Reset PC Failed Install Question

Lery

I tried to reset my PC using the Alt-F10 option on boot.  It got to about 62% and failed with a problem resetting the PC.  Now it won't boot into Windows 10 at all.  I can go ahead and install Windows 10 fresh, but how would it be activated?

JackE

What is your model and number? Can you coldboot F2 into the BIOS setup menu? Jack E/NJ

Lery

JackE said:

What is your model and number? Can you coldboot F2 into the BIOS setup menu? Jack E/NJ

Model number is N15W5

Yes, I can F2 into the bios.

When booting it just loops constantly without booting into the operating system.  Loops from the Acer splash screen, black screen, and back to Acer splash screen.

JackE

OK. Was there an issue that you thought a re-set might resolve?  Because it's acting like the recovery partition has been corrupted. What was the factory-installed WinVer? Jack E/NJ

Lery

JackE said:

OK. Was there an issue that you thought a re-set might resolve?  Because it's acting like the recovery partition has been corrupted. What was the factory-installed WinVer? Jack E/NJ

Yes there was an issue.  The computer was running very slow and would struggle with basic tasks.  This was my daughters computer, and I'm not sure what garbage she put on it.  We had nothing stored on it worth keeping, so a reset was the decision.

Windows 10 is what it shipped with.  If the recovery partition is corrupt, it happened by doing the reset.  If that is the case, that is not a useful function in my opinion.

If there are no solutions, I can gladly reinstall Windows 10, but I have no idea how it would be activated.  Thoughts?

JackE

It may be that the hard drive is failing as the original slowness could've been due to difficulty reading and writing data to the disk. First, F2 into the BIOS menu. Make sure the D2D recovery option is enabled in the MAIN dropdown. Then in the BOOT dropdown, make sure any secure boot option is disabled. Then exit and save the settings.  

Then I suggest re-trying the ALT+F10 method one more time exactly as described in this video   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuljT0a8F7I . Make sure the system is completely off to start by pressing and holding the power button for 5 or more seconds.

If the ALT+F10 mehtod still doesn't work, you can try downloading and making the Win10 installation media (USB) from this site. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/   However, this installation may run into a similar problem as with the ALT+F10 recovery method if the hard drive is indeed failing.

Jack E/NJ

Lery

I will try that and post back my findings.   However, if I do reload WIn10, which I'm fully capable of doing, won't I have an activation problem?  I can't afford to buy a new copy of Windows 10.

JackE

You shouldn't have an activation problem since your machine's SNID should already be tied to and licensed for Win10. But "shouldn't" and "won't" aren't exactly the same terminology to Microsoft cognoscenti. 8^) Jack E/NJ

Lery

JackE said:

It may be that the hard drive is failing as the original slowness could've been due to difficulty reading and writing data to the disk. First, F2 into the BIOS menu. Make sure the D2D recovery option is enabled in the MAIN dropdown. Then in the BOOT dropdown, make sure any secure boot option is disabled. Then exit and save the settings.  

Then I suggest re-trying the ALT+F10 method one more time exactly as described in this video.  Make sure the system is completely off to start by pressing and holding the power button for 5 or more seconds.

If the ALT+F10 mehtod still doesn't work, you can try downloading and making the Win10 installation media (USB) from this site.  However, this installation may run into a similar problem as with the ALT+F10 recovery method if the hard drive is indeed failing.

Jack E/NJ

D2D recovery option is and was enabled.

The BOOT dropdown does show secure boot option is enabled.  It is greyed out and I can't change it.  I attempted switching from UEFI to Legacy, and that does not do any good.

I tried again the reset via the ALT+F10 option.  It failed as it has been doing.

I'm going to now load Windows 10 and hopefully it activates without a problem.

JackE

You can probably disable secure boot by setting a BIOS supervisor password. This might've been another reason why the ALT+F10 installer couldn't continue. You need to stay in UEFI mode. Jack E/NJ 

Lery

JackE said:

You can probably disable secure boot by setting a BIOS supervisor password. This might've been another reason why the ALT+F10 installer couldn't continue. You need to stay in UEFI mode. Jack E/NJ 

Yes that was it.  I noticed a slight difference with the rest PC option.  It now asked me about an account and required a password.  Unfortunately the reset PC still failed with the same issue.  So I will go ahead and try reloading Windows 10.

JackE

>>>Unfortunately the reset PC still failed with the same issue.  So I will go ahead and try reloading Windows 10.>>>

Keep your fingers crossed that the HDD or eMMC memory aren't toast though replacement HDDs are fairly cheap nowadays. Jack E/NJ 

Lery

JackE said:

>>>Unfortunately the reset PC still failed with the same issue.  So I will go ahead and try reloading Windows 10.>>>

Keep your fingers crossed that the HDD or eMMC memory aren't toast though replacement HDDs are fairly cheap nowadays. Jack E/NJ 

Windows 10 is fully loaded and operational now.  Running very nicely. 

Any idea about Bluetooth?  I have a Microsoft blueetooth mouse that I wanted to use.  It's connected and shows paired, but won't work.  I have to use the track pad.  I tried looking over the available downloads for this model and found a long list of possible bluetooth related drivers.  No idea which one this machine would take.

JackE

>>>Microsoft Bluetooth mouse>>>It's connected and shows paired, but won't work.>>>

Congrats. As for the MS mouse, did you really expect it to work with Win10?  8^) Open Device Manager. Are any driver issues displayed under Bluetooth. If not, I suggest that you try pairing with another Bluetooth device like your phone to see if you can transfer files to and from the machine. If so, get another mouse. Jack E/NJ   

Lery

JackE said:

>>>Microsoft Bluetooth mouse>>>It's connected and shows paired, but won't work.>>>

Congrats. As for the MS mouse, did you really expect it to work with Win10?  8^) Open Device Manager. Are any driver issues displayed under Bluetooth. If not, I suggest that you try pairing with another Bluetooth device like your phone to see if you can transfer files to and from the machine. If so, get another mouse. Jack E/NJ   

I have used it with other Windows 10 operating systems before.  No big deal, it's good enough now and back to operating quick enough.

JackE

>>>it's good enough now and back to operating quick enough.>>>

Great! But don't get too comfortable just yet.  Activation issues usually take about a week to show up. If they don't, you might be home free. If they do, it's usually an easy process...call an 800 number and give it your machine's SNID or MAC address. Jack E/NJ 

Lery

JackE said:

>>>it's good enough now and back to operating quick enough.>>>

Great! But don't get too comfortable just yet.  Activation issues usually take about a week to show up. If they don't, you might be home free. If they do, it's usually an easy process...call an 800 number and give it your machine's SNID or MAC address. Jack E/NJ 

When you say SNID, what do you mean?  I know the MAC address.  Where is this SNID you speak of?

JackE

Serial number id, SNID. If it's not on the machine or the box it came in, go to the command prompt and enter "wmic bios get serialnumber" without the quotes. Jack E/NJ

Lery

JackE said:

Serial number id, SNID. If it's not on the machine or the box it came in, go to the command prompt and enter "wmic bios get serialnumber" without the quotes. Jack E/NJ

Ah, ok I see it on the back.  Thank you sir.

ExplorerX

I'm having the same problem. Please explain me how you installed windows again

JackE

@ExplorerX Do you have the same model? If not, what is your full ACER model number? Jack E/NJ