Stubborn Windows10 1909 refuses to upgrade - HECI Error?

[hockeyrink]

I've been fighting with this upgrade error off and on over a year now. I am really hesitant to do a clean reinstall with some of the legacy software I've got presently installed (not sure how I'd reinstall some of these), so I'm reaching out here for some help. I've been really impressed with the quality of the posts here, which are so much better than the standard windows "Didja upgrade the BIOS? Uh, then only thing left is to reinstall..." posts I've been tripping over.

I've just installed a 1TB SSD and mirrored over the original installation (just in case), and have been beating it up this week. I've chiefly been using the MS "setupdiag" utility to see if I can pinpoint the error, and it continually reports:

Error: Found a device installation failure during device install phase.
Device Installation failure detected!
Device Description: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_8CBA
HardwareId: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_8CBA&SUBSYS_103C3842&REV_00\3&11583659&0&B0
Inf Name: heci.inf
Driver Version: 11.7.0.1045

Recommend you update the driver package or remove the device and drivers, and try again.

Last Setup Phase:
Phase Name: Pre SysPrep
    Phase Started: 31-10-2022 4:33:07 PM
    Phase Ended: 31-10-2022 4:33:07 PM
    Phase Time Delta: 00:00:00
    Completed Successfully? True


Last Setup Operation:
Operation Name: Upgrade security
    Operation Started: 31-10-2022 4:33:06 PM
    Operation Ended: 31-10-2022 4:33:07 PM
    Operation Time Delta: 0:00:00:01.0000000
    Completed Successfully? True

I've been through about 5 failed iterations of upgrade sequences after up/downgrading/disabling the intel HECI driver. Can't seem to locate anything in the BIOS to suggest interaction with the Intel Management Engine Interface which is what the HECI is supposed to be related to.

THEN I tripped over this resource. Quite impressive. Hoping to get similar success here as I've seen others do! I've gone through the FAQ and completed the first stages.

Donation sent. This is a great resource.

Thanks for any future help!

 

[hockeyrink]

Further to that, I should have mentioned that I've been using a downloaded Win10 ISO, mounting the ISO, using the setup and deselecting the "download update" feature. Much faster than doing the download-from-online upgrade method (~25 minutes per attempt down from ~1 hr)

 

[hockeyrink]

Revisiting this again, as now I have 2 machines misbehaving! Happy holidays!