Windows 10 reinstallation fighting me

Question

Hey guys so I have a Dell inspiron 15 3558. I know its old but it has held up really well until recently. Out of the blue it started to run really slow, I looked it up and I found the first thing you could do is uninstall and reinstall windows 10. I figured it was pretty easy and opted to do that, so I uninstalled and used media creation tool to create a clean USB version. I plug it into my computer, and I select it to boot from. It goes to the windows logo and the loading circle and that is it. It never goes past that phase, and I have left it for hours and it still won't go further. I have tried all the ports for the computer and nothing. So, I took the hard drive out of it and got a SATA to USB cable. I tried to download windows 10 onto another computer, connect the cable and transfer windows to it but that doesn't seem to work either.

I am wondering if I can download windows directly onto my hard drive using media creation tool? I know that will wipe EVERYTHING on the drive which is why I am asking before I do it. I did find out that the hard drive still spins and powers up with the SATA cable. So, I know the hard drive isn't bad. Is it normal for a hard drive to just refuse to accept a reinstallation like this?

Thank you for any advice and tips.

ejn63 · Answer

Just because the hard drive spins and appears to work, does not mean it's not the source of the problem. Run an extended (include the surface test) diagnostic on the drive (F12 at powerup).

A damaged boot sector (i.e., bad sectors at the front of the disc) will cause the problems you're seeing.

Saltgrass · Answer

I would be interested in how you uninstalled Windows?

If you are doing a clean install, you select the version of the USB drive for your configuration. Newer systems use UEFI but if your system is older, maybe it is a Legacy install.

You should at least get to the installer page since you are only dealing with the USB drive. If the other drive was having a problem, it could interfere. As a note, I have replaced all my HDD drives with SSD because of the way Windows runs those drives during maintenance operations.

Gillian98 · Answer

I was still able to use my computer a little bit and so I went into the settings and clicked uninstall windows. My computer then shut down. I installed windows on a USB flash drive and then tried to reinstall it. So far I have tried every way to get it under the sun and I can't get the stupid thing to work. I have tried UEFI. It just gets stuck on the logo and loading screen. I tried legacy which it briefly shows the windows logo and then fades to a black screen and never gets past that.

Gillian98 · Answer

I put my computer back together and ran the diagnostic like you said. It said No problems where found.

ejn63 · Answer

You cannot just install Windows to a flash drive and expect it to work as boot media. Rebuild the boot media using the Microsoft Media Creation Tool.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Gillian98 · Answer

Yes I've tried that. I have a working computer could I create a recovery windows drive from that? I'm not sure if it will work because the non working computer is dell and the working one is a HP. So I'm not sure if that would be compatable

Inspiron

Windows 10 reinstallation fighting me

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