Beelink mini pc lost Window 11 pro again

[Anne S]

I was using my mini pc remotely copying Platesolve3 preparatory to updating to SGPro 4. On restarting after an issue, the mini pc refused to load Windows and none of the recovery options worked. Does anyone know if removing One Drive  short while ago prevented it recovering itself remotely? I removed it because it was insisting on backing up all my subs thus leading to me not having enough storage! I don't use 365. Fortunately I have an ISO which I will try. Once I've restored everything, what do I do about One Drive? Or do I use a local account instead of a MS one? Also when I stopped One Drive syncing, it kept deleting my astro files from the mini pc. I obviously don't want that.

This is not the first time I've had to reinstall everything, it's the third time! Fortunately it'll be quite a few months until I need to use the mini pc again.

Anne

[Vroobel]

That's why I don't like solutions based on clouds. As long as you aren't an IT Pro you have not a full control on that. 

I use an MS account but always refuse all extra MS services. All backups (I have a lot of them) are made locally, some on my network drive, some on an USB drive. 

I can advise making a backup of system drive separately and data (drive) also separately. You can use e.g. AOMEI Backuper which is free unless you want make a very useful differential backup. Do backup of the system after every significant change, then recovering it will be much easier than installing everything again. 

Edited March 27 by Vroobel

[Anne S]

Their services are the problem, I don't want remote storage, Xbox, outlook or any of that rubbish. I didn't know I had one drive on the mini pc. Usually the weather means I can't do much imaging but we spent 6 weeks in Portugal! That's a lot of 5 minute subs....

[Vroobel]

I would say I don't want their unexpected Windows Update making everything slow and demanding restart also in extremely bad time. 🙂

Edited March 27 by Vroobel

[Anne S]

The first 2 reinstalls were after windows updates! After that I bought a small screen and keyboard so I could see what was happening. It's surely not necessary to update quite as often. The laptops often go several month between being used. Particularly over the Summer.

[SteveNickolls]

Hi, sorry to hear of your issues. You can safely deal with OneDrive in Win 10/11, more here-

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/turn-off-disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0#:~:text=You won't lose files or data by uninstalling OneDrive,signing in to OneDrive.com.

Windows Updates are a constant source of bother, who'd have thought? It might pay you to turn off automatic updating to give you some breathing space to either check updates before manually installing the safe ones and avoid known issues at least for a month or so. 

The overriding issue with our hobby is that sometimes an astro-programme will require the latest Win updates to function.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Anne S]

I actually uninstalled one drive. I'm surprised it couldn't restore W11 pro automatically, I thought it was linked to my MS account. My 2nd reinstall kept my files and reinstalled Windows. I'll try the ISO tomorrow. Then I'll find out if anything else has gone wrong.

[Elp]

OneDrive shouldn't interfere with the operating of a PC at all. Your mentioning of it deleting your files created a thought, you're not saving the images under the OneDrive folder are you?

 

[DaveL59]

I'd suggest using a local account and avoiding using the MS one too or at least having a local one in case the MS one ever becomes unavailable. I don't use my PC's for imaging but none of them or the VM's I have use an MS account, esp for admin level access, local all the way.

What is your boot drive on this mini-PC tho? Could it be having an issue?

I'd say its unusual for the OS to need to be reinstalled because of one-drive or much else other than accidental deletion of chunks of the OS or disks going corrupt. I never use one-drive myself, always configure it off as soon as I install or once an update turns the annoying thing back on.

[Elp]

Also, always always always have an offline operating system at hand on disk or a usb image and always partition the drive so OS is on one partition and your data on another. Usually when I've had OS boot failures it's down to the boot config file.

Edited March 27 by Elp

[Anne S]

35 minutes ago, Elp said:

OneDrive shouldn't interfere with the operating of a PC at all. Your mentioning of it deleting your files created a thought, you're not saving the images under the OneDrive folder are you?

 

This is the first pc with preloaded w11 that I've had. I didn't realise what one drive was doing, I discovered that I'd been using the documents and pictures folders in the one drive folder when I was in Portugal. I'd already made the folders to be on the pc.  So I stopped it syncing as it started warning me that I was going to run out of storage. Once home I eventually found how to select which folders synced but lost a load of files, which I retrieved from one drive. I then realised that the docs/pictures folder was in the normal place. So I unlinked the pc and deleted one drive as per ms instructions.

Today I wanted to install Platesolve3 and, when copying the files, it seemed to crash. I managed to get the compressed file on but couldn't extract it. So I turned off the pc, disconnected remote access, rebooted my laptop and once I reconnected, saw the Lock Screen briefly and then just had a black screen. At this point I connected my keyboard and display but didn't get the login screen. I had to recycle the power as the off button wasn't reacting. After that it wouldn't boot. Tomorrow I'll try restoring using the ISO I made after the last September's problems.

If this doesn't behave soon it'll be in the for sale thread as I'm obviously too stupid to get it working properly. Though it worked perfectly all 6 weeks in Portugal!

 

[Elp]

You "may" have to do something along the lines of chkboot and MBR procedures detailed herein:

https://www.easeus.com/resource/boot-configuration-data-for-your-pc-is-missing.html

Note ive only skimmed over that article but it's similar to what I've done previously, whatever you do don't download anything from that page as you don't need additional software to recover a boot config, everything is contained within your MS OS. I've only included it as a point of reference as MS official pages usually don't help with anything. Search for additional pages yourself is recommended before you do anything.

Edited March 27 by Elp

[Anne S]

Thanks, though I'm not sure I understand it. I've already been through the auto diagnose and recovery options. Nothing worked, it just rebooted and started again. I'll try restoring it from a disk image tomorrow. Otherwise I'll have to start from scratch with the Beelink software etc. I did that the first time I reloaded everything. It's just tedious reinstalling all my software. If the disk image works it will have everything on as of last September.

