Studio XPS 8100 and Windows 10 1909

Do a clean install from OEM System builder DVD and make sure your bios is set for secure boot OFF and AHCI not RAID aka IRRT.

Its not supported but it works fine.

If there is more than 1 drive do clean install on one drive only with the others physically disconnected. Boot drive should reside on sata port 0.

https://www.newegg.com/microsoft-windows-10-pro-64-bit-reinstall-recovery-disc-only-no-license-key-included/p/N82E16832350238

sure,  (i test w10 on the oldest PC possible)2005 PC is my record PC.

the first steps matter,  ok, ,  easy stuff.

1: RTC coin cell bad. your PC is 11 years old , if the Battery is 11 years, old why skip step,1 replace it. now.

1b: run F12 Diagnosics  now. (ePSA) make sure all pass.

2: what is the BOOT drive SSD or HDD?,  I have 4 drives in my PC and boot is m.2 gum stick,  what do you have.? inside.? fully.? if the HDD is the boot drive (not clearly stated) the next #2 is testing it or the install runs endless.

HDD this old are NO GOOD now. so.... that is why listed at #2.

make sure  CD tray  is empty of all media. and other USB devices (keyboard mouse ok)

IN BIOS turn off PXE and for sure  turn off RAID (intel RTS is DOA now) and  legacy boot is seen this old,

set boot order to USB (for installer)  first then 2nd HDD0/SSD0 as your has.?

CPU is gen0 and chip set is H57.

3: using MS boot media are you ,?  using the MS, media builder.? using only the current ISO v1909+ USB 16GB stick is best,  $3.55 cents at walmart.

4: connect the Ethernet port to your router first so if there are issues, during the install it can self  correct.

The installer can get lost on old PCs, best is strip it down. (seen below)

here are some hints, on that. 

unplug all HDD or SSD not  booting

erase the HDD or SSD drive that will be booted later, using what ever, I use  killdisk.exe there are vast more.

best way to do that is HDD/SDD in 2nd PC with docking station (USB) to SATA.  erase it all.

when done with OS install phase 1 , remove the USB install stick then reboot or the install can loop.

Phase 2 runs off the SSD/HDD0 now,  that is how it works.

on old PCs strip it down, first. just have RAM and SSD0 is best , even pull the DVD cables.  no GPU card.

less is more with OLD PCs then latter add them back with no AC power to wall jack.

some older PCs the sound chip fails. 

Intel Core i3-530?  got this?gen 0 it is. the iGPU is  supported here

Proof.

if the installer loops just pull the USB stick NOW, and problem gone.

What are you upgrading from? Windows 7, Windows 10 v1903 or earlier?

no HDD in the PC???  for sure sata port blue 0,  boot slot.

whatGPU card, there? you said external so means not Gen0 iGPU internal.

so what card is there, (id remove it) and install w10 64bit.

that card will not support w10 unless, (simple) BELOW  HD 5000 series up AMD or BELOW series GTX700 up. will not work, right.

so cards matter, and none told, best is not have it there in the X16 slot now and added it latter and see the card go to limp mode, MS has a Limp driver for  most wrong cards now,  VAST, but shows up in device manager crippled.

shows up as   MBDA

the card is not dead, this old only crippled. (limp mode)

remove the card install w10, then find a card that can run w10,  . ask.

most things later that fail under 10,  we remove, and replace with devices that do,

sound, wifi, GPU cards vast fail, and any other PCI-express slot cards, too old. We simply replace them last.

some are $4 like sound or wifi dongle.

Have you tried the OEM system method install to put Windows 10 on your system?

It will install the OS on the mark of your PC and that copy of the Windows would be legit for that system only and none other.

wow, thanks everyone, that's a great response! I'm trying to upgrade from 1809, so maybe this has been a problem for a while. 

I should state that my primary aim is to upgrade without having to do a clean install, as I have lots of s/w (like Adobe CS4) where I no longer have the discs, probably lost many house-moves ago. If I can't do that, then I might wait until I absolutely have to reinstall from scratch. No idea when that will be...?

Let me try and add some meat to the bones. 

