Windows 10 Advanced Options Menu to Repair

AshBear · 08 Aug 2017

I have recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 13 inch and as of today the system froze and I was forced to force shutdown. After doing so, I was met with the start up screen running a scan and repair of my C: Dell support gave me a few options before I have to reinstall my operating system, as I cannot access any applications on the system once it's past login.

One of the options was to turn off and on the laptop three times until it led me to options on the screen in which I could access advanced options in order to select repair. I cannot seem to get to this screen no matter how much times I restart.

Can anyone provide me with a bit more help? If the corruption is indeed in the operating system as the tech support said, then I fear that will have to reinstall the operating system. I've been provided with a new one already so good on Dell for that, but I do not want to lose all of my files. I cannot even get to the control panel in order to back up my files and the fact that I cannot open any applications means I cannot get them into a USB manually.

I am so frustrated and only want to wipe my computer if completely necessary, otherwise I'll have to send my device into Dell for them to do it themselves and this will take almost 2 weeks. Please help. :)

AshBear · 08 Aug 2017

AshBear said:

I have recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 13 inch and as of today the system froze and I was forced to force shutdown. After doing so, I was met with the start up screen running a scan and repair of my C: Dell support gave me a few options before I have to reinstall my operating system, as I cannot access any applications on the system once it's past login.

One of the options was to turn off and on the laptop three times until it led me to options on the screen in which I could access advanced options in order to select repair. I cannot seem to get to this screen no matter how much times I restart.

Can anyone provide me with a bit more help? If the corruption is indeed in the operating system as the tech support said, then I fear that will have to reinstall the operating system. I've been provided with a new one already so good on Dell for that, but I do not want to lose all of my files. I cannot even get to the control panel in order to back up my files and the fact that I cannot open any applications means I cannot get them into a USB manually.

I am so frustrated and only want to wipe my computer if completely necessary, otherwise I'll have to send my device into Dell for them to do it themselves and this will take almost 2 weeks. Please help. :)

Okay, I got to the blue screen for advanced options. That's solved. But it's absurdly slow still for the repairs.
Is this a drive problem? I ran a diagnostics check and everything came back as a pass result even though the prompt before seeing results said I had one or more errors, so is this really because the operating system is corrupt?

Any tips or should I just reinstall windows 10 all together?

Steve C · 09 Aug 2017

I would try the following steps in order:

Remove the laptop main battery for a few minutes - may reset something
Load BIOS defaults
Install Macrium Reflect Free on another PC, create a Reflect USB repair disk then use that disk to repair your laptop
Recover from backup if you have one
Perform a Windows 10 repair install - see instructions on this forum

AshBear · 09 Aug 2017

Steve C said:

I would try the following steps in order:

Remove thie laptop main battery for a few minutes - may reset something
Load BIOS defaults
Install Macrium Reflect Free on another PC, create a Reflect USB repair disk then use that disk to repair your laptop
Recover from backup if you have one
Perform a Windows 10 repair install - see instructions on this forum

Thanks! I did the repair, it didn't work so I guess I'm SOL in this - the OS must be corrupted beyond any control.

I researched some into the 'reset this pc' option windows 10 has, but I can't get a straight answer as to whether it installs a new OS or merely uses an earlier form of the OS I have now. The idea of keeping my files is nice, but I think I'm going to just download the OS installation Dell support provided me onto a USB and go from there. I don't want to continue with a potentially corrupted OS or files that may be infected with malware.
I don't understand how this happened, I run a weekly virus scan with Norton and only use the laptop for school mainly.
What a bummer however - 8 courses worth of class notes all down the drain simply because I cannot access even the windows start menu on the desktop so no back ups could be made.

Or should I get the OS installation file directly from Microsoft rather than Dell? Which is more likely to have all the drives I need for my laptop?

Steve C · 09 Aug 2017

AshBear said:

Thanks! I did the repair, it didn't work so I guess I'm SOL in this - the OS must be corrupted beyond any control.

I researched some into the 'reset this pc' option windows 10 has, but I can't get a straight answer as to whether it installs a new OS or merely uses an earlier form of the OS I have now. The idea of keeping my files is nice, but I think I'm going to just download the OS installation Dell support provided me onto a USB and go from there. I don't want to continue with a potentially corrupted OS or files that may be infected with malware.
I don't understand how this happened, I run a weekly virus scan with Norton and only use the laptop for school mainly.
What a bummer however - 8 courses worth of class notes all down the drain simply because I cannot access even the windows start menu on the desktop so no back ups could be made.

