29 replies to this topic

[denno]

Hello

I have been having troubles with my Dell computer for some time.  Chronicled in "Lagging Computer" a few places down on the topic list.

 

There were things like programs starting spontaneously; and in anything visual---typing, mouse movement, video---there were momentary hangups: say, one second out of four.

 

NOW, the machine won't boot up.  "Windows encountered a problem...."  

Eventually it leads one to troubleshooting.  I did not go through the lengthy process of chkdsk; but eventually agreed with it to reset Windows 10, leaving the files intact.
However, at the end of the process it said it had encountered a problem---oh, reeeeeely??---and the process hadn't completed and no changes were made.  Tried that three times.

 

I actually have nearly everything backed up.  Just one set of files I'd like to access and backup.

So what I'm down to is, can I boot this up one way or another, one more time, before drastic steps?

 

Thanks,

denno

 

Dell Inspiron, 1541, I think; Win 10

[Ztruker]

You can boot a Win 10 install DVD or USB flash drive. At the first window, press Shift+F10 to open a command prompt. You can then copy and files or folders to another flash drive to save them.

 

Alternatively you could download Kyhi's Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk then use the ISO to create a bootable USB flash drive or DVD. It's Windows 10 based so you could use FIle Explore to drag and drop files from your hard drive to a backup drive or flash drive.

[denno]

Greetings and thank you.
You are overestimating my tech smarts!

System 1 above:  Where do I come by a Win 10 DVD or thumb drive?  (My computer came with OS installed.)

And once I get a command prompt, what do I type into it?

 

System 2: I guess I get it.  But specific steps?
Would I download that file onto a thumb drive (as is?  any "unpacking?"), then put that drive into my computer's USB, then press the start button...then what happens?
Further info: does this get me back to my desktop, back to my programs?  The files in question are hidden with a program called Folder Lock, and I think I have to unlock them to copy them.

thanks again for answering --- in a couple hours!
 

[Ztruker]

Know nothing about Folder Lock. I was speaking of normal files and folders. If you have done things to them, like using Folder Lock,  then you need to know how to undo that to be able to back them up.

[denno]

Yeah....I'm just still unsure about how to boot up with a thumb drive; and whether this gets me access to my "normal" computer functions  or something else.
I kinda need step-by-step instructions.  Are they spelled out somewhere for us Dick N Jane level folks?

Edited by denno, 24 May 2019 - 02:03 PM.

[Ztruker]

You can use the Media Creation Tool (MCT) to create a bootable Windows 10 install flash drive.
 
See this tutorial: Download Windows 10. Click on the 2nd choice, Download tool now.
Expand this section: Using the tool to create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) to install Windows 10 on a different PC (click to show more or less information)

Here is a manual way to create a bootable flash drive for Kyhi's Rescue iso. Looks complicated but it really isn't.Just follow the steps as written. Any questions ask here before you begin.

 

 

Here is a manual (non-Rufus) procedure originally posted by @NavyLCDR @tenforums.com that I recorded and saved (with slight modifications). I've used it many times now and it works under all boot conditions, UEFI/GPT/MBR or CSM/MBR.

1. Download Kyhi's Rescue ISO: Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk
2. Insert the USB flash drive.
3. Open a Administrator Command Prompt. (Windows key + X, Command Prompt (Admin))  It will say Administrator Command Prompt in the Title bar. Enter the following commands:
4. diskpart
5. list disk
6. select disk # <- replace # with the actual disk number of the USB flash drive
7. clean <- this will erase the disk selected above, make sure you selected the USB flash drive!
7a. If the flash drive shows as GPT then you need to convert it to MBR: convert mbr
8. create part pri
8a. sel part 1
9. format fs=fat32 quick
9a. assign
10. active
11. exit
12. exit
13. Mount the ISO you downloaded. If you are using Windows 8 or 10, you only have to right click on it and click on mount. If you are using Windows 7, then you must use a program like WinCDEmu to mount the ISO file: WinCDEmu - the easiest way to mount an ISO. And more...
14. Copy all the files and folders from the mounted ISO file to the USB flash drive.

