How to avoid Windows 8.1 Automatic repair boot loop ?

TT111

New Member
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1
Since upgrading to windows 8/8.1 x64 i have twice had this situation when during boot up windows tries automatic repair & fails , every time i restart same repair fail happens , its stuck in this cycle , neither "Refresh" or "Reset" option works , . I have to do a fresh format & install , loose all my files stored in the OS partition , I even tried to recover the files using linux boot cd but the folders were inaccessible/corrupted .

I tried every solution i could find to make it boot including Unable to refresh or reset PC after Automatic Repair fails in Windows 8 but nothing worked .

This has happened twice in the one year since i have been using Win 8 , Is there any way to avoid this from happening i future ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
This video claims to demonstrate how to escape the loop.

Also read comments. One claims rebooting with no USB devices connected broke out of the loop. I see lots of complaints on MS but I didn't see a fix.

Windows 8 Automatic Repair Loop Fix - YouTube
 
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.0 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelite C55D-A Laptop
    CPU
    AMD EI 1200
    Memory
    4 gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Raedon 340 MB dedicated Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
You could get:

WinAero: Downloads / Software / Boot UI Tuner


Once installed, enable the option in the picture:

bootuituner_thumb.png

Restart & click the option in the picture:

Customize-Boot-Screen-And-Boot-Menu_thumb.jpg

That should fix it, hopefully. :)

With BootUI Tuner you MUST choose an option or press Enter to continue booting.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.0 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelite C55D-A Laptop
    CPU
    AMD EI 1200
    Memory
    4 gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Raedon 340 MB dedicated Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
When I finally got restore disks to try and at least boot via CDROM it gave me a message about Booting into Legacy Bios.. How? THATS THE QUESTION OF THE DAY!

Here is answer..
Go into BIOS delete key or F2 or whatever your key may be. .
Enter an Admin password..
Disable System Security
Save and Exit.
Now you can boot to CD and wipe out your drive to start over again.
Yes all data will be lost.

Windows 8 SUCKS... will probably go thru this again and again... it's a buggy system that WE THE PEOPLE are DEBUGGING for FREE for MICROSOFT.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8 (junk)
Stuck in "automatic repair" boot loop

Lenovo Z570 w Win 8.1

My Chrome browser hung a few days ago and on reboot, I got the "preparing automatic repair" message. Have not been able to boot since. I have tried the following:

Win 8 recovery USB
Lenovo one key recovery
Win 7 (original) recovery CD

None have worked and so far, I'm still stuck in the boot loop.

My computer guy recovered my data, but I haven't asked him to have a go on the system yet. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows8.1
Thanks for the link. I have to wonder, though, if the disks would work when the recovery disks I made when I first got the system won't work. I seem to have 3 boot up options that all "should" work, but don't.

Thoughts?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows8.1
Lenovo Z570 w Win 8.1

My Chrome browser hung a few days ago and on reboot, I got the "preparing automatic repair" message. Have not been able to boot since. I have tried the following:

Win 8 recovery USB
Lenovo one key recovery
Win 7 (original) recovery CD

None have worked and so far, I'm still stuck in the boot loop.

My computer guy recovered my data, but I haven't asked him to have a go on the system yet. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Hi I wrote this in another thread on Windows 8 boot looping;

I ran into a boot loop on my desktop PC. Windows 8.1
I also have Ubuntu installed which means that I get a boot screen with the selection of Windows, Ubuntu and a line that says: "Change defaults or choose other options".
I clicked that line and got all the boot options that you can normally select from within Windows 8.1 (if it's not boot looping, that is).
I am not sure what I first selected, but Windows offered to repair the boot procedure. I tried that to no avail.
Next trial was to restore windows to the latest restore point. That solved the problem.
Now there is "only" ten Windows updates to test one at a time.
fetch%3EUID%3E.INBOX.Sent%3E785

My conclusion is that if you can get to the F12 boot menu, you can install Ubuntu or another Linux distribution on your machine from a CD or DVD. You then have the possibilities that I just described.

Good luck everybody.
(There will surely be others)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    I5
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte P55A-UD4
    Memory
    4 GB
Lenovo Z570 w Win 8.1

My Chrome browser hung a few days ago and on reboot, I got the "preparing automatic repair" message. Have not been able to boot since. I have tried the following:

Win 8 recovery USB
Lenovo one key recovery
Win 7 (original) recovery CD

None have worked and so far, I'm still stuck in the boot loop.

