Bitlocker - automatic repair loop on setup?

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gnirtS

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Running windows 8.1 on an Asus G56JR laptop. UEFI BIOS and UEFI boot. The laptop has no TPM.

Im trying to configure bitlocker on the laptop. Since ive got no TPM chip ive used policy edit to enable password authentication.

On going into BitLocker and turning it on the menu works happily, i select the drive, a passkey, back up the key to a USB stick and it then runs the system check and all passes. I get the "restart to encrypt" box as expected.

After restart i get the bitlocker screen along with a request to enter my password.

I enter the password (verified 100% correct, no typos). Once ive hit enter the computer restarts itself completely and im back in the bitlocker password screen. This happens with the USB recovery stick in and out and the password is verified correct.
Pressing Escape to troubleshoot bitlocker also just reboots the machine and back into the bitlocker password prompt screen.

After a few attempts at that the computer gets stuck in a "Preparing to automatically repair" boot loop. It just hangs on that screen, a reset goes straight to that, no more bitlocker screen, no F8 rescue, nothing.

The only way out of it is to physically remove ALL my USB devices (mouse,keyboard, hub, memory stick) and then Windows boots normally followed by a dialog box saying unable to encrypt device.

Any idea whats causing this or how i can enable bitlocker on the computer? The drive (SSD) passes all checks and is 100% healthy, the system is up to date and stable outside that but bitlocker just goes into the enter password then automatically repair hangs.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7 32, Win 7 64 Pro, Win 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    It's a Dell, Dude.
    CPU
    Intel Caffinated Core Duo
    Motherboard
    Father is bored too.
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVidia something-or-another
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" HD TV/Monitor/Alternative Dimensional Viewing Portal
    Screen Resolution
    Fuzzy after a couple drinks
    Hard Drives
    2 or 3, depending on if it's a night they're arguing about having a "split personality crisis" because I partitioned the drive.
    Case
    Don't get on my case....man
    Cooling
    Scotch on the rocks on the weekends..
    Keyboard
    Mad Catz Cyborg V7. Or maybe Cyborg Catz Are Mad At V7's??? I know it lights up...far out.
    Mouse
    currently being stalked by the cat...
    Internet Speed
    Never fast enough...
    Browser
    Defeated by Mario...wait...OH...BRowser...
    Antivirus
    Various
Have you tried it with UEFI in legacy mode? NB: This is just a guess, and I have no idea if you can turn UEFI on and off at will and still boot Windows 8. From Microsoft documentation, it will reduce "Secure Boot" to "Trusted Boot", but unless you're prone to getting rootkits, this shouldn't be an issue.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
gnirtS said:
Running windows 8.1 on an Asus G56JR laptop. UEFI BIOS and UEFI boot. The laptop has no TPM.

Im trying to configure bitlocker on the laptop. Since ive got no TPM chip ive used policy edit to enable password authentication.

On going into BitLocker and turning it on the menu works happily, i select the drive, a passkey, back up the key to a USB stick and it then runs the system check and all passes. I get the "restart to encrypt" box as expected.

After restart i get the bitlocker screen along with a request to enter my password.

I enter the password (verified 100% correct, no typos). Once ive hit enter the computer restarts itself completely and im back in the bitlocker password screen. This happens with the USB recovery stick in and out and the password is verified correct.
Pressing Escape to troubleshoot bitlocker also just reboots the machine and back into the bitlocker password prompt screen.

After a few attempts at that the computer gets stuck in a "Preparing to automatically repair" boot loop. It just hangs on that screen, a reset goes straight to that, no more bitlocker screen, no F8 rescue, nothing.

The only way out of it is to physically remove ALL my USB devices (mouse,keyboard, hub, memory stick) and then Windows boots normally followed by a dialog box saying unable to encrypt device.

Any idea whats causing this or how i can enable bitlocker on the computer? The drive (SSD) passes all checks and is 100% healthy, the system is up to date and stable outside that but bitlocker just goes into the enter password then automatically repair hangs.
Click to expand...
Make sure in your bios setup that you have USB boot as priority over HDD boot. I had to do this to get it to stop the boot loop.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro Retail
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    MSI GT70 2OD
    CPU
    Intel i7-4700MQ
    Motherboard
    Not sure, GT70 2OD's main board
    Memory
    16GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    intergrated Inteal HD 4600, dedicated GTX 780M
    Sound Card
    Dynaudio/ Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" 1080P matte display
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba SSD 128GB, Seagate 750GB
    Case
    MSI
    Keyboard
    Built in steelseries
    Internet Speed
    56 Mb down, 10 Mb up
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Windows defender and malware bytes
    Other Info
    Yes, it can easily play Crysis 3!
n0th1n9 said:
Make sure in your bios setup that you have USB boot as priority over HDD boot. I had to do this to get it to stop the boot loop.
Click to expand...

Are you using UEFI? I'm not using it on my 8.1 machine, which I've set up for legacy mode. I remove all devices from the BIOS boot list except for my system hard drive and press F8 to get the BIOS to show a pop up menu with boot choices when I want to boot from USB, CD, etc. This had no effect on BitLocker in Windows 8 or 7. So while it might help to change boot device priorities, it shouldn't be necessary to enable anything but the system drive, which I think is a tiny bit more secure, and it's just slightly less convenient those rare times I want to boot from another device.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
If you have fast boot enabled from the bios try to disable it and leave USB drive as the second boot drive. This worked for me.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro Retail
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    MSI GT70 2OD
    CPU
    Intel i7-4700MQ
    Motherboard
    Not sure, GT70 2OD's main board
    Memory
    16GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    intergrated Inteal HD 4600, dedicated GTX 780M
    Sound Card
    Dynaudio/ Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" 1080P matte display
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba SSD 128GB, Seagate 750GB
    Case
    MSI
    Keyboard
    Built in steelseries
    Internet Speed
    56 Mb down, 10 Mb up
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Windows defender and malware bytes
    Other Info
    Yes, it can easily play Crysis 3!
I'm having almost the exact same issue. I don't have to remove everything and I never get an unable to encrypt drive message.
On the 10th computer all setup the exact same way, this one will not start encrypting the drive.
Lenovo IdeaCentre A730 No TPM, Setup to use password auth, GPedit to allow non TPM setup.
The process has worked on 9 other units, but this one will not do it.
Everything works fine from Windows, does its check and reboots. I miss typed the password the first time (Hit the shift key sooner then I meant to, oops) responded invalid, only allowed me to type in half the password the second round. Powered the unit off, and back on typed the password in, hit Insert to show password, verified correct then it loops, asks for bitlocker password again, after two rounds it attempts to load bitlocker recovery but hangs at the UFEI saying its loading automatic recovery, never does anything.
I use a Windows RE from media to boot up and disable the bitlocker useing the manage-bde commands and the unit boots like nothing ever happened.

I'm a little lost as to why this one machine is being a pain after 9 other units all setup the exact same did bitlocker flawlessly.

Any ideas? OP you ever get past this?


Edit:

Attempted to reload the suspect, after falling asleep waiting on it... I tested hardware. Hard drive failed SMART Self and Disk testing. Seek Time, haven't verified bitlocker will work yet, but I'm pretty sure the bad HDD was my issue. Waiting on Lenovo to send me a new drive for a 4 month old unit ha.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro w/ Media Center
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