That's as simple as it gets. Between steps 7 and 8 you can enter: "select part 1" without quotes - but it should not be necessary.
Between steps 8 and 9 you can enter: "assign" without quotes - but it should not be necessary.

[denno]

THANK YOU!
I'll have a go at this.

[denno]

P.S. Have just escaped the country for a week.  Back on the case week after next.

[denno]

OK, back from Ireland.

 

Started on your list of instructions.  (FYI, I had to "search" to find the command prompt; didn't appear in the list.)

Got through step 4.  After that, nothing I type appears at the cursor. 

 

I await your remarks.

 

Thanks

[Ztruker]

Instructions told you how to open a Administrator Command Prompt.
 
3. Open a Administrator Command Prompt. (Windows key + X, Command Prompt (Admin))  It will say Administrator Command Prompt in the Title bar.
 
That means press the Windows key and the X key together then select Command Prompt (Admin) from the resulting list.
 
It will look like this after the first two commands have been entered:

[denno]

No,,,,,I'm saying I got the Admin Command Promp open, but I had to reach it a different way, as it did not appear in the list when I used Win+X.

Thereafter I put in the first command, okay, but after the 'On Computer" line, nothing I typed at the cursor appeared.  

 

Should I wait possibly a lot longer for "diskpart" to appear?

 

 

 

 

I will try it.
Doing this on my wife's Dell Win 10 computer

 

OK, that worked.  Proceeding.

 

*************************************

 

Mounted the drive----it put it on DVD drive, which this computer doesn't have one of, but I'm copying to the thumb drive.  After dinner will =gulp= give a shot to booting my computer.  Just plug in the thumb drive and start her up, yah?

 

Edited by denno, 09 June 2019 - 04:28 PM.

[Ztruker]

Insert the flash drive in your computer. Power on or restart. Tap F12 every second or so until you get the Boot menu.
Select the USB flash drive from there.

If this is Kyhi's Rescue ISO then run Macrium Reflect and use it's Fix Boot problems utility. See if that fixes your boot problem.

If not boot the flash drive again and use normal Windows tools like File Explorer top copy your data somewhere to save it. Then you can try a reset saving settings and data.

[denno]

No joy so far.  Just keeps ending up at the blue screen with the stop code.  I'm going to try a thing or so....mainly just re-do the thumb drive to see that there isn't an error there.

 

I got to a point where the computer did a self-diagnostic, checked all its systems, disk, wottever.  Took about overnight, but reported that it passed all the tests.

 

Are there any other approaches? 

 

Oh---also, I will check but I think what I've got is the Kyhi ISO and that utility never comes up.

 

Probably get back to it tonight.

[Ztruker]

Once you get the flash drive to boot it will come up with a bunch of icons on the screen like a normal Windows Desktop. There will be a Start button at lower left. One of the desktop icons is Macrium Reflect, the program I mentioned you should run.

 

When you power on, wait until you see the Dell logo then start tapping the F12 key. That should bring up the boot menu. If you have a UEFI system there may be two choices for USB, pick the one under UEFI.

Edited by Ztruker, 10 June 2019 - 10:46 AM.

[denno]

Thanks so much for staying on top of this.

F12 gets me a screen with 5 (?) boot choices, one of which is UEFI.  When I select it and hit Enter, usually the machine goes into its same routine of Attempting Repairs, Analyzing your Computer, then tries to boot and gets to the same blue screen.  (Would the Stop Code be of any informative use?  Something like 0Xc00000000....something.  I never catch the whole thing.)

 

Sometimes some process in there gets me to would I like to boot from a device.  One choice is UEFI, which I choose, with same end result.  (Couple others are "onboard.")

 

I will try tonight to re-load the ICO, just to get past any error there.