I did a PC reset with Windows 10, it failed & now I have no OS at all

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  1. Posts : 10
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #11

    NavyLCDR said:
    Aquapod,

    You have access to a working computer? Either create another Windows 10 USB using the Media Creation Tool - or you can use the one you have already made, but it will get almost erased. Put the USB stick with the Windows 10 in the working computer (do not boot from it - put it in while the computer is running). Do not run anything from it. Then put in your Windows 7 DVD. Again do not run anything from it. Select all the files and folders on the DVD and copy them to the Windows 10 USB. Overwrite all files it says are duplicates. This just might make you a bootable USB that you can install Windows 7 from.
    Thanks Navy. Yes I do have access to other working computers that are still running Win7 Ult. Interesting idea...so override my Win10 usb with the files for Win7 & try & boot up with that. I will give that a try when I get home from work.

    Another note on my Win7 error...I tried 3 separate Win7 installation discs, all received the same error. I've never gotten that error before in all the Win7 installs I've done, be it a cold install or a reinstall. Very puzzled by that error.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 16,325
    W10Prox64
       #12

    Aquapod said:
    Thanks for the reply Ztruker. Question, how would I be able to use a Windows 8 iso if I didn't have 8 before? I went from 7 to 10? Also to answer your other post, it was Win7 Ultimate.
    You can't. You either need to install W7 or W10.
    Here you can get the W10 ISO without having to build it.

    Tech Bench

    Using RUFUS you can put it on a flash drive and do a clean install (see option #2). If the W10 install was already activated (which it should have been, since you initially did an upgrade from your W7 OS), choose INSTALL, KEEP NOTHING, and skip every time it asks for a keycode.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #13

    Aquapod said:
    Another note on my Win7 error...I tried 3 separate Win7 installation discs, all received the same error. I've never gotten that error before in all the Win7 installs I've done, be it a cold install or a reinstall. Very puzzled by that error.
    Have you updated your BIOS? That error is commonly caused by a UEFI bios attempting to boot from a device/media that does not support UEFI. On my laptop there was a BIOS update that enabled UEFI. The USB that the Media Creation Tool creates is supposed to work with both legacy and UEFI BIOS and hopefully by just copying files over and not creating a new USB you will keep the boot capabilities and it will just run the new setup.exe that you copy over with the Windows 7 files.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 10
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #14

    simrick said:
    You can't. You either need to install W7 or W10.
    Here you can get the W10 ISO without having to build it.

    Tech Bench

    Using RUFUS you can put it on a flash drive and do a clean install (see option #2). If the W10 install was already activated (which it should have been, since you initially did an upgrade from your W7 OS), choose INSTALL, KEEP NOTHING, and skip every time it asks for a keycode.
    Thanks, that's what I thought. Awesome I will try out that Win10 ISO. I had been trying the installer direct from Microsoft, which seems to install but then gets stuck at the cursor screen. Maybe this one & using RUFUS will work better. Thanks!
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 10
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #15

    NavyLCDR said:
    Have you updated your BIOS? That error is commonly caused by a UEFI bios attempting to boot from a device/media that does not support UEFI. On my laptop there was a BIOS update that enabled UEFI. The USB that the Media Creation Tool creates is supposed to work with both legacy and UEFI BIOS and hopefully by just copying files over and not creating a new USB you will keep the boot capabilities and it will just run the new setup.exe that you copy over with the Windows 7 files.
    It's been a while since I updated my BIOS but it should be UEFI capable. Perhaps I will try to update it now anyway while I try to get this install going. Thanks for the idea!
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 201
    Kernel 4.x.x
       #16

    Aquapod said:
    It's been a while since I updated my BIOS but it should be UEFI capable. Perhaps I will try to update it now anyway while I try to get this install going. Thanks for the idea!
    Hi Aquapod, I can help you.

    You have a UEFI capable motherboard. You'll want to use that capability.

    What graphics card do you have? (this is important because pure UEFI boot requires a modern graphics card) (*1)

    In your BIOS/UEFI options, you should see something under the boot tab of the advanced section called "Compatability Support Module" or something similar. This is how ASUS UEFI boards boot in legacy mode.

