G3258 incompatible with Windows 10 1709 update?

[MWhit6]

I've tried something like over 2 dozen times to install the 1709 update for Windows 10, and it always hangs, then will run to 82% or 83% and hang again, and then after a forced power cycle, rolls back to the previous version. When I tried the Clean Install, it just gives up and I'm hosed - having to reinstall the OS (build 1511) from a USB stick and then trying to recover my system from backups. Not pretty!

I've found a few places on the internet where there has been talk about the G3258 not being compatible with Windows 10 (something about microcode 19 - and yes I've updated the BIOS on my motherboard for this), yet the support site here at Intel says that it is. I'm running build 1511 of Windows 10 on it right now (Mother board is an ASROCK H81M-HDS) and that works fine - except that I'm constantly being badgered by the OS to update - an update of course that will never run on my system. I've managed to turn on the Metered ISP, which at least stops the update from constantly trying to download - and when complete, forces me to wait over an hour while the install attempt fails and then rolls back to the previous version. But it's still constantly badgering me to update to 1709. I'm afraid that someone else using the computer might tell it to go ahead and update and cause everything I've worked for to come crashing down (again).

The CPU is not overclocked.

I've also tried the Microsoft tool that is supposed to hide updates, but that doesn't seem to work with 1709 (it hides it well enough, but the update tries to come through anyway). I've also disabled the Windows Update process, but that gets re-enabled every time the computer power cycles.

Does anyone have any ideas what there is about the G3258 that might be causing this (no other processors that I'm working with are experiencing this problem)? If so, are there any workarounds to get the 1709 build (also fails with 1703 build) to work so I can keep the OS up to date?

[n_scott_pearson]

There are no issues with this processor and any version of Windows 10. On the other hand, there are a lot of issues with the Fall Creator's Update on boards based upon such lower-end processors. Most of these issues have to do with the corresponding limitations in the resources available on these platforms. The Fall Creator's Update requires a minimum of 2GB of memory to install. It can also require as much as 16GB of free space on the system drive (a *real* problem for those machines that come with (only) a 32GB eMMC SSD).

I have gotten around these issues by doing the following:

1. Download the full image for the Fall Creator's Update and create an installation USB drive (you can use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool and an 8GB or larger USB flash drive to accomplish this).
2. Ensure that you have the free storage space you need. This can be provided by a secondary drive (even SDXC/SDHC USB flash will work).
3. Insert the installation USB flash drive into your running system and let it start the upgrade process from this drive.
4. When it asks about downloading and installing updates, say NO. You will install these updates separately later in the process.
5. Let the installation process run to completion.
6. If your system drive has very little free space, you might want to now run the Windows Disk Cleanup applet, enable system file cleanup and then delete all identified temporary content (yes, this will include the files for restoring to the previous Windows 10 version, but this may be necessary if space is really tight).
7. Manually run the Windows Settings application, select Updates and Security and then click on Check for Updates. Let it install all available updates and immediately reboot when it asks. Repeat this process until is says all updates installed.

That's it. I have been successful on a number of resource-limited systems following this process.

Hope this helps,

...S

[MWhit6]

Hello Scott,

Thanks for your answer. It obviously took some significant time on your part to put that together, and I do appreciate your effort.

I have already tried that procedure (among many others). But what happens is that the update still freezes early on in the process (around 30%). I've tried letting it just run over night so that it has basically stayed frozen at that point for about 14 hours before I gave up and did a hard power cycle. It then would continue to run the update until it got to 83% and then freeze again. Again, I've tried leaving this alone at this point over night, and again it never progressed and I was forced to do a hard power cycle. At this point, if I'm doing the update procedure that you've laid out, it rolls back to the previous version.

I've tried other install procedures, including a clean install - with even worse results. I was barely able to recover the system on that try as it would hang in approximately the same spots, and then not be able to roll back because there was no previous system to roll back to (and it didn't find the restore image or restore points that I thought I had in my back pocket).

The computer is not over-clocked, and has over a TB of available Disk Space. It also has 8 GB of memory. Disconnecting the backup USB drive (the only other device on this computer would be the thumb drive I've used to put the update on) didn't make a difference. So, I don't think any of those is the issue. But obviously, there is an issue! I just haven't been able to isolate it, other than the G3258 processor, which is the only one that I've experienced a problem with in trying to do this update (it's worked fine on an I7 and an AMD processor so far).

I've also run the Intel utility to make sure that all of the drivers are up to date. It reports that they are. All of the other drivers also appear to be up to date, and there are no errors or conflicts being reported by Device Manager.

The only other thing I can think of to mention is that there is no LAN network for this machine to connect to. It only has a wireless network available to it.

Other than this problem with the 1709 update, the machine has been rock solid.

The OS is insisting that I update it to 1709. But I've not found a successful path. And I've also not been able to get any of the posted methods to block the update from being forced down to the computer to work.

I have to admit that after over two weeks of battling this, I'm getting frustrated enough to consider converting this machine to Linux. But I'd rather keep it as a Windows Machine if possible.

If there are any other suggestions, I'd be happy to try them.

[n_scott_pearson]

Did you ever try it saying NO to installing updates? I think that this is the important thing to try. The fallback should be to install from scratch using the full ISO image.

...S

[MWhit6]

Hello Scott,

Yes, I've done it that way. And also out of desperation, I tried it by installing updates first. Then I tried the full ISO installation from a USB stick - actually, I tried it from two different sticks in case the stick was the problem. Then I tried it after formatting the hard drive and doing a clean install - again using the ISO from a USB stick. I've tried it using the Microsoft media creation tool. And I've tried using Rufus to create the USB ISO image.

When I do the clean installs I do get some different errors depending on what I set in the BIOS (such as enabling/disabling the Turbo boost). It alternates between the CLOCK WATCHDOG TIMEOUT and the MACHINE CHECK EXCEPTION stop codes shortly after the system outputs the "Getting Ready" message.

I have to admit that I've tried so many things that at this point it's all starting to mush together in what's left of my brain after beating my head on the keyboard for two weeks.

The only thing that has 'worked' is the ISO install back to version 1511. The system is back up now with that. But the OS keeps badgering me about updating, and I'm afraid that someone will tell it to go ahead and cause more problems as a result. Again, I can't seem to get the operating system to stop demanding that I update it, which is more than a little annoying knowing that the 'update' can't possibly work unless I do something different.

This seems more like a Microsoft problem. But I've not had any luck on those forums yet. And since it seems to be isolated to the Intel G3258 processor, I thought that there was a chance that this forum might be able to provide a nugget that I missed someplace else.

[n_scott_pearson]

Hhmmm, ... I am not sure what else to suggest. Your processor is a Haswell family processor and, as far as I know, is fully supported for Windows 10 (including the Fall Creator's Update). I am afraid I will have to yield to Intel Customer Support on this issue...

...S

[MWhit6]

Thanks for trying, Scott!

[idata]

MarkOWhitt, I am sorry to hear you are having issues with this matter.

From our end and as mentioned by Scott there are no issues with this processor and any version of Windows 10. Scott shared the steps and the information that we can provide regarding this matter, so at this stage the best thing to do is to contact Microsoft via phone support or other method different than the forums support for more information on installing this operating system.

Regards,

Amy C.

[MWhit6]

Thanks Amy.

I'll leave this thread open for now so I can come back and update it with anything that I find in case it might help someone else.

Mark