Can't boot into windows 8,hard drive locked, can't refresh

[satpe]

Did you not backup?

• Make sure you’re on the PC you want to upgrade. This must be a PC that is currently running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3), Windows 8 Release Preview, Windows 8 Consumer Preview, or Windows Developer Preview. (Windows 8 Setup checks that your PC meets all system requirements before it installs Windows 8.)

• Have your product key handy. You can find it in your online order information, in the confirmation email for your purchase, or on the packaging. The product key will look something like this:
XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX

• Make a backup of everything you want to keep. Save it somewhere you can get to it later, like an external drive or a DVD.

No. I know, that wasn't smart. But, from now on I will back up everything.

 

[satpe]

Welp, there doesn't seem to be any solution to this problem. Shame on Microsoft.

But, here is what I did in the meantime, I took out the hard drive that was in my laptop (voiding my warranty, sadly) then I purchased "NexStar sata Hard Drive Enclosure" and put my hard drive in it, and was able to not only get my documents off of it but, get my firefox bookmarks as well. Wish I could have gotten the device sooner and made the deadline to turn my paper in.

I am going to return my hard drive to my laptop and "attempt" a fresh install of windows 8 unless it's possible that I can put windows 7 back. Is that possible??

 

[satpe]

Should I make a new topic? I'm trying to reinstall windows 8 and I'm still getting error messages!! It says "Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing"

 

[theog]

I am going to return my hard drive to my laptop and "attempt" a fresh install of windows 8 unless it's possible that I can put windows 7 back. Is that possible??

Yes, use your HP Recovery DVD's.

Should I make a new topic? I'm trying to reinstall windows 8 and I'm still getting error messages!! It says "Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing"

No need to reinstall old Windows install.


1) Clean the HD Drive, using Step one in this tutorial:

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation - Windows 7 Forums
& than Reboot PC to install.


2)You can do a clean install:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13375-clean-install-windows-8-upgrade.html

 

[satpe]

I am going to return my hard drive to my laptop and "attempt" a fresh install of windows 8 unless it's possible that I can put windows 7 back. Is that possible??

Yes, use your HP Recovery DVD's.

Should I make a new topic? I'm trying to reinstall windows 8 and I'm still getting error messages!! It says "Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing"

No need to reinstall old Windows install.


1) Clean the HD Drive, using Step one in this tutorial:

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation - Windows 7 Forums
& than Reboot PC to install.


2)You can do a clean install:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13375-clean-install-windows-8-upgrade.html

After I get to the command prompt and type in diskpart and then list disk, it says "there are no fixed disks to show"

 

[satpe]

Okay, here is what I think the problem is. My "C" drive is missing or the partition to it. I went on Partition wizard and I see it, but there is no Letter on it like the other drives listed. I clicked on it and my files are still on that drive.

Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/K1xoE.jpg

Where that asterisk is where all my files and stuff are at.


What can I do, do I need to put a letter to the drive or what? I think that is the real problem here. It's like my hard drive is invisible to the computer.

 

[theog]

Okay, here is what I think the problem is. My "C" drive is missing or the partition to it. I went on Partition wizard and I see it, but there is no Letter on it like the other drives listed. I clicked on it and my files are still on that drive.

Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/K1xoE.jpg

Where that asterisk is where all my files and stuff are at.


What can I do, do I need to put a letter to the drive or what? I think that is the real problem here. It's like my hard drive is invisible to the computer.

Yes, add the letter C: to partition.

 

[satpe]

Okay, here is what I think the problem is. My "C" drive is missing or the partition to it. I went on Partition wizard and I see it, but there is no Letter on it like the other drives listed. I clicked on it and my files are still on that drive.

Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/K1xoE.jpg

Where that asterisk is where all my files and stuff are at.


What can I do, do I need to put a letter to the drive or what? I think that is the real problem here. It's like my hard drive is invisible to the computer.

Yes, add the letter C: to partition.

I am using Partition Wizard and honestly, I have no clue what I am doing. I tried to rename the partition C: but got an error saying I couldn't add the ":" part.

and looking at their website they have letters by letters like C,D,E by their partitions and I only have asterisks by mine.

What can I do? I am about ready to throw this laptop out the window.

 

[theog]

Screenshot from Paragon.

 

[satpe]

I finally talked with a microsoft tech and this is what they told me.

and

I still refuse to believe it's a hardware problem. This would be my SECOND computer from HP that has had a "hardware" problem when I upgraded it. Both of the computers passed windows "upgrade adviser" with flying colors and now both are unusable.

@ theog, I am downloading paragon now and will try to rename it. Thank you. I'll be back with an update.

 

[theog]

Why do you want to rename?
You need to add a drive letter C:

 

[satpe]

Why do you want to rename?
You need to add a drive letter C:

Woops, I meant add C not rename it.

 

[FSeal]

Have you looked in your BIOS settings? Maybe during the extreme low power your BOIS got cleared or reset and is basically hiding the drive.

 

[satpe]

Screenshot from Paragon.

View attachment 12498

I download paragon and created an iso, and can't get it to work.

 

[satpe]

Have you looked in your BIOS settings? Maybe during the extreme low power your BOIS got cleared or reset and is basically hiding the drive.

Yes, I checked the bios out. I changed it around for a bit to see if it would work but got the same results.

 

[satpe]

Well, I want to thank everyone for their help. I've finally decided to give up. I'm going to remove my hard drive and donate my laptop to a veteran organization. I only had that laptop for 7 months and paid $838 for it. I'm so pissed, but I think this is a sign that it's time to move on to apple products.

take care

 

[theog]

I would Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools first.

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
Hard Drive Diagnostic Procedure

 

[Saltgrass]

Hard drive with windows 8 is locked, unlock it and try again

This (almost exact) quote says something I have not seen. What exactly does "locked" mean. Is the hard drive corrupted and not readable, is the SMART system locking the drive, is Windows 8 using some security ability to lock the drive?

Could Bitlocker be involved, by being erroneously invoked due to the unexpected shutdown?

I scanned the thread quickly, but have we decided the install is UEFI?

Possibly this is a situation that we will see again...

 

[theog]

This (almost exact) quote says something I have not seen. What exactly does "locked" mean. Is the hard drive corrupted and not readable, is the SMART system locking the drive,

Yes, one more no Sata controller drivers load.

 

[Saltgrass]

Another one of those mSATA installs.... I am going to have to get one of those to test with. I did notice there was a Rapid Start entry in my bios. Anyway, something to try, they do seem to be causing problems during installs.

Edit: I would probably recommend turning off the Rapid Start option, if there is one in the bios. Failing that, I would think about removing the mSATA drive until the system is repaired. I have not run such a system, so I can only guess.

But maybe we know what is locking the drive.