Reinstall, activation issues.

Ztruker · 14 Jul 2019

Please fill out your System Specs so we know what your working with.

How to fill out System Specs for tenforums.

See here: System Specs - Fill in at Ten Forums

Fill out as much as you can, especially the Manufacture and full model number of the computer if purchased or the system board if custom built. Look at mine or Bree's or some of the others here for an idea of what to include. The more you can provide the better.

Minimize you system. Disconnect everything not absolutely required for it to boot and run. All it needs is a mouse, keyboard and display. Try the clean install again. Once it completes, do an immediate Windows Update.

Don't install any software for a bit. Instead test the system, see if there are any problems. Use Edge or IE for a browser initially.

If it's working okay then backup your current install. The best way to do this is to use Macrium Reflect Free to make an image backup to an external hard drive. If you don't have an external hard drive now is a good time to get one as regular backup should be a part of your normal process. You can get a 1TB external hard drive for $60 (less if on sale).

Once you have a good backup, proceed. If you disconnected anything prior to this install reconnect it one at a time and test, including rebooting. If not or you get it all reconnected and all is well then start installing software one at a time and testing.

This is slow and annoying but if a piece of hardware or software is the cause of the problem this should help you find it.

Mazzone10 · 21 Jul 2019

I think I may have found the culprit for this issue....

To make sure it wasn't a hardware issue I used a spare hard drive and installed Windows 10 on that. Sure enough it worked until I connected it to the internet. The screen flickered a few times and then went blank, then the same problem booting up. I managed to get into Safe mode and roll back the update. One of the items it was updating was the Radeon 7 graphics card.

Does this make sense?

Ztruker · 21 Jul 2019

Absolutely. Graphic driver updates are a constant cause of problems, including BSODs, screen distortion, and plain overall weird behavior. Back out the update then disable driver updates.

Enable or Disable Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10

FAROOKH SYED · 22 Jul 2019

Windows 10 PC has a digital licence stored in hardware. so you can install freely

Bree · 22 Jul 2019

FAROOKH SYED said:

Windows 10 PC has a digital licence stored in hardware. so you can install freely

Welcome to TenForums.

That's not quite correct. A digital licence is only ever stored on the Microsoft activation servers, it contains a hardware ID that uniquely identifies your PC and the edition (Home or Pro) that your PC is entitled to run. It is created the first time a PC runs Windows 10 and activates (either from a product key or by virtue of upgrading from an activated W7/W8/W8.1).

What IS stored in the firmware of an OEM PC built for and supplied with Windows 10 pre-installed is a Windows 10 key. Embeding the key in the bios began with Windows 8 and took the place of the CoA sticker used in W7 and earlier. You can read the embedded key with ShowKeyPlus.

What is correct is that for a PC with an embedded W8/8.1/10 key the Windows 10 Setup will find that embedded key and use it to install Windows 10 and (if this is the first time for W10 on this PC) activate it.

Any PC that has had Windows 10 installed and activated has a digital licence stored on the activation servers. For a PC built for W7 (or earlier) there is no embedded key, so Setup will ask for one. If you skip entering a key it then asks for the edition you want to install (Home or Pro). Install the same one it had before and it will activate from the digital licence.