Dell Inspiron - having issues resetting Windows 10

[RiversideRepeat]

My son's Inspiron 5721 got stuck in a boot cycle going from the Dell post screen (the Dell logo screen with loading bar), to Windows logo, to only spinning dots and the bottom of the screen with no logo, to black screen, back to Dell post screen in an endless loop. I fear he may have interrupted a recent Windows update and corrupted his system. Bios and hardware seem to be fine since I can load a Windows 10 portable from USB. He doesn't have any important files on it and all his programs can be restored from the cloud so I figured a Windows reset should do the trick.

WRONG!!!

Let me just say that I just spent a week and a half troubleshooting two different other computers here and had to refresh Windows 10 on my HP laptop and that was a breeze compared to this. I'm at my wits end and taking a time out to post here and wait else I just may take a sledgehammer to the Dell. Let me explain and you'll understand:

FIRST I tried running a Windows repair and then installs from both a DVD and USB, and none of it worked. Startup diagnostics found issues but couldn't fix them. Windows refused to install and gave me a message that what I was trying to accomplish required booting the original installation first. (Wait! What?!! Seriously????)

NEXT I tried downloading the Dell OS recovery tool. Spent over half an hour trying to find the service tag and finally out of sheer luck decided to check the BIOS screen where it did show up. Good thing too because that's the only screen I can get into other than boot screen (F12), which is how i got into the DVD and USB IOS's earlier. Popped the service tag into the OS recovery tool which politely posted in red letters:

No OS images defined for the product.

BEAUTY!!!!

Great, so now what?

 

[jojesa]

If you could access the laptop C: drive then navigate to the 'C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution' folder and delete all its content.

 

[RiversideRepeat]

Nope. Can't boot Windows except from external sources, which can't access the built in HD. I may have to remove the drive so I can explore it with a different machine. I really don't want to break out the hand tools if I don't have to.

What I would really prefer is to simply refresh Windows entirely. I don't understand why this should be so stupid hard on Dell. It shouldn't be.

By the way, I should have mentioned that I have done a hard reset on this machine to no avail.

EDIT: I think I maybe I should download the latest BIOS from Dell and install that, but I'm not exactly sure how that would work. Can anyone tell me, if I ran the BIOS install from Windows on USB, will that work?

IOW, I suspect the BIOS may be corrupted even though I can read the screens?

 

[jojesa]

...What I would really prefer is to simply refresh Windows entirely. I don't understand why this should be so stupid hard on Dell. It shouldn't be..

Go into the BIOS and disable Secure Boot. Save changes and then try to install Windows.

 

[RiversideRepeat]

Secure boot was never on.

 

[jojesa]

Which errors do you get when you try to boot from the Windows 10 USB drive and install Windows 10?

 

[RiversideRepeat]

No errors. Just the message saying I have to boot normally to do what I'm doing. That it can't be done from an external drive. Which makes no sense I know, but that's what it said. There was no way of bypassing or going any further.

 

[jojesa]

How did you create the Windows 10 USB drive?
Could you post the exact message displayed?

 

[RiversideRepeat]

I suddenly have a hunch what the problem might be I'm going to try something else and come back.

The message head is "Compatibility report"

"The upgrade isn't available if you start your computer using Windows installation media.

If copy of Windows is already installed on this computer and you want to upgrade, remove the installation media and restart your computer. After Windows has started normally, insert the installation media and run Windows Setup."

I'm thinking that because it's referring to an upgrade and this is a computer that originally shipped with Windows 8.1, that I may need to use 8.1 ISO to reset. I'm burning another disc now to give that a try.

My HP shipped with Windows 10 so that may be why it accepted the reset more easily.

 

[RiversideRepeat]

Nope. Same result. I'm just going to let it cycle for a long time. I noticed the wifi light has been flashing so it may be at least attempting to download updates and/or fixes. If it's still not back to normal by tomorrow I'm going to try again with the ethernet connected in case it has lost wifi config.

Suspected HD failure but full diagnostics turned up no hardware failures at all. Will check in tomorrow at some point.

 

[jojesa]

I don't think the BIOS is corrupted. As the message you saw, you cannot perform an upgrade, that's why you are not able to continue with the installation.

You could perfectly install Windows 10 even though it came originally with 8.1.
I have done plenty of times and twice on the same Dell model.

You should select 'Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)', which will perform a fresh clean installation.
You will see several partitions, select each partition and click delete, just leave the Recovery partition (if you plan to do a recovery). I would delete it and make my own recovery on a external partition.
After you've finished deleting partitions, select where to install Windows and press Next to install.

 

[RiversideRepeat]

That is what I decided to do after I woke up with a clearer head this morning. I'm assuming though, that I'm going to need the OEM serial for Windows which I will need to find somewhere.

Curious though, why the upgrade option isn't working. It worked perfectly on my HP doing pretty much the same thing. Both computers running the same system edition or close to it.

 

[jojesa]

That is what I decided to do after I woke up with a clearer head this morning. I'm assuming though, that I'm going to need the OEM serial for Windows which I will need to find somewhere.
.

You do not need the OEM serial (Product Key). If you are asked during setup just click 'I don’t have a product key' link at the bottom of the window. After Windows 8 The Product Key is saved onto the computer motherboard at the factory. No Windows Product Key is provided to the customer nor attached as a label on the computer like Windows 7.
After you complete the setup Windows 10 will automatically activate when online.

 

[RiversideRepeat]

Thanks! I thought perhaps something like that. I have done a lot of these but it's been over twenty years or so and not something I do every day so I'm aware of weird differences between manufacturers but I can't keep up I do this so infrequently. I have ADD as well so my memory of what I've tried is often missing important details. Like, I actually saw the screen to redo the drives more than once but it didn't register in my head right away.

Thank you jojesa! I haven't done it yet, but now that I'm pointed in the right direction I know what you said will work. Marked your answer as solution. Thanks again!

 

[RiversideRepeat]

VERY important note:

While troubleshooting one may have switched the boot mode to legacy in order to boot from various other systems and disks.

It is CRITICAL to make sure the boot method is in UEFI mode in the BIOS, otherwise the windows install will throw a message that the drive cannot be used due to being in GPT partition style. If you get the "can't install Windows on this drive" and when you click on more info and it says something about GPT partition style, go back to the BIOS and change the boot method from Legacy back to UEFI. Reboot to the DVD and install should go normally.