Serious Windows 10 Issues (I think there's a problem with the install)

I had to send out my machine to have the cooling unit replaced. I just got it back yesterday. I booted it up this morning, excited to have my machine back. Here's what happened (this is a copy & paste from a note I sent Velocity Micro outlining the difficulties)...

Having problems here guys. My machine is NOT the same since it's come back.

* When I first booted it up this morning, it took perhaps 30 seconds or more to boot up to the Windows log-in screen. Before I sent this machine to you for cooling unit replacement, it was taking ~10 or ~15 seconds max. Start-up was almost instantaneous.

* I put my machine to sleep today for a few hours. When I returned and tapped the keyboard, the machine's lights went on, its fans started up, but I was greeted to black monitors.

* I did a hard reboot thinking maybe it was some sort of crash, and then was greeted to an "AmeriTrends" or something screen, telling me the machine was not shut down properly, and the only option I was given was to hit "F1" for some kind of set-up. So, I hit F1.

I got some kind of system configuration screen, didn't know what to do with it and got out of there. I had to do a hard reboot again, since there was no reboot or restart option anywhere -- that I could see, anyway.

I waited again, quickly got the Velocity Micro logo, waited for the OS options to materialize, and then I see "Windows Boot Manager" or something along those lines. I forget precisely what it was. But, it used to be "Windows 10...". Now, it's some kind of weird "Windows Boot Manager". I selected it, got nothing, again. I hard-rebooted... again.

This time, I selected this particular Windows option again (the only Windows option I had), and this time I got in. I am now typing to you from within Windows 10 now.

* Oh... both of my monitors blacked out. The machine's internal lights werre on, but there was no OS to interact with. I had to reboot... yet again.

The fans were going nutty, too, when this happened. And, VM is not open again until Monday.

I wanted to reinstall the OS from a backup system fileI made (WindowsImageBackup; copied onto an external drive), but the system wouldn't stay up long enough.

Thanks guys.

Try3 said:

You will need to boot up from a Windows installation USB / Recovery USB / System repair disk in order to restore that WindowsImageBackup.

In future, use a different backup utility to make system images. MS told us to stop using their built-in, unreliable utility about six years ago.
Macrium Reflect is a popular choice. I use Acronis True Image.
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - TenForumsTutorials


Best of luck,
Denis

Well, as it stands, it is not just the Windows installation that is malfunctioning. I am experiencing similar problems with the machine's Centos 8 install as well.

In desperation, I may try to look up a freelance IT tech and shell out a few hundred dollars to have him/her troubleshoot my system (oh, and my backup Win 10 machine is having display problems -- no video output, but the graphics board is firmly seated and its lights are on).

Fun times.

spunk said:

Rather then spend all of that money, why not backup all your files to an external drive and wipe the internal drive and do a Clean Install of Windows and Centos 8?

Good idea... However, I booted up using the Safe Mode procedure this morning and, so far, after a normal boot-up after updating my graphics drivers, the issues seem cleared up.

Velocity Micro, however, is still recommending I do a few system checks and redo the graphics drivers, and they gave me a set of instructions for what to specifically do.