Yesterday, the Echolink computer froze mid-net. I tried to restart it, but it kept rebooting into the BIOS.

It's now back and running, but here's an outline of the steps I took to fix the issue (for future reference).

• From a working Windows computer, I downloaded the Windows 11 USB boot drive program from the “Create Windows 11 Installation Media” section of this Microsoft page.
• Following section 3 of these instructions, I booted the Echolink computer using the USB boot drive and tried to “Troubleshoot” the computer that option wasn't available.
• I decided to do a full re-install, but first I had to find the original Windows Product key (since Windows came pre-installed on that computer).
  • If Windows had been working, I could have used regedit to navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform, and lookup BackupProductKeyDefault. (See Method 3 from these instructions for more details)
  • But I couldn't boot into Windows so I used a Linux Mint USB boot drive and tried to

     sudo strings /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM | tail -1

    Unfortunately, the MSDM file didn't exist on that computer. I tried that command on in my personal computers and it worked so I made notes of these keys in case I ever wanted to install Windows on them. (See these instructions for more details.)

  • Finally, following these instructions, I installed reglookup on the Linux boot drive and ran:

    reglookup -p "/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/SoftwareProtectionPlatform/BackupProductKeyDefault" \
    [YOURMOUNTPOINT]/Windows/System32/config/SOFTWARE 

• I rebooted the computer using the Windows boot drive to re-install Windows 11 from scratch on its old partition (leaving the other partitions alone), but it again booted to the BIOS.
• I rebooted back to LinuxMint and used GParted and delete every partition on the Echolink computer.
• I rebooted back using the Windows boot drive and this time Windows re-installed properly.

• To load Windows without a Microsoft account (see these instructions for more details):
  • At the sign-in page, press Shift+F10 to open a command prompt window and type:

    oobe\bypassnro 

  • While the computer reboot, disconnect the ethernet cable.
  • Choose I don't have internet
• Debloat Windows using Raphire's script. Press Windows Key+R and type cmd to open a command prompt window and type:

  & ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://debloat.raphi.re/")))

• Run Windows updates
• Turn off device sleep and hibernation

• Download and install Echolink
• Add Echolink to the startup folder:
  • Press Windows Key+R and type shell:startup to open the startup folder.
  • Copy (not Move) the Echolink link from the Desktop into that folder
• With the radio turned off, plug in the Signalink device and configure the audio settings.