Windows 10 should not have auto-installed. In fact, her laptop, an Asus Aspire V3-571G is not certified for Windows 10, as the drivers may not work. Of course others with this same Acer model have installed Windows 10, some with odd errors of hardware incompatibilities. Acer says don’t do it.
Data Recovery from Hard Disk Using USB Sata Adapter: Fail
I was hoping that the Asus Recovery Partition would be able to reset back to Windows 7. This would wipe out her disk and any data she might have. I would first try to get as much of the data off her disk as possible.
The main hatch at the back of the laptop was undone with 2 screws and the hard drive was removed. I connected it with a USB Sata adapter to my Ubuntu machine, but this caused an error. Ubuntu said that there was an NTFS error, that Windows had not shut down properly and so Ubuntu would not read the disk. I would need to find another way.
Asus Recovery on Boot using F9: Fail
Aunty, getting desperate, says to hell with her data, just get the laptop running. Ok, calm down here, let us do the right things first. Fine, no data recovery.
The next thing I tried was boot, hit F9, get into recovery mode, and restore her disk from the recovery partition. I try to boot up, but F9 does not respond. Apparently the Windows 10 update also obliterates the F9 function. Does this mean that the Recovery partition is also blown away?
One thing that still worked was the Setup F2, where I was able to change the boot priority. I added boot from DVD and from USB, before HDD. There were no other options for choosing boot options.
The Windows 10 boot started with a circle of dots, rotating endlessly. After a long while it then said it was configuring. This configuring mode would go on for over 40 minutes, with no other messages.
One good thing that I did was connect the laptop through ethernet using an RJ45 cable, so that if Windows wanted to find some missing files it could.
Puppy Linux Tahr 14.04: Runs Well
Her laptop was dead and would not boot. Start it up and Windows 10 would sit there, trying to update something. There was no message other than “Updating Windows”. From F2 I changed the boot order so could boot from the DVD or USB. Puppy Linux Tahr 14.04 booted wonderfully from the DVD and, despite some small error messages, loaded into memory. I was able to connect to the internet with no issues.
In order to load Aunty’s Yahoo email I had to download Firefox, which installed quickly and flawlessly. Once she saw her beloved Yahoo email on Firefox she was visibly more calm. There was some hope now, that things would be Ok.
Using Puppy Linux Tahr 14.04 to recover data
Puppy displays 4 disks: 3 hard disk partitions and the DVD drive, along with a large red box stating that these are NTFS drives, that Windows had some install error, and to use extreme caution. Ok, then. Interesting.
Disk 0 was the Asus recovery partition, which I can browse. It seems that Windows 10 did not obliterate the partition, just the access to the partition. Disk1 is also some recovery disk, but very small. Disk 2 is her original Windows disk, which I can browse.
I stick a USB drive into one of the USB slots and Puppy picks it up. Puppy allows me to create a subdirectory on the USB drive. I reopen the Windows drive and begin drag and dropping Aunty’s data into the USB drive. Puppy saves her data files and photos.
Let Windows 10 Run Until it Finishes
Photos and files saved safely on an external USB, but what to do next? There is really nothing else to do but reboot to Windows 10 and see if it could cure itself. If I was to revert Aunty back to Windows 7 I would need to first complete the Windows 10 install. Only then was there any hope for a revert. If I could not get Windows 10 to install, a ‘buntu variant was the next possible step.
Still ethernet connected, I let Windows 10 boot on its own. It sat for 10 minutes in circular endless dots, then an “Updating Windows’ message was added. I decided to have tea and lunch with Aunty. After a good 40 minutes a screen of options came up: I selected reinstall from an image. This turned out to be the wrong option. My Uncle had done a data backup to a USB key, but Windows 10 eas looking for something specific. After many attempts I canceled out. Windows left me with a blank blue screen with only a visible cursor. Should I reboot? The hard disk led would intermittently light, so I let it run. After many minutes of ignoring it a screen came back.
The next best option was to let Windows 10 fix its boot issues. I chose that option and let it run. After 15 minutes Windows 10 recovered and Aunty’s screen background and desktop reappeared. Meanwhile I had long sent Aunty on her way.
Lubuntu 14.04 Calms Aunty
While all these Windows 10 shenanigans were going on I had already booted up a very old 13 year old Dell laptop that I had installed Lubuntu 14.04. Originally Win XP, it had corrupted itself to close to self-bricking. Since Win XP could not be recovered, I loaded Lubuntu 14.04, with Firefox. Aunty had some quirky looks about Lubuntu, but within Firefox she was at home. Lubuntu could connect wired RJ45/ethernet or wireless, both which I have extensively tested.
As I was fighting and waiting for Windows 10, Aunty did not skip a beat and had been busy browsing the web. Plug into the wall, power up, connect the RJ45, login, Firefox, it was all good.
Aunty now has my Lubuntu 14.04 laptop as loaner, until I can figure out this Windows 10 issue.
Back to Windows 10: Windows Repair Disk
Now that Windows 10 has somewhat recovered I was a bit skeptical. The first thing was to burn a Windows 10 Recovery Disk. Windows 10 connected with Ethernet, and Firefox loaded without drama. It all seems pretty normal.
Windows 10 is supposed to have a revert back to Windows 7 or 8, but there was no such option on this laptop. I searched for a windows-old directory on C drive, but did not find one. In options there was also no option to revert back to the previous Windows version.
I was good to see that Windows 10 still has the command prompt, or terminal. There are lots of very helpful commands
Stability So Far
Reboots and power downs all work now in Windows 10. The wifi comes up by itself, which is great. W10 reminds you with a screen saver to do updates.
Links
After Windows 10 Upgrade, Restore Asus Recovery
Asus Recovery Tool, but could not find the V3-571 in the series and models