Issues on Fresh install of Windows 10

[Nolan]

I'm having a heck of a time installing Windows 10 Pro to a brand new desktop. Here is where I'm at and what's happening.

I bought 2 of the exact same build kits off new egg. I assembled both machines and have looked them over and over to make sure their identical. I set up Windows 10 on a USB drive using the MediaCreationTool. I used that USB drive to boot and install Windows 10 on one of the machines and had no issues.

Now I'm using the same exact usb drive that worked on that machine on the second machine. The second machine has given me all kinds of issues. I've had 3 issues that keep coming up.

1. Sometimes when it tries to boot into the USB drive it tells me "Your PC ran into a problem we'll restart it for you" and says its a thread exception.
2. Sometimes when it tries to boot into the USB it works and lets me partition the drive, select a partition and start the install. It goes through the installation steps and when it's done, instead of rebooting the machine like it should, it sends me back to the first page of the boot device. If I restart the machine and unplug the boot device at this point it tells me I have no boot drive or OS.
3. Only once an install allowed me to get further then the install itself and it was throwing these any time it tried to boot the OS: "File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe Error code: #####". Each time the error code would change but the message would remain the same.


I thought it seemed like it was a HDD issue. So I ran Seagate diagnostics on the HDD off of a UBCD disk. It passed the short and long tests with 100%.

Once that came back 100% I also tried reseating all of the memory, processor, fans, cables, etc.


Anybody have any ideas?

 

[Saltgrass]

There is a chance the first install may have corrupted the USB drive....

What motherboard are you using for your systems? I assume the processors and video cards are the same?

The time to remove the install media is during the first reboot. Once the install files are loaded into memory, the media is no longer needed. Which brings up a question about your memory, have you tested or reseated that?

Are you acquainted with UEFI and how to boot to that configuration?

 

[Tim Locke]

Did you check that the BIOS setup was identical between the two machines?

Can you reformat the USB and reload it from your original source. I presume you have a third machine from which you did this!

Can you use a different USB stick and even in a different USB drive.

Silly one. Are you using a front panel USB on machine 2? If so are you completely sure that the cable from the panel to the mobo is correct, well seated etc. Doesn't apply if you are using a rear mobo USB socket.

Another silly one. Are these machines both connected to the 'net when you do the installs? I had a problem with installing on a new Dell that cleared instantly when we plugged in a ethernet cable to a working 'net connection.

Finally if all else fails can you download and generate a Linux distro on a working machine and install that on machine 2 via USB If that works it should prove that machine 2 is fine and it is W10 or the USB stick is flaky.

 

[Nolan]

I did check the BIOS they are the same.

I've tried reformatting the USB multiple times. I am loading it from a 3rd machine.

Have tried about 5 different ports USB2 and USB3, also both front and back.

Machine 1 had a USB wireless adapter plugged in but machine 2 does not. I'll try that

I'll try a Linux distro if nothing else works first.

Others have mentioned trying to use diskpart to clean and reformat the HDD and try again. Another suggestion was made to start switching hardware from machine 1 to machine 2.

I'll let you know how it all goes. Thank you for the ideas.

 

[Snuffy]

For some reason -Windows 10 on many systems will not CLEAN Install. from USB or DVD, so my fix is
1. boot to USB, 2. move to and continue move to command prompt.
3. then type the following - RED G: is drive letter for USB or DVD drive.
dism /Apply-Image /Imagefile:G:\sources\install.wim /index:1 /ApplyDir:C:\
bcdboot C:\Windows /s C:
----------------------
When it finished the install - let it reboot to C: and it will continue to Finish the Install.
It will not ask for a KEY, and usually completes in about 7 to 12 min.
I use this all the time on CLEAN INSTALLs. the

 

[Nolan]

For some reason -Windows 10 on many systems will not CLEAN Install. from USB or DVD, so my fix is
1. boot to USB, 2. move to and continue move to command prompt.
3. then type the following - RED G: is drive letter for USB or DVD drive.
dism /Apply-Image /Imagefile:G:\sources\install.wim /index:1 /ApplyDir:C:\
bcdboot C:\Windows /s C:
----------------------
When it finished the install - let it reboot to C: and it will continue to Finish the Install.
It will not ask for a KEY, and usually completes in about 7 to 12 min.
I use this all the time on CLEAN INSTALLs. the

Not positive what I'm doing wrong but when I run that command I get DISM doesn't recognize the command-line option bcdboot

 

[Snuffy]

Not positive what I'm doing wrong but when I run that command I get DISM doesn't recognize the command-line option bcdboot

dism will not see you only need to run BCDboot from command line

that is what adds the proper boot sequence

 

[Nolan]

I decided to run a MemTest and tests 5 and 7 8 have failed so far on 9 counts...as soon as this test finishes (49% currently) I will be trying to pull out a stick at a time I guess.

 

[Snuffy]

I decided to run a MemTest and tests 5 and 7 8 have failed so far on 9 counts...as soon as this test finishes (49% currently) I will be trying to pull out a stick at a time I guess.

I would remove all sticks, tag ea stick #1, #2, #3 in sequence then add 1 stick run mem test it takes very little to know if that stick is good or bad. a note pad with #1,down #2, down #3 and check if good and X is bad then you know.

 

[Nolan]

The PC doesn't even post when only stick #1 is in. Guess that's my answer. Going to try and install windows without that stick and see if I have better luck.

 

[Snuffy]

The PC doesn't even post when only stick #1 is in. Guess that's my answer. Going to try and install windows without that stick and see if I have better luck.

Let us hope you only have 1 bad stick.

 

[Nolan]

That was it. Crazy, one bad stick cost me an entire day. Thanks for the help guys, Appreciate it!

 

[BigFeet]

That was it. Crazy, one bad stick cost me an entire day. Thanks for the help guys, Appreciate it!

Don't feel bad. I've had one bad stick cost me a few days, as I was sure my issue was power supply, then motherboard. I overlooked the obvious, and probably the easiest thing to troubleshoot. Glad you found the issue.