Upgrading ASUS CM6870 to Windows 10 Creators Edition or April 2018 release 1703, 1709, 1804 (RT3090 PCIe wireless card)

Anonymous
2017-04-29T19:14:40+00:00

This was a pain for me, so I hope this helps someone.

I made 15 attempts to update my ASUS CM6870 from the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition to the Creators Edition (Creators Update), I *always* hung hard around 40 or 42% after the first system reboot, with the 'rolling' animation ground to a halt. This almost always points to a hardware problem.

I did everything to find the bad hardware! I disconnected all of the USB, ripped out all of the superfluous drivers, did a clean reboot, did a driver uninstall on my NVIDIA drivers using DDU, and uninstalled every program that had a funky driver like the VMWare standalone converter and my Cisco Anyconnect VPN. Nothing worked.

Each reboot reported "0xc1900101 - 0x30018 the installation failed in the FIRST_BOOT phase with an error during SYSPREP operation"

Digging into the clues from files left behind in C:$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther, I saw that the last thing before failure was a bunch of SPPNP messages which seems to be the SYSPREP driver loading phase. There were also a bunch of <NUL> characters at the end of the file. Some piece of hardware was refusing to play nice. I had painstakingly removed everything I could without opening the case.

Finally, based on various hints on forums, I cracked open the PC and pulled out my PCIe wireless card. Boom. Fully installed.

The Wireless card was a PCIe x1 in a PCI x16 slot if that matters, and it was the ASUS branded MediaTek Railink technologies RT3090 wireless card.

(PCI\VEN_1814&DEV_3090&SUBSYS_760111AD&REV_00)

Once the Creators Update was installed, I was able to reinstall the card without incident. Go figure.

Edit: This problem probably applies to any system using a P8H61 or P8H77 motherboard. According to this thread, the P8H77-M PRO (CM6870) is affected, as are other ASUS desktops like the ASUS CM6730 with a P8H61‑M PRO with that RT3090 wireless card.

Other commenters report that the ROG CG6480 / TYTAN CG8480 and CM1855 are also affected, presumably also with the errant RT3090 card.

I also observed the problem with an Ascend Ascendtech WN7601R-H1 PCI card in HP desktops. This is also an RT3090 PCIe card.

Commenter Chris Deer reports that he also had the problem with the Acer L4610, L4620, and L480, possible other Acer "L" models.

The Fall Creators Edition and April 2018 update also have this problem, so the installer is not yet fixed to place nice with the RT3090 wireless card.

One commenter noted that moving the card from a PCIx16 slot to a PCIx4 slot also fixed the problem, so it may be an interaction between the card and the northbridge (motherboard chipset) in certain slots.

EDIT: WARNING: Be careful removing and re-inserting the wireless card; make sure the power cord is removed from the power supply. The sound card chip is right at that slot and I damaged it, so now my system no longer recognizes when speakers are attached. Looks like I scratched a trace on the motherboard.  I know it is a hardware problem because booting a Linux Live USB showed the same problem.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-06-23T13:28:00+00:00

    I just had to chime in here and thank the OP.  I have the same computer and similar problem.  I was at the end of my rope with updates killing my computer.  I was almost at the point of buying new hardware.  Found this post, removed the wireless card, and Windows updated without a single problem.  I don't understand why it works, but it did.  Want to thank Remaker for saving me hundreds of dollars.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-06-23T13:33:56+00:00

    Im so happy to hear that. Thanks for writing it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-07-12T08:49:40+00:00

    Brilliant advice cant thank you enough, i tried dozens of times to install the 1803 update on my zoostorm desktop, trying all the MS help lines and various others, after reading your post  i removed my wireless card started the update using windows update assistant, and the 1803 update installed at the first try, wether the end result of the update proves to be worthwile time will tell, many thanks again

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-07-20T14:06:39+00:00

    Dear users,

    In order to end your Windows_10 Sufferings, please follow these simple clean steps.

    1. Power off PC, disconnect power cord, crack open that damn machine and take all of its extra-organs(addons) out. You just want to keep mobo + Ram + one SSD(where you'll install OS), RAM, UEFI Windows 10 media(USB or DVD). 

    -For graphics, use ur iGPU(cpu graphics), not the discreet one(nvidia, amd). 

    -Disconnect frontUSB/Sound pannel too. Just use a USB port on the back of your mobo.

    -WiFi card taken out.

    -No ethernet wire connected.

    -No sound pin plugged in.

    -No nothing... just go bare minimum ;)

    1. Boot in UEFI and select the Windows 10 UEFI USB media.
    2. Screen will load. Next next until it asks where u want to install it. If your SSD is already GPT, then delete its partitions one by one until 'Unallocated space'. Click it and then click next. OS will automatically create the necessary partitons.
    3. Let Windows be installed, and in the mean time, you can stand close to ur actual window -- say a prayer, spy on others -- or just fart around. 
    4. Welcome to Win10. Create offline account. Hit next and go ahead with signing the contract with the devil, cuz nobody reads those T&Cs.
    5. When it asks to connect ethernet connection. Do it; let it install all the updates. And please, no findering around in the mean time. 
    6. Let it install the drivers via Win update. The ones it cant find such as PCI communications, or SM Bus.... then update them with ur old win7/8 drivers. No need to run whole chipset app, just manually above two. 

    Once done, shut down ur pc... install second/extra hdd, graphics card, ad-ons, connectors etc. Preferrebly one by one, so u can know who is playing hard to get. Throw that compnent outta window!

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-07-29T10:33:10+00:00

    THANK YOU. You solved my issue with upgrading to Windows 10 version 1804 on my CM6870.

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