Blue Screen of Death Windows 11 on My New (upgraded) Computer!

After only 3 weeks of testing my new upgraded computer one of my upgrade's has failed already.

Gutted was a understatement!

Rebooted Computer a few times still same blue screen . so booted from usb drive with  windows 11 install to see if I could rebuild  computer as had nothing much on it thankfully, But unfortunately it still kept crashing and locking up so  plugged my old faithful Windows 10 SDD (8 yrs not a problem!) and tried to access the windows drive no chance.

Well it was cheap drive so tried to send back to Manufacturer looked on their website for a phone number nothing . Found a RMA form to Fill in completed it all with details etc and pressed submit it just went back to fill in form again with a Java Error and again

Thankfully I was still within Amazons 30 day returns window.

Submitted to amazon for faulty return it was one of the best experiences I have seen for a RMA. It was Slick easy to use and with in minutes had QR code to post at local post office.

Where they printed out return label handed package in done.

When I got home my account had already been credited with the amount perfect.

So On the Hunt for a Good Reliable NVME after reading a lot of NVME Drive reviews online

And customer feed back from real people I found this one.

It Has a 1.8M MTBF, with a  free 3 year Rescue Services for data and a 5 year warranty

Also its from one of the well known brands with a telephone number and contact email address  to contact Seagate. Ordered and waited for the delivery .

The Big Move: Upgrading Your PC from Windows 10 to Windows 11

Windows 11 is the newest version released on October 5, 2021.  (2.5 yrs ago!) It is free for any Windows 10 computers that meet the system requirements for the upgrade. 

Microsoft officially supports Windows 11 on computers using an 8th Gen Intel Core CPU or above , AMD Ryzen CPU or newer, with UEFI and Trusted Platform Module 2 known as TPM 2.

First  thing to do is check windows updates on your windows 10 machine to see if MS has already downloaded  the health app and posted pass or fail. If not Download the Pc Check Health app as below and run

Here is what i got, before my hardware upgrade. 

After upgrading to the following

Intel i5 13400F Gen13 CPU ,GIGABYTE B760 DS3H AX DDR4 ATX motherboard Socket 1700  & 16Gb Corsair memory .

Sample of good PC Health Check app pass

RESULT !

 I had a thought what if

Windows upgrade fails?

My new gigabyte motherboard supported NVME drives ,So I decided to buy a new hard drive unit so i can keep my win 10 build and use my pc in event of failure.

So search Web for  a new nvme drive that my new motherboard supported.

512GB SSD NVME M.2 2280.

Ordered  from amazon for £26 free delivery bargain I thought and 5 Yr warranty for 500mb not bad

So waited 2 days for it to arrive, so eager to get started.

When it arrived installed in Pc M2 slot found the little screw in my new Gigabyte box. 

Then I realised , i didn't have a Windows 11

licence to install Windows 11 from scratch !

Therefore decided to install windows 10 as this was activated with my Microsoft account, so after basic install  i could upgrade to Window's 11

Off to the Microsoft website to download win10 image

The media  can also generate a bootable USB drive with full Windows 10 install .

Plugged in USB drive and booted from USB

Proceeded to install Windows 10 Pro selected new nvme drive partitioned it and off it went installing. 

Installed in lest than 5 mins I was absolutely blown away by the speed !

Reactivated my Windows 10 licence I was now ready.

Next Downloaded the Windows 11 iso from Microsoft download page created bootable USB drive again 

And proceeded to boot screen again loaded from USB and started my Windows 11 install at last

Again upgrade was fast as hell 3 mins maybe for basic install 

As for upgrades to Windows 11 and apps install well that took hours but wasn't in a rush so took it easy.

Finally had Window's 11! with my Microsoft account signed in with my upgraded  Computer .

I now had 2 drives in my computer one with Windows 10 and one Windows 11, so I can dual boot into either one and copy over data and other files that I needed to the 2TB Hard disk data drive.

Then disconnected my SanDisk Extreme Pro

(Incase anything happened to Windows 11 )

And proceeded to use my new NVME drive with Windows 11 

Can You Upgrade a 10 Year Old Computer ?

