Solved Windows 8.1 RTM installation fails on Dell XPS 1340

[himi420]

No worries, I think I was typing my reply when you posted it
I believe I removed the media on first reboot. But I will try again, no problem. Will post the result once done.

Yes, using SD card in USB reader. But I also tried with DVD with the same result, so not sure if the problem could be in SD or USB.

I have no idea what the error with product key means

 

[Saltgrass]

Well, I see a problem with your System partition. It is showing as being able to accept a default drive letter, does not show as System and does not show as bootable.

Using Diskpart, you can select that partition, which you obviously know how to do, and set the attributes for the no default drive letter.

I am researching now how to change the attributes on the partition or volume to correct the situation and make it a system partition. I have no idea why an install would not set this up correctly.

 

[DavidY]

Edit: I did see this in the log also, maybe you understand what it might mean... It does seem to continue and find a good key..

pid_GetProductKeyFromSourcesroduct key found in pid.txt/ei.cfg is malformed
Digital marker product key not detected. hr = 0xc004f057

I have exactly the same two entries in my setupact.log on my Windows 8 PC (which was an upgrade install from an earlier version of Windows). That installation worked with no problems so I guess it's normal.

 

[DavidY]

Well, I see a problem with your System partition. It is showing as being able to accept a default drive letter, does not show as System and does not show as bootable.
I have no idea why an install would not set this up correctly.

I'm guessing (on the basis of no knowledge) but it could be that's normal at the stage in the install where it dies? Maybe it sets that attribute in a later phase which it hasn't reached yet?

 

[himi420]

Installed from DVD this time but still the same problem. Hmm.

 

[Saltgrass]

I would download the Windows 8.1 Pre-Release version and try installing it on the drive to see what happens. It has its own key and will be good until January.

When you install, do not use a SD card, just in case it is confusing the installer. The logs do not show such a thing happening, but something is keeping it from rebooting into Windows.

When you install, use the Shift +F10 for the command prompt and start Diskpart. Then use the clean command. Then continue with the install.

If you want to try the RTM again, that is certainly your decision. But I would try to get another download. I will check to see if an RTM install will give me the malformed message, but you might check your Sources folder and see if there is a pid.txt or ei.cfg file.

 

[Saltgrass]

I'm guessing (on the basis of no knowledge) but it could be that's normal at the stage in the install where it dies? Maybe it sets that attribute in a later phase which it hasn't reached yet?

I had not considered that, but you are probably correct.

I did get the malformed entry with the RTM install, not the pre-release.

Maybe it is just a bad download, but something is stopping the continuation of the install. Looks like the real work is done in Phase 4...

 

[himi420]

Downloaded the ISO again, verified with SHA1, burned to DVD 8x but still getting the same error:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l8ith0xljhq7xsu/2013-09-11 20.34.11.jpg

After that booted from install media again and tried the system repair, to at least get the logs.
Once done I went to diskpart. This time System Reserved partition was assigned letter C, Windows partition as D, DVD drive as E (as can be seen in the log). I removed drive letter for System Reserved partition and assigned letter C to Windows partition. After restart I again got this error message:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cln6w154s7smwc4/2013-09-11 20.53.00.jpg

The logs are here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ap3gxphfd2zz84x/bcdinfo.txt
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hintv33cwwlg9pm/cbs.log
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jpztjncsjwe8jlr/disklayout.txt
https://www.dropbox.com/s/60am1d09p2ie37r/setupact.log
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fai2fex64ju8i9d/SrtTrail.txt

No idea what to do, really

 

[DavidY]

It might be worth trying the 8.0 Evaluation version. It's not very likely to work, to be honest, but it would eliminate the possibility of it being a change between 8.0 and 8.1

 

[Saltgrass]

Since it now appears the problem is not related to the install, because that seems to look normal, we might be into some device driver on your system. It is indicated by the messages on the error screen.

