Windows 10 won't work

[Steven Greenwood]

Hi any help would be appreciated, my sons pc has just stopped working, while it will log on to windows which takes almost ten minutes once running nothing will work, nothing will open no start menu no right click nothing. I can access the command prompt via task manager but nothing will run, all his college coursework is on there and I can't access any of it. Pictures will show as thumbnails but won't open, everything comes up as class not registered? I can't system restore I can't format or repair windows, I can't even reinstall as it won't recognise either the dvd drive or a usb. I can't create a new account either. Even when I plugged his hd into my pc and set it as slave in bios it will log in on that drive and not mine so I can't access his drive to copy the files.

Steven

 

[Saltgrass]

Have you considered a virus being involved?

You may be able to move the drive to another system to access the files if that becomes necessary.

But you should still be able to boot to the Recovery or Install media. What do you have on hand for a Repair? Getting to a place which makes such a boot option available can be problem. Check what F key is used to get to a Boot Device Menu or into the Bios Setup utility. Then start tapping that way before you think you need to.

From you post I am assuming you cannot get to the recovery options from within Windows 10?

 

[Vince Massi]

Welcome aboard, Steven.

There are several possible causes, and thus several possible solutions.

If you can get in through Safe Mode, run your anti-virus program immediately. If that doesn't work, enter through Safe Mode and use System Restore.

If you can-t get in through Safe Mode:

You mentioned that you can't use System Restore. If you can get into Cortana, type System Restore to see if it can get you in.

You mentioned that you can get into Task Manager. in Task Manager, click File and then Run New Task. In the box that appears, type powershell and check the box giving you Admin Privileges. You'll have to wait several seconds for PowerShell to open, and type sfc /scannow into the command line. The scan for corrupted files will take about an hour and a half. If PowerShell tells you that it cannot correct corrupted files, copy and paste DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth into the PowerShell window and press the [Return] key. This will download files from Windows Update to replace the corrupt ones and, again, this may take some time.

Another trick: go back into PowerShell and type Start-MpScan This will run Windows Defender.

 

[Steven Greenwood]

HI Saltgrass and Vince thanks for your replies guys, I have wondered whether there was a virus involved as he was installing a plug in for a programme he uses to produce his own music and that failed to install correctly so he shut down his pc and then was unable to boot it up in the morning. I have tried using the windows 10 repair downloaded from the Microsoft website I have even tried reinstalling the oem windows 7 but it doesn't recognise the drive, I have used the bios settings on my motherboard to swap the primary drive to usb/dvd drive to try and boot from that but that won't work. I can't get into safe mode to check the drive either. I have put his drive into my pc and set it as a slave to my primary but even then it will try and boot his drive and not mine. I have tried various cmos prompts listed online but it just refuses to accept any inputs. It seems that anything related to windows won't work I managed to recover some of his files to another hard drive but there is a lot of things it simply refuses to move over. Anything that he wrote using Word or office is pretty much un recoverable, it seems that anything the may use a windows .exe file won't work so I can't open the antivirus or even windows defender. I haven't tried the Start-Mpscan but have used the dism cleanup and nothing happens it runs cleanup and then says that it's unable to repair , when I tried the reinstall I got to the screen that should start the repair but then it just stops working.

 

[Vince Massi]

Steven, you seem to be pretty tech-savvy. Have you tried my suggestions for using PowerShell?

By default, PowerShell is set in the Restricted Mode--you can't do anything that will harm your computer. I advise you to give it a try.

 

[Steven Greenwood]

Steven, you seem to be pretty tech-savvy. Have you tried my suggestions for using PowerShell?

By default, PowerShell is set in the Restricted Mode--you can't do anything that will harm your computer. I advise you to give it a try.

Vince , thanks for the advice I did try the powershell DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth but it just rported that it was unable to repair, I will try the start mpscan and see if that yields any results. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[ram1220]

Sounds like the HDD has gone bad or is going bad. I would download the test program from the manufacturer of the HDD and run that. I have worked on numerous PC's that exhibited this behavior and it was a failing HDD.

