Looks like I Shot Myself in the Foot Again

[BobH]

After the near disaster with a Win 10 update, I tried to make a bootable USB drive. It appears I’m in worse trouble for having done so.

When I try to start the system, I’m caught in a loop that I cannot seem to break out of. Here are the symptoms. I start the system by powering on. Windows tries to load but gets caught in a set up process. The first panel presented is Che one that says “Hi there” and asks for country, language, keyboard layout and time zone. I entered all that and pressed the Next button. I then get the “Get going fast” screen. Thereafter it makes no difference whether I choose Express Settings or customize settings - which is what I want to do - or not. Choosing either option brings up th Just a moment screen and chasing dots followed by the 4 blue window panes followed by a return to the Hi there options list.

Apparently this boot is coming from my C: drive because I tried escaping out to a start menu and choosing the USB drive to load from only to be dropped into a screen showing an error followed by a “Grub” command line.

I’m using my iPad to post this, obviously. I can’t grab a sis of the error

All help will be greatly appreciated and gratefully received.

[StuartR]

Have you tried booting with the USB drive not connected?

[BobH]

Have you tried booting with the USB drive not connected?

Yes I did, Stuart I forgot to mention it bu I got the same result.

[BobH]

OK, I’m still in trouble with my Win 10 laptop.

After recovering from my mistake of interrupting an update, I decided that I should create a bootable flash drive. That did not work because I failed to ensure that I had a big enough drive. (I’m blaming that on cataracts.) I bought a couple of 16GB flash drives but could not boot windows nor could I shell out to a command prompt.

My next step was to dredge up a very old Win XP laptop. With some poking and prodding I was able to get a Chrome browser to work (Firefox would not). From there I found a Microsoft site fr which I started a Win 10 download to the flash drive. It literally overnight to complete - assuming it did.

Now I have a screen showing information about something called GRUB4DOS 0.4.6a. I have no idea how to proceed from here or even if I can proceed. I searched using this iPad but found nothing that tells me how to use grub4dos to try to boot from the flash drive.

Can anyone PLEASE help this old ID10T user?

[viking33]

Now Robert, you just have to stop this shooting yourself in the foot stuff!

Somewhere in the dim past, I seem to recall the handle GRUB4DOSxxx but not enough to help you much. Some kind of boot-loader or such.
Googling the name brought up a lot of hits but not many fixes. The one list below calls it a fix but I can't verify that statement at all. It may be worth a read so it's

HERE

[jolas]

In this type of situation, I try to get into SAFE MODE. Do some housekeeping and reboot. I find success in many instances getting back normally to different Windows version including Windows 10.

Here is a link with troubleshooting suggestions that might help in your situation. Read through it.

May I suggest to look for this heading "Is your computer completely frozen and you can’t access the system configuration menu?" and start here.
Your situation looks like you are already at this stage.

Hope this will help.

[RonH]

Sorry to read about your strife Bob.
I am far from an expert but when my old W10 pc started to screw up (version W7 - W10 upgrade) I downloaded the following and it cleaned my pc and installed the latest version 1809. I downloaded to an ext hd and the issues that I had been getting eg memory max'd out etc were resolved. I chose to do a full disc clean, deleting all my personal files.

Maybe this is of help, maybe not and maybe this is what you have already downloaded.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/softwar ... /windows10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BobH]

I’ve not yet explored all those suggestions because I cannot get the win 10 laptop to do anything, but I have another situational I’d like to ask help with.

I have this very old XP laptop. The system is so old that it will not run the MS media creation tool. I can get online with it and have been to a Microsoft page (Microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10iso/)where supposedly I can download a Win 10 ISO, but I’ve run into another problem. I want to put the ISO on the 16 gb flash drive. Microsoft has decided that it doesn’t want me to choose the destination. It will only download to the XP hard drive which doesn’t have the space to hold it. There is no option to choose the download device. I have checked that XP sees the flash drive and that there are more than 14 gb free on the device. There are a couple of San Disk files on the flash drive that take up very little space.

Does anyone know of other places I might download the ISO that will allow me to choose the flash drive as the destination device?

[Doc.AElstein]

Hello Bob.
Sorry, I can’t help with a Win10 ISO ( Edit - maybe I can ... - see next post... )
Would a possibility be a Win 7 ISO as alternative…
Windows 7 might be a better choice to install on an old XP machine…

You can get a Win 7 ISO here, the second link in this post
http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=25735" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If I try to download that on any old machine of mine, Vista or XP, it lets me put it anywhere…
I downloaded it myself a few time already: Here it is on an external hard drive of mine
Win7ISO.JPG : https://imgur.com/cAqPwkL" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
( I could also get you a copy of that from me, if you know how... I don't know how to pass such a big file.. it might be possible as a google drive link....just for fun I thought I would try.. it says it is going to ... but since 15mins it has not started yet ( Win7ISOgmai.jpg : https://imgur.com/zoDSwgB" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; l) )