I did see some comments about the Bluetooth having problems on this system, can you disable it in the bios?

I do not remember, but is your bios been updated lately?

You might even disable the network adapter and install without the network connection.

But since I was wrong about the drive letters, I can't think of anything else to try.

 

[himi420]

BINGO!

Disabled both BT and Wifi in BIOS prior installation. And it went smoothly. I could not believe it after all the time I kept trying.
After first successful boot all the way I enabled Wifi in BIOS and it still works ok. I will keep BT disabled for now, will look at that later on.

Saltgrass you're the man!!!

Thank you very much!!!

 

[Superfly]

BINGO!

Disabled both BT and Wifi in BIOS prior installation. And it went smoothly. I could not believe it after all the time I kept trying.
After first successful boot all the way I enabled Wifi in BIOS and it still works ok. I will keep BT disabled for now, will look at that later on.

Saltgrass you're the man!!!

Thank you very much!!!

Well done Saltgrass! and thanx himi420 for reporting back.. !

 

[himi420]

Ok, Win 8.1 running nicely now, I just had to spend a bit of time with drivers.

Now the obvious question comes: How to get Bluetooth working? I tried enabling it in BIOS but it ended up with the same blue screen error I was getting during installation.
I found the correct driver from Dell which should work. But when I try to install it the SW waits for Bluetooth to be enabled with a switch: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jq2ei0zhmp0aevo/BT install.jpg
I have a key on laptop which normally turns wifi+bluetooth on/off.. But with Bluetooth disabled in BIOS it does not work for BT too.

Any ideas for this one?

(Not sure if I should create a new thread for this)

 

[DavidY]

(Not sure if I should create a new thread for this)

Yeah I'd recommend it.

Is there a driver already installed in Device Manager? Can you uninstall it?

Then it might at least boot with it switched on in BIOS.

 

[himi420]

No drivers installed ..

Continued in the new thread: http://www.eightforums.com/drivers-...t-bt-working-windows-8-1-dell-xps-1340-a.html

 

[V1k3s]

A huge thank you to everyone who has posted on his thread. I (like himi) have been having huge issues with the update from Windows 8 to 8.1 on my Dell Studio XPS 1340 and having followed the directions >to the letter< the installation has now completed successfully.

Despite having worked in IT for 25+ years, I cannot remember when a windows software install has been so problematic. I have had numerous calls to Microsoft, with a MS engineer conducting 2 installs remotely, and about 10 attempts of my own with various options. On Microsofts advice, I also contacted Dell to ask them about Windows 8 drivers for this machine, to which Dell responded that 'the machine was not designed for Windows 8' (no suprise there then, as Windows 8 did not exist when I bought it) and 'Windows 8.1 is only a minor update, it's not really that important' and as such they could only help by me paying to have them google for alternate drivers. Erm.. No, I don't think so!

I was also told in the interim by different Microsoft engineers that

1) I >had< to pay $99 if I wanted them to help me solve the problem... Nope!
2) I was an illegal software pirate and they refused to help me at all (and immediately cut me off).

So Microsoft support don't exactly come out smelling of Roses in this case either..

It would seem that the >only< method currently available for ownders of this hardware is to do a completely fresh install - This is of course far from ideal and not satisfactory for many users. I experienced both the failure to install, rolling back and returning the 0xc1900101 - 0x30018 error (many times!) but also, having then attempted to do an upgrade install having disabled wifi in the bios, I then got to the end of the update to only see a black screen.

I'm sure that in time Microsoft should be able to pin this down, but am very dissappointed that they have allowed people to continue to have to work these things out for themselves, rather than restricting the update to dissallow it in scenarios where the hardware / software combinations have meant that the upgrade is >known< to be very problematic.

Anyway - Thanks again everyone!

 

[znd125]

Huge Thank You to himi420 and everyone who contributed.

 

[himi420]

Really glad to hear that this thread actually helps!
Great! I'm very happy Thanks all who contributed!