PC not booting up. May updates issue?

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Win 10 22H2

I don’t access my PC too often, maybe every couple of days.  I installed the May updates on June 1.  I went to shutdown yesterday, 6/14, due to incoming strong thunderstorms, and found the PC was already off.  Didn’t think much of it.

Went to boot up today, 6/15, and the computer would not boot up past the choosing an operating system prompt that is part of Macrium Reflect.  Tried repeated restarts.  Sometimes the computer went into the Dell SupportAssist mode.  It scanned the memory and found no errors.  After a few more restarts, I got the option to boot into safe mode, etc.  Booted into safe mode with network access, pc booted up ok, but when I went to connect to wifi, the pc shut off.

Next time I got to the safe mode choices, I selected “disable early-launch anti-malware protection”.  The pc booted up perfect, access to wifi all ok, etc.  I ran a Norton full scan with nothing found.

Anyone else having this issue or found a solution?

I haven’t shutdown and restarted the pc yet, just in case I can’t get to a “good” bootup again.

What should I do next?  Was it possibly the May updates?

Should I go back to the most recent Macrium backup I have?

thanks in advance for any feedback

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Not tracking anything in the may updates that would trigger that.  Have you installed any driver updates when you used it last?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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MarkF wrote:

Next time I got to the safe mode choices, I selected “disable early-launch anti-malware protection”. The pc booted up perfect, access to wifi all ok, etc. I ran a Norton full scan with nothing found.

Hi MarkF:

If you haven’t already done so, I’d suggest you DISABLE the Windows Fast Startup power option at Control Panel | System and Security | Power Options | Choose What The Power Buttons Do (see Option # 1 of Brink’s TenForums tutorial How to Turn On or Off Fast Startup in Windows 10). The Fast Startup power option (also known as hybrid boot-up / hybrid shutdown) is enabled by default in Win 10 and Win 11 but it can sometimes interfere with the loading and initialization of drivers and services at boot-up and cause all sorts of unexpected glitches and problems. For example, see the Microsoft support article Updates may not be installed with Fast Startup in Windows 10.

I haven’t used a Norton antivirus product since I purchased my Win 10 laptop but see my 15-Jul-2018 post in Sal Smith’s Norton Security Performance about possible conflicts with Win 10’s Early Launch Anti-Malware (ELAM) protection and Norton’s Boot Time Protection (which I always set to Aggressive to ensure Norton loaded early in the boot process). Do you have any other security software that starts at Windows startup and runs in real-time protection mode (e.g., Malwarebytes Premium, etc.) that might also interfere with your boot process?

You should also read Brink’s TenForums tutorial Disable Early Launch Anti-Malware in Windows 8 and Windows 10 which notes that the method you used to disable ELAM from your startup Troubleshooter is only a temporary setting – the next time you restart Windows ELAM will be enabled again.

MarkF wrote:

Sometimes the computer went into the Dell SupportAssist mode

It might not be relevant to your problem, but there are several known bugs in the latest SupportAssist v4.0.3 that are causing all sorts of problems.  For example, see employee DELL-Chris M’s 10-Jun-2024 SupportAssist, “Hardware scan fails”, “We ran into a problem” which states that the best workaround for some of these problems is to “uninstall SA and await the new version“.

SupportAssist is another program that loads at Windows startup, and I uninstalled all my SupportAssist-related programs (including Dell SupportAssist Remediation) from my Inspiron 5584 laptop about a year ago because I found they were too buggy and hogged too many system resources.  Instead of SupportAssist I use Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.x to check for available updates for my Dell software and drivers, and I can run the F12 ePSA (enhanced Pre-boot System Assessment) from my Dell BIOS if I want to run a hardware diagnostic.  I have no need for SupportAssist Remediation (a.k.a SupportAssist OS Recovery) because, like you, I use Macrium Reflect to create the occasional full disk image that can be used for emergency recovery.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.4529 * Firefox v127.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24050.7-1.1.24050.5 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.1.5.116-1.0.1252 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.3.0 * My Dell v2.2.6.0

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lmacri wrote:

Instead of SupportAssist I use Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.x to check for available updates for my Dell software and drivers,

I just saw a banner in Dell Update for Windows Univeral 5.3.0 which says the support for Dell Update expires at the end of 2024. Sounds like it’s “out the window” in another 6 months or so.

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WCHS wrote:

I just saw a banner in Dell Update for Windows Univeral 5.3.0 which says the support for Dell Update expires at the end of 2024.

Hi WCHS:

Yes, I saw the same warning about a month ago. See my 09-May-2024 topic Support for Dell Update / Alienware Update Ending December 2024 in the Dell forum.

After December 2024 I’ll just look for Dell software and driver updates that match my system’s unique Service Tag from the support page for my Inspiron 5584. The service warranty for my laptop has expired so I can’t use SupportAssist to submit support tickets anymore, and SupportAssist was so buggy and bloated that I disabled all automatic software updating and system optimization scans (Clean Files / Tune Performance / Optimize Network) long before I decided to uninstall this program, so I won’t be reinstalling SupportAssist once my Dell Update v5.x app reaches end of support.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.4529 * Firefox v127.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24050.7-1.1.24050.5 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.1.5.116-1.0.1252 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.3.0 * My Dell v2.2.6.0

2 users thanked author for this post.

WShstruve, WCHS

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You guys ROCK!

I had no recent driver updates, so it likely was not that.

Made the recommended changes to Fast Startup and Norton Boot Protection settings.  Also uninstalled Dell SupportAssist.

PC restarted with absolutely no issues… and perhaps a bit faster than previously.

Many thanks.

-Mark

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MarkF wrote:

Made the recommended changes to Fast Startup and Norton Boot Protection settings. Also uninstalled Dell SupportAssist. PC restarted with absolutely no issues…

Hi MarkF:

That’s good news. The steps you’ve taken should improve your overall system performance, but I’d suggest you run a few additional checks before your July 2024 Patch Tuesday updates are delivered.

MarkF wrote:

I don’t access my PC too often, maybe every couple of days. I installed the May updates on June 1. I went to shutdown yesterday, 6/14, due to incoming strong thunderstorms, and found the PC was already off. Didn’t think much of it. Went to boot up today, 6/15, and the computer would not boot up…

Do you leave your system in sleep mode or hibernation mode for days at a time when it’s not in use, or do you power off your system in the evening on the days you use your computer? I’m just wondering if your system needs to be shutdown and restarted more frequently to ensure that pending updates for Windows and other software programs are installed correctly. If you go to Settings | Updates & Security | Windows Update does it show you’re currently up to date?

Open an elevated command prompt with Administrator rights and enter the command DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth. If that scan does not detect any problems with your component store (see image below) then run the command sfc /scannow to see if System File  Checker can detect and repair any issues with your system files. If either of those scans detects a problem post back and let us know what message the scan displayed. The ghacks.net article Use DISM to Fix Issues SFC Can’t has more information about these scans.

I would also check your Windows 10 Reliability Monitor [search for “reliability” from your taskbar or open a Run dialog box (Win key + R) and enter perfmon /rel] to see if you’ve had any critical events (solid red circle with white “x”) logged in the past few weeks (see image below). Double-click any event listed in the table below the graph to see further details. Ed Tittel’s 13-Jun-2024 ComputerWorld article Troubleshooting Windows with Reliability Monitor has full instructions.

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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.4529 * Firefox v127.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24050.7-1.1.24050.5 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.1.5.116-1.0.1252 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.3.0 * My Dell v2.2.6.0

1 user thanked author for this post.

PL1

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