Windows 8.1 not booting

Dijas

New Member
Messages
25
Hey all.

I just recently installed 8.1 on my desktop. These are the specs:

ASUS M5A97 mobo
AMD phenom II X4 965 BE stock clocks
crossfire HD 7770's
8gb DDR3
500 tv sata internal hard drive 7200rpm.
500w psu.

The problem is, I'm not able to boot up my PC. When I boot, I get the Berta fish logo, with a white dash in the upper left corner. It will stay there and load for as long as I let it. If I hit my reset button then it will take me to the startup repair options. Booting into safe mode from there yields the same result. The only way I've managed to fix it was either a refresh or a system restore.

Help would be appreciated.

Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A97
    Memory
    8gb (2x4) DDR5 Sports FX gaming ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    HiS AMD HD 7770 ghz edition
    Sound Card
    see motherboard
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500gb internal HDD
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    ATX mid tower case
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Gigabyte M6900 Gaming mouce
    Internet Speed
    60mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast!
It has done this right from the start, after installing? How did the install go, did it go through all of it's steps and permutations?

Do you have any other OS's installed on the hard drive? It's sounding like it's not pulling up the boot loader.

If you have an install disk, stick it in and boot to it, get into a Command prompt. From there, change directory to C:\Windows\System32 and run Bootrec /fixmbr and then /scanos and see if it finds your OS.
 

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.
Install went perfectly fine and everything completed. This happened the same day I installed. I previously had Ubuntu dual booted with win7 but I completely reformatted the whole drive before I installed 8.1.

I'll check the boot loader and report back
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A97
    Memory
    8gb (2x4) DDR5 Sports FX gaming ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    HiS AMD HD 7770 ghz edition
    Sound Card
    see motherboard
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500gb internal HDD
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    ATX mid tower case
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Gigabyte M6900 Gaming mouce
    Internet Speed
    60mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast!
Ubuntu may have left a hidden partition
 

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.
Ran it, it said it completed successfully. The Bootrec /scanos command returned 0 windows installations.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A97
    Memory
    8gb (2x4) DDR5 Sports FX gaming ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    HiS AMD HD 7770 ghz edition
    Sound Card
    see motherboard
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500gb internal HDD
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    ATX mid tower case
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Gigabyte M6900 Gaming mouce
    Internet Speed
    60mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast!
Chkdsk returns nothing either.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A97
    Memory
    8gb (2x4) DDR5 Sports FX gaming ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    HiS AMD HD 7770 ghz edition
    Sound Card
    see motherboard
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500gb internal HDD
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    ATX mid tower case
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Gigabyte M6900 Gaming mouce
    Internet Speed
    60mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast!
Download Hiren's Boot CD from my link below, burn it and boot to it and choose "Mini-XP" and then open your Drive in Explorer, see if the filesystems are there.

Sounds like the installation did not work, either the disk you used is corrupt or some issue happened while it was installing. I would look for another install disk and try it.
 

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.
How come it will boot if I use a restore point?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A97
    Memory
    8gb (2x4) DDR5 Sports FX gaming ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    HiS AMD HD 7770 ghz edition
    Sound Card
    see motherboard
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500gb internal HDD
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    ATX mid tower case
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Gigabyte M6900 Gaming mouce
    Internet Speed
    60mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast!
Try turning Windows update off. A driver update may be messing things up. What version of 8.1 is it, preview, RTM, other? Where did you obtain your install media and what method are you using to do the install, DVD, thumb drive?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Since I am not sure about your exact video cards, I will just show a quote for the site linked.

600W power supply (or greater) with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connectors recommended for AMD CrossFire™ technology.
AMD Radeon
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Try turning Windows update off. A driver update may be messing things up. What version of 8.1 is it, preview, RTM, other? Where did you obtain your install media and what method are you using to do the install, DVD, thumb drive?

Windows update was off.

I don't recall exactly, I googled 8.1 win8 and downloaded the one from Microsoft. I installed from a CD
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A97
    Memory
    8gb (2x4) DDR5 Sports FX gaming ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    HiS AMD HD 7770 ghz edition
    Sound Card
    see motherboard
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500gb internal HDD
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    ATX mid tower case
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Gigabyte M6900 Gaming mouce
    Internet Speed
    60mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast!
Since I am not sure about your exact video cards, I will just show a quote for the site linked.

