HELP! Stuck at automatic repair loop... WONT BOOT.

ByaTsuke

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I am having this issue where my laptop with windows 8 just won't boot. I see my acer splash screen, then I see a blinking _ then it goes blank for around 20 min, and then it would say "automatic repair, diagnosing" I've waited nearly 20 hours, almost an entire day leaving my computer on, just still no use.

I am having a very very similar problem as this guy, (as well as many others who pretty much lost all their valuable datas in their HDD after installing WIN 8)
:

Windows 8 Woes

The person who wrote that was actually in RTM version, but the problem still persists in the most updated Final build version as of last week. I am quite disappointed in Microsoft. I am currently on my friend's mac.


I have my windows 8 original copy bootable on my usb drive. Insterting my usb drive, it boots and all, and I went into the repair option. I tried all of the repair options, all of them would either stuck in their screen or say that my disk is read only and locked.

I do have access to the cmd though in that repair mode, but it seems to be quite limited.

I tried to enter safe mode by pressing shift+F8, it doesn't work!!! Tried it so many times, just doesn't work.
It gives a loud beeping sound if I hold it for more than 2 sec.

EDIT:


I am now successfully able to boot Ubuntu from my Portable Hard Drive and it runs smooth and really well.

I originally had 2 partitions, C and D. C is where my windows 8 was installed, so it's unaccessable now, it doesn't appear in the devices menu.

My D drive however does appear. All my files are on my C, I need help on how to get them back as I am not an Ubuntu expert.
Thanks.

EDIT 2:

Now I am back on Windows 8 with more than 25000 bad sectors. Everything works smooth and somewhat better than before but more than 25000 bad sectors and still counting? If it were to scan my entire drive it would have taken days.

I did solve my main problem, but my HDD now seems to be very confused. I will mark this thread as solved if I am not able to find reasoning to this odd HDD problem.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Your problem sounds very serious. I am very sorry. And, I am sorry I know of no way to help you. The best I can do is suggest that you take the computer or drive to a data recovery specialist.
 

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I found this fix for Win7. I have no idea what might be different in Win8. I can't find a similar tutorial in our Win8 tutorials.

I also have seen info suggesting that your MBR may be corrupt. This is the solution that was suggested as a fix. Again. it is related to Win7, and I have no idea what might be different in Win8.

You must accept complete responsibility for trying these solutions. I have no idea if they will work.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
It's a strange one this. Even if the MBR of the drive is corrupt or all zero's or has a different code in it (like Grub) the Windows repair function should still work, in my experience.
I wonder if resetting the pc's bios to default settings would help?
 

My Computer

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    OS X / Windows 8.1 Pro / Ubuntu 13.10
    Computer type
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    15" MacBook Pro retina 10,1
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    2.3GHz
    Memory
    8GB 1600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD400 / Nvidia GT650M
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD
I found this fix for Win7. I have no idea what might be different in Win8. I can't find a similar tutorial in our Win8 tutorials.

I also have seen info suggesting that your MBR may be corrupt. This is the solution that was suggested as a fix. Again. it is related to Win7, and I have no idea what might be different in Win8.

You must accept complete responsibility for trying these solutions. I have no idea if they will work.
I tried both, doesn't work. I have X:/Sources

plus, when I check my directory of C:\ it says File Not Found.

I am not even sure if there are any other ways out of this. I am just really disappointed in Microsoft, I am going to reinstall Windows 7 and see if it works. I do have 2 partitions, I am guessing windows 7 offers an option to choose which partition. So I can choose my 2nd partition.

Personally, I've grown fond of Mac, after using it on my friends macbook for a while, only issue is software compatibility.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Try a Refresh.

How to do a Refresh:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2293-refresh-windows-8-a.html

Refresh.PNG
 

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I found this fix for Win7. I have no idea what might be different in Win8. I can't find a similar tutorial in our Win8 tutorials.

I also have seen info suggesting that your MBR may be corrupt. This is the solution that was suggested as a fix. Again. it is related to Win7, and I have no idea what might be different in Win8.