Or should I get the OS installation file directly from Microsoft rather than Dell? Which is more likely to have all the drives I need for my laptop?

I would try the steps I suggested first since these will keep your files and programs. However, a clean install is fine so long as you are prepared to reinstall your programs and data. The Microsoft OS installation should be fine so long as you had a digital activation of Windows 10 before you had problems. I've done a clean install on my Dell laptop using the MS Media Creation Tool / ISO with no problems. The Dell installation disk will probably include a load of Dell bloatware which I consider useless except Quickset. You should install the latest Dell drivers from their web site. Check what Windows installs then consider using the Dell driver for things like the GPU and touchpad.

dalchina · 09 Aug 2017

it's absurdly slow still for the repairs.

- which repairs? Do you mean running chkdsk?
Yes, for some users that can take hours- even days.

And it depends if your disk is ok.

When you have the chance, check that using
Hard Disk Sentinel (trial) - (SSD & HDD) and post a screenshot of its GUI

or- if your PC won't boot- use Kyhi's boot disk available from the top of the Software and Apps section, and run HD Tune (Health tab).

Note: we continually recommend people use disk imaging routinely so they can recover from many problems - even disk failure- by restoring their disk/partition to a previous working state. (E.g. Macrium Reflect (free) + its boot disk + external storage for image sets). Also provides a full backup fom which you can retrieve files.

AshBear · 09 Aug 2017

Steve C said:

I would try the steps I suggested first since these will keep your files and programs. However, a clean install is fine so long as you are prepared to reinstall your programs and data. The Microsoft OS installation should be fine so long as you had a digital activation of Windows 10 before you had problems. I've done a clean install on my Dell laptop using the MS Media Creation Tool / ISO with no problems. The Dell installation disk will probably include a load of Dell bloatware which I consider useless except Quickset. You should install the latest Dell drivers from their web site. Check what Windows installs then consider using the Dell driver for things like the GPU and touchpad.

Yeah I figured the Dell installation file that was emailed to me would be filled with bloatware, but as that's what I started with in the first place it doesn't bother me too much. I have a terabyte of memory available and I don't mind manually uninstalling programs I don't need, if it comes to that.

A friend of mine mentioned the MS Media Creation as well, but seeing as the computer I will be using to upload files to my USB is not mine I'm a little weary with downloading outside software files.

I didn't have many programs installed as of yet, it's just mostly the documents I had for school.
As for "reset this PC" and keeping my files as well, would this work in the sense that I'd be able to have it temporarily fixed so I can backup my documents to a USB before a clean install?
I was up late trying to solve this problem and it seems my only option is to clean install. I have a subscription for Microsoft but only 2 of my documents are shared to the cloud, so though my software is safe and can easily be redownloaded - the rest of my documents are pretty much toast. Programs I need are freely available through my school website so that's easy, and those are really the only programs I had installed. The only function of my computer is for school.

I appreciate you all for the advice. :)

AshBear · 09 Aug 2017

dalchina said:

- which repairs? Do you mean running chkdsk?
Yes, for some users that can take hours- even days.

And it depends if your disk is ok.

When you have the chance, check that using
Hard Disk Sentinel (trial) - (SSD & HDD) and post a screenshot of its GUI

or- if your PC won't boot- use Kyhi's boot disk available from the top of the Software and Apps section, and run HD Tune (Health tab).

Note: we continually recommend people use disk imaging routinely so they can recover from many problems - even disk failure- by restoring their disk/partition to a previous working state. (E.g. Macrium Reflect (free) + its boot disk + external storage for image sets). Also provides a full backup fom which you can retrieve files.

Thank you for the advice, but unfortunately even if I get the device booted past the login screen, I cannot get my computer to do anything. It won't even pull up the start menu, I tried to run the chkdsk at first and nothing. My computer won't respond to any commands.

I am using a Mac laptop to get the install files onto a USB, and the laptop is not mine so I'm weary of accessing third party programs from it - so far the MS Creation Media tool or the Dell provided install seem to be my best bet. Once I have mine up and running I'll look into this advice - it would be a good idea in case my OS faces corruption again. Though at that point I'd probably just send it into Dell with my warranty and insist they fix it. Hah