Windows 10 x64 1809 fails to start on Asus M2N-E SLI

PhantomR · 28 Dec 2018

Hey everyone,

I tried installing Windows 10 Home x64 1809 on the system listed below. I created two partitions of ~75GB each, formatted both and successfully installed Windows on the first one. After the setup restarted my PC, the following occurs:
It succesfully gets to the "Getting Devices Ready 100%" and then restarts.. afterwards those loading dots keep moving until, eventually, they get completely stuck and the PC restarts after a while. If I let this happen for a few times, eventually I'll get the light blue (not BSOD) background screen saying Windows failed to start and I'm allowed to choose 'Restart' or 'Advanced options'.. I'd really appreciate some advices on this. Thanks!

Note: I tried installing both from a USB stick and from a DVD, with both leading to the same Symptoms listed below.

Specs:
Motheboard: Asus M2N-E SLI
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 6000+ (socket AM2)
RAM: 4GB DDR2 RAM (I have 4 DIMMs of 1GB each, I think there are two dual channel kits installed (from two different vendors)). I really doubt this could be an issue, but it's possible that one kit runs at 667MHz and the other at 800MHz, though I'm not sure
Storage: An old WD 160GB hard disk, which shows no signs of failure in its SMART diagnosis and has quite acceptable sequential R/W speeds of ~75MB/s

dalchina · 28 Dec 2018

Hi, do you know if anyone has run Win 10 on that hardware? Have you tried researching it?
Windows 10 installation fails - Microsoft Community
- suggests it can run Win 10.

As it's pretty ancient, there's absolutely no guarantee of success. And with those specs, you'd be better with a 32 bit OS.

Bear in mind each new build may provide different drivers. Thus an old machine may work up to a certain build, then have problems.

75Gb is on definitely on the low side, although should be ok for initial installation.

Try booting it using a live boot disk created from Kyhi's iso, available from the top of the Software and Apps section here.
You can use the instructions from Option 2 here as a guide:
Redirect Notice
but use Kyhi's iso.

You can then run disk tests (HD Tune Health and Error scan tabs) and a RAM check.

Ztruker · 28 Dec 2018

If you have two different speeds of ram, remove one set then try again. Specs say the supported memory is

DDR2-800/667/533, ECC and non-ECC, un-buffered memory

but worth trying a pair of just one speed.

PhantomR · 29 Dec 2018

@dalchina Thank you! I didn't do a lot of research, sadly, but I was able to find someone who managed to boot (a previous build of Win10) off of a different motherboard: M2N-SLI or something) If I may ask, what are the benefits of a 32-bit OS over the 64-bit one in this case? I know one downside of the 32-bit is that I won't be able to use all 4GB of RAM.
@Ztruker Thank you as well! I'll give it a go.

PhantomR · 29 Dec 2018

Update: I tried running the portable edition, but it failed. (what actually happens is that the portable edition starts, but everything is stuck and it restarts automatically after a while) I'm trying to install Windows 7 right now and will edit this post with how it went.

Update2: Windows 7 started flawlessly..

eLPuSHeR · 31 Dec 2018

Check this thread of mine HERE.. Maybe trying older v1803 is worth a shot.