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 750 @ 2.67GHz, Clock Speed : 2.7Ghz L2 Cache Size : 1024

I have 2 SSD drives (the original HD died a thousand years ago, as did its successor):

c: main windows boot drive;180GB Intel 520, quite full but with 32GB free (I can probably liberate more space if required) with health at 100%. I'm only one firmware version behind, and I'll update this now.

O: general file-space, Samsung 750EVO 500GB, 130GB free, firmware up-to-date

Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 with 2GB of RAM, quite a recent change so plenty of Win10 support. Onboard graphics died years ago (lightning) so I'll need to keep it in

I have created a 1909 USB media stick from the MS site using their media creation tool, so that's handy.

Yesterday, after a couple of hours wait, managed to get hold of a MS technician on chat who, in theory, forced an upgrade, but it went the same way as all other attempts, rolling back after about an hour near the end of the instal.

I can't remember when I last changed the BIOS battery (if ever) but I took it out and it measured 3.2v, so I probably have changed it at some point. I can replace it if you think it will help. I have several!

I was using my Wifi dongle, but I can easily connect up an ethernet cable if that's best, Wifi dongle is new (TP Link), the gigabit ethernet card is a few years old but probably OK (TP-Link Gigabit PCI Express, Realtek driver 9.1.409.2015, just updated the driver) . Onboard ethernet died years ago (lightning) so I can't strip the replacement card out easily.

There is one more thing that has been bugging me - it may not be anything, but I may as well mention it for sake of completeness. My CPU was getting pretty hot during one summer, so I changed the CPU fan and the machine was much quieter (and CPU much cooler). But most times when I reboot I get the message "CPU fan failure, F1 to continue boot, F2 for setup". Looked this up, and it could well be a problem with the aftermarket CPU fan. It doesn't really bother me, but I did wonder whether or not it causes some kind of interruption to the reboot cycle that often goes with a big upgrade?

As I said, ideally I'd like to upgrade from current 1809 rather than do a clean instal, but if it must be a clean instal, then that's what I'll do, though I'll probably wait until I absolutely have to.

Thanks again for your help, Can't believe I've had so many helpful replies so fast. So many forums are so badly supported these days. Thanks for your enthusiasm, you are all doing everyone a great service.

Stay healthy.

Simon (from Italy in Lockdown)

Have you tried running the System File Checker? Run Command Prompt as an administrator, and type SFC /scannow and then hit Enter.

yes, tried that, and all fine

The problem could be that there is just something about v1909 that prevents it from being installed especially since you have skipped v1903. You could try v1903 but it is only available through third-party sources and that is risky. Since your system is working fine I would wait until the next Windows update is available.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4027322/windows-update-troubleshooter

This article may help: https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-upgrade-failed-use-these-5-tools-to-find-the-problem-and-fix-it-fast/

Well, unfortunately, I've probably wasted too much time on this. I'll leave things be for now, and maybe attempt a clean install from USB at a later date...I just need to find my old CS4 registration key! I'll be sure to perform the ugrade using the advice you guys have provided. Many thanks again.

The ol'box is working fine for now, and I doubt I'll absolutely have to upgrade for another few months yet. Who would have thought that a 10-year old PC would still be working fine? I remember the days when an 18-month-old PC was already soooo slooow you were already considering replacing it. This machine is still perfectly OK, and for 98% of tasks there is a zero wait time. There's life in the ol'box yet...

OK, last night, I took the plunge and did a clean intall of 1909. Started around 10pm, finished around 3am! It wasn't exactly plain sailing. But I am up on the refreshed PC, so it worked, eventally.

First problem I hit was that the drive I was trying to intall was GPT formatted and needed converting to MBR because my bios doesn't support EUFI. That too a while, but eventually found a way to do this without reformatting the drive (which had a ton of files on it). For those who are interested, use MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.. Watch out for bloatware on installation.

After that, it was plain sailing, Of course, I'm only ha;f way through reinstalling software, but the basics (Office, browsers, Norton etc) are all there, and there were zero other hardwar problems.

So far so good! Thanks for all the advice. I had this page open on my notebook the whole time.