Update from 1511 to 1607 failing

I'm running the update right now with everything disconnected or disabled, and it's stuck at the second startup. Uninstalling MBAM seems to have gotten it past the first restart, or maybe it was coincidence, but in any case not this one. The system SSD light quit flashing entirely with this second restart and that hasn't changed 10 minutes in, which can't be a good sign. Oh well... Thanks for the suggestions,

The message I started getting around the fourth try about retrieving the system image was (paraphrase) "The OS version of the processor architecture or the Windows Recovery Environment is not the same as the computer it backed up." Would using a USB stick to start Windows that was formatted as FAT32 cause that? I know Windows version on it is x64, because that's the default on an x64 machine when choosing the version of the setup files to download to the flash drive. I can't think of anything else, although I think the stick was formatted as that all the way through.

Have you run chkdsk and all volumes you have?

Yes, run on system drive.

I updated the BIOS today from the pre- to post-1607 versions and tried 1607 again. Got to the third reboot this time and stalled. Alarming thing was when I booted to a USB stick, the initial Repair link led to a blue screen that never budged. Had to use a repair disk - finally figured out how to get it to boot - and restore from a system image. Strange happenings...

You were very specific about System Drive. There was another thread where individuals were having issues with various installs and or boots. Their solution was to disconnect other drives. I would also run chkdsk on the just to scan and report.

Turns out I celebrated too soon. About four hours in, while I was running a new system image and a quick Windows Defender scan, a couple programs I had open went nonresponding. Then the scan and image soon looked they weren't going anywhere. I opened CCleaner and started its scan, which hung at 23%. So I shut down the forced way, but restart ran on. So I tried to do some restores and repairs from a USB stick and a repair CD, but nothing took. The one thing I completely forgot to try was sfc /scannow. But in any case, another repair CD eventually took and I did get the image restore to run back to 1511 (the 1607 image hadn't completed). So that's where I am, knowing how to install 1607 now but not sure how stable it is, at least here.

You are as persistent as I am.

Should you try this again could I suggest that you audit your existing 1511 drivers in some detail. Then as soon as you get 1607 in do another audit and compare differences. Maybe some members could suggest a tool that gives such a snapshot with driver vendors and versions. I tried some and went manual.

I tried the 1511 to 1607 update again yesterday and after what appeared to be great success ultimately the only choice short of a clean install was to go back via a system image. I've got a list of the 31 steps that ended in that outcome, but I'll save those for another time. Most important are just a few:

1) After the successful update, I reconnected the LAN cable, then drives and finally USB cables, and the first problem of a startup hanging arose with the latter. By disconnecting everything again and using a repair disk, I was able use a system restore back to 1607 (surprised me, as I thought it would go back to 1511).

2) Then I repeated the process of reconnecting drives/cable process, this time literally one by one with lots of reboots, and it succeeded (boot time was the fastest ever in Win 10, repeatedly).

3) After a few hours in 1607, my default file manager, XYplorer, went nonresponsive and wouldn't come out of it for 15-20 minutes, i.e., wouldn't close via Task Mgr or the pop ups (X) - I tried each way numerous times. Other programs were working fine during all this, except Internet Download Mgr at the point where it needed to write a completed download to disk. At that point, I rebooted and tried everything again, and the same thing happened with XYplorer and IDM, which eventually affected other programs. So another restart, but this time the computer shutdown cycle (restarting) ran on and on until I stopped it after 2 hours. Another cold boot went into repair mode, but that went on and on too. Finally, I tried the Repair Disk, but it reported being unable to repair the problem. Ultimately, the only way to get back into my computer was reloading the 1511 system image from an external drive. What a drag.

The thought that came to mind during the XYplorer hang was could there be some kind of memory conflict with 1607. I have 32 gb RAM and it's checked out ok, and memory usage never showed going above 24%, so there shouldn't have been a problem there. And no one has reported anything similar on the XYplorer forum. Also sfc /scannow and chkdsk returned nothing. That leaves a clean install as the next (eventual) step, but even then this last experience has left me wondering if there's not more to it.