Asus all in one PC won;t load windows

[didds]

Our milkman has a problem with his PC .. its an "all in one" asus desktop... ie a monitor with the PC guts within it. It would appear to be a "ASUS ZEN AiO 21.5" All-in-One PC "

Basically it boots into the aprio utility - CF bios. It won't even attempt to start windows, just goes to aptio utility.

I've googled and come up with "the solution" which is basically to enable CMS and disable secure boot control, reboot pressing F9 to load windows system restore and go from there.

Well, I can make the changes in the aptio utility and reboot, pressing F9... at which juncture it just goes to the aptio utility still. No hint of windows restore etc.

I'm stuck now. The utility shows there is a HD there (so its not unable to find anything etc).

There is no DVD slot but there is a USB slot so I could boot from a bootable USB stuck. If of course I knew what to boot with that would make any difference.

Its windows 10 and of course, no he hasn't got any recovery usb stick already.


Ideas?

cheers!

didds

[Breelander]

I've googled and come up with "the solution" which is basically to enable CMS and disable secure boot control, reboot pressing F9 to load windows system restore and go from there.

Well, I can make the changes in the aptio utility and reboot, pressing F9... at which juncture it just goes to the aptio utility still. No hint of windows restore etc...

I don't have an Asus, so I've Googled it too and found much the same advice as you followed.

Pressing F9 should boot you to the advanced recovery options. It may not be necessary to use any of the advanced startup repair options. What happens if, after enabling CMS and disabling secure boot control, saving the changes and exiting, you don't press any keys? If left to its own devices it may just boot normally into Windows.

[didds]

Hi bree...

* if I do nothing on reboot I end up back in the utility
* If I press F9 I do not get to the windows recovery stuff, I just end up in the utility.

didds

[Breelander]

In that case, try booting from a USB. A Windows install USB can not only be used to install windows, it also contains the same advanced startup recovery utilities. So will a Recovery Drive made on another Win10 PC (no need to include system files when making one). You must use one that's the same bits as the system being repaired, 32 or 64 bit. if possible it should also be the same language as installed currently: 'English' for US English, 'English International' for the UK.

When you boot from install media the first screen asks for language choices, the second has a big 'Install now' button in the middle. Near the bottom left is a 'Repair your computer' option. This takes you Advanced Startup. A recovery drive goes straight to advanced startup.

For now, let's just see if the hard drive can be seen and read. Click the Troubleshoot option, and on the next screen choose Command Prompt.

Type the command DISKPART then at the Diskpart prompt type the command LIST VOLUME

All being well, you should see a list of volumes and their drive letters. The Largest would likely be the 'C:' drive, but will have a different letter temporarily, possibly E: (it was for me).

At the Diskpart prompt type EXIT
Back at the Command prompt type the command DIR E:
(or use whatever letter the List Volume command showed for the windows drive)

You should see the contents of the 'C' drive - the Program files, Users, and Windows directories, for example. If so, the drive is recognised by the system and readable. Now close the command prompt and you'll be back at the Advanced options screen.

If, and only if the drive was readable and the DIR command listed the normal contents of a 'C' drive, then click Troubleshoot and this time choose the Start-up Repair option. If you are in any doubt about what you have seen, turn off and post back here.

[didds]

Brilliant Bree - thank you. Just gotta find a 64 bit win 10 PC now!

didds

[Breelander]

Brilliant Bree - thank you. Just gotta find a 64 bit win 10 PC now!

If you can't find one to make a recovery drive usb on, the alternative is to download the Media Creation Tool, run it, and select 'make install media for another PC'. Then you can make the 64-bit install usb. As I said, that has the advanced startup recovery utilities too.

This can be done on any PC, it doesn't have to be running Win10 or be 64-bit - 32-bit Win 7 or 8 will do. It's about 3.5GB to download though, so unless you are on unlimited broadband it would be better to find/borrow a 64-bit Win10 PC.

[Infrasonic]

Brilliant Bree - thank you. Just gotta find a 64 bit win 10 PC now!

If you can't find one to make a recovery drive usb on, the alternative is to download the Media Creation Tool, run it, and select 'make install media for another PC'. Then you can make the 64-bit install usb. As I said, that has the advanced startup recovery utilities too.

This can be done on any PC, it doesn't have to be running Win10 or be 64-bit - 32-bit Win 7 or 8 will do. It's about 3.5GB to download though, so unless you are on unlimited broadband it would be better to find/borrow a 64-bit Win10 PC.

Just as a little OT PS, any idea how often the MCT gets updated Bree? I keep a few USB flash drives around with various Linux/Windows OS options, so how often should I upgrade my W10 MCT USB to have the latest W10 version? Or is it always one/two major updates behind the latest Windows Update version?

TIA

I

[Breelander]

..any idea how often the MCT gets updated Bree? ... how often should I upgrade my W10 MCT USB to have the latest W10 version? Or is it always one/two major updates behind the latest Windows Update version?

A 'major update' is one that takes you to the next version of W10. There have been six so far (soon to be seven) from 1507 up to 1803 (1809 is due in October). As soon as a new version is released the MCT is updated to make the ISO/USB for the latest version. To keep up to date you should always make new install media when a new version of Windows is released.

A 'minor update' is a monthly cumulative update. This changes the minor build number, but not the version number. The MCT will not be updated to reflect each month's minor update, it remains at a base build, the latest cumulative update then being required to get an install fully up to date.

Very occasionally through the life of a version the MCT will be updated to a new base build. For example, the current install media that the MCT makes is for 1803. When first released it installed a base build of 17134.1. The MCT has been updated just once since then, now making media that installs a base build of 17134.112. Such minor updates to the MCT go unannounced. There is no point in making new install media as both 17134.1 and the current 17134.112 will still have to download the latest cumulative update as soon as installed, after which the installed OS will be identical.