Thanks, MikeKirnak. That's great to know.
There's one hole though. Do you know for sure that the send downloaded Windows image that did not fail on the 16xx platform was the same image that did fail on the earlier two 15xx platforms? As you know, Microsoft updates the download image every few
weeks.
If not, do you if someone else here has? I'd like to find a clear demonstration that the exact same image performed differently on two platforms. That's what's needed to erase doubt about the veracity of Microsoft's implicit claim that there is no change
in the hardware.
Also, having read more of this thread than I have, what's your belief on when the unacknowledged hardware change occurred?
One thumb drive, same downloaded image on all three machines. I did not re-download. What's funny is that I tried to download a new image for the new machine, but was unable too. I had to contact MS about that, and they shipped me a thumb drive with a new
image, since for some reason it was not possible to download an image from MS at that time. it didn't arrive till the 27th of May. Anyways, I was forced to use the image I had loaded on the other two machines. That image has been running great since May 21.
I still find really interesting that my backup image loaded up just fine on the SP4 I bought on Nov18, and it loaded up just fine on the refurb I got. But no matter how many times I tried, it would not load on the lot 1613 SP4. The MS image I had--that I
downloaded sometime the week before--loaded just fine on all three machines. I can't help but believe that there was something in the hardware different enough to prevent the backup loading on the new machine.
Like I said, I don't know that there is any difference for sure after lot 1611. It could be that my first three SP4s were defective and I finally got a good one. But I have no doubt that the first three had flawed hardware for whatever reason. Also, I have
not seen on this thread anyone complaining about lot 1611 or later. Just anecdotal evidence for sure, but certainly compelling enough to warrant investigation. And I'm glad I remained stubborn about getting a new SP4. MS clearly hasn't been able to fix the
problem with the older SP4s at least. A refurb is almost certainly going to have issues.