Samsung laptop will not boot after windows 8.1 update

I am attempting to repair my friend's Samsung laptop running windows 8.1. I don't have the model name in front of me but I can post it when I get home if important. After a software update (as was told to me) and then subsequent reboot, the little cyclone spins around for a few seconds and then just a blank, white screen, no BSOD or something similar . I downloaded the manual which says in case of windows not starting to hit F4 upon start up. Hitting F4 does not cause any different change of events, just the spinning cyclone and then white screen. I can hit F2 to get into the BIOS but I don't see any settings in there such as "access recovery mode" or something similar that can help me. Unfortunately there is no cd/dvd media with the laptop.

Any suggestions? Are there any bootable troubleshooting programs I can download and burn to a CD that might help me? I was tempted to pay $120 for windows 10 and just see if it would boot off that and then load windows 10 but I'm afraid if it's not a software issue then I would be out $120.

Wait until you get home and back in front of it. Why would you pay for something when it is free.

Really cannot tell you what the issue is, because you are not at the computer.

I can wait until I get home but there really isn't much more to tell. it boots into the round spinning cyclone you see when windows is sometimes performing an then just turns into a white screen. it will stay that way indefinitely until computer is physically powered down. Control Alt Delete does not affect any change.

I would consider paying for windows 10 because I cannot get this computer to currently boot into windows 8 and have no bootable media supplied with it.

geepondy said:

Are there any bootable troubleshooting programs I can download and burn to a CD that might help me?

Click to expand...

How to download and clean install Windows 8.1 if you have an OEM computer with UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded Windows 8/8.1 product key. -> link

   Tip

Select the Repair your computer option (see screenshot below) if you want to repair your computer, for example, "Reset your PC" or "System Restore".

-or-

Press SHIFT+F10 to bring up command prompt if you want to manually repair your computer, for example, you want to repair by using the bcdboot command.

Click to expand...

It is called "Clocking", not Cyclones. In order to help, you and the machine need to be one.

It is the only way to walk you through fixing this.

Thank you genet for the excellent link. I did create installation files and copied to a USB drive. I then told the BIOS to boot off the USB port. When PC started, there was a lot of USB drive LED activity but still the same results, a Samsung logo screen and then just a blank screen. I'm about to give up and tell my friend they can try Best Buy geek squad if they desire. Laptop is not that old and it's a NP530U3 Series 5 Ultrabook. It's been physically beat on though so perhaps there's a physical damage root cause. Screen hinge is broken but I would think if bad screen or screen connection issue, you wouldn't even get the Samsung logo or would see display issues when entering the BIOS but that works fine.[h=2][/h]