 

[Steven Greenwood]

Vince , thanks for the advice I did try the powershell DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth but it just rported that it was unable to repair, I will try the start mpscan and see if that yields any results. I'll let you know how it goes.

So far I have checked the hdd and that passes the tests from the HDD manufacturer with no known issues, While I can open and use google chrome I can't open Microsoft edge or any other Microsoft functions I've tried Vinces recommendations but no luck. I can't even alter the display resolution as I just get the class not registered error. One other thing I was finally able to run the antivirus but that came back clean and also able to run ccleaner which I was unable to do before so some functionality has been restored but I still can't access all his documents as once I plug a second drive in to recover to then half the files simply disappear from view and can't be found to copy. trying system reset results in the operation being aborted at 8%

 

[ram1220]

Good you ruled out the HDD. Download the free version of Malwarebytes and run that. Not all anti virus programs will pick up malware. Malware is actually a bit different than viruses. Try that and see if Malwarebytes finds anything.

 

[Steven Greenwood]

Good you ruled out the HDD. Download the free version of Malwarebytes and run that. Not all anti virus programs will pick up malware. Malware is actually a bit different than viruses. Try that and see if Malwarebytes finds anything.

I've run vundofix and that detected zero but I'll give Malwarebytes a try thanks,

 

[Steven Greenwood]

Malwarebytes found 79 issues all but one were pup's shut down and restart is so far taken twenty-five minutes so no improvement. I think something has been deleted along the line so rerunning the dcim cleanup repair again and see what we get.

 

[Steven Greenwood]

Using powershell I used command DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth but it came back with "the source file could not be downloaded" and gave me the linkid 243077 Microsoft go. Doesn't help at all as there doesn't seem to be such a link?

 

[Steven Greenwood]

and just to cap it all now it won't connect to the net nor will it allow a network set up so I am unable to use a side by side image restore, it won't see my good hdd either even when it is set to primary with my sons corrupt drive set as slave it wants to automatically boot up my sons drive, thinking that this is a useless exercise I would format the drive but it won't even enable me to do that

 

[ram1220]

I don't mean for this to sound as a dumb question. But you did physically change the jumpers on the drives, correct? Other than that I am out of ideas. It honestly sounds like a bad HDD to me. Although you said you tested it I have worked on numerous PC's with similar problems and it was always a bad HDD.

 

[Steven Greenwood]

I don't mean for this to sound as a dumb question. But you did physically change the jumpers on the drives, correct? Other than that I am out of ideas. It honestly sounds like a bad HDD to me. Although you said you tested it I have worked on numerous PC's with similar problems and it was always a bad HDD.

Yes I did and like you I've come to the conclusion that the drive has had it. Only just over twelve months old as well. Don't know what he's managed to do too it but I feel it's terminal lol

 

[Trouble]

You've mentioned connecting the drive as a slave, switching the jumpers and then you say that the drive is only a year old.
Typically, SATA drives do not connect in a master slave scenario, nor do they typically have jumpers except the older ones where you could preselect SATA I or II
And whether or not the boot device priority is correct would depend on how it is set in the BIOS and relative to the drives SATA port connection on the motherboard SATA 0, SATA 1, SATA 2, etc.
Also you should be able to select the correct boot drive from a boot menu often F12 but depends on the motherboard.

 

[Steven Greenwood]

I used the bios set up on my motherboard to set the boot up priority because there are no physical jumpers. Thought that was what was meant sorry. I have a gigabyte motherboard and used the bios setting on that. Would I need to enter the actual boot menu and change the boot order there as well? I just switched them in a little drop down box which comes up when I left a USB in.

 

[Steven Greenwood]

Just been into bios and set his as master mine as slave and it says unable to boot please insert disc. If I set mine as master hus as slave then hus will boot up as primary? Won't even find my drive

 

[Trouble]

F12 on most Gigabyte boards during POST should present you with a boot menu to show you the devices attached to your computer that are bootable.
It's a way to temporarily select a boot device without changing your normal BIOS boot priority configuration.
You should be able to choose either hard disk from among the options.

 

[Steven Greenwood]

I tried that but setting mine as secondary and his as primary results in no boot up, if however I set mine as primary it'll boot his drive up in place of mine and won't even see my drive