Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   In case anyone besides WR's son has Windows troubles.

   Your best insurance is a disk image backup using Macrium Reflect free or paid. That's the only thing that always works -- everything else is try & see what happens. You may get lucky -- you may not.

   For boot problems there's EasyBCD, which will also work for you if you boot to a USB stick, e.g. running WinPE. The official CLI tools are BCDBoot to add the BCD boot files, & BCDEdit to change them -- both are included in Windows. Use their native help if possible, /? . Paragon, Macrium, & I believe some AOMEI products, the paid advanced or pro versions, can create a bootable USB stick with boot repair tools.

   If you cannot start Win10 successfully, after trying several times you *should* be presented with a boot menu with several repair options. The default boot menu is always there, but it's usually not shown when there's only one OS installed -- you can change that using EasyBCD. When the regular boot menu is displayed you can hit the F8 key to get to those repair options.

   And/or you can try using DISM, which is the almost sort of a Swiss army knife for working with .wim files. That file format was developed by Microsoft to hold most of the files used to boot & run Windows 10, regular or WinPE. When you install Win10 the Windows files are all in a .wim file in the ISO, and a copy for Win10 repair is stored on the default Recovery partition. You can also make a .wim file copy of a complete Windows installation, then use that to deploy Win10 on however many devices you wish. DISM is included in Windows, and has a few options to repair or modify a Win10 installation.

   support.microsoft[.]com/en-us/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system

   docs.microsoft[.]com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/repair-a-windows-image

   docs.microsoft[.]com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/deployment-image-servicing-and-management--dism--command-line-options

   Posted 4 years ago #
2. 

   Whiterabbit-uk
   Games Guru

   Thanks Mikiem. We still haven't sorted Cal#s computer. I bought a new motherboard, but we have been unable to get a monitor to work. Still haven't figured out what the issue is. It may be that I've purchased a faulty motherboard. I have a test kit somewhere, but as yet havn't found it among the boxes of computer bits i have stored in the attic and upstairs storage room.

   Posted 4 years ago #
3. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Don't know if you're using a separate graphics card or a CPU with built-in GPU, but either the board or the graphics card should have an HDMI port -- if not, DVI to HDMI cables run about $10 I think. I'd just plug it into a TV or whatever monitor was most convenient. Bear in mind that HDMI cables suffer from a poor design -- just unplugging one can damage the pins in the connector -- so try another cable too if that's what you're using. If it uses a separate graphics card, I've read a lot of stories where one of the pci slots can be disabled if something else on the board is enabled, so you might want to Google with the brand & model of the board -- the manuals don't always tell you this stuff. I've also read of people having to use one pci slot rather than another. If the GPU is part of the CPU, maybe they have something weird in the BIOS settings that's preventing the board from using it -- it could be looking for a non-existent card.

   Good Luck

   Posted 4 years ago #
4. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Wanted to add an experience I had yesterday... I'd previously learned that things like Reset this PC are a bit iffy -- may work, may not. I hadn't tried the DISM-based stuff for repairs -- only deployment. I gave that a try when I found a copy of Win10 2004 was broken. Problem was Windows threw an error when I tried to start a setup file, VC_redist.x64.exe, faulting msi.dll & saying the .exe file had/was a bad image. Googling, I found several similar complaints, but no fixes. Microsoft's line was always to use the DISM repairs, so gave it a try -- never get those lost couple of hours back.

   After running one of the DISM scan/repair operations it's left to you to read the lengthy log files, which aren't really human friendly. Where it did show a problem, it said both the file & the copy stored in the repository were bad, so it couldn't replace the file & fix the problem. If that were true, a simple fix would be to copy the same file from a known good copy of Win10, but that changed nothing -- still reported the file was bad.

   The fix it turns out was simple -- re-install Win10 2004 using a mounted ISO file -- can't use Windows Update because it sees I'm already using that version -- you can get the ISO running the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft.

   SO the rules are simple... If Win10 breaks, and you know when it broke, restore a disk or partition image backup created when Win10 was working. If you don't know when it broke, so don't know how far back to go selecting a backup image, reinstall Win10.

   Posted 4 years ago #
5. 

