Windows 10 recovery/startup repair loop

[NinJake]

The issue:

Computer POSTs, goes into Windows Recovery and initially gets stuck on a loop after each reboot. No other options have been working thus far "startup repair" or "troubleshoot additional steps" etc...

 

Additional information:

-User bought this laptop for a hefty price when it came out (> $2,000!) and does not want to simply get a new $300-$400 web browsing laptop.

-Initially came with Windows 7, has upgraded to Windows 10 (when it was free) and to my knowledge did not do a clean install from 7 to 10. (I think part of the error)

-I still have yet to power this sucker up myself as I won't be home for at least another hour, but there is a possibility of viruses/malware?

-User claims there may be a SSD (most likely boot drive) and a HDD within the laptop.

 

My solution:

As I don't want to tinker with it too much, the user has provided me with his laptop bag and external hard drive. He claims to have backed up "most" of his data but not up to lets say the last 2 weeks. None of it is crucial work data since it's his personal laptop. I will have to double check whether or not he made an image of his laptop or simply copied his personal files/data to the external drive.

 

In the laptop bag there is a windows recovery disc with 4 other discs which I presume are to restore back to OEM state.

 

 

Community input:

What do you guys recommend I look at first? Help me brainstorm and I'll give any ideas a shot and update this thread as needed. I was also thinking my first step would be using my bootable linux USB and seeing if I can even access the SSD and HDD to verify that they are still readable.

 

Thanks!

[Enderman]

Just clean install windows...?

[Levent]

I have a 500G external harddrive for situations like these, I got multiple ISO's made bootable in it and what I do is I backup the partition of OS completely (only if it fits) then do a clean install and if user requires files just restore their shit back from the backup.

[m0k]

first boot into Ubuntu off a usb to backup data

then do a fresh OS install

[NinJake]

11 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Just clean install windows...?

 

Exactly what my first thought was... so that's +1 for clean install lol.

[NinJake]

3 minutes ago, Levent said:

do a clean install

 

2 minutes ago, mok said:

first boot into Ubuntu off a usb to backup data

then do a fresh OS install

Alright... seems this case is closed haha. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything before I wiped the users PC.

 

I will put any backup data on the provided 1tb external drive, but I'm not sure how much is free on that at the moment.