I have been attempting to get my computer to boot for the past day and a half with no success whatsoever. Although some steps I have tried show that they are successful or that no errors were found, my computer still won't boot.
I have decided, after scouring the Internet for solutions and only finding piecemeal fixes, that I was going to make my own comprehensive list of possible solutions all in one place with the hope that one of them will end up working for me and someone else in the future.
NOTE: If you do have a suggested addition/change or one of these solutions worked for you, then please include the number of the solution in your response.
My Computer Build (less than two months old):
Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
ASRock Z77 Pro4-M
Intel i5 3570k
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670
Samsung 840 Pro SSD 256GB
Seagate Barracuda HDD 2TB
LG Blu-ray burner
SeaSonic X-Series 660W Plus Gold
What caused this issue for me:
I had been trying to roll back the drivers for my GTX 670 for several days now before this problem came about to fix an issue I was having with a game I play. Almost every time I tried to uninstall/reinstall the drivers for the GPU, I would get the new, kid-friendly BSOD that Windows 8 uses right in the middle of the installation.
Naturally, this wasn't too good for my GPU drivers, so I ended up having to manually uninstall everything related to NVIDIA while in safe mode then restart in safe mode and reinstall to get it to finally work - or so I thought. Apparently neither the drivers for GPU PhysX nor for 3D Vision will install while in safe mode. So I decided to try one more time to install the drivers outside of safe mode. I did, got another BSOD, restarted, and the computer hasn't booted into Windows since.
Now, when I boot, I get a black screen with the error screen:
————————————————
Windows Boot Manager
————————————————
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings and then click "Next."
3. Click "Repair your computer."
If you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.
File: \Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: The Boot Configuration Data for your PC is missing or contains errors.
————————————
The solutions I've tried and what they did for me (For the sake of clarity, I will try to be fairly explicit in my steps):
1) Preliminary troubleshooting setup - telling the computer to boot from a repair disk/USB device
Steps:
1. While your computer is powered on, insert your Windows Installation Disc or other removable media like a USB drive with a bootable Windows Installation or repair environment.
2. Restart your computer (go immediately to step 3.)
3. On Computer bootup, begin pressing F2 or DEL repeatedly (varies sometimes from computer to computer; sometimes the bootup screen will show the keys for accessing various boot menus) to open the computer's BIOS settings.
4. At the top of the BIOS settings, there should be a tab that says "Boot" or "Boot Options". Use the arrow keys or mouse to select that tab.
5. You should now see a list of bootable disks and devices. Select the device that has your bootable media and move it to the top of the list (this varies for different BIOSs; often you select the device you want and use the + key to move it up).
6. At the top of the BIOS settings there should be a tab that says "Exit" or something similar (if not, typically pressing F10 will bring up a menu).
7. Choose "Save and Exit". This should cause your computer to restart.
This will make the computer always attempt to boot from your repair disk/USB device first so that you don't have to select the device every time you boot.
2) Automatic Repair (Windows 8)/Startup Repair (Windows Vista/7)
Steps:
1. Restart the computer and boot into the repair environment from 1).
2. If this is a Windows Installation environment, make sure your language settings are correct and click Next.
3. Select the option called "Repair my computer" or something similar.
4. Choose advanced/other repair options until you find "Automatic Repair" (Windows 8) or "Startup Repair" (Windows Vista/7) and select it. The computer may restart several times until it show a summary of the repair.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 at least three times to see if Automatic Repair can fix the problem.
What happens for me:
After I begin the Automatic Repair from step 4, my computer shows a black screen with "ASRock" and "Diagnosing Problems" below it for about two seconds, then flashes "Attempting Repairs" for about half a second, then the entire screen flashes light blue then stays black. After about 10 seconds the computer will restart. I have tried this method about 15 times with no change.
EDIT: there are several other fixes I've tried, but I don't feel like writing just now - I'll update this later.
I have decided, after scouring the Internet for solutions and only finding piecemeal fixes, that I was going to make my own comprehensive list of possible solutions all in one place with the hope that one of them will end up working for me and someone else in the future.
NOTE: If you do have a suggested addition/change or one of these solutions worked for you, then please include the number of the solution in your response.
My Computer Build (less than two months old):
Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
ASRock Z77 Pro4-M
Intel i5 3570k
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670
Samsung 840 Pro SSD 256GB
Seagate Barracuda HDD 2TB
LG Blu-ray burner
SeaSonic X-Series 660W Plus Gold
What caused this issue for me:
I had been trying to roll back the drivers for my GTX 670 for several days now before this problem came about to fix an issue I was having with a game I play. Almost every time I tried to uninstall/reinstall the drivers for the GPU, I would get the new, kid-friendly BSOD that Windows 8 uses right in the middle of the installation.
Naturally, this wasn't too good for my GPU drivers, so I ended up having to manually uninstall everything related to NVIDIA while in safe mode then restart in safe mode and reinstall to get it to finally work - or so I thought. Apparently neither the drivers for GPU PhysX nor for 3D Vision will install while in safe mode. So I decided to try one more time to install the drivers outside of safe mode. I did, got another BSOD, restarted, and the computer hasn't booted into Windows since.
Now, when I boot, I get a black screen with the error screen:
————————————————
Windows Boot Manager
————————————————
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings and then click "Next."
3. Click "Repair your computer."
If you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.
File: \Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: The Boot Configuration Data for your PC is missing or contains errors.
————————————
The solutions I've tried and what they did for me (For the sake of clarity, I will try to be fairly explicit in my steps):
1) Preliminary troubleshooting setup - telling the computer to boot from a repair disk/USB device
Steps:
1. While your computer is powered on, insert your Windows Installation Disc or other removable media like a USB drive with a bootable Windows Installation or repair environment.
2. Restart your computer (go immediately to step 3.)
3. On Computer bootup, begin pressing F2 or DEL repeatedly (varies sometimes from computer to computer; sometimes the bootup screen will show the keys for accessing various boot menus) to open the computer's BIOS settings.
4. At the top of the BIOS settings, there should be a tab that says "Boot" or "Boot Options". Use the arrow keys or mouse to select that tab.
5. You should now see a list of bootable disks and devices. Select the device that has your bootable media and move it to the top of the list (this varies for different BIOSs; often you select the device you want and use the + key to move it up).
6. At the top of the BIOS settings there should be a tab that says "Exit" or something similar (if not, typically pressing F10 will bring up a menu).
7. Choose "Save and Exit". This should cause your computer to restart.
This will make the computer always attempt to boot from your repair disk/USB device first so that you don't have to select the device every time you boot.
2) Automatic Repair (Windows 8)/Startup Repair (Windows Vista/7)
Steps:
1. Restart the computer and boot into the repair environment from 1).
2. If this is a Windows Installation environment, make sure your language settings are correct and click Next.
3. Select the option called "Repair my computer" or something similar.
4. Choose advanced/other repair options until you find "Automatic Repair" (Windows 8) or "Startup Repair" (Windows Vista/7) and select it. The computer may restart several times until it show a summary of the repair.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 at least three times to see if Automatic Repair can fix the problem.
What happens for me:
After I begin the Automatic Repair from step 4, my computer shows a black screen with "ASRock" and "Diagnosing Problems" below it for about two seconds, then flashes "Attempting Repairs" for about half a second, then the entire screen flashes light blue then stays black. After about 10 seconds the computer will restart. I have tried this method about 15 times with no change.
EDIT: there are several other fixes I've tried, but I don't feel like writing just now - I'll update this later.
Last edited:
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Windows 8
