Windows 10 Dell laptop will not factory reset

[asel69]

I have a Dell 15 5000 series laptop. I upgraded it to Windows 10 in June of this year. I had no issues until just about a week ago. I am not sure what happened but about a week ago my pc began being very slow and catching. The start up is extremely slow as well. No, I had not downloaded or installed anything.

I have scanned it with AVG and it shows no virus. I have scanned it and cleaned it. Defragged and all that.

I downloaded Spybot with the hopes of finding out what the problem is. It downloaded but when I tried to install it, I received an error that it wasn't able to find the file.

So, I tried Malware Bytes. Same results. It downloaded fine. But when I go to try and install it, I again get a message about it not being able to find the file. One time I had a notice about some file being corrupted.

I can see both of the applications but it just won't install. I even tried "run as administrator" No luck.

I thought maybe I could just reset the computer to a better time when it was running correctly. However, when I go into settings, and recovery but I can't reset it or go to an earlier build. Under going to an earlier build it says that I cannot because my pc was upgraded more than 10 days ago. When clicking on the first option of RESET, nothing happens. Nothing.

I had a restore file saved to my external drive but whatever is going on with my pc has caused the USB ports to not recognize the drive. Nothing happens when I plug into the USB port. Nothing shows when I look for the drive.
Also, my laptop doesn't have a D drive so I can't use a disc.

I cannot start it up in Safemode either. I have held the Shift button down and clicked on restart but nothing happens. It starts up and goes to the black screen with DELL in the center and goes no further until I let go of the SHIFT key. Then it boots the rest of the way and is in normal mode. I have tried this several times with no luck.

I thought maybe the AVG wasn't doing it's job so I tried to uninstall it and have Windows Defender scan it but when I tried to uninstall AVG, I get this error:
Windows cannot find 'C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\Setupx.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

I was going to snip the error and just add the image in here but.....whatever is going on won't even allow me to 'save as'. Grrr.

I just want to factory reset my laptop to what and how it was last year when I purchased it.
I am hoping that someone on this forum will have an idea of what I can do.

 

[AddRAM]

Your recovery partition (if you have one) is probably shot, the only way to see is for you to post a shot of Disk Management.

When you 1st boot the PC the screen should show you which key to push to start the Recovery process.

In my opinion you have 2 options.

1) Clean install Windows 7 and use the key on your COA to activate 7

2) Clean install Windows 10, you have a digital license for the life of your motherboard, it will auto activate.

Choose the operating system you like best and we will help you proceed.

You can always create a usb flash drive installer if you don`t have a dvd drive.

An upgrade can always cause problems, it`s best to clean install 7 or 10.

FYI, In my opinion AVG is garbage.

 

[asel69]

There is nothing showing when I reboot. It shows the DELL logo, goes black and hangs for a long time and then finally goes to the sign in screen. That's it. And all of this takes a very long time.

I choose 10. Can you tell me what to do?

Also, I would like to uninstall AVG but it won't let me. It says that the file cannot be found. I tried to take a screen shot of it but it won't even let me save the file. Nothing happens when I click file/save.

I sure hope that I can get this thing back up and running correctly. Please help.

 

[fireberd]

In most cases (all that I've seen), once the OS has been changed the Dell recovery is no longer valid. The only way to "recover" is a "clean" reinstall (reformat the PC and install Windows).

AddRAM's #2 instruction is your best option. Reinstall but do not install any additional Antivirus, the built in Windows Defender AV is more than adequate.

 

[Megahertz07]

I would say that you have a failure disk.
Boot from a Win 7 or 10 installation disk, go to repair, launch CMD and type chkdsk /f
If you don't have one, download the iso and with Rufus make a boot-able USB flash disk
Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool
If you get bad block or bad clusters, your disk is dying.
Boot from a Linux USB flash drive and save your files to an external disk.
Please report the results of check disk.

 

[asel69]

That is my problem. I cannot book from a disc.
1. I don't have a D drive on my laptop.
2. My USB ports are not recognized anymore to be able to plug in an external drive.

What do I do? How do I proceed?

 

[AddRAM]

Mega told you to create a usb installer, an 8 GB usb stick is less the $20 but a 4 GB stick should work too.

But are you saying if you plug in a flash drive Windows does not even see it ?

If that`s the case then you`ll have to use a properly working PC to do this.

Download the Windows 10 Iso file from here, you have to choose either Home or Pro, whichever version you upgraded to.

Access Denied

Then use Rufus to put the Iso file on the usb stick.

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

Then boot from the usb stick, delete all partitions, then install windows 10

Backup any and all data before you start.

 

[Megahertz07]

On some computers, on BIOS, you can block booting from USB.
Have a look at your BIOS settings.