   Whiterabbit-uk
   Games Guru

   I've tried everything I can think of as well as searched online for a solution to no avail. We have loads of spare cables of all types as I rarely thrown such things away. I still have graphic cards going back 20+ years, most of which have from 128MB to less than a gig of gRAM; so for today's software (and more importantly the socket type on the motherboards) are virtually useless (though I do have a couple of really old MoBo's that will fir those, but I don't have the correct CPU's to fit those MoBo's (probably find them on eBay though?). I keep meaning to build a few legacy computers running earlier versions of windows and maybe even a DOs one as I have enough spares to build at least another four computers (maybe a DOS, Win 95, 98 and an XP or Win ME). The only things I don't have (because I dumped them when we moved 6 years ago) are spare cases as they took up too much room. I've kept all of my old motherboards from when I've upgraded my computers and most of the old cpu's down to single core ones as well as loads of sticks of RAM of all sizes and sockets. I can either go ahead and build them, or box them all up and dump them at the local recycling center or maybe advertise them as a job lot on one of those sites that advertises free stuff (e.g. Gum Tree). I hate throwing away such things, but for example I have uncountable power, graphic and audio cables as I've kept every detachable cable from every device I've ever purchased, going back to the 1980's, plus I inherited a large box of cables from my grandfather.

   I've meant to build some legacy computers for years, but never seem to get around to it. I have all my old windows disks and even some floppys for DOS 3.1 The main reason being so that I can load up all the old games that no longer work on more modern machines. I'm still into a lot of older games, some of which I've been able to get to work using DOS Box and other programs, but I miss some of the earlier Windows graphics (yeah maybe I'm weird, lol)

   Anyway, back to the point of this thread; or at least why I started posting. I contacted the seller as I'm almost certain that the problem was the motherboard. They responded Friday and want me to send a picture of the motherboard in situ plus the hardware set up. I'm hoping we will get an exchange. Thankfully it's not urgent as my son has been using my daughters main computer as she's now using her gaming laptop that i bought for her when she started university last September.

   I've build a lot of computers over the years. The only ones I've not built were the very first 286 and second 386 that I got (via auctions) way back in the late 80's and one I bought via eBay a few years ago for my daughter becasue it worked out cheaper to buy that particular computer than build it from new. The seller had reduced the price of the computer significantly because he'd taken out the graphics card, and wiped the C drive of its Operating system, but the rest of the components were either the latest generation or still relatively new. I had a couple of decent but older graphics cards (NVIDIA GTX 580 Ti's with a total of 6GB of gRAM) that I'd taken out of my main computer when I was upgrading it the previous year. and purchased a copy of Win 7 (she didn't want the latest Windows) So bought the computer for a third of what it would cost me to build new, and gave her the spare graphic cards. Her computer apart from the graphic cards is actually better than my main computer as I'm still running a 2nd generation i7. As yet I've had no reason to upgrade the CPU as I can still run all the more recent games at excellent frame rates (using two NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti's (that I also bought second hand)

   I've found that you can get more or less the latest hardware if you are willing to buy a computer second hand that has either the graphics, the sys RAM or sometimes the hard drive removed. My daughters gaming laptop, cost much less than half the price of a new one because they had removed the hard drive. Even taking into account the cost of a new hard drive and a new operating system, it still cost me less than half the price of its current price.

   Posted 4 years ago #
6. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   The only things I don't have (because I dumped them when we moved 6 years ago) are spare cases as they took up too much room.

   Maybe Google on "diy open air pc case" [w/out quotes] or pinterest[.]com/pin/475833516849235693/ . I know you probably don't need more projects, but it could be fun to see what you could come up with.

   I contacted the seller as I'm almost certain that the problem was the motherboard. They responded Friday and want me to send a picture of the motherboard in situ plus the hardware set up. I'm hoping we will get an exchange.

   In the US they have to offer a refund or exchange for at least a couple of weeks, though I think the regulations, which can vary by state say a month. I thought the EU had stronger regulations on returns, the point being don't let them drag it out till the replacement time limit is expired.

   ... I'm still running a 2nd generation i7. As yet I've had no reason to upgrade the CPU as I can still run all the more recent games...

   You're just being practical -- happens as we start to get ever so slightly more mature. ;)

   I just upgraded Win10 to v. 2004 on my wife's PC, which runs an i7 2600. For most things you can't tell the difference vs. the Much newer Ryzen 3700X our youngest son uses.

   Posted 4 years ago #

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