Let 's hope. Fortunately everything important was copied off to be processed.

[DaveL59]

It is perhaps worth looking at taking a decent image/clone of the system once you have it set up and working properly again. DiskGenius (free) and an external USB drive would let you be able to boot it back up off the USB drive and clone it back to the internal and be back where you were. I've used it to good effect when migrating from my older PC's to new ones to save having to reinstall everything again, saved me countless hours of faffing about 🙂 

Backup-wise I use UrBackup to take regular differential backups and periodic full images and that works well and is free, with the ability to do bare-metal restores should I need to.. 

[Anne S]

I cloned it last September after its last breakdown, hoping it'll be fine once I've restored it from that.

Anne

[Rallemikken]

5 hours ago, Anne S said:

Windows

You said it yourself.

Allow me to elaborate: Do you regard the control of your AP-rig as missioncritical? I do.  Windows was never considered. Soon ending my third full season, and never missed a minute of capture time. How? Linux.

It never stops to amaze me. Highly technically skilled folks, able to master a complicated AP-setup, and they lay their software foundations on Windows?

Edited March 27 by Rallemikken

[Elp]

I've been using Windows, well nearly since it came to market, it's not the best as you say but I've certainly never felt the need to move anything onto Linux (or iOS for that matter). Windows is popular because it's fairly user friendly without needing technical know-how from the off (IE if you've used computers for general IT you don't need a guide to know how to use it or install programs).

You could say the same problem free solution is a zwo asiair, a product DESIGNED for AP from the ground up, or Stellarmate, Astroberry/Kstars/Ekos, NINA (though runs on an OS). People use what works for them.

I've found with computing, errors or issues crop up after changes are made whether you're aware that a change has happened or not. If a system is working and remains unchanged they can usually keep working fine, until a hardware fault occurs, software is usually reliable otherwise as long as its code works as intended.

Edited March 27 by Elp

[Anne S]

I've dabbled in Linux but don't really understand it. I can't use an ASIAIR as I've Starlight Xpress and Atik cameras etc. I also use SGPro for imaging. The MINIPC is used for starparties etc but my dome isn't motorised so there's no point removing to that as I need to rotate the dome. I always use an old laptop for that. I have used an active usb cable at star parties which worked well. I haven't tried that with my ASI533 as that's usb3 and may or may not work successfully. The mini pc is perfect with that.

i just wish i understood what's making the mini pc play up. It's done it two years running after a September update. This time it's different but is seemed crash when asked to copy a zip file over the house network from the laptop removing into it and then when I gave up and copied the file via a usb drive, it copied ok but then wouldn't extract it. I was just about to copy the uncompressed version when the MINIPC wouldn't let me log in and when restarted refused to boot up.

Fingers crossed it'll let me fix it tomorrow!

 

[a6400]

Just use this and remove all of the MS junk

“Chris Titus Tech's Windows Utility”

[Anne S]

I've had to reinstall W11 from scratch. All went smoothly and I've got most of the auto stuff loaded on. I've also removed most of the Microsoft junk. At least I was offered the option not to sync my folders this time to one drive. I don't know if deleting it before the MINIPC failed to boot stopped it from using the recovery programmes. Let's hope this is the last time I need to repair it!

[PhilB61]

On 27/03/2024 at 23:01, Rallemikken said:

You said it yourself.

Allow me to elaborate: Do you regard the control of your AP-rig as missioncritical? I do.  Windows was never considered. Soon ending my third full season, and never missed a minute of capture time. How? Linux.

It never stops to amaze me. Highly technically skilled folks, able to master a complicated AP-setup, and they lay their software foundations on Windows?

This comes across as utter condescending nonsense. I've no doubt there may be some advantages to Linux, I don't know and don't care. The reason Window's based systems are used by so many is that for the vast majority of people, it is accessible, it has a vast array of software and hardware options and it works! I took have been imaging for just over 3 years and like you have never lost an image or session due to a software issue. 

Obviously people do have issues, with so many users and variety of equipment and experience levels, it's inevitable whether it be Windows or Linux based.

[Stuart1971]

I use windows 11, and TBH it’s been fine, I always have a clone drive ready to go, an exact copy which can be just booted from already fitted inside my mini PC…

Edited March 30 by Stuart1971

[ONIKKINEN]

My strategy for dealing with Windows quirks is to just never connect my mini-pc to the internet - and i never have since i bought it in 2021. No auto updates, no cloud anything, no issues. The only 2 crash/other issues i have had happened when my PC got rained on, but that's understandable.

[Anne S]

14 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

I use windows 11, and TBH it’s been fine, I always have a clone drive ready to go, and exact copy which can be just booted from already fitted inside my mini PC…

I thought I'd cloned the MINIPC but I obviously hadn't done it properly! My recovery dvd didn't work either.

[Anne S]

20 minutes ago, PhilB61 said:

This comes across as utter condescending nonsense. I've no doubt there may be some advantages to Linux, I don't know and don't care. The reason Window's based systems are used by so many is that for the vast majority of people, it is accessible, it has a vast array of software and hardware options and it works! I took have been imaging for just over 3 years and like you have never lost an image or session due to a software issue. 

Obviously people do have issues, with so many users and variety of equipment and experience levels, it's inevitable whether it be Windows or Linux based.

I agree with you. I'm of an age where the first computer I encountered was one that ran using a cassette player to load programmes! I can use programmes but only if they do what they're supposed to do! I've only ever lost subs due to silly mistakes by me. The MINIPC behaved impeccably in my two astro trips this year.

I can't use ASIair as I don't use much ZWO kit and my iPolar only supports Windows at present.