I made a disc from that ISO, that is to say I made a disk from the ISO after I downloaded it ( http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic. ... 35#p200065" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) , and from that disc I was able to install Windows 7 recently… ( http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=31638" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )

Alan

(P.S. .. By the way, just passing interest, a bit off topic.. Today I was at a very modern clinic. .. They had all sorts of modern and very expensive medical and computer stuff… .. I noticed that they use XP operating system though !!!!! )

P.s. 2 I have Win 7 installed on an old original Vista machine - I never tried Win 7 on an old XP machine yet...
::::::.......--._________________--
P.s. 3 Edit, a lot later… I got a google share link thingy after about 15 hrs ( ISO 15hrs Upload.JPG : https://imgur.com/6itDIiM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , https://imgur.com/Eoq8QZ3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) I sent it to myself and got this link....
Google Drive to Win 7 ISO ---- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vs8-1E ... kFtrD/view" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Doc.AElstein]

Hello again….

.....Does anyone know of other places I might download the ISO that will allow me to choose the flash drive as the destination device?

I don’t know if this is much use … it is probably all in German.. and I don’t know if during the use of this stuff you might be able to change it to English… ( I think that is usually the case .. or rather, the installation thing that you make from it would , I expect, ask you for your language , when you finally do the install… )

Anyways…
In Germany, the Computer magazines are quite popular for their downloads.
I had a couple of computers sitting around doing not much yesterday, so I had a look and a quick play around…
I got from a German computer magazine _.... ( https://www.computerbase.de/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , https://www.computerbase.de/downloads/b ... indows-10/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , https://imgur.com/LSzU9Nw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )……._ these:
Win 10 ISO 64Bit : 64Bit ISO Win10 on Ext HardDrive.JPG : https://imgur.com/T5SYoIa" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Win 10 ISO 32Bit : 32bitISOWin7 GHardDrive.JPG : https://imgur.com/dgsnPVN" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The first one came down in about 3 hours, and I chose to put it on an external hard drive, where it is currently. For some reason the 32 Bit kept crapping out. ( It might have been as I was using the internet a lot on some other computers, I am not sure.) I finally got it on a hard drive on another computer after a couple of hours downloading.

In both cases I could choose to download it anywhere. (But as I mentioned, the 32 Bit kept crapping out when I tried to put it on the same external hard drive as where the 64 Bit one successfully downloaded to. I am not sure why I had problems there)

Maybe you can get those directly from the magazine site....._
_....While I am at it, for completeness, I am uploading those two just now from my computers to Google Drive. The 64bit ISO file has been going for about 10 hours and is about a third uploaded. The 32Bit I just started
I will edit this post below and add the link to them if they ever finish uploading. They may be useful for future reference even if they are not any use for you just now.

I can’t vouch for any of the Win 10 stuff as I have never tried to do anything in Win 10 ( On the other hand the Win 7 ISO file I mentioned in the previous post, was finally used by me to make a disk, from which I got a successful Win 7 Operating system instillation just recently )

Alan

_.________________
Google Drive links to those two Win 10 ISO Files to follow …. maybe….
Edit 1st March 2019: Win 10 ISO 64 Bit https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dldQ8P ... g80Lm/view" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Edit 2nd March2019 Win 10 32Bit ISO file...... All went well yesterday with,
_ download from Combase site to external hard drive 32 Bit Win 7 ISO from Combase to ext hard drive Download.JPG : https://imgur.com/uQF3zbF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
_ Upload from above download to Googl Drive Win 10 32Bit ISO Upload from external Hard drive to Google Drive.JPG : https://imgur.com/BjiqWS0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
_ Download to desktop from the Google Drive link Download from my Google Drive Upload.JPG : https://imgur.com/OVawhhi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Here the Google Drive link Win 10 32Bit ISO file : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LoTPRh ... Ut4T8/view" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BobH]

Thanks a lot Alan!

I’m going to try that link to imgur for the 64 bit Win 10 download.

[Doc.AElstein]

Hi Bob,
Those downloads from German Computer magazines are quite popular here, but I don’t personally have much experience with them.

... going to try that link to .. 64 bit Win 10 download.

I got two, seemingly successful, ISO file downloads from that link in the last few days: the 64 Bit to an external hard drive connected to the computer via USB cable; and the 32 Bit to a spare internal hard drive
I was letting them ISOs which I downloaded , upload to Google Drive in the background … one of them has finally got there… after 2 days one upload was successful from my external hard drive to Google Drive. ( Upload 64Bit Win10 ISO to GoogleDrive.JPG : https://imgur.com/5ErTupG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; So I Edited my last post and put it in. ( Also here it is again Win 10 64Bit ISO at Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dldQ8P ... g80Lm/view" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )

Strangely, the 32 Bit keeps crapping out when downloading or uploading. It might be a coincidence – when the things take so long then, occasionally a blip in the system screws things up I guess.
I will add the link to the 32 bit ISO file at Google Drive , just for completeness, if I ever get it successfully uploaded there. At the moment it is just sitting on a spare internal Hard drive on one of my machines. Maybe later I will try to transfer it around and try on other machines. I frequently find that some things don’t work on some machines and do on others. Everyone tells me that should not happen. But it does. So I prefer to have a few old machines hanging around. I can usually get things to work on at least one. I try to check on as many different versions of software like Office also. I only take solutions for my own important personal files when they work on all my Windows and all my Office versions. …

