Maximum PC - USA (2022-04)

DOC TOR

THIS MONTH THE DOCTOR TACKLES...

↘ submit your questions to: [email protected]

Dead PC?

Win11 update error

TPM 2.0 upgrade

PC won’t post to BIOS

I’ve had my computer

since 2013: Intel i5-4670K,

Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UDH3,

16GB Corsair Vengeance

DDR3 1600MHz RAM (two

8GB sticks), housed in a

Thermaltake case and

powered by a CX Series 80

Plus Bronze CPU. When I

try to boot, the PC turns on

for about two seconds, then

turns off and tries to reboot

without success. I can’t even

get into the BIOS.

I’ve switched out the

power supply, tried only

one stick of memory, and

switched out the CPU cooler

to no avail. I suspect the

motherboard is at fault, but

nothing obvious shows on the

board. Your advice would be

appreciated.

—Paul LoGrasso

THE DOCTOR RESPONDS:

Assuming you’ve already

stripped the machine back

to its core—booting with

all non-essential external

peripherals and internal

components (including

drives and expansion cards)

disconnected, the lack of any

LED debug codes to offer

even a hint of what might be

going wrong does suggest

the motherboard has

reached the end of its life.

You could try dismantling

and rebuilding from scratch.

This would enable you to

inspect each component

and put them back in place.

Make sure the case is clean

and, after rebuilding the

minimum required to boot,

try again. It’s a long shot, but

it may fix problems caused

by chip creep, loose screws

(like short circuits), and

other mechanical faults.

Windows Update error

I’m trying to prep an old

laptop for a Windows 11

upgrade. It's compatible, but

I’ve not used it in so long that

when I go to Windows Update

it tells me the current

version has reached end of

service. I try to update to the

latest one offered (20H2),

but it fails with error code

0xc190012e. —John Gannon

THE DOCTOR RESPONDS:

There are many causes of

this problem, but one clear

path to follow in trying to

resolve it. First, we asked

John to remove his third-

party security software

(McAfee), switch to ‘Settings

> Update & Security >

Troubleshoot’, and click ‘Run

the troubleshooter’ under

Windows Update. It detected

problems and invited John to

retry the update, but it failed

again. He ran sfc /scannow,

which found errors and was

able to fix them, but still the

update refused to budge.

We switched our attention

to the Windows Update

Assistant. As Windows

11 requires version 2004

or later, John first had

to go to http://www.microsoft.

com/software-download/

windows10 and click ‘Update

now’ to download and run

the Windows 10 Update

Assistant. However, this got

a different error: “There

was a problem running

preinstall.cmd scripts”.

At this point, we

consulted with John who

confirmed there was

nothing on the laptop worth

keeping, so rather than

wrestling with this failing

Windows 10 installation, we

went straight to Windows

11. John had already
    confirmed his laptop was
    compatible using the
    Windows 11 PC Health
    Check App (https://aka.ms/
    GetPCHealthCheckApp)—
    third-party alternatives,
    such as WhyNotWin
    (https://github.com/
    rcmaehl/WhyNotWin11),
    will give a more detailed
    explanation. Subsequently,
    it was a case of directing
    him to download the Create
    Windows 11 Installation
    Media Tool (https://www.
    microsoft.com/software-
    download/windows11) to
    create a bootable USB flash
    drive, then install Windows
    11 fresh from that. Skip
    the request for a product
    key during installation—
    Windows will upgrade the
    laptop’s Windows 10 digital
    license during activation.

Try running SFC to fix update issues.

© MICROSOFT

quickstart

14 MAXIMU MPC APR 2022