    Ideally we'll want to disable that module, but ONLY if your graphics hardware supports it. This will enable pure UEFI boot mode.

    If you have "fast boot" enabled, disable it for now.

    If your compatability support modue is enabled, make sure the 4 options underneath the enable/disable option are set to "UEFI first, then legacy".


    Follow each step exactly.
    To prepare a flash drive to boot the Windows 10 ISO installation data in UEFI and get your computer running do the following:

    1) On another computer, format the flash drive as "FAT32"
    2) Mount the Windows 10 Techbench ISO file (or use 7zip to open it, if you cannot mount it)
    3) Copy all the files from the ISO to the flash drive.
    4) Once the files are copied, safely remove the flash drive from the computer.
    5) Power off the computer you intend to fix.
    6) Insert the flash drive
    7) Power on the computer.
    8) Either enter your UEFI/BIOS setups, or spam the F8 key while the computer is starting up.

    (If in UEFI/BIOS)
    9a) In advanced mode, open the boot tab.

    10) Locate the entry for the flash drive. It should be prefixed with "UEFI" and look similar to this
    [ UEFI: Flash Drive Name (size in GB) ]

    11) Select that entry to boot the setup.
    ------------------------------------------

    Now once booted, you want to format your system disk. The cleanest way is to do this from the command line, if you're not comfortable with the command line, you can use the setup GUI once you reach the partition selection menu.

    [To quickly fix via the command line]
    Press Shift + F10 to open a console.
    Type the command
    Code:
    diskpart
    Once that loads type the command:
    Code:
     list disk
    Identify the system disk you wish to install Windows to. (make sure 100% that you identify the correct disk)
    It should have a number in the entry like: "Disk 1 Online 10240MB ... ... ..."

    Type the command
    Code:
     select disk 1
    The format the whole disk, (all data will be lost) use the command:
    Code:
    clean
    Now convert to GPT
    Code:
     convert gpt

    Now let's create the ESP partition. The size part is very important.
    Code:
     create partition efi size=100
    Now format that new partition so it works properly.
    Code:
     format fs=fat32 quick
    Create a new partition for windows
    Code:
     create partition primary
    And format
    Code:
     format fs=ntfs quick
    Now we can exit the console (you enter this command twice like it shows below)
    Code:
     exit
    exit

    Now you can proceed with the install, and everything should work properly.

    If your graphics card supports UEFI we'll disable to CSM after you're all set up.



    ==Notes==
    *1 - UEFI boot uses a completely different method of communicating with hardware. Graphics cards traditionally relied on the BIOS to provide a direct way to communicate with the CPU and motherboard to allow the display the POST messages, and access the BIOS setup in 16-bit real mode. UEFI immediately sets the CPU to 64-bit mode, and older graphics cards cannot figure out how to display information until the operating system loads with a driver for the graphics card. Modern graphics cards have a UEFI driver built into the card itself, so it will work immediately and allow the USER to navigate the UEFI-setup utility visually. Most motherboards detect when a graphics card cannot display anything and automatically enable the compatibility support module, then reboot. This is annoying feature for a few of us, but critical for most users who would otherwise be screwed if they couldn't see anything on the screen, especially in a situation like yours.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 10
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #17

    Hydranix said:
    Hi Aquapod, I can help you.

    You have a UEFI capable motherboard. You'll want to use that capability.

    What graphics card do you have? (this is important because pure UEFI boot requires a modern graphics card) (*1)

    In your BIOS/UEFI options, you should see something under the boot tab of the advanced section called "Compatability Support Module" or something similar. This is how ASUS UEFI boards boot in legacy mode.

    Ideally we'll want to disable that module, but ONLY if your graphics hardware supports it. This will enable pure UEFI boot mode.

    If you have "fast boot" enabled, disable it for now.

    If your compatability support modue is enabled, make sure the 4 options underneath the enable/disable option are set to "UEFI first, then legacy".


