System unbootable, no recovery console, and no DVD boot(!)

bigpump2012

New Member
Messages
4
My, oh, my... Hello, everyone.

It all started a couple of days ago when the system (8.1) froze and I turned the laptop off with a button. I couldn't boot the system afterwards (it was endlessly starting-up) so I put the DVD into the tray to open recovery console and used bootmgr, as well as bootsect utilities trying to fix the issue but nothing changed. Then I used chkdsk in hopes to recover the working state of the HD but it produced no results either (despite significant waiting time). So I finally decided to stop tempering with it and reinstall Windows grabbing new Windows 10 DVD but for some reason it wasn't booting (although boot from the DVD-drive was enabled in the BIOS) and I found It very strange because, from my experience, bootable OS DVDs always work for reinstalling the system.

Replacing Windows 10 with Windows 8.1 DVD again I managed to get to the installation menu this time and reinstall OS on drive "C:" (drive "D:", logical drive, contained data that had to remain so I didn't touch it). Well, all I can say is that I was glad using my freshly-installed 8.1 last morning until I decided (don't ask me why) to chkdsk my "D:" drive and this is where my fresh installation was ruined and even worse problems began. At this moment not only the system won't boot (endlessly starting-up with the screen going black after a while; just like before) but the DVD itself can be said to have been rendered useless since I can't do anything with it (can't get to the recovery console or installation menu). No matter what I set the BIOS settings to (turning secure boot off, placing boot from DVD on top of the list, etc.) I'm just stuck with this. Neither Windows 10, nor Windows 8.1 DVDs seem to work.

I would really appreciate if someone helps me getting to the bottom of this.

Let me know if you need more info.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Secure boot in UEFI set to "Disabled".
OS set to UEFI type.

Boot order list:

  1. DVD
  2. HD

"Press any key to boot from CD" dialog appears. A key is timely pressed to start DVD going. Sounds like DVD drive is working (spinning the disk). Laptop manufacturer's logo is on the screen (like it always is when OS is set to UEFI in BIOS). Surprisingly, after a couple of minutes running circles appear underneath the logo like when the system is booting from HD (not DVD) and shortly after the screen goes dark (although the monitor is still on). No matter how long you wait at this stage, nothing changes. The HD led light slowly blinks in fixed intervals (unlike when the OS DVD had been spinning). It's like it reverts back to boot from the hard drive anyway.

EDIT:

One more thing I think would be of interest to you that I forgot to mention is that I've tried to eject the DVD drive while it was spinning to see if this useless pattern would change and the screen went blue with an error message and a menu with three choices: (1) press Enter to continue, (2) press F8 for advanced startup settings, and (3) press Esc. to enter UEFI settings. Sliding the tray back and pressing Enter just continued this endless process but pressing F8 brought me (after a minute or two) to the list of nine choices of how I want to start the system. I've tried two choices in succession: (1) safe boot with console and (2) don't restart on error. None of them seemed to succeed (black screen; endless start-up again). After choosing UEFI settings instead, you're brought to the BIOS screen and depending on what OS type you've chosen manually (UEFI or CSM) you get "Preparing to recover system..." dialog with running circles (indicating loading process) under the laptop manufacturer's logo when the system is trying to boot but it disappears shortly into the black screen (as everything else before it).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
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