600W power supply (or greater) with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connectors recommended for AMD CrossFire™ technology.
AMD Radeon
Never had an issue before. 7770s don't use much power anyway.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A97
    Memory
    8gb (2x4) DDR5 Sports FX gaming ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    HiS AMD HD 7770 ghz edition
    Sound Card
    see motherboard
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500gb internal HDD
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    ATX mid tower case
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Gigabyte M6900 Gaming mouce
    Internet Speed
    60mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast!
Ok well I burned a brand new disk and did a fresh install. Everything worked fine till I put the PC to sleep. The screen went black for a few minutes and then it restarted, and that damn fish is still on my screen for 40+ minutes of waiting. I think it might be a hardware issue.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A97
    Memory
    8gb (2x4) DDR5 Sports FX gaming ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    HiS AMD HD 7770 ghz edition
    Sound Card
    see motherboard
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500gb internal HDD
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    ATX mid tower case
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Gigabyte M6900 Gaming mouce
    Internet Speed
    60mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast!
Anyone? My PC is unusable until this is fixed, and I can't keep doing fresh installs every time I want to shutdown/restart/sleep
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A97
    Memory
    8gb (2x4) DDR5 Sports FX gaming ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    HiS AMD HD 7770 ghz edition
    Sound Card
    see motherboard
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500gb internal HDD
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    ATX mid tower case
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Gigabyte M6900 Gaming mouce
    Internet Speed
    60mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast!
Try turning Windows update off. A driver update may be messing things up. What version of 8.1 is it, preview, RTM, other? Where did you obtain your install media and what method are you using to do the install, DVD, thumb drive?

Windows update was off.

I don't recall exactly, I googled 8.1 win8 and downloaded the one from Microsoft. I installed from a CD

You can't download 8.1 from Microsoft, not without without a TechNet or MSDN account. Not the RTM anyway, you can get the preview from Microsoft. If you didn't get it from Microsoft it may be a modified ISO, possibly infected with maleware.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Since the quote about the power supply was from an HD 7770 page, I think I would remove one of the cards for testing... It won't hurt anything. The same page did say 500 watts was OK for one card.

Whenever I do a fresh install, I use Diskpart to clean the drive. It does a better job than just reformatting.

Before you put it to sleep, run the Powercfg -energy command. Make note of where it places the report and copy it to the desktop to read.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Ok well I burned a brand new disk and did a fresh install. Everything worked fine till I put the PC to sleep. The screen went black for a few minutes and then it restarted, and that damn fish is still on my screen for 40+ minutes of waiting. I think it might be a hardware issue.

If you are seeing the Beta fish on your desktop you are likely running the Beta version of 8.1 and not the RTM version.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Ok well I burned a brand new disk and did a fresh install. Everything worked fine till I put the PC to sleep. The screen went black for a few minutes and then it restarted, and that damn fish is still on my screen for 40+ minutes of waiting. I think it might be a hardware issue.

If you are seeing the Beta fish on your desktop you are likely running the Beta version of 8.1 and not the RTM version.

I never said I was using the RTM version

ince the quote about the power supply was from an HD 7770 page, I think I would remove one of the cards for testing... It won't hurt anything. The same page did say 500 watts was OK for one card.

Whenever I do a fresh install, I use Diskpart to clean the drive. It does a better job than just reformatting.

Before you put it to sleep, run the Powercfg -energy command. Make note of where it places the report and copy it to the desktop to read.

I'll try this and get back, thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A97
    Memory
    8gb (2x4) DDR5 Sports FX gaming ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    HiS AMD HD 7770 ghz edition
    Sound Card
    see motherboard
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500gb internal HDD
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    ATX mid tower case
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Gigabyte M6900 Gaming mouce
    Internet Speed
    60mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast!
If you don't find anything, about the only other thing I might suggest is to disable any devices you can in the Bios. If you had a Bluetooth device, and even the Network Adapter until you get things sorted out.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A97
    Memory
    8gb (2x4) DDR5 Sports FX gaming ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    HiS AMD HD 7770 ghz edition
    Sound Card
    see motherboard
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500gb internal HDD
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    ATX mid tower case
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Gigabyte M6900 Gaming mouce
    Internet Speed
    60mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast!
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