How to find date/timestamp after Windows won't boot and repair itself.

This is what happened, yesterday I boot up after updating to Windows 11 Insider Beta Build 22635.3785 (23H2) except there was an update to the storage controller driver Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller that I downloaded online, the problem is the existing driver is 18.37.7.1013 when it was mislabled as it should be 18.7.7.1013, the update is 18.8.0.1004 which would appear as a older version when in reality it's not.

So I basically uninstalled and removed the Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller from Device Manager with "Attempt to remove the driver for this device" and then rebooted forgetting that Windows can BSOD with an incorrect or missing storage driver.

Due to that, I get the Green Screen of Death (GSOD) with the Inaccessible Boot Device stop code and it told me to manually restart.

After maybe 4 reboots with that screen GSOD and restarting, Windows itself did diagnostics and then fixed the problem on it's own and I was at the Windows login screen and everything worked and it managed to somehow keep the original Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller drivers with version 18.37.7.1013.

I noticed some of the drivers were versions way older than yesterday. The Intel Serial IO drivers were before the ones I installed 7 months ago so had to update them before my touchscreen would work again.

What did Windows do in the repair process? It appears replaced things with the "Last known good configuration" which was how older versions of Windows had as a option for starting up for lack of better term, I noticed that the folders I created with drivers yesterday before the problem, a lot of the files are no longer there while both the folder and the files in the folder had the timestamp of the repair process. Basically, I am trying to see what timestamp did Windows restored to in the repair process so I can figure out what I needed to replace.

It seems to also broke a few apps and possibly more where the login details was gone like Telegram which autologins except it acted as if I was logged out. Firefox was crashing as I did install it only an hour prior to the GSOD so I had to reinstall on top of the existing install. Techsmith Snagit was unregistered again. How do I find out what timestamp Windows restored to exactly?

Sorry, but i could not understand you because how you write what you want, i could not keep up with all that jumble.

FreeBooter said:

Sorry, but i could not understand you because how you write what you want, i could not keep up with all that jumble.

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Hope it's better now. Sorry, was in a rush as had lots of things to do after finally replacing the keyboard.

I don't think your problem of GSOD (BSOD) error gone if it happens again don't be surprise Windows 11 by itself won't downgrade your drivers System restore will if the restore point older than install driver or program.

I suggest you open a thread for the BSOD error to make sure it won't happen again.

FreeBooter said:

I don't think your problem of GSOD (BSOD) error gone if it happens again don't be surprise Windows 11 by itself won't downgrade your drivers System restore will if the restore point older than install driver or program.

I suggest you open a thread for the BSOD error to make sure it won't happen again.

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Thanks! Is there a way to tell which System Restore point it used so I have a reference point and then add back what I added after that point. The error was caused by me because with all versions of Windows including XP, if you use the wrong Storage drivers, it will not boot which is the same case here.

You can open System Restore tool if it used it will have restored point to revert-back you can also use Scan for affected programs.

FreeBooter said:

You can open System Restore tool if it used it will have restored point to revert-back you can also use Scan for affected programs.

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Yes, this is all I see:



The problem was on June 16, 2024 at 5:00PM-6:00PM so does this mean that the 06/16/2024 4:09:51PM Restore Point was what was used? As this install is still supposedly on the system:

What I am confused about was why did some of the applications that were working before that timestamp stopped working and some drivers like Intel Serial I/O reverted to the one I had back in December 2023.

It does not look like any of those restore points used check Event Viewer for logs that will give you idea.

FreeBooter said:

It does not look like any of those restore points used check Event Viewer for logs that will give you idea.

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I am still a novice so what exactly would I be looking for in Event Viewer since I thought it would not be in logs as this was done before Windows even booted. I mean couldn't it have used the 6/16/2024 4:09:51PM entry?

I have no idea the event log name you should search for, but Error and Warning logs can help.

Best thing to do now move on with what you got and make image backup your system for these kinds of problems.

FreeBooter said:

I have no idea the event log name you should search for, but Error and Warning logs can help.

Best thing to do now move on with what you got and make image backup your system for these kinds of problems.

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I would but even if I made image backups, how would I actually be able to boot up to restore the image? What was funny was I was searching for inaccessible boot device and the GSOD and I started watching 5 seconds of your youtube video after Windows asked to run chkdsk which can take up to 24 hours and then the next thing I know is it did diagnosing and then it was already at the Windows login screen again. So I am more trying to find out, what drivers basically got replaced and what apps the repair broke which is why the timestamp would supposedly help.

As for looking up in Event Viewer, which logs should I be looking at, since I am sure it's under Windows Logs where there is Security, System, Setup, System, Forwarded events.

Like i said, ask for BSOD error help from BSOD - Posting Instructions to find out what is causing the BSOD don't get confuse by color green of the error message it Blue Screen of Death (also known as a blue screen or BSoD) is an error screen displayed on a Windows computer system after a fatal system error, also known as a system crash: when the operating system reaches a condition where it can no longer operate safely. BSoDs can be caused by poorly written device drivers or malfunctioning hardware, such as faulty memory, power supply issues, overheating of components, or hardware running beyond its specification limits.

There are a good deal of software you can use to image backup and restore that image of Windows 11 if you want to use Windows 11 internal backup software then in this video, i will guide you on how to create and restore an image backup of Windows operating system.

FreeBooter said:

Like i said, ask for BSOD error help from BSOD - Posting Instructions to find out what is causing the BSOD don't get confuse by color green of the error message it Blue Screen of Death (also known as a blue screen or BSoD) is an error screen displayed on a Windows computer system after a fatal system error, also known as a system crash: when the operating system reaches a condition where it can no longer operate safely. BSoDs can be caused by poorly written device drivers or malfunctioning hardware, such as faulty memory, power supply issues, overheating of components, or hardware running beyond its specification limits.

There are a good deal of software you can use to image backup and restore that image of Windows 11 if you want to use Windows 11 internal backup software then in this video, i will guide you on how to create and restore an image backup of Windows operating system.

Click to expand...

I know what is causing the BSOD. Like I said, it is caused by removing the Storage Controller drivers as no system will boot up with either the wrong Storage Controller Driver or there is not one so I already know what is the cause of it even before I started this thread. And these are Intel RST as in RAID which is what the system shipped with even though it is not using RAID as the other way to fix this was probably going into the BIOS and changing everything to AHCI mode so that the Microsoft AHCI driver would load by default. Windows 11 doesn't have the F6 function to load optional drivers at bootup.

Even as far back with Windows XP, you cannot clone the HDD and expect the system to boot using the Intel Storage Drivers as it will BSOD unless you first change the storage driver back to Standard IDE first before the cloning of the HDD. There is no Mini Dumps on the system as I just checked for this GSOD/BSOD. I prefer written instructions over video as I know the imaging or backup is easy with Macrium Reflect but doesn't restoring need a working system first? The backup is not the priority right now as I want to try to reinstall everything that is broken which is why I am trying to figure out what Windows actually restored and replaced so I can redo everything from that point on and then worry about the backing up of the system. Everytime I backup systems, something bad always happens to the backups which is why I have not done backups since 1993 or 1994 or basically close to 30 years ago. When I don't backup, I seem to have better luck and nothing breaks.