Automatic Repair loop on W8.1 with an SSD

Icycold

New Member
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Hello. I was using my PC earlier and I noticed my Skype and other programs I had open that were installed on my C: Drive (OCZ Vertex 3 SSD) started locking up. I even had troubles opening the task manager. After locking up for several seconds, I just restarted but the problems resumed. The very last time I shut it down it booted with the Automatic Repair message. It got to the point where it was scanning the disk for errors but I mistakenly shut it down after 30 minutes.

Now, every time I boot up, it goes to Auto Repair but only stays there for 3 or so seconds before simply going to a black screen. It doesn't even go to disk repair.

In the BIOS, my SSD shows up. I guess that would rule out disk failure but OCZ is known for SSD failure. I've owned this one for 2 years already. Strangely, I have a total of 3 disks. The other 2 hard drives don't show up in the BIOS. Only the SSD and the disc drive show up.

If all else fails, one of my remaining 2 hard drives is 500GB and I barely use. I could migrate W8 over there but I'm concerned on how that would be done considering I bought the download as an upgrade off of the Microsoft website. (I had W7 before).

Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Okay, I am ready to make the image but I have a few questions:

1. See this picture: View attachment 41616

I want to use the 500GB HDD as the OS drive, why do you say not to image to that one?

2. Why doesn't the SSD show the "OS" to symbol it has the OS in it?
3. Once the image is made, how do I recover it and boot back into Windows? In the tutorial you provided, there is a link for a tutorial to recover. This tutorial uses the WinRE. How will I do that if I just end up with an image on a different drive?
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
1. Because if you want to restore the image to the 500GB drive, you cannot have the image on the same drive.

2. The second partition on the OCZ is indeed very strange. a) it has no free space at all and b) it shows as unformatted. Did you use my iso/CD for that or some older Macrium version. And does this Windows sytem on the OCZ actually run.

3. For recovery you boot the PC with the iso/CD I linked on my OneDrive. The image can be anywhere on an internal or external disk (but not on the disk to which you want to restore it). You just have to navigate to the image.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
2. No, the SSD currently is not booting to windows successfully. (Must mean Windows is there, but not booting right). I use to have W7 on that SSD but I upgraded to W8, so maybe that's why?

3. So it is mandatory to burn the WinPE to then be able to recover the image? Or can I just recover IN Marcium?
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
2. Actually there is nothing right now on that partition. It is unformatted

3. The CD is the only way to recover - unless you have WinRE which is another story. SIW2 would know how to set that up. Now that is for a 1 system setup.

With a 2 system setup, you should be able to dump the image onto the other disk from the running system. But make the CD in any case. One day you will need it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
I got an error: None of the backup locations specified can be written to. When trying to create the image. So if the SSD isn't showing Windows it is failing must have failed right?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
These are 2 seperate problems:

1. If Macrium cannot write the image, there must be not enough space

2. Your SSD seems to have nothing valid on it. I would reformat it to a primary, active aligned partition.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
1. There has to be enough space. The SSD if I remember correctly was at 112GB capacity and the HDD I'm copying too has 1TB left.
2. If I reformat, doesn't that wipe Windows? There's absolutely no way that Windows is not on that drive. That system reserved partition was created after I upgraded, maybe it has to do something with that?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
This all sounds like overkill, albeit if it works, then do it. But have you tried simply booting to a Windows 8/8.1 install disk and running CHKDSK from there? If it's in the auto repair loop, it really wants to run a CHKDSK. You might be able to do it on 8./1 if you have a Win 8 install disk.

SSD drives can't be repaired the same way as HDD drives, you should find the repair tool for your make of SSD drive, if it has a bootable medium, run it on the drive. You should do it anyway, just to check the drive.

whs - What exactly can that Macrium disk so? Thanks for the link, btw.
 

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.
I just ran the Linux OCZ SSD tools iso but there was nothing to check the health of the SSD.

My question is: The fact that that drive isn't showing anything on it + it's signs of failure to boot enough to say it has issues? I burned the Windows 8 install to my USB and can fresh install to the drive I need it on right now but will run that CHDSK.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
1. something is wrong. Where do you try to store the image.

2. Yes it wipes everything. You said that you cannot boot from the SSD - so there is no running system on it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Are you saying that the whole drive is showing up BLANK?

Do you have any tools you can use to look at the drive from outside of Windows 8? I have a link to Hiren's Boot CD down below, you can use one of the tools on that disk to see if has been reformatted, there is a Linux on it, you can use that to look at the drive, see if your Filesystem is intact.
 

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.
Hang on, I managed to go into the W8 startup recovery menu (blueish screen) and here I can run a CHKDSK on the SSD. I know the command is chkdsk C: <switches> but what switches do I use?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
CHKDSK c: /x /r


I've been posting in here for most of a year - The most common failure of Windows 8 and 8.1 is that if the machine is shut off incorrectly, it corrupts the System Drive. And the Auto Repair is inefficient when handling this, so it commonly sticks the system in a LONG repair mode.

The First thing I do, is I change the Boot GUI back to Legacy. There are articles in here how to set BCDedit. Because Windows 8/1 forces you to use the Settings app to get to Safe Mode, and this fails to load about 95% of the time.

So using the old bootloader you can EASILY get into safe mode. The New Systems all have UEFI boot, which is supposed to force that Troubleshooting Options screen to load, but what happens is, you run Brand Updates on the system, like HP for instance, and they replace the Windows 8 UEFI to the older UEFI, which is not connected to the OS in any way, so that when you try to boot in Safe Mode, it just reboots.

It is easier to set Boot Legacy Mode, then get into your BIOS and set up a 5 second wait to allow you to press the Setup key or to use a different Boot Drive.

When Fixing a crashed 8, boot to either the Windows 8 install disk and run CHKDSK from there, or use Hiren's. I try not to suggest Hiren's so much, but it is there and it is a valid tool.

If you had an HDD drive, you could use the tools in HBD to repair the HDD,m and then you can run a CHKDSK from Windows 8 Install - And I highly suggest THAT, because the Windows XP CHKDSK is different. Use either Windows 7 or 8 CHKDSK to fix disk errors
 

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.
There's no problems found. What next? Can't do the image solution because apparently the SSD has no Windows in it -_-.

I have W8 ready to install from a USB to my C drive all over again since the chkdsk found no problems. I would just prefer to do the image copy method since I don't lose any data (or so I assume).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Hold on, you ran CHKDSK and it did ALL FIVE Parts that quick? It should have taken at least a half hour.

The Image Copy won't work unless you already have the image backed up - do you?
 

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.
As fast as I want to get back to my PC is as fast as it did the command you gave me.

CMD prompt label at the top of the window reads: "Admin: X:/windows/system32/cmd.exe

I ran it on C: though, not X:.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Ok, you might not have run it on the right partition.

Try CD D:. CD E:, until you can type DIR and see the windows folders.

Becuase you MAY have a little 100MB partition and that may show up as "C" wile the Data partition will show up as "d"

OR just type "d:"
 

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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