Quote:
boot to safe mode and use the RESTORE to a former date when the computer was working.... then don't apply the update.


Problem is then I am stuck at that point in terms of Windows. And I actually didn't request the update, I got a notice that my computer would be rebooted (automatically) in some number of minutes to install updates and that's when everything went to H-E-double hockey sticks.

I did try to restore to a former date, but as sometimes happens, something had turned off my restore points, so that didn't help.

Windows 7 worked fine on it before and should continue to work fine (it'll just take some time to re-install all my apps, but once done, I'll take an Acronis image, so future problems are easily mitigated). Windows 7 extended support doesn't end until 2020, so there is still time to use it without worrying about security issues and whatnot.

Windows 10 Anniversary so far seems to work fine on my desktop (also an HP), which is older than my laptop. It's just my laptop that's giving me fits. I've moved all my data over to the desktop and will just use that for now until I can get my laptop rebuilt, so at least I'm not dead in the water (I keep both the laptop and desktop pretty much in sync with each other in terms of app installation, except those very few that only allow a single installation).

I could be wrong, but I suspect the problem with the laptop is most likely video drivers from the dual-mode video system (Intel for on-battery use, AMD for high performance plugged in mode) that neither HP nor Intel/AMD updated when Windows 8/8.1 came out and surprised me that it even worked in Windows 10. Windows 10 also didn't recognize my HDMI port (again related to video drivers), so going back to Windows 7 will get me the few things back that didn't work on Windows 10. Believe me, I really liked Windows 10, but Windows 7 will be fine until I replace the laptop sometime in the future. All my apps run fine in Windows 7 or Windows 10, so no problem there.

I guess my biggest gripe is that Windows doesn't give an indication as to what the problem might be. It just sits there for hours with the snake spinning. I don't know if it is retrying ad infinitum or just stuck. But you would think it could generate some sort of error (e.g. couldn't load whatever driver) and then move on (and maybe substitute a generic driver) and boot the computer. But nope, just sits there spinning, spinning, spinning, ...

John

Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD
Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA

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