restart" and "Advanced Options". I've launched startup repair which fails, my BIOS does not have a DEP selector (Which fixes the issue for many users) in the CPU settings, system finds no restore points, flashes, etc.

My only options now seem to be a system reset or USB boot; my question is this:

What is the difference between USB boot and system reset? I don't want to lose anything, especially these huge game downloads that would take forever to re acquire on my now much slower internet. Also, are there any other options? Perhaps wait for a new version of Windows 10? Thanks in advance everyone,

Paul

simrick · 07 Aug 2015

Gamingws34 said:

PC worked great day one of my upgrade; games were running way better and I was happy with 10. However, last night I put the PC to sleep; when I woke up, I noticed PC on so I powered the monitor and the tool bar on the bottom left (cortana, windows button, etc) was not responsive. Upon restart, the PC loops repeatedly in this order: "Preparing Automatic Repair", window pops up and disappears then "Diagnosing your PC", then "Automatic Repair" with the options "Restart" and "Advanced Options". I've launched startup repair which fails, my BIOS does not have a DEP selector (Which fixes the issue for many users) in the CPU settings, system finds no restore points, flashes, etc.

My only options now seem to be a system reset or USB boot; my question is this:

What is the difference between USB boot and system reset? I don't want to lose anything, especially these huge game downloads that would take forever to re acquire on my now much slower internet. Also, are there any other options? Perhaps wait for a new version of Windows 10? Thanks in advance everyone,

Paul

Hi Paul and welcome to TenForums.

I believe a system Reset will remove all apps not native to the operating system, files and user accounts, whereas a system Refresh should give you a choice of whether or not to keep your files/documents.

Option #5 in this tutorial will show you how to boot from USB to enter repair mode:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

And this tutorial shows you how to Refresh your system:

Refresh Windows 10

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

You · 07 Aug 2015

Gamingws34 said:

PC worked great day one of my upgrade; games were running way better and I was happy with 10. However, last night I put the PC to sleep; when I woke up, I noticed PC on so I powered the monitor and the tool bar on the bottom left (cortana, windows button, etc) was not responsive. Upon restart, the PC loops repeatedly in this order: "Preparing Automatic Repair", window pops up and disappears then "Diagnosing your PC", then "Automatic Repair" with the options "Restart" and "Advanced Options". I've launched startup repair which fails, my BIOS does not have a DEP selector (Which fixes the issue for many users) in the CPU settings, system finds no restore points, flashes, etc.

My only options now seem to be a system reset or USB boot; my question is this:

What is the difference between USB boot and system reset? I don't want to lose anything, especially these huge game downloads that would take forever to re acquire on my now much slower internet. Also, are there any other options? Perhaps wait for a new version of Windows 10? Thanks in advance everyone,

Paul

USB boot lets you boot from a bootable USB drive. For example, if you used the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool to make a thumbnail drive a bootable Windows setup, choosing that option allows you to boot from it if it is plugged in and install Windows 7 or use recovery options. If your thumbnail drive just had a few pictures, then it would not boot, obviously, but USB drives specially configured with bootable media (such as Windows setup disc ISOs) can boot.

You · 07 Aug 2015

If you go to Advanced Options, Startup Settings, click the Restart button, then press 4 on your keyboard to enter Safe Mode, will the computer boot then? It could be a virus or driver incompatibility. Drivers tend to automatically install in the first few hours that the computer is operational. If Safe Mode works, then you can get to the desktop to do some diagnosing.

Gamingws34 · 08 Aug 2015

Thanks everyone, I am going to get back to work on it sometime today; I will post my results

.

Gamingws34 · 08 Aug 2015

So, I tried booting in Safe Mode, but all I get when pressing F8 at startup is a choice of which Disc to Boot. If I use Windows built in Safe Mode, upon the required restart it does not activate - instead proceeding through "Preparing..." "Diagnosing..." then the "Restart" and "Advanced Options" loop again. I even went into the command prompt to change to legacy (bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy) but still I only get to choose which drive to boot from whilst pressing F8 at boot... no classic black and white "Safe Mode" screen to be seen... any ideas?

lx07 · 08 Aug 2015

If you have Windows 10 on USB or DVD you can do an in-place upgrade (i.e. upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 10 ). Boot from USB/DVD, install Windows 10 and take the option to keep apps and files - this is the default. It will then just replace Windows directory (you can run disk cleanup after to delete Windows.old).

I did this today and it worked fine - all of my apps and programs (including Office etc) worked fine afterwards and no documents were lost. Obviously I had to run Windows update again after as all the updates to Windows (but not Office) had been lost and Windows had been reset to the ISO version.

Nus · 08 Aug 2015

How much spare hard disk space is there?

You could potentially partition your drive and move the game folders onto the new partion, then nuke the old partition with a clean install. You could then move the games back and delete that partition if you want.

If they're Steam games then you wont have any trouble running them again. I've done similar things with Steam, for other people, a number of times.

simrick · 08 Aug 2015

Gamingws34 said:

So, I tried booting in Safe Mode, but all I get when pressing F8 at startup is a choice of which Disc to Boot. If I use Windows built in Safe Mode, upon the required restart it does not activate - instead proceeding through "Preparing..." "Diagnosing..." then the "Restart" and "Advanced Options" loop again. I even went into the command prompt to change to legacy (bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy) but still I only get to choose which drive to boot from whilst pressing F8 at boot... no classic black and white "Safe Mode" screen to be seen... any ideas?

My instructions in post #2 didn't work?

Gamingws34 · 08 Aug 2015

simrick said:

My instructions in post #2 didn't work?

I just double checked them and no, unfortunately they didn't help. Well, the first link shows me how to access Advanced Startup Options; which I can already do, even without the USB stick. Link #2 I'm sure would work, but I am trying to avoid a mass wipe of non windows apps.