Please Help: stuck in auto-repair loop

I've been stuck in the auto-repair loop on my Lenovo win8 laptop (Lenovo U510), and I can't seem to get into safe mode, the one key recovery options don't work for system recovery, but I can get into the BIOS menu and Boot menu - just no option for safe mode here), and I can't figure out how to get
Into advanced settings. Can someone please help?

The precursor was being prompted to scan the drives for errors, tried to do that, it froze, then went into the auto-repair loop on startup. To make matters worse, I don't have a bootable copy of win 8, since it just came installed on the machine (and I didn't get around to creating the USB boot
Disk or backing up my
Data to my portable) hdd

Hello,

Follow this to get a command prompt open:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4935-startup-options-menu-boot-windows-8-a.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4924-advanced-startup-settings-boot-windows-8-a.html

Once this Command prompt is open run these commands:

bootrec /fixMBR
bootrec /Fixboot
bootrec /rebuildBCD

Then:

Chkdsk /r C:

I also recommend you are trying to boot this with as little things plugged in. I am not talking about things inside your case but outside perphirals for example if you have USB drives and that plugged in.

Hope that helps Cheers.

Harry

Hi Harry,

Thanks, but I cannot boot at all since it's stuck in the automatic repair loop, and unfortunately, I did not make a recovery USB. All peripherals have been removed as well. The only thing I can access is the BIOS and Boot menus through the one key recovery button. I've tried all settings there, and still it will not break out of the "preparing automatic repair, black screen, blue screen with frowny face, then back to "preparing automatic repair." Is there anything else I can try?

Thanks,
Brian

You can order the Microsoft official OEM Recovery disks from the OEM manufacturer's website.
You can Order Lenovo Recovery Disks from here:
Lenovo Support - Home (US)
Click on Parts & Accessories.
or
https://www.lenovorecovery.com/Extranet/Home.aspx

Brian,

Do you have another computer you can use so we can create a reset/refresh media. With another Windows 7/8/8.1 machine you are able to use the product key that came with your software and create the USB you need.

Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Microsoft Windows Help

The other option is if you have a friend/ family with windows 8 you can create a recovery drive from that computer.

Almost everyone I know has win8 pro, which I hear will not work - dang this is frustrating. Maybe I will try to order the recovery disk from lenovo, but when I tried, it did not list my P/N number in the drop down. Is there any other method that may work?

You could call support & order disks.

ok - I just found a windows 8 machine from someone that I can make the recovery disk from that I can get access to in the next two hours or so. The new problem I'm going to run into (that I can see) is that I cannot seem to change the boot order in BIOS to boot USB first. While it shows "USB Boot enabled", it seems that I can only select Legacy or UEFI to boot first. Any thoughts on this?

Bios is InsydeH20 Setup Utility Rev. 3.7

There six Recovery disk versions.

1) Windows 8 x32

2) Windows 8 x64 Legacy.

3) Windows 8 x64 UEFI & Legacy.

4) Windows 8,1 x32

5) Windows 8.1 x64 Legacy.

6) Windows 8.1 x64 UEFI & Legacy.

You will need your version.

Boot the USB drive from the One Time Boot Menu in UEFI mode.

The boot order only shows as:

Boot Mode [UEFI] (legacy is also an option)
USB Boot [Enabled]

1)Windows Boot Manager (ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB)
2)EFI Network 0 for IPV6 (numbers and letters)
3) EFI Network 0 for IPV4 (numbers and letters)

I can get to a system recovery option using the lenovo one key recovery function - if I have the USB attached with proper recovery version, do you think it will then boot from USB?

If you correctly create a bootable dvd with the windows 8 media than yes, an example of how to do this:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2227-create-bootable-usb-dvd-windows-8-iso.html

Although Theog does give you a great option to go get the Recovery Disk from Lenovo.


This link should give you an idea of how others have fixed the issue:

Windows 8 stuck in reboot/repair cycle after update - Microsoft Community

Cheers,
Harry

retainer55 said:

The boot order only shows as:

Boot Mode [UEFI] (legacy is also an option)
USB Boot [Enabled]

1)Windows Boot Manager (ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB)
2)EFI Network 0 for IPV6 (numbers and letters)
3) EFI Network 0 for IPV4 (numbers and letters)

I can get to a system recovery option using the lenovo one key recovery function - if I have the USB attached with proper recovery version, do you think it will then boot from USB?

Click to expand...

I would say, YES.

Ok - thanks guys. I will make the recovery disk and report back. I've tried all the other fixes in countless other threads including the ones listed in the thread posted by Harry, but I'll keep at it! I appreciate the help so far.

So the repair disk was made and tried by an authorized lenovo repair shop local to me. No matter what, they couldn't get it repaired, and determined that the hdd had failed....sucks...but I sent it back to lenovo since I was still under warranty and at least my data and files were saved. Just wish I would've cloned the whole drive earlier.

Thanks again for trying to help, but it seems there is no fix for a dead hdd. This one was only 4months old, and I won't ever be buying a lenovo ideapad again. Lesson learned.

Well I am glad you where under warranty and Lenovo is going to replace your HDD. The important thing as you say is that your data is safe, the hard drive failing is just an annoyance.

Have a great weekend and if you have any more questions just ask

Cheers,
Harry

Hi Harry, I tried your bootrec / fixBR etc and got further than before lol. However when I got to stage 5, 73% we went back into automatic repair mode again. So I tried again and again and it just goes into repair mode quicker each tie. Any ideas or is the hard drive fried and I need a new one? The machine is not that old and it just sees to be in a constant loop. I tried an optical disk and a usb fix but the machine does not seem to recognize either the disk drive or the usb. It all started when I opened an email and the cursor started doing it's own thing and my drives were getting read so I assumed a virus. Powered down and been getting dizzy since.Any ideas would be appreciated. I'm so skint I can't afford to put it in somewhere and I'm on the sick after a car crash so I have time to explore. I'm on my mate's machine here and it's not too well either. 350gb hard drive but only shows 20gb????? can't find the rest lol. Also another friend gave me an old laptop but lost password thing comes up, it's got no battery and is pretty much in bits, fixable or bin? Sorry this is so long but your tip got me further than anyone else so you're a good guy in my books lol. Thanks for the help so far, it's been interesting and any further help would be amazing. Cheers for now.

I think it would be safe to assume you did get a virus.. If your PC came with windows 8 or 8.1. use the link in my sig below to download and create windows 8.1 setup media and do a fresh clean install..

Usually you can tap F12 when you first power on the PC to get into the boot menu options, select your media (preferred selection is - if media is listed under UEFI) otherwise just select the media USB or DVD to boot from