Solved automatic repair loop. Can't boot. Can't do anything.

johnblanker

New Member
Messages
11
Just reinstalled windows 8, loaded everything up and had it perfect. Then I installed a windows update (could it have been 8.1?) and then my computer would not boot. It got stuck on the windows 8 logo with the circle just spinning. After I restart it tries to automatically repair but that doesn't work. I popped the win8 disc in and tried to do a system restore using a restore point but it said "You need to select an OS. Please restart the system and select an OS". ??? I'm not dual booting! Win8 is the only OS installed!

Tried safe mode but the windows logo just hangs. Help? Any possibilities to salvage this before doing yet ANOTHER reinstall or refresh or whatever.

Thanks everyone :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    CPU
    8 core AMD 8150
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-890-fxa-UD5
    Memory
    4 sticks of 4GB Gskill 1333
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 5700
    Hard Drives
    60GB Crucial M4 ssd
    two 2TB green WD
    one 1TB WD
    one 640GB WD
    PSU
    Corsair 750
    Case
    Antec 1200V3
    Cooling
    Arctic Freezer Pro
Just unlplugged all HDD except ssd where win8 lives, and switched the 1 stick of ram in Dimm slot 1 to 3, using a new stick. It booted right up and into win8. ARGH! what's the deal?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    CPU
    8 core AMD 8150
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-890-fxa-UD5
    Memory
    4 sticks of 4GB Gskill 1333
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 5700
    Hard Drives
    60GB Crucial M4 ssd
    two 2TB green WD
    one 1TB WD
    one 640GB WD
    PSU
    Corsair 750
    Case
    Antec 1200V3
    Cooling
    Arctic Freezer Pro
its my other HDDs. I restarted the system and it did not boot again. Shut er down. Unplugged other hhd and it booted. hmmmm
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    CPU
    8 core AMD 8150
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-890-fxa-UD5
    Memory
    4 sticks of 4GB Gskill 1333
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 5700
    Hard Drives
    60GB Crucial M4 ssd
    two 2TB green WD
    one 1TB WD
    one 640GB WD
    PSU
    Corsair 750
    Case
    Antec 1200V3
    Cooling
    Arctic Freezer Pro
so now I booted into windows 8. While in the OS, I plugged in my other 4 HDD's and windows does nothing. I went into disk management and nothing is displayed. Scan for hardware changes also.

These 4 hard drives are spanned and have always been working fine before and what is strange is that Disk manager does not even show that the span is missing, or disconnected, or failed. It just shows my ssd and my 2 optical drives. The plot thickens.

I downloaded graphics drivers and mobo drivers and went through each driver and they are all up to date so I didn't install anything.

Could it be something with booting win8 and the AHCI settings in the BIOS?

Stumped.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    CPU
    8 core AMD 8150
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-890-fxa-UD5
    Memory
    4 sticks of 4GB Gskill 1333
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 5700
    Hard Drives
    60GB Crucial M4 ssd
    two 2TB green WD
    one 1TB WD
    one 640GB WD
    PSU
    Corsair 750
    Case
    Antec 1200V3
    Cooling
    Arctic Freezer Pro
So the SSD is a stand alone but the other four are an array? Probably one of them is bad. Most MBs that have Raid have some kind of BIOS controller that you can use to check the array, and repair it. There should be access to it from the BIOS.

So you are saying that when you plug all 4 drives in, they vanish from the BIOS? Do ti one at a time, try to identify which one is bad. Is this a Span+Mirror or just span? I have never spanned a JBOD array unless I could mirror it as well.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
If you can get IN to 8, and the drives are connected, then there should be a program for whoever made the RAID hardware, Promise, Via, Intel - You will have to install the Raid management software and it can test out your array from within Windows 8 too.

I'm pretty sure this is a RAID problem not a Windows 8 Problem - But then, Windows would want to use 'Storage Spaces" rather than an Array you have already made. Welcome to Windows 8 Forums!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
the span was created with Windows. It was working fine the other day. When I right-click on my compter and go to "Manage" and then to disk manager the span does not show up at all. Usually if an array is broken it will list missing drives, or failed, offloine, etc. It's as if windows doesnt remember there was an array at all.

So if I just leave my ssd attached win8 will boot. But if all other HDD's are attached it just spins and hangs on the windows icon. It seems like there might be some type of boot file on one of the hard drives or something?

I'm thinking I should just wipe the ssd and start again from scratch.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    CPU
    8 core AMD 8150
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-890-fxa-UD5
    Memory
    4 sticks of 4GB Gskill 1333
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 5700
    Hard Drives
    60GB Crucial M4 ssd
    two 2TB green WD
    one 1TB WD
    one 640GB WD
    PSU
    Corsair 750
    Case
    Antec 1200V3
    Cooling
    Arctic Freezer Pro
You should not have to wipe it, just do an In-Place install, then try to reconnect the array. SO you ARE using Windows Storage for these drives?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
figured it out. Yes I created the span with windows disk management. There are 3 drives in the span for movie storage, I also had an addition 650GB HDD attached for my personal files, and then the ssd for win8. After (A LOT) of trial and error I discovered that with the 650GB drive unplugged, the system booted with the span discovered and everything was fine. When I attached the 650GB to my raid box (attached via eSATA) it was discovered.

Thus, I eluded to: Somehow there was something on the 650GB drive that prevented win8 from booting. I have no idea what it could have been or how it got there.

While the 650GB drive was attached to my raid box I wiped it and deleted it. Put it back in the system as before. Win8 started up and then I just formatted it and now I'm back to normal. MAN THAT WAS CRAZY!

Thanks for your help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    CPU
    8 core AMD 8150
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-890-fxa-UD5
    Memory
    4 sticks of 4GB Gskill 1333
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 5700
    Hard Drives
    60GB Crucial M4 ssd
    two 2TB green WD
    one 1TB WD
    one 640GB WD
    PSU
    Corsair 750
    Case
    Antec 1200V3
    Cooling
    Arctic Freezer Pro
Good, I knew there was one drive that was interfering, so you went through them one by one and found the culprit. You can go ahead and mark this as solved if it has been.

I've never used Windows Storage to make a space, I've learned a few things by this, so if I ever do it I'll know what to expect.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
Strange indeed. I've been using windows to create spanned drives for years and never had a prob. That one drive had something in it. Oh well.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    CPU
    8 core AMD 8150
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-890-fxa-UD5
    Memory
    4 sticks of 4GB Gskill 1333
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 5700
    Hard Drives
    60GB Crucial M4 ssd
    two 2TB green WD
    one 1TB WD
    one 640GB WD
    PSU
    Corsair 750
    Case
    Antec 1200V3
    Cooling
    Arctic Freezer Pro
I just send you a PM, maybe you can help this guy,m he can;t seem to CREATE the Storage Space. Sounds like you have a handle on it.

But the cause of this problem made my original assessment correct - It WAS a Drive Problem, but not the system drive like I usually state as the cause.

I'm wondering if in your case, that drive that was messing up the boot sequence, had any Read Element failures on it? You should try to run GWscan on it, and see if it is reading properly.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
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