What does Windows 10 not understand about "defer upgrades"?

[Craig234]

"I have NEVER had Windows update reboot my computer more than once in a given day"

The first time, it said I need the latest upgrade of 5.0 gb, press to download it. I did, and later it rebooted while I was afk (and hung). I restarted, it rolled back and hung again, I restarted, it hung, I restarter and it was fine. This is all normal.

The second time I think was the no watning. It put up a page with two choices, restart now or close and restart later. I closed it. Then in about a half hour, just poof it puts up a screen (not a window) that it's rebooting for the parch and does. Reboot, hang, reboot, works ok.

Then I forget the third time but it popped up again about needing to patch as I recall. Over about 12 hours.

 

[Ketchup]

I wonder if this is just the same update failing over and over due to the instability of your system.

 

[Craig234]

I wonder if this is just the same update failing over and over due to the instability of your system.

I'm sure it is.

When it tries to install and rolls back, that's what that would mean.
\
Note it's not 'instability'.

Apart from these patch reboots the system runs stably for weeks. It's not random. It is a problem.

 

[Ketchup]

Yeah, but it's a problem with your bent motherboard CPU-connection pins, not Windows.

 

[Craig234]

"Yeah, but it's a problem with your bent motherboard CPU-connection pins, not Windows."

That's not news. I told you that and you repeat it back?

 

[Craig234]

Now what it does - yesterday, again just now - is it puts up a window saying there will be a restart for a patch. The only choices are 'restart now' or 'close' and it will reboot in 15 minutes. Then whatever I'm doing in 15 minutes, it reboots - and then hangs.

 

[Craig234]

And again in less than an hour, another 15 minute forced reboot.

 

[Craig234]

Two more times this afternoon. The second time, I waited about two minutes on the 'restarting' screen and when it rebooted, on the BIOS screen, I powered off and on - and this time it actually booted without a hang. Maybe it got the update installed... we'll see.

 

[Craig234]

Nope. 15 minutes after the restart, it restarted again, this time no warning. I expect it might do it again in 15 minutes. Maybe the power cycle somehow prevents resetting the restart.

 

[ViRGE]

Craig, you need to solve your inability to update Windows. Otherwise you're just going to be miserable.

 

[Craig234]

Craig, you need to solve your inability to update Windows. Otherwise you're just going to be miserable.

There were several more yesterday. Oddly, sometimes it did the update without a hang, if I powercycled when it rebooted. Maybe it's actually applying some updated, I don't know. But as I type this it's forcing another in 6 minutes.

 

[Craig234]

Given that it hangs if it reboots, but isn't hanging if I turn off the power switch when it reboots, I see two possibilities.

1. This is somehow preventing the problem, and it's applying the updates.

2. It's somehow aborting the updates, though it's not clear why powering off after a reboot with the BIOS screen would do that.

I'd have to guess there's a lot somewhere to say whether updates were completed or not. Anyone know where to check?

 

[ViRGE]

Given that it hangs if it reboots, but isn't hanging if I turn off the power switch when it reboots, I see two possibilities.

1. This is somehow preventing the problem, and it's applying the updates.

2. It's somehow aborting the updates, though it's not clear why powering off after a reboot with the BIOS screen would do that.

I'd have to guess there's a lot somewhere to say whether updates were completed or not. Anyone know where to check?

Have Windows install all outstanding updates, and shutdown. If those updates are still available afterwards, then they obviously didn't stay installed.

 

[Jaskalas]

Yeah, but it's a problem with your bent motherboard CPU-connection pins, not Windows.

How does something like that, damaged hardware, only present itself with OS updates?
Gaming is a fairly intense use of that same hardware.

 

[Craig234]

How does something like that, damaged hardware, only present itself with OS updates?
Gaming is a fairly intense use of that same hardware.

It's not that it's related to updates as far as I know, it's that the only time I usually reboot is when updates require it, and it hangs while installing the update after the reboot. I'm not sure the exact condition for the hang, but it's after a reboot. It runs fine for weeks gaming without a reboot otherwise.

 

[Jaskalas]

I'd have to guess there's a lot somewhere to say whether updates were completed or not. Anyone know where to check?

Is this the log you're looking for?
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-see-update-history-in-windows-10/

Ugh, now that I've viewed my own it appears they greatly reduced the amount of information available from that windows screen. I used to have an update fail for some older office software but that reoccurring error no longer shows up. Sorry, that "update history" screen might just be a piece of fluff rather than a real log of updates.

So maybe... this can help instead?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...indows-update-logs-in-windows-10-version-1607

 

[Craig234]

Thanks that looks a bit involved.

Today it again brought up saying it needed to install the latest Windows to install security updates, a 5GB download.

I waited while it downloaded, then I power cycled after it rebooted, and then waited while it installed.

And the same thing as always happened. After about 10 minutes, it got to 25% and hung. I power cycled and it restored the old version.

 

[ViRGE]

Time to blow away Windows then and lay down a clean install.

 

[Craig234]

Time to blow away Windows then and lay down a clean install.

When I do a Windows repair, it says it was unable to repair - but then boots ok.

 

[ViRGE]

When I do a Windows repair, it says it was unable to repair - but then boots ok.

Sure. The problem isn't that you can't boot right now, it's that you can't install the latest branch of Windows, and that's a problem that's clearly not going away until you blow away Windows. Since you're not getting a BSOD, something about your Windows install is screwed up.

 

[Craig234]

If the 'install and keep your files' option is an option, I can try that.

 

[Craig234]

Is that a good idea? I'm not about to lose the installed files and don't want to backup/restore.

 

[Craig234]

Not sure, if this is useful info, but: when it does the forced restarts, it spends about 3 minutes on the 'restarting screen'.

After two tonight, I checked the reboot options - they had 'restart' and 'update and restart.

I tried a restart just after powering on. It spent about 3 minutes in the restart screen, then restarted, then hung after a couple minutes starting.

Then I tried 'update and shut down'. It spent a few minutes doing it and then shut down. I powered on ok. No hang.

But after a minutes a little alert popped up on the screen saying 'unable to finish installing updates'. Anyway, when I get a response to the 're-install and keep files', I'll try that if it's suggested.

 

[Craig234]

After the above, the power options no longer included 'update and shut down' or 'update and restart'. So I tried just a 'restart' again to see if it'd hang.

This time the restart only took about ten seconds. It seems strange that the previous restart, when 'update and restart' was an option but I picked just 'restart', took the three minutes like it normall does on an update instead of being fast - as if it was doing the update.

But, the fast restart spent a couple minutes booting (not the fast boot when powered on) and then hung. So just a base restart, no update, fast restart, still hangs.

It's only software restarts.

If I power off and on - which I did after the hang - no problem.

 

[ViRGE]

If the 'install and keep your files' option is an option, I can try that.

Yes, that's an option. Just keep in mind that it has a somewhat lower chance of success, since Windows doesn't get to blow away every last thing.