PC won't boot (0xc0000098 etc)

RowanX

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PC won't boot (BCD error 0xc0000098 etc)

Out of nowhere, I turn on my PC (win 8.1 64bit) and am greeted with the show-stopping error "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key."

I cannot solve this, but here is what I've tried so far:

  • I booted into recovery from Win8.1 USB stick... first I tried the "Startup Repair" option.. that did not work, it simply dumped me at a new "BCD" error screen (0xc0000098) and prevented me from re-accessing recovery even after rebooting! (I then had to recreate the USB stick contents in order to boot back into recovery to try something else..)
  • I tried DaRT from recovery... the "Disk Commander" looked like a good place to start but unfortunately it gives the error "missing module" when I tried to launch it.
  • I tried "Refresh your PC (keeps existing files)" but this gives an error about the disk being locked. I Googled that but the solution I found did not work for me.
  • I also tried, from the command line in recovery, various BCDboot and diskpart instructions found from Googling around but nothing has helped as yet. I don't think I've made any progress at all.

One thing I want to try is running chkdisk. However, from the command prompt, I cannot seem to access C:. Or rather, c: is assigned to the USB stick and my usual c: (windows drive) is not assigned to a letter. Its a 64GB SSD. It does appear, in the diskpart list of disks, but it doesnt appear in the diskpart list of volumes. I was worried the drive was therefore wiped, but I do still appear to be able to access the files via one route; I hit F4 at boot to enter my BIOS's flashing menu.. this allows me to browse my usual c:\ file system. So all is not lost?

Any suggestions would be most appreciated, thanks in advance! If any more info would be useful I would be happy to provide additional details.

FWIW I think the problem may have been caused by static electricity? Because my phone died the day before.. its got cold here in England and clothes are very static-y I've noticed.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    Core i7
    Memory
    4GB
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