• Sometimes you need to pull the plug

    Posted on July 16, 2022 at 19:20 CDT by • Comment in the Forums

    This morning I had to run to the office to diagnose why a Windows 10 21H2 workstation was not booting. It had a black screen. Normally on the weekend is when I patch and this was one of the machines I have install updates early to review the impact on machines. I’ll then log in on Saturday morning to check and make sure everything is operational. Knowing that I have a workstation backup (Macrium reflect to a large server), a spare SSD hard drive at the office, I knew I could reinstall the operating system/restore the workstation should the patching process cause undue issues, or the hard drive died.

    When I got to the office, the lights were on the machine, but nothing on the screen. Knowing that there had been times when an update had frozen up the machine, I pulled the power plug, counted to five, and then plugged it back in. I pressed the power button and the system booted up to finishing up a bios update. It finalized the process and rebooted just fine.

    Now normally I don’t do bios updates automatically, nor do I do them at the same time as when I’m planning to do a security update so I’ll need to investigate why they both occurred at the same time, but I’m guessing having both occur at the same time caused the bios update process to freeze up.

    Updating bios software is an unfortunate, but necessary evil. Your best Windows 10 experience occurs when you keep your video card drivers and bios software up to date. At the same time, when it has issues, it’s extremely hard to be remote. You have to be there with the machine.

    Bottom line, always have a backup. Consider having a spare hard drive. Know you have options. And sometimes…. just pull the plug and count to five.

    Now waiting forPeach and Blackberry pie to bake in the oven, enjoy the summer!

    Windows 10
DON'T MISS OUT!
Subscribe to the Free Newsletter
We promise not to spam you. Unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

View the Forum

  • Recent Replies
  • My Replies
  • My Active Topics
  • New Posts in the Last day
  • Private Messages
  • Knowledge Base
  • How to use the Forums
  • All Forums

    • Recent Topics

    My Profile

    May 2025
    S M T W T F S
     123
    45678910
    11121314151617
    18192021222324
    25262728293031

    Remembering Woody

     

    Want to Advertise in the free newsletter? How about a gift subscription in honor of a birthday? Send an email to sb@askwoody.com to ask how.

    Mastodon profile for DefConPatch
    Mastodon profile for AskWoody

     

    Home • About • FAQ • Posts & Privacy • Forums • My Account
    Register • Free Newsletter • Plus Membership • Gift Certificates • MS-DEFCON Alerts

    Copyright ©2004-2025 by AskWoody Tech LLC. All Rights Reserved.