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So, Windows 10 has bricked my desktop

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  • So, Windows 10 has bricked my desktop

    Okay, so I have two laptops and a desktop. I upgraded both my laptops to Windows 10 with no problems, but with the desktop (which the upgrade diagnosis thingy they have said was 100% compatible) every time I get to the log in screen it locks up and reboots. The only thing I can think of (other than a bad install) is that Windows 10 has stronger password requirements than Windows 7 and my old password on my desktop doesn't meet those requirements and I'm getting stuck in a logic loop of password accepted/password does not meet minimum requirements/password accepted/password does not meet minimum requirements...
    So, I guess two questions, first is that even a thing, second, if that is a thing, how do I fix it?
    If that isn't a thing, how might I go about fixing it (other than saying screw it, time for a new computer... which sadly I don't have the budget for).
    If you wish to find meaning, listen to the music not the song

  • #2
    That's not a thing. I think you need to boot into safe mode (not sure how to get Win10 there) and check the system logs for a driver crash.

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    • #3
      Okay, so the password thing isn't a thing, but the endless reboot hell is apparently a thing, which is what I was getting stuck in, it's just that the endless reboot hell is triggered by a bad, whatever the hell, after the point that it asks for a password if you already had one set up.
      But, now my computer well and truly is bricked. I found a way to get it to go into system restore and do a factory reset, and I attempted to do the upgrade again from the factory defaults, it warned me that several reboots would be performed, as it did the first time, and the first time it shut down to reboot it never turned back on. Now, it won't turn on at all. I figured that I could simply force the power up and do another system restore and to hell with Windows 10, but now when I hit the power button the light on the button turns on, but nothing else happens, the hard drive doesn't spin up, none of the fans turn on, no signal goes to the monitor, keyboard, or mouse... it just sits there. I have no idea how a software update could possibly cause everything else to fail, unless it is a hardware failure that just happened to have happen at the same time as the software update.
      But either way, the computer is now a brick. Oh well, at least I still have my laptop, that has backup copies of all my job search stuff, it is slow and unreliable, but hopefully reliable enough. As it appears my remaining option is to earn enough money to either pay a pro to look at it or buy a new one, neither of which is feasible on a clerk's salary.
      If you wish to find meaning, listen to the music not the song

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      • #4
        Try disconnecting the power cable to the hard drive. Then then try booting again.

        I've had a hard drive fail in a way that killed the power supply. And if yours isn't *quite* that bad, it might be overloading the PS to the point things won't boot.

        If it still doesn't start up, disconnect *all* the drives and see if the system will boot (at least to the BIOS startup screen.

        If you don't get the fans, etc then you've got a motherboard problem (and there are a couple of ways that software *can* mess that up)

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        • #5
          I've had my computer lock up to the point where it wouldn't boot a few times. What worked for me was unplugging it, waiting a while (for capacitors to discharge), and then plugging it back in. Apparently the motherboard had got into a state where it wasn't monitoring the power switch, but a TRUE "cold boot" got it back. Easier to do than opening things up to disconnect components - worth a try.
          Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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          • #6
            Also note that some USB devices (especially powered hubs) can feed back power into the m/board, so make sure those are unplugged too.

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            • #7
              Well, I tried unplugging it and doing a cold boot, and it wouldn't go to the bios screen, but I tried using an old laptop hard drive (I don't know why I kept it after I got ride of that laptop, I think I was planning on eventually formatting it and putting it in a case for an external hard drive) that still had windows 7 installed on it, and it was able to boot up just fine... for about half an hour, then it just crapped out... and at this point, if it is something other than needing to fix the hard drive, I'm going to just limp along using my laptop until I can save up enough for another computer... it is a 5 going on 6 year old computer, it's probably not worth it to keep putting money into it (it was a good computer, but maybe it was time to upgrade anyway).
              If you wish to find meaning, listen to the music not the song

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              • #8
                It could be the power supply *instead of* the hard drive. Using a physically smaller drive let it run for a bit because it drew less power.

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                • #9
                  might be related, might not:

                  When's the last time the thermal paste on the processor was replaced? My ex's computer refused to boot, he replaced it, and upon disassembly he discovered the thermal paste had failed-replacing it gave him a second computer.
                  Honestly.... the image of that in my head made me go "AWESOME!"..... and then I remembered I am terribly strange.-Red dazes

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                  • #10
                    So, I was actually able to Frankencomputer my computer (more than it already was)... my mom's office had a computer with a bad hard drive (which apparently wasn't as bad as they thought, still waiting to hear back if they want me to reformat it myself or turn it back into them for destruction... good them I'm honest enough to tell them that they just potentially released confidential information and ask how they want it destroyed) that they let me simply take for free because they were ready to upgrade anyway and I salvaged the power supply from it... and so far it seems to be working.
                    It doesn't fit in my case (the cables aren't long enough to reach to where it is supposed to be mounted), so I've had to improvise and will never be able to put the cover back on the case... but for a 6 year old computer getting even a little bit longer without spending money is going in the success column.
                    If you wish to find meaning, listen to the music not the song

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