Do the W10 ISOs work? I remember in W7 you loaded the disk and do an upgrade install to repair things.

Sorry kitekrazy1 I have no clue whatsoever. Like I said this is my first big problem with PCs since I bought my first one for Pro Audio 9 in 2001.
Michael

So,
Step 1.
from this page https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop which one is the one you suggest?
I've never done an ISO yet, so can I download it, to be burned as a DVD? or is that 2 separate steps?
I'm downloading it now and though I have high speed DSL, it's 4 hours till that's done.
So this will take a while.....   LOL
Michael

pentimentosound
Sorry kitekrazy1 I have no clue whatsoever. Like I said this is my first big problem with PCs since I bought my first one for Pro Audio 9 in 2001.
Michael

The linux live disk allows you to boot to a linux desktop from the CD/DVD and from there you can have a look around the C Drive that contains your windows, data etc. Also it might flag physical issues with that harddrive if it wont allow you open it or see it. It also allows you to backup a drive if inaccessible any other way.
 
The AV Live disk is useful to malware check the C Drive via a slimmed down linux live boot up and not involving Windows or the C Drive BUT checking the C Drive.
 
The Windows 10 install Disk is handy as I said because it does give you a repair option and I think it might allow a reinstall while keeping the data. But would need to reinstall applications. There is a repair option. 
 
In your case it might be worth doing the first 2 initially. Linux Live to  see if any tell tale signs of disk errors and to backup. The AV Disk to check that Malware is not the issue, which it could be. 
 
Ultimately this might need a reinstall if you have all the data. When you use that media creation tool above to get the Win 10 install iso it does get you the latest edition. TBH .. with some issues like this I have bit the bullet and just reinstalled Windows fresh, reinstalled apps and data. In long run it turned out to be less time than messing around looking for the proverbial needle in the hay stack.
 
On this Dell Laptop I have currently, using now, I have one the above twice in last year because I got fed up of apps slowing down and windows taking an age to boot. Working with IT and software and windows for a long time ..  software is a changing thing and also over time we add and uninstall things .. all of which contribute to issues and slow downs. A good spring clean every so often is no harm AND most of the time I have found just bite the bullet and fresh install can be the quickest solution in long run!
 
 
 
 

pentimentosound
So,
Step 1.
from this page https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop which one is the one you suggest?
I've never done an ISO yet, so can I download it, to be burned as a DVD? or is that 2 separate steps?
I'm downloading it now and though I have high speed DSL, it's 4 hours till that's done.
So this will take a while.....   LOL
Michael

Either one should work. Once ISO is downloaded right click it and windows should have option to burn it to an inserted DVD.
 
BTW it doesnt burn that ISO file to the DVD, it burns the ISOs contents to the DVD which is basically the linux op sys
 

 
 Thats the screen you get eventually when you boot it up on your desktop. DONT SELECT INSTALL :D .. Use TRY on left

Thank you so much. I feel confident about tackling this now, with all this guidance. I'm going to bed while the download continues and hopefully I can start tracking down the "culprit(s)" tomorrow.
Michael

I would give a big +1 to using a "live" Linux system to check out your system hardware.
 
Since this loads the entire OS into your RAM and runs without needing to access a hard disk, it is a good way to verify your motherboard, power supply, CPU, RAM, is still good, and capable of booting up.  You can even unplug your hard disks if you are not confident that something may get erased or overwritten.
 
If Linux won't boot and run from a bootable CD/DVD or thumb drive, then there are probably some hardware issues to isolate.  This would most likely be motherboard or ram, but could be anything.
 
If Linux boots up OK, that automatically eliminates hardware, except your hard disk, or Windows as being the cause of the problem.
 
If the hard disks check out OK under Linux, and all files/folders are accessible (you should be able to mount the drives and browse them with the Linux version of explorer).
 
If your drives look OK, then you will be fairly certain that your problem is some sort of issue with your Windows boot partition, corrupted system files, malware, etc.  That is the point to strongly consider fallback to an image restore.

Thank abacab. I am only about to burn the discs, this evening........
but I am quite curious to try Linux out and still hope it's not a hardware thingy....
A week + back my external drives started out not showing up in "My Computer", but when I was looking at my options to recover, they both were there as options, even though the Recovery thumb drive didn't work (though it said it did.....).
One can hope.............
Michael

pentimentosound
Thank abacab. I am only about to burn the discs, this evening........
but I am quite curious to try Linux out and still hope it's not a hardware thingy....
A week + back my external drives started out not showing up in "My Computer", but when I was looking at my options to recover, they both were there as options, even though the Recovery thumb drive didn't work (though it said it did.....).
One can hope.............
Michael

Just stick to the plan and take it one step at a time. It may or may not be hardware, but there is only one logical way to determine that.  Your symptoms could mean anything at this point.  What I have outlined earlier is exactly what I would do if you brought the PC to me to fix.
 
So in your case I would unplug all external equipment, except for the PC keyboard, mouse, and monitor, insert the DVD, and boot.
 
Just remembered that you may need to enter the BIOS system setup during startup to change the boot menu to include your optical drive as 1st choice, otherwise it will attempt to boot from the default configured primary boot device (typically the hard drive boot partition).  But you probably already got that part figured out if you were able to boot from a recovery thumb drive.
 
Back in the day when I was taking a system support class, we learned to strip a PC to bare bones and then boot from floppy, without any other drives or add-on cards connected.  Then power off, add one thing back at a time, reboot ... until you get a failure.  Usually a hardware failure to boot would fail the POST (power on self test), indicating a problem somewhere with motherboard, RAM, CPU, video, etc.  That would need to be corrected before continuing, but I suspect you are already beyond that step. 
 
Computer POST and beep codes: https://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm
 
Good luck!

I just burned the Ubuntu 16.04.3 disc and noticed it says amd 64 bit. I have Intel CPU. Will that matter? or did I get the wrong one?
 
Thanks for all this info/advice! I feel willing and almost ready (LOL) to dive in this far. I built my 2nd PC (a P4 ASUS), and have been a pro guitarist, studio operator for decades, so I'm used to the logic sequence and you've made it seem sensible and approachable, for me.
Michael