Solved Windows 8 boots to blank screen. MBR corrupt?

BenignMustache

New Member
Messages
9
After upgrading to Windows 8.1, I started experiencing a weird boot issue. When I boot Windows I only get a black, empty screen. As soon as the BIOS splash disappears the computer stops booting. No disk activity, nothing. My first instinct was to run bootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /fixboot from the Windows 8 install/recovery DVD. This temporarily solves my issue, but the problem returns on next boot. Any idea as to what could be happening here?

I already had this issue before the 8.1 update, but it only occurred sporadically. I would usually work around this issue by rebooting.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
You get a flashing blinking cursor up in the left corner?

What you did was correct, but you have to boot from the drive that had the Bootloader for 8 on it, and sometimes that's not the same drive as the System is on. Also, UEFI computers need to be booted from UEFI, it'll show up in the Boot Order in the BIOS.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
You get a flashing blinking cursor up in the left corner?
Yes, for like a split second, but that could be the BIOS.

What you did was correct, but you have to boot from the drive that had the Bootloader for 8 on it, and sometimes that's not the same drive as the System is on.

I'm not quite sure if I'm understanding you correctly. Are you suggesting that I might have the wrong partition marked as bootable? Here's my disk layout:

h7PsEYZ.jpg


But then why am I able to get it to work sometimes?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
You get a flashing blinking cursor up in the left corner?
Yes, for like a split second, but that could be the BIOS.

What you did was correct, but you have to boot from the drive that had the Bootloader for 8 on it, and sometimes that's not the same drive as the System is on.

I'm not quite sure if I'm understanding you correctly. Are you suggesting that I might have the wrong partition marked as bootable? Here's my disk layout:

h7PsEYZ.jpg


But then why am I able to get it to work sometimes?

Your drive could be going bad also try re-seating the cables on the drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7/8 Mint
    System Manufacturer/Model
    lenovo W530
    CPU
    intell i7
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16gb
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    512 gb ssd
    Other Info
    Around 13 million employes
Your drive could be going bad also try re-seating the cables on the drive.
I did consider that it might be an HDD issue, but a chkdsk scan on the partition where I installed Windows didn't come up with anything suspicious. Any other tests I can run without opening up my laptop?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I would try running the automatic repair function from the Windows repair environment (on the Windows installation disc/usb). It may need running more than once (up to 3 times) with reboots in between.
Thereby letting Windows repair itself (or find other problems) rather than you running /fixmbr etc.
It may be happier :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OS X / Windows 8.1 Pro / Ubuntu 13.10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    15" MacBook Pro retina 10,1
    CPU
    2.3GHz
    Memory
    8GB 1600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD400 / Nvidia GT650M
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD
Your drive could be going bad also try re-seating the cables on the drive.
I did consider that it might be an HDD issue, but a chkdsk scan on the partition where I installed Windows didn't come up with anything suspicious. Any other tests I can run without opening up my laptop?
CHKDSK just check for file continuity it does not check for surface or misreads on the whole disk, if you have utility to check the SMART on the drive that will tell you if you have any intermittent problems with the drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7/8 Mint
    System Manufacturer/Model
    lenovo W530
    CPU
    intell i7
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16gb
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    512 gb ssd
    Other Info
    Around 13 million employes
Your Drive partitioning looks OK, your System partition is on the first available partition, that 100mb partition should be ignored safely. It may have GRUB on it though, sometimes that 100 mb partition is there, sometimes not, it was mostly in Windows 7, so if this was updated from 7, it may be a leftover from that, and you can delete it.

Go into PC Settings into Advanced Startup, and if you have a Boot to UEFI, do that. When you get int to your UEFI, you can check your boot order, and make sure the boot device is pointed to "UEFI Boot"

This UEFI stuff changes from system to system, but if it is there, it usually has a UEFI entry in the Boot Order in the BIOS.

If you don't have it, try deleting that 100mb partition- But that is risky. If you do that, run your Bootrec /fixmbr /Scanos

You can also do a search for Hiren's Boot CD version 13, it has a Windows XP/7 Bootloader for problems like this, it should get you booted while we are figuring this out. You choose it on the Hiren's disk, and it searches your hard drives for the Windows Bootloader, once it finds it, it boots. They took it out of Hiren's version 15.

Did you upgrade from 7, or was this 8 originally? If you had 7 on that machine at any time, it explains the 100mb partition. You should be able to safely delete it for 8.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
I've got exact te same issue.
Before the update to 8.1 never had any boot issues.
When i boot with win 8.1 repair (usb stick), i can choose advanced and then to continue to boot win 8.1.
Then when i reboot it boots fine. When i put the laptop in sleep or shutdown and leave it multiple hours untouched.
Bang boot problem is back :s very strange.....
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    WIN 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
I would try running the automatic repair function from the Windows repair environment (on the Windows installation disc/usb).
I've tried that before with no luck. It didn't find or fix any errors. I did use a Windows 8 DVD because I haven't downloaded the 8.1 yet, but I'm planning to do so. The Windows 8 DVD had to skip the startup repair section because I'm using 8.1... darn.

