For the most part, the newest AU update
(v1607 b14393.321) has been getting better than the previous 9 or so earlier AU updates released since Aug. 2nd from MS. However, you were very luck with your other 3 machines. Upgrades via the AU update from versions v1511 and v10240(2015) have been notorious at crashing Windows and killing computers. Before the 3 PCs you mentioned that did the update Ok; we have only gotten 4 PCs that did this since Aug. 2nd without issue that I know of. We literally have thousands of computers here that have had issues; and all of them normally require a Clean Install from W10 bootable media. We have multiple threads on the subject, several here I contributed to.
I happen to have a Customer with an XPS8900 and that's a very expensive high-performance machine that's a modern-era computer (made in 2009 or after) and should have no problem with running W10 (as you mentioned). However, this computer did come with Win7 and so is a few years old. I have dual boots of Windows-Ubuntu Linux, however, our testing here has shown that there are issues with the AU update on machines with dual-boot configurations of Windows such as W8.1 & W10, W7 & W10, etc. What I would suggest on that 1 machine you are having the problem with (the XPS8900), is that you
FIRST BACKUP ALL OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA TO EXTERNAL MEDIA! THIS WOULD INCLUDE YOUR LIBRARY FOLDERS FOR DOCUMENTS, PHOTOS, MUSIC, VIDEOS, AND ANY SAVED E-MAILS OR ATTACHMENTS TO AVOID IRRETRIEVABLE DATA LOSS!!! Next, take a look at this Post I wrote that covers most of the steps you have to take in order to try and fix this issue:
Cant update Take a look at my
POST #7 specifically. It's important to go into your Windows Update History and look for the 3 latest components of the AU update from Oct. 11th. If they are not there, you need to follow the instructions to get them there. If this does not work, after backing up this machine as mentioned above, you should do a Clean Install with W10 bootable media also as mentioned and get that machine running the latest version (without the dual-boot). This should be:
(v1607 b14393.321). I would then wait for the machine to get the latest AU update which should come into your computer tomorrow or next Tuesday 10/25. If the computer updates to the next AU update, then your Windows Updates are working and so is that machine. You could then install the W8.1 alongside the updated W10 and hopefully it continues to update with future AU updates. If it does not, that machine may just not like dual-boot and have a hardware incompatibility with it. If you followed all the instructions in my post above, including the Hardware Testing that would be the most likely conclusion (possibly a failure in it's Motherboard). If you skip the Hardware Testing and the install of the 2nd Windows *8.1* causes the AU update to fail, you could have a faulty hard drive or RAM stick(s). Until you find which component(s) have failed, the dual-boot may never work.
If you did do the required Hardware testing and it still fails;
THAT PARTICULAR DELL DESKTOP (XPS8900) has a hardware failure most likely and would need to be replaced.
It's also a recommended practice to run the
W10 COMPATIBILITY TEST during the W10 install. Don't know if you did this or not when you originally installed the v10240 W10, but that should have been done to identify any incompatible components, drivers, or apps. If you get to this point and haven't fixed it, you should run that program during another Clean Install as here:
Get Windows 10 app - Check Compatibility Report for Windows 10 Remove all found issues from the Compatibility Report and proceed with the AU update as above.
Lastly, it's important to note that you also remove any secondary drive storage devices internal to the machine that connects to your Motherboard via SATA, eSATA, Firewire, or USB ports prior to attempting the Clean Install. Many of our users here with failed updates are not aware that this can cause problems with the AU update since they don't do this for a living. Usually, it's not for days or weeks of trying to help someone and they finally post back BSOD dumps or full hardware specs that we glean they have a 2nd or 3rd drive hooked into the Motherboard while they are trying to repair their problem only to see this. Usually, they forget it about it or just don't think it's important.
YOU MUST DISCONNECT ALL THESE EXTRA DRIVES *INCLUDING ANY NAS OR SAN DEVICES TOO* when troubleshooting this type of problem. You must be only repairing the C: bootdrive single drive that W10 is booting from
--NO OTHER PHSYICAL DRIVES OR STORAGE DEVICES. Since you have 3 other computers, I'm guessing you have a fair bit of experience with computers as you dual-boot experience says; but make sure that this XPS8900 complies with using only a single bootdrive and no other storage devices when attempting to fix this type of problem.
Let us know how it goes.
Best,
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>