You must accept complete responsibility for trying these solutions. I have no idea if they will work.
I tried both, doesn't work. I have X:/Sources

plus, when I check my directory of C:\ it says File Not Found.

I am not even sure if there are any other ways out of this. I am just really disappointed in Microsoft, I am going to reinstall Windows 7 and see if it works. I do have 2 partitions, I am guessing windows 7 offers an option to choose which partition. So I can choose my 2nd partition.

Personally, I've grown fond of Mac, after using it on my friends macbook for a while, only issue is software compatibility.
I am sorry neither worked. But, don't be too hard on MS. Each thing (individually or collectively) is a problem for someone.

I don't have any serious problems with MS, per se. But, yep, I like Macs too. Except for the "big" machine in my system specs, I use Macs mostly. MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, 3rd gen iPad, iPhone 5, iMac, and two AirPort Extreme Base Stations. I have switched back and forth over the years. I switched mostly back to Mac again because I just couldn't put up with the customer support issues in the Win world. I was using the HP lappy I am on now about 3 years ago when I ended up talking to HP/India and the dolt tried to charge me for whatever I was having trouble with. In the immortal words of "fists of stone," I said "no mas." And, I also said no to support where I can't get beyond the accent. My problem was totally easy to solve; I just wasn't seeing the forest for the trees.

Good luck with whatever comes next for you.
 

My Computer

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  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
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    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
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    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
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    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
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    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
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    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
You can most likely get your data back by using something like an Ubuntu live session (if that cd/usb will boot) and copying everything you need to another drive.
 

My Computer

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    OS X / Windows 8.1 Pro / Ubuntu 13.10
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    System Manufacturer/Model
    15" MacBook Pro retina 10,1
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    2.3GHz
    Memory
    8GB 1600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD400 / Nvidia GT650M
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD

Refresh and Reset, both don't work. Refresh said that my drive was locked, or read only.

Reset, don't quite remember but took more than few hours stuck at loading, plus I have important projects saved on my HDD.



I can easily set my boot config, to usb, cd or whatever, thats how I changed it from booting from DVD to USB. It boots USB automatically when inserted. I have the original windows 8 iso copied into it.

IS there a way to boot some portable independent version of windows on your usb and boot it? Or any other usb related ways of OS or restoring my files?
@Duckface, that sounds quite interesting could you elaborate on that? Never used ubuntu before.

I just again want to say thank you to all of you guys for trying to help me on this, was almost desperate.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Yes, as SIW2 has said, any live system will do.
For instance, if you go to Ubuntu site and download the most recent desktop version (which includes a live session) then burn that iso image to disc or put it on a usb stick you can then boot into the Ubuntu desktop and browse any connected hard drive for files you want to backup.

In fact, if your problem is an MBR problem you might be able to repair that with LILO from the live session (though we're not actually sure what the problem is).

On a different tack, were any peripherals plugged in while you were trying to boot from the hard drive? If so try without.
 

My Computer

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  • OS
    OS X / Windows 8.1 Pro / Ubuntu 13.10
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    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    15" MacBook Pro retina 10,1
    CPU
    2.3GHz
    Memory
    8GB 1600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD400 / Nvidia GT650M
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD
I have my windows 8 original copy bootable on my usb drive. Insterting my usb drive, it boots and all, and I went into the repair option. I tried all of the repair options, all of them would either stuck in their screen or say that my disk is read only and locked.

I do have access to the cmd though in that repair mode, but it seems to be quite limited.
Does anyone know if he could use command prompt to try to unlock the drive. But, regardless, everyone check this thread out.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
I don't know, znod. I've read that thread myself.

I wonder if Windows reporting the drive as locked has something to do with something else trying to use it (like another Windows installation)?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OS X / Windows 8.1 Pro / Ubuntu 13.10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    15" MacBook Pro retina 10,1
    CPU
    2.3GHz
    Memory
    8GB 1600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD400 / Nvidia GT650M
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD
It seems to me that the only thing trying to use the drive would be Automatic Repair. Maybe Automatic repair could be killed via the command prompt. I found this related thread. Any thoughts from those of you higher up the command-prompt chain?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
I have my windows 8 original copy bootable on my usb drive. Insterting my usb drive, it boots and all, and I went into the repair option. I tried all of the repair options, all of them would either stuck in their screen or say that my disk is read only and locked.

