[SOLVED] PC stuttering after mishap during move

bummer6

Prominent
Oct 9, 2019
6
0
510
Hello! Today I had to pack up my desktop PC and bring it from one part of the country to another. I didn't have a lot of time to pack, so I could probably have taken more care. Long story short, when I arrived the graphics card had popped loose. I didn't notice until I tried booting the PC and nothing came up on screen.

After having reseated the graphics card I booted the PC again only to find that apparently windows had decided to start installing an update when I first booted it with the graphics card loose, only I couldn't tell because I had no video output. So I essentially shut the computer down mid-update without realizing, causing the computer to enter a boot loop with the error message "inaccessible boot device".

I ended up performing a system restore to a restore point created earlier this week, except it still wouldn't boot. After that, I tried starting the computer in safe mode, which worked. After that I simply rebooted and everything started as normal.

Everything was running fine until about 20 minutes later when the system suddenly froze completely. I rebooted and everything was fine again for about 10 minutes before the screen went black and I had to hard reset again. From then on, the computer has been working, but it occassionally has stutters, causing the audio to sound "robotic" for a brief second before returning to normal.

Now, I don't know if this is related to the physical bumps it may have taken during the trip or if this is still some form of corruption caused by the mid-update reset or the system restore... I've never experienced anything like this before.

I also want to note that I checked my task manager while the stutters were happening, and I saw no irregular activity and no spikes in CPU, RAM or GPU usage.

Sorry about the long post, I hope the context helps.
 
Solution
If Win10 was activated previously, you may reinstall it (download/make you own USB-based WIn10 flash drive on a computer that works) , then boot the problem computer from USB-installer, select the with the repair option, selecting 'keep personal files/apps, data' option.'..

If it fails, boot from a Linux Live USB image (Mint would be usable by almost anyone with 10 minutes of WIndows experience), and get critical files off the disk as long as the drive is still readable/undamaged beyond mere WIndows-corruption
I think that most likely the shutdown during the update is the source of your issues.
I think it less likely that the GPU coming out is causing the issue.
If you tried a restore point and that didn't work....I would suggest a clean Windows install because shutting down during an update can cause problems that might be very difficult to fix.
 

bummer6

Prominent
Oct 9, 2019
6
0
510
I think that most likely the shutdown during the update is the source of your issues.
I think it less likely that the GPU coming out is causing the issue.
If you tried a restore point and that didn't work....I would suggest a clean Windows install because shutting down during an update can cause problems that might be very difficult to fix.

How can I do a clean install of Windows without losing my files?
 
How can I do a clean install of Windows without losing my files?
Do a clean install on a different drive.
Make sure when you do the clean install....it is the only drive connected.
Then make sure it's running right.
Then power down and add the drive you want the files from.
Then go to file manager or windows explorer or whatever and copy the files to a USB stick or whatever.
Once I got everything off it that I wanted I would format it and use it for backups or something like that.
 

bummer6

Prominent
Oct 9, 2019
6
0
510
Do a clean install on a different drive.
Make sure when you do the clean install....it is the only drive connected.
Then make sure it's running right.
Then power down and add the drive you want the files from.
Then go to file manager or windows explorer or whatever and copy the files to a USB stick or whatever.
Once I got everything off it that I wanted I would format it and use it for backups or something like that.
So essentially I would need to buy a new copy of Windows 10 considering I upgraded from Win 7. I would also need to buy a new HDD or ideally, a new SSD of equal size to the one I have now.

I know it's possible to do an in-place nondestructive reinstall of windows, I just don't know how, and your suggestion would cost me a lot of money and a ton of time since there's a lot of files I need and a ton of software I would need to reinstall.
 
So essentially I would need to buy a new copy of Windows 10 considering I upgraded from Win 7. I would also need to buy a new HDD or ideally, a new SSD of equal size to the one I have now.

I know it's possible to do an in-place nondestructive reinstall of windows, I just don't know how, and your suggestion would cost me a lot of money and a ton of time since there's a lot of files I need and a ton of software I would need to reinstall.
"I know it's possible to do an in-place nondestructive reinstall of windows"
I'm not sure how this is done.....perhaps create a new post.
 

MasterMadBones

Distinguished
So essentially I would need to buy a new copy of Windows 10 considering I upgraded from Win 7. I would also need to buy a new HDD or ideally, a new SSD of equal size to the one I have now.

I know it's possible to do an in-place nondestructive reinstall of windows, I just don't know how, and your suggestion would cost me a lot of money and a ton of time since there's a lot of files I need and a ton of software I would need to reinstall.
First, you have to make sure you don't lose your license by linking your Windows license to a Microsoft account by logging into your account using a MS ID. You can link a Microsoft account in Settings under Accounts > Your Info.

An in-place clean install is available in Settings, under Security & Updates > System recovery.

Alternatively, you can download the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool and do a fresh install directly or make a bootable USB drive or DVD.
 
If Win10 was activated previously, you may reinstall it (download/make you own USB-based WIn10 flash drive on a computer that works) , then boot the problem computer from USB-installer, select the with the repair option, selecting 'keep personal files/apps, data' option.'..

If it fails, boot from a Linux Live USB image (Mint would be usable by almost anyone with 10 minutes of WIndows experience), and get critical files off the disk as long as the drive is still readable/undamaged beyond mere WIndows-corruption
 
Solution