It sounds very adventurous to my Laymen thinking, doing what you are proposing: going from XP to Win 10 on an old Lap Top, but I guess you know what your doing.
Maybe a project for next winter for me might be for me to update one of my machines to Win 10. I suppose I really aught to have a least one, just to keep up.. But I am not sure… I sometimes wonder if there might have been a peak in the development of some things computers…

Anyway, Good luck
:-)
Alan

P.s. I might for my own amusement see if I can make an instillation disk from my downloaded Win 10 ISO files, maybe sometime later, using the info I learnt from here on how to do that. ( http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic. ... 35#p200065" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )

[BobH]

Well I tried the imgur url to no avail. It wouldn’t connect me possibly because of my US IP address.

The only Windows system I have running runs XP. The Microsoft pages that make a Win 10 iso available force users to use the Media creation Tool, but it will not run on XP. I found other articles that explain how change your browser to overcome the MS routine but all of those instructions are for newer versions of my Chrome browser.

Still stupid in central Texas.

To clarify, I am not trying to go from XP to Windows 10 on the ancient Dell laptop. I’m using the ancient Dell because it is the only one I have running. I’m trying to use it to download a Win 10 iso to a usb flash drive then use that iso to create a bootable flash drive - separate flash drive - using the XP system to create the bootable media. With a Win 10 on the flash drive that will boot placed in the much newer HP laptop, I hope to get out of this mess. SIL has promised to bring his new Win 10 laptop on their next visit. I’m trying to recover sooner if possible. With his Win 10 system using the media creation tool from the MS download page we should be able to create the bootable flash drive with far fewer impediments.

[Doc.AElstein]

Hi Bob

Yeh, I figured from your earlier posts you were just trying to use the old Lap top to get a flash thing to help you boot your main computer.
I may have misunderstood that slightly.. I thought for some reason that you also needed to upgrade the XP to get it to do something.. On re reading I see I miss read that…
_._________________
Anyway…..
Today I let an Old Vista machine of mine download the Win 10 64Bit ISO . I did it twice:
_ initially from the link to the Google Drive which I uploaded,
and then after
_ from the Computer Base Magazine site ***
They both worked OK and the results look very similar. : Win 10 64Bit ISO Downloads on Old Vista machine from Google Drive And CombaseSite.JPG : https://imgur.com/jOBsuEj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So probably if you can download from the Google Drive link, then you would have the same ISO thing ( Did you try the Google link alternative? .....- I uploaded it there as an alternative for you to download from – sorry if I did not make that clear Google Drive link to Win 10 64Bit ISO File : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dldQ8P ... g80Lm/view" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )

On my old Vista machines, each download took about 3 hours.

I have downloaded that ISO a few times now on different machines over the last few days. Quite often the download failed: I expect it only takes a blip and the thing craps out… I guess you need to maintain a free and constant internet connection for the whole download period

Alan

P.s. ( *** Imgur is just the screen shot sharing site I use.
The ISO download site is part of a German Computer Magazine ( Computer Base ) site https://www.computerbase.de/downloads/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.computerbase.de/downloads/b ... indows-10/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - You have to Register to download )

[StuartR]

Do you have a friend with a reasonably modern PC that you could visit, so you can download the ISO image to a USB drive?

[BobH]

Do you have a friend with a reasonably modern PC that you could visit, so you can download the ISO image to a USB drive?

SIL has promised to do so on his next visit.

Today I’m going to install Win 7 on the new laptop. I was able to boot into safe mode where I got a command line prompt and displayed directories. The boot directory has been wiped so installing Win 7 won’t cause me to lose anything more. Don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner except the ‘little grey cells zey are getting very old’ to quote Hercule.

With luck I’ll be able to download an iso and create a bootable flash drive.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

[BobH]

Coming to you live and in living Windows 7 color from Temple, Texas, USA through the auspices of Chrome!

Even for brain dead old fahrters, progress is sometimes possible.

I still have a tiny problem though. I seem to have lost 8GB on one of my flash drives. I had to abort a large download to it because it ran out of space while making data backups. Can I format a flash drive and recover all of its space?

[StuartR]

Can I format a flash drive and recover all of its space?

Yes.

[BobH]

Well, we can close this thread now, I think. I am up and running on Windows 10 and working to recover all my apps. I lost some data but nothing that is critical or that cannot be recreated.

Using the Win 7 system I was able to download the Win 10 ISO and create a bootable usb flash drive. I used that flash drive to boot and install Windows 10. It worked!

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions and help.

[Doc.AElstein]

I think it would be more pleasurable to shoot myself than have Win 10 installed on any machine of mine. I would have Win 7 instead
But glad for you that you are back in full virtual life
(Don't throw your old XP laptop away ...)