My computer guy recovered my data, but I haven't asked him to have a go on the system yet. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Hi I wrote this in another thread on Windows 8 boot looping;

I ran into a boot loop on my desktop PC. Windows 8.1
I also have Ubuntu installed which means that I get a boot screen with the selection of Windows, Ubuntu and a line that says: "Change defaults or choose other options".
I clicked that line and got all the boot options that you can normally select from within Windows 8.1 (if it's not boot looping, that is).
I am not sure what I first selected, but Windows offered to repair the boot procedure. I tried that to no avail.
Next trial was to restore windows to the latest restore point. That solved the problem.
Now there is "only" ten Windows updates to test one at a time.
fetch%3EUID%3E.INBOX.Sent%3E785

My conclusion is that if you can get to the F12 boot menu, you can install Ubuntu or another Linux distribution on your machine from a CD or DVD. You then have the possibilities that I just described.

Good luck everybody.
(There will surely be others)

I had the same issue, kept getting Auto Repair. I saw somewhere that taking out USB devices helped. I rebooted without any attachments but didn't help. I then removed the battery, waited a couple of minutes and rebooted without the battery (probably has no impact). When it rebooted it went to preparing auto correct but a couple of seconds later it went diagnosing then fixing the problem. It then took me to a page where I could restart or Advanced options. I chose restart and it rebooted normally. Not sure what the key parameter was but I had tried the battery removal previously without success but it definitely worked after disconnecting the USBs.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    toshiba
    CPU
    dont know
    Motherboard
    dont know
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia
    Browser
    IE8
    Antivirus
    avast
Hi. I ran into this Automatic Repair loop problem on an HP Pavilion laptop running Windows 8.1 Pro. I tried everything suggested. I even used the 8.1 installation CD, but nothing worked. I was so disgusted that I was going to overwrite windows with Ubuntu Linux. However, I changed my mind and decided to try one last thing: Reinstall Windows 7 Ultimate and work forward from there The install started properly, and I chose the 1st option (on a system running a version of Windows). The install did whatever it did and told me to remove the CD, restart, and continue the installation. I did, and the computer came up into Windows 8.1 Pro with no missing files. Can anyone explain why Win 7 Pro worked and not Win 8.1? What is the issue here. I think, maybe, there is some sort of corruption happening in the boot file that was corrected by Win 7?

This may help in determining the problem:

I checked the Event Viewer for the system and the following events are noted as "A service was installed in the system."

1. Service Name: gfutil
2. Service file name: system32\drivers\gfutil.sys
3. Service type: kernel mode driver
4. Service Start Type: demand start

there is also a similar Event for a service called "gfiark.sys"

These are recurring events during the period the system was in the "Automatic Repair" loop.

Also, an event labeled: "The start type of the Remote Registry was changed from disabled to demand start."
 
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
You might check some of the log file in the following directory. The SrtTrail.txt file may contain information about repair attempts.

C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\Srt

As far as the other files you mention, I did find this when I was searching for gfiark.sys. VIPRE Anti-Rootkit which may be involved in boot problems, but I have no experience with it...

The Windows 7 install may have reset the Boot files and removed whatever was causing the original problem...hard to say. But the Windows 8 Repair process is hard to understand since it operates in secret.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Viper files

You're right!! I am running Vipre, but I did not think of that and only check Microsoft's base--which has no knowledge of these files.
This morning, I checked Vipre's site for information about these files, but they had no information about these files. I did check the error logs, but there were no issues listed.
I am going to check these files out, as best I can, over the Net. Thanks for the information.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
Gfutil.sys

I did some tracking, and found "gfutil.h" as a a part of the "GitHub" configuration. I am using "GitHub" on my MAC OS X Maverick Server--of which my Laptop is connected via an application called "Splashtop"--which allows control o of a MAC by a Windows computer, and ViceVersa. The files, themselves, are a part of the "farm" file system which supports "scalable I/O performance in distributed environment." (http://data farm.apgrid.org/). These are "Open Source" applications that I use to keep track of system changes made on my MAC, and on the code, as I program.
I don't know how this got into my Startup files in Windows, but apparently it did. I am using "Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express", with "Splashtop" to access my MAC from my Windows computer, and ViceVersa, to work with, and run, C++ applications. Checked "Splashtop's" site, but no know edge there of these two files.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
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