Windows 10 won't start

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Everything was normal yesterday including shutdown. This morning it took forever to display the desktop after entering my pin and when it did most of the taskbar icons were missing and nothing worked except the mouse. I forced restart from the PC button and it went into repair mode. It said it couldn't do a repair and asked if I wanted to revert to a previous restore point. I said yes but that failed. I tried a shutdown and restart but it goes directly into repair mode, which fails.

Now what?
 

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Noob Whisperer
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You're going to need the installation media to boot the system in order to use the repair your computer link on the second page after booting. And then use the advance troubleshooting options to attempt further repairs.
I would strongly suggest backing up any critical data, before proceeding as a reset may be required if all else fails, which might result in the loss of all your data, programs, drivers, etc.
You can use a Linux Live CD to boot your computer and copy of files to an external USB drive in an emergency.
 

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Noob Whisperer
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How about just re-installing it from the media DVD.
Assuming that the previous installation was successfully activated then.....
Yes, you should be able to perform a custom clean install from the installation media.
You may even be offered the opportunity to keep your files depending on what it sees of the existing (previous) installation.

My recommendation is still.....
To back up any critical data in advance of going forward, if any such data exists on the current install, just to be on the safe side.
While a custom clean install is a generally accept, good practice to resolve problems and optimize a problematic machine, booting from the installation media might still offer you some opportunities to try some of the advanced troubleshooting options again that might have failed initially when you tried them.
 
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I reinstalled from the media. Now windows boots but it is extremely slow and unresponsive. And it is installed on an SSD. It is too slow to be usable.
 

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Noob Whisperer
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You performed a custom clean install?
When you performed the install did you check the box referencing get updates as part of the install?
Have you checked Windows Updates yet to see if there is anything pending?
 
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You performed a custom clean install?
When you performed the install did you check the box referencing get updates as part of the install?
Have you checked Windows Updates yet to see if there is anything pending?
I tried fixing to no avail. Selected reinstall. It didn't ask about installing updates. All my apps are there. It's so slow I can't bring up the start menu.
 

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Use Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys to evoke task manager.
Use task manager on Windows explorer to end task
Then while still in task manager use the file menu to run a new task and type
ms-settings:windowsupdate
hit enter or click OK
 
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It is too unresponsive to do that. I brought up the Settings dialog and selected Windows Update and it sat forever moving dots across the line.
When this happens I see a lot of disk activity via the HDD light on the case. Is it possible that the reinstall used up most of the space on the SSD? It had about 35 gig free and my pc has 16 gig of memory. Unfortunately, I can't see it since I can't bring up either file explorer or the computer properties dialog.
 

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Any luck starting the thing in safe mode?
Hold the shift key while clicking restart.
 
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I brought it up normally and it's a little better today, but not much. (Maybe its because I was able to shut it down normally last night.)
I have 88 gig free on my SSD. Task manager shows nothing using more than 3% of the CPU.
I got to windows update from settings and the ellipses (dots) just keep moving across the top of the screen. I've not seen this screen in Win 10 before so I assume it's checking for updates as soon as it's opened.
I tried to get to safe mode from a startup boot by holding the shift key while it was booting and it booted to the full OS.
Can you only get to safe mode from a restart?
What should I be looking for?
 

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Noob Whisperer
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Can you only get to safe mode from a restart?
There are a number of ways to get to safe mode unfortunately they seem to all involve the advanced trouble shooting screen which is what you get when you hold the shift key while clicking restart and how you finally arrive at StartUp Options and then restart and then select #4 = Safe Mode (I think).
OR
You can do this and the F8 key will work for you again.

Boot into the Windows Recovery Environment either by using a Recovery Disk that you've made, or the original Installation Media.
Choose Repair, Advanced Troubleshooting, Command Prompt and type
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy
reboot your PC and tap the F8 key (no shift key required) and it should work for you as it has in the past.

To return your boot menu to normal
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard
 
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Problem is fixed only I don't know why or how, unless Windows fixed itself. I ran a virus scan, which found nothing. I left the computer running with Windows Update open after my previous post and 2 hours later it was fine. So I closed the settings window and found what was apparently two Firefox windows that I don't remember opening, unless I clicked on Firefox and nothing happened due to the slowness, which is probably the case.

Only issue is that when I click on Windows Update I still get the ellipses moving across the top of the screen. So I don't even know what should display in that window.

Do you have any ideas?

Thanks for your help.
 
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I spoke too soon. Booted up today and it was slow again. Lots of disk activity, 100% at times. Apps can be launched but it takes minutes. Start menu won't come up. Task manager resource monitor shows lots of processes using disk when no applications are running, mostly system. Very low CPU usage.
I really need to know what to do to fix this. It's getting really annoying.
 

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Noob Whisperer
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Is there a firmware update for that SSD? Check with the manufacturer for anything specific for that particular drive.
Does it have its' own software, wherein you can configure it for various configuration options (performance, reliability, etc.,)?

Although there is certainly a lot of system evoked disk usage initially after an install of Windows 10, I would expect that to resolved itself pretty quickly, especially on an SSD.

I'm starting to think that you may have a bad one. Does the manufacturer provide any utilities to test it with?
 
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The SSD isn't causing all that activity, Windows is. The resource monitor shows lots of reads and writes. Yesterday it eventually calmed down to be normal. I had no problems with Win7.
 

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Yesterday it eventually calmed down to be normal
As I would expect, but......
It seems like everytime you reboot or startup after it has been off for a while the read writes go back to being overwhelming again.
Windows queues them up and then they are handled as best as the device will support and I would expect a normal, properly functioning hard disk, especially an SSD to dispense with them pretty quickly which doesn't seem to be the case.
Just passing along my thoughts on the matter, based on the information you are supplying.
 
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But this didn't happen before I upgraded and reinstalled from the media. What is getting queued when the pc is off?
My wife told me that when she started up this morning the pc was fine. She used if for a while then when she came back 2 hrs later it was slow. She shut it down from the case before leaving to do errands. I started it when I came home from work and found it like I previously described.

Updating firmware on the SSD wipes out all the data. Will I be able to install Win 10 and activate it on a blank drive?

And is there a keyboard shortcut to shut down if I can't pull up the start menu?
 
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