Code:
Startup Repair diagnosis and repair log
---------------------------
Number of repair attempts: 1

Session details
---------------------------
System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows directory = D:\WINDOWS
AutoChk Run = 0
Number of root causes = 1

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Check for updates
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 31 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: System disk test
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 0 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Disk failure diagnosis
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 141 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Disk metadata test
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 47 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Target OS test
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 0 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Volume content check
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 1375 ms

Root cause found: 
---------------------------
The operating system version is incompatible with Startup Repair

---------------------------
---------------------------

I'll get back to you with the results of Windows 8.1's auto-repair feature once I have the DVD.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I got the results from the Windows 8.1 auto-repair feature. Nothing suspicious was found.

Code:
Startup Repair diagnosis and repair log
---------------------------
Last successful boot time: ‎22/‎10/‎2013 18:26:31 (GMT)
Number of repair attempts: 1

Session details
---------------------------
System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows directory = D:\WINDOWS
AutoChk Run = 0
Number of root causes = 1

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Check for updates
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 15 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: System disk test
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 0 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Disk failure diagnosis
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 141 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Disk metadata test
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 47 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Target OS test
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 0 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Volume content check
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 1468 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Boot manager diagnosis
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 110 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: System boot log diagnosis
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 0 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Event log diagnosis
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 531 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Internal state check
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 47 ms

Test Performed: 
---------------------------
Name: Boot status test
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =  0x0
Time taken = 31 ms

Root cause found: 
---------------------------
Boot status indicates that the OS booted successfully.

---------------------------
---------------------------

Go into PC Settings into Advanced Startup, and if you have a Boot to UEFI, do that. When you get int to your UEFI, you can check your boot order, and make sure the boot device is pointed to "UEFI Boot"
Unfortunately I didn't find any references to UEFI there. I only saw something about Startup Options.

Did you upgrade from 7, or was this 8 originally? If you had 7 on that machine at any time, it explains the 100mb partition. You should be able to safely delete it for 8.
This computer came with Windows 7. I formatted my hard drive before installing Windows 8, but I don't think that I touched the small partition. I'll go give Hiren's Boot CD a try, thanks.

Edit: is this vaguely related to my problem? They mention the settings not being remembered after a cold boot. I find their instructions a little hard to follow, but maybe you guys know if it could be useful.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Is this an EFI installation or not? I'm confused.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OS X / Windows 8.1 Pro / Ubuntu 13.10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    15" MacBook Pro retina 10,1
    CPU
    2.3GHz
    Memory
    8GB 1600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD400 / Nvidia GT650M
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD
Is this an EFI installation or not? I'm confused.
I don't think so, because msinfo32 says 'Legacy' under BIOS Mode and my setupact.log only references BIOS. The part about the post that was related to my issue that my Windows bootloader doesn't seem to work during cold boot. But when I fire up the Windows 8.1 DVD and click "Continue to Windows 8.1" without doing any fixes it does work. It looks like the bootloader keeps working until I turn off the power and do a cold boot.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Ah, "RebuildBCD" yep that'll do it.

Well, I did find out what I was asking, if it came with Windows 7, then it came with the 100mb partition, and Windows 8 does not need that.

I think that was part of your problem, if this happens again with this computer, Delete the 100mb partition then run RebuildBCD again.

Yes, I think it was related to your problem. Windows 7, 8, 8.1, all want to be on the very first partition. On 7, that partition contains the old Grub loader from Vista, remember how Vista used to have all kinds of lines of text running. That was Grub. Windows 7 had it as well, but it was all hidden. Windows 8 don't have it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
Hi, I have the same problem.
With Win8.1 repair disk and bootrec /rebuildbcd command that response "Total identified Windows installations: 0" I resolve problem and I can now boot Windows 8.1 normally.
But if I hibernate my PC the system boots to blank screen again. I cannot hibernate my PC and restore previous work session. It's very problematic for me.
Thanks a lot for your help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Have you followed all the steps in the article? While I had this problem, merely booting from the install DVD and then clicking "Continue to Windows" fixed the problem until the next cold boot. The steps in the article however permanently fixed the problem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I followed all the steps in the article. But the 6 and 7 steps not work for me. I have not c:\boot\bcd.
I tryed a USB Windows 8.1 repair disk and a USB Windows 8 installation disk but the result is the same.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Hi guys
Sorry for refreshing the subject but...
I have found planty of posts in many forums about fixing problem with black screen and blinking mous but all refers to commands and BIOS. What if I'm not able to enter BIOS? Laptop is Asus X550VC and it is on UEFI which I can enter only after entering Windows. So I got Black screen and no possibility to enter BIOS nor UEFI.
Hitting any buttons doesn't work while starting system. I have tried with system installation on USB stick but no change. I'm not able to take out the HD as well. Any advices?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8
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