I do have access to the cmd though in that repair mode, but it seems to be quite limited.
Does anyone know if he could use command prompt to try to unlock the drive. But, regardless, everyone check this thread out.


I am having a very similar problem as that guy, if not the same. Although I haven't actually found a solution to it. So I'll try downloading bootable ubuntu live session.

There are lot other people having the similar issue, I am guessing lot of them haven't found a solution to it either, probably ending up reformatting and installing back some other os. Although I've heard some who found a success by disabling their harddrive through their bios, but my bios doesn't offer that function.

Also my cmd doesn't recognize my C: drive, it doesn't say "C:windows/system32, but instead says x:source/ and doesn't even recognize any directories on my c drive. Even through cmd it seems to be locked.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Yes, I found a lot of threads dealing with locked C drive. But, no one seemed to know what to do about it--at least in a way that would cover your problem. Hope the ubuntu thing works.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
There are lot other people having the similar issue, I am guessing lot of them haven't found a solution to it either, probably ending up reformatting and installing back some other os. Although I've heard some who found a success by disabling their harddrive through their bios, but my bios doesn't offer that function.
Check this thread out. It mentions, at the outset, some things I don't remember seeing before about infinite loop/locked drive. The link was posted by medab1 on this Win8 forum thread.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
I have my windows 8 original copy bootable on my usb drive. Insterting my usb drive, it boots and all, and I went into the repair option. I tried all of the repair options, all of them would either stuck in their screen or say that my disk is read only and locked.

I do have access to the cmd though in that repair mode, but it seems to be quite limited.
Does anyone know if he could use command prompt to try to unlock the drive. But, regardless, everyone check this thread out.


I am having a very similar problem as that guy, if not the same. Although I haven't actually found a solution to it. So I'll try downloading bootable ubuntu live session.

There are lot other people having the similar issue, I am guessing lot of them haven't found a solution to it either, probably ending up reformatting and installing back some other os. Although I've heard some who found a success by disabling their harddrive through their bios, but my bios doesn't offer that function.

Also my cmd doesn't recognize my C: drive, it doesn't say "C:windows/system32, but instead says x:source/ and doesn't even recognize any directories on my c drive. Even through cmd it seems to be locked.
New thought. I know you have been using a Mac lately.

Here is an incredibly unlikely-to-work solution. Use your friend's Mac. You will need firewire ports on both computers (and a cable :) ). Or, if the Mac has Thunderbolt, but no firewire, then you'll need a thunderbolt to firewire cable. It also is possible that you would need a firewire 800 to firewire 400 cable. Anyway, you could try putting your computer into firewire target disk mode for access to its hard drive. I sometime used to be able to get this approach to work with some Win machines under Vista (haven't tried since Win7 and Win8 came out). Obviously, it is very unlikely to work, in general, with Win8. It's easy to find instructions for using "firewire target disk mode." But, if you can't find, the post back. I am on a tight Xmas schedule today--flying across the country.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
@znod

I may have to try that, but first I got to figure out this.


So I was able to sucessfuly boot windows 7 on my flash drive. Considering the entire OS is 14gb leaving only 1 gb of free space, it took 5x more time to load than it should, so it was slow but it was fully functional.

I went to my computers and this is how it looks:
2012_12_24_204906.jpg

It thinks my flash drive is the new C drive, so I can't access my other 2 partitions. I might think that my other 2 original partitions could be Local Disk H and J Perhaps?
I was about to go to properties, but it took a long loading time and explorer stopped responding so I just kind of quit.

I am fully able to run CMD commands, and access all that stuff, but they seem to be associate with whats on my flash drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
I see. I guess I am not surprised that you are getting no where with a flash drive at this point. Is this the same flash drive you mentioned in your post #1 or is it one set to boot into Windows for use rather than install?

Edit: Check post #20 out on this thread.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
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