Can't access computer after Windows 10 update

[JasonC]

Hi All,

I had a Windows update today and since then I cannot get to the Windows login screen, all I can see is a pretty background picture SO basically the mouse and keyboard are not responding at this screen to allow me to login.

I've tried:
1. Rebooting many times including power cycling and removing all additional hardware (which was only a speaker plugged into the headphone jack)
2. I can get to safe mode by rebooting 3 times but when I get to safe mode I cannot press any of the buttons
3. I accessed the BIOS and restored the defaults (mouse and keyboard worked in here fine!)
4. Downloaded a Windows 10 installation media to a USB disk, which did get me to lots of recovery options and the mouse/keyboard worked fine, but none of the recovery options work! I get various messages saying that Windows could not recover anything. I've got to the re-install from scratch option but it says neither the partition or main drive are usable, something to do with UEFI. I have not clicked on Format disk option yet in case anyone has anything else I can try.

I hope you can help!
Jason

 

[Rakk]

I don't suppose you have another mouse and keyboard to try - I'm wondering if maybe the ones you are currently using are having driver issues (some of the gaming keyboards mice definitely have their own drivers).

 

[ubuysa]

Is this a PCS build? Can you post the full specs please?

What are the exact error messages you see relating to 'UEFI or somerhing'? Take a photo and post it here.

Windows updates write a restore point if you have that option turned on. You can restore to the latest restore point from the Windows installation system.

 

[ubuysa]

I don't suppose you have another mouse and keyboard to try - I'm wondering if maybe the ones you are currently using are having driver issues (some of the gaming keyboards mice definitely have their own drivers).

I wondered that but they both work with the WinPE install system so they should also work with the basic Windows system drivers.

 

[JasonC]

Thanks for the quick replies. Yes it is a PCS system, I have a few from PCS and so far they have worked fine after Windows updates but not this one. I have added a link below to a couple of videos of what happens when trying to fix it.

videos here - https://photos.app.goo.gl/x9eyVWmaXsRunKj5A

I have tried another keyboard and mouse but this made no difference.

The specs are:
Processor (CPU) - Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-4930K (3.4GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard - ASUS® P9X79 LE: INTEL® SOCKET LG2011
Memory (RAM) - 16GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB KIT)
Graphics Card - 2GB AMD RADEON™ R7 250 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - DX® 11
1st Storage Drive - 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)

Need any more specs?

 

[JasonC]

Don't worry, I eventually sorted it but only by formatting the hard drive and removing the existing partitions, so lost all data. It seems that the latest Windows 10 will not install on a MBR partitioned disk, only a GPT partitioned one which is why I had to format it.

It's a shame I couldn't get the mouse and keyboard working on the login screen to save having to do all that but hey ho, that's Windows for you.

 

[ubuysa]

Don't worry, I eventually sorted it but only by formatting the hard drive and removing the existing partitions, so lost all data. It seems that the latest Windows 10 will not install on a MBR partitioned disk, only a GPT partitioned one which is why I had to format it.

It's not Windows 10 per se, it's that your system uses UEFI booting and that requires GPT formatted drives.

It's a shame I couldn't get the mouse and keyboard working on the login screen to save having to do all that but hey ho, that's Windows for you.

I suspect that having an MBR formatted drive in a UEFI system could have been the cause of this too?

 

[JasonC]

It's not Windows 10 per se, it's that your system uses UEFI booting and that requires GPT formatted drives.


I suspect that having an MBR formatted drive in a UEFI system could have been the cause of this too?

As a default the PC didn't use UEFI booting, but when you download the WIndows 10 recovery media onto a USB stick, the stick requires UEFI booting so not sure of a way around that.

The mouse and keyboard worked perfectly fine before the WIndows update. Before the update, the system was not a UEFI system so these updates have changed it all. The PC has been working for the last few years without any issues until these updates! Normally I get a few issues with Windows updates but nothing major enough to cause me to have to format a drive.

 

[ubuysa]

If your system is capable of UEFI it would be wise to switch to that (it will mean a full reinstall). If you want to stick with MBR get the Media creation tool to download an iso file and use something like Rufus to write that to an MBR capable stick.

Like Windows 7, MBR is outdated and UEFI is here to stay. Your problems are likely to increase if you stick with MBR.

 

[JasonC]

If your system is capable of UEFI it would be wise to switch to that (it will mean a full reinstall). If you want to stick with MBR get the Media creation tool to download an iso file and use something like Rufus to write that to an MBR capable stick.

Like Windows 7, MBR is outdated and UEFI is here to stay. Your problems are likely to increase if you stick with MBR.

Yeah like I say, I formatted and created new GPT partitions so using UEFI now so all should be good. I just need to switch my other PCs to it now just in case this problem occurs on those! My new laptop from PCS is hopefully UEFI already but I need to check.

Thanks for the help.