Well you can if you made the correct decisions 10 years ago !

Firstly did you buy a Micro, Mini or ATX case ?

If you did, you made the best decision ever as they are completely upgradable as they were designed to be.

I will advise about other computers after showing my build.

This is how I upgraded mine, wasn't in a rush as I knew it was going to throw problems at me !

This was my ATX build in 2013 minus GPU which had failed (Amd R290 ) replaced with GTX980

Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H which has been a great board never let me down. This was paired with a Amd R290 which was replaced with a GTX 980 and 16 Gig ram and a SanDisk 256gb gaming extreme pro ssd

The  OS build went from Winxp to Windows 7 then Finally  Windows 10 over the 11 years it has been used.

On the journey to Windows 10 there have been a few failures like power supply and hard disk and my R290 Amd GPU unit, but all easily replaced and standard parts fitted.

The only reason I upgraded PC was to be able to run Windows 11 due to CPU and TPM requirements not supported by Microsoft Win 11

Yes I could have downloaded a modified version of Windows 11 to exclude the requirements but I wanted the full experience and support of Microsoft updates going forward.

As my motherboard setup had basically come to end of life regarding upgrades, it's the big upgrade everyone dreads even me!

So shopped around for motherboard memory and CPU 

This what I settled on:  Intel i5 13400F Gen13

B760 DS3H AX DDR4 ATX motherboard Socket 1700  & 16Gb Corsair memory .

Before removing Psu lead , I grounded myself on chassis case to remove any static build-up just in case.

Then best tip is to take a photo of all connectors on motherboard  usb speaker etc,which will save your life when putting new board in.

Proceeded to remove all psu ,fan connectors , speaker, sata cable and sat power from all device's. 

Finally remove motherboard 9 screws in all keep to one side.

Don't forget to remove motherboard backing plate from  case  as will be different for new board. 

Remove and fit new backplate.

Now your ready to fit new mother board!

Carefully place in the case and locate the 9 screw mounts on case to align with the hole's in the motherboard. Ensure backplate template is aligned to your motherboard rear connectors.

Once aligned all ok lightly place screws in holes ensuring nothing catching or too stiff to screw in.

Once satisfied screw them all in 9 in total. 

Fit memory in slots

Once all done now re assemble cables back to motherboard. 

Did you take photos before as advised ?

After studying the awful paper leaflet am glad I did ! As I had upgraded from GIGABYTE to another Gigabyte  all mine virtually same result

The most important connector imo was the power on off reset switch ones as below

It was exactly same configuration for me so was very happy

Sata cables and fan cables pretty much same place's, info leaflet wasn't too bad after plugging everything back in 

Next CPU

Unclip cpu and remove dust cover from cpu socket.

Carefully place new cpu in socket make note of notches on cpu socket as below

Close cpu latch ,be prepared its very strong

 

Now install  CPU fan cooler 

Press down in each 4 posts till you hear or feel a click.

Refit graphics card  graphic psu connections 

 I am using same graphics card for now to keep costs as low as possible.

Refit casing etc as required 

Now to test power ON (fingers crossed)

 " Result "powered on 1st time whoo hoo.

Powered off PC and refitted case screwed in

And powered pc back on.

The dreaded "unable to find boot disk" message

Oh no !

Lucky I knew what the problem was straight away as my SSD drive was windows 10 no secure boot or TPM .

I had to change a bios setting for boot drive to legacy boot. Pressed delete on start up to enter bios setup

Set to Csm and windows 10

Maybe different with your motherboard check your support site for your make of board. 

Finally booted to windows 10 with my new hardware updated drivers for motherboard intel

Everything working !

Now to the people who bought HP Compaq Toshiba computers with all in one motherboards

Sorry guys your out of luck, it will be cheaper to just buy another branded PC. 

or start your micro mini ATX build from scratch.

Next post my windows 10 upgrade to Windows 11 experience. 

Thanks for reading hope it helps you all !