    Follow each step exactly.
    To prepare a flash drive to boot the Windows 10 ISO installation data in UEFI and get your computer running do the following:

    1) On another computer, format the flash drive as "FAT32"
    2) Mount the Windows 10 Techbench ISO file (or use 7zip to open it, if you cannot mount it)
    3) Copy all the files from the ISO to the flash drive.
    4) Once the files are copied, safely remove the flash drive from the computer.
    5) Power off the computer you intend to fix.
    6) Insert the flash drive
    7) Power on the computer.
    8) Either enter your UEFI/BIOS setups, or spam the F8 key while the computer is starting up.

    (If in UEFI/BIOS)
    9a) In advanced mode, open the boot tab.

    10) Locate the entry for the flash drive. It should be prefixed with "UEFI" and look similar to this
    [ UEFI: Flash Drive Name (size in GB) ]

    11) Select that entry to boot the setup.
    ------------------------------------------

    Now once booted, you want to format your system disk. The cleanest way is to do this from the command line, if you're not comfortable with the command line, you can use the setup GUI once you reach the partition selection menu.

    Now you can proceed with the install, and everything should work properly.

    If your graphics card supports UEFI we'll disable to CSM after you're all set up.

    ==Notes==
    Hydranix, Thanks so much for that very detailed response. I have 2 graphics cards, Radeon HD 5830s in Crossfire X.
    I am looking in my BIOS & I am having trouble finding the 'compatibility support module' or 'fast boot' options. I looked in all the options in the Advanced & Boot tabs. By the way my BIOS version is 1503. I will start prepping the Win10 ISO, but I am not sure about those settings I mentioned.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 10
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #18

    *UPDATE*

    Thank you again for all replies so far, I appreciate them.

    Also, in my fuss to fix this, I feel I may have neglected a piece of important information about my PC. I am not sure if I mentioned that I run a dual RAID0 configuration. 90gb SSDx2 in RAID0 for booting OS, 1tb HDD x2 in RAID0 for apps & data. I now believe this is the root of my problem.

    The other day I caved in & took it to the Windows store, because I was getting nowhere. They got Windows 10 on my PC, & when I booted up in the store, & noticed that only a single 90gb drive was showing up, which I pointed out to the tech ( not the tech who worked on my PC...of course my was not in when I picked it up). So we rebooted it, entered the BIOS & RAID was not turned on. Turn RAID on, reboot.

    Black screen, blinking cursor. Same issue I was having at home before I brought it in. So at this point I'm figuring its an issue with Windows 10 & RAID. I took it home as is, because at least it had an OS again & they didn't seem to be able to do anymore for me there & I didn't want to leave my PC there again. ( On the plus side though, they dusted the hell out of my PC & all staff were very pleasant)

    Whether it is simply a driver issue or RAID compatibility as a whole I am not yet sure. I suspect that when I did the initial Win10 Reset feature, that it might have wiped out my existing RAID driver which is why I would get the 'device driver missing' error (mentioned in my initial post) when I tried using a Win7 disc.

    I am planning on reinstalling RAID driver & seeing how that goes. I have my Win7 driver still I believe, but perhaps I should try to find an updated one for Win 8 or 10. If anyone knows of these already & could save me some searching, that would be appreciated. (My motherboard is an Asus Crosshair Formula V)

    Or if anyone has any other ideas on what might be causing the RAID issues, I am all ears. Thanks.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 16,325
    W10Prox64
       #19

    Aquapod said:
    *UPDATE*

    ...So we rebooted it, entered the BIOS & RAID was not turned on. Turn RAID on, reboot.

    Black screen, blinking cursor. Same issue I was having at home before I brought it in. So at this point I'm figuring its an issue with Windows 10 & RAID. .....
    Interesting, thanks for the follow-up. I am sorry I have very little experience with RAID setups, so I won't be of much help, but hopefully someone else here will chime in.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 96
    win 7/10
       #20

    Aquapod said:
    Thanks for the reply Ztruker. Question, how would I be able to use a Windows 8 iso if I didn't have 8 before? I went from 7 to 10? Also to answer your other post, it was Win7 Ultimate.
    If you feel you are completely dead in the water why not try a new hdd , load it win 7 then update to win10 , load all your programs then clone to the old hdd , this way you have a buffer if a problem come up.
      My Computer


 

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