ASUS Ultrabook UEFI Windows 8 refresh / install nightmare

[houldsworth1]

I have an ASUS ultrabook. Being an ultrabook it has a small SSD drive and no DVD drive.

It came originally installed with Win 8 and was later upgraded to Win 8.1.

After a while the system started behaving in very odd ways and I decided to reset from protected OS region.

Try #1 - When I tried to reset I received an error stating that it could not refresh because there were files missing. I read somewhere that you can't refresh using the Win 8 copy after you have upgraded to Win 8.1.

Try #2 - I have a retail copy of Windows 8 on a USB drive so I thought I would just install that. First problem - the key is no longer on a convenient sticker but is, instead, embedded in the UEFI. I was able to find a tool that exposed that only to receive an error stating that I can't use that key with a retail copy of Windows 8. Arrgh!

Try #3 - I have a Dell desktop running Win 8 and used that to create a Windows 8 recovery drive on a USB stick. I was able to use that to run a refresh which seemed to work (it certainly erased all the files) but the system is still not right. For example I can't run Netflix because it keeps telling me I am missing components. I tried installing the components it suggested for Chrome - no luck. I then tried installing MS Silverlight to run it in IE...again no luck, still get the missing components message and the install of Silverlight failed.

Any thoughts where I go from here?

I have a Win 7 key from a retired PC and could create a Win 7 install drive which is probably my next option, but I have no idea if the UEFI thing is going to interfere with that.

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[Ztruker]

Follow this tutorial, should get you going again: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/18309-windows-8-windows-8-1-iso-download-create.html
You create a bootable flash drive to install from.

Then follow this tutorial for the actual install: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2299-clean-install-windows-8-a.html

 

[Saltgrass]

You should be able to refresh using the downloaded 8.1 .iso after burning to a DVD.

 

[alphanumeric]

The key being rejected may be because your current install is the Single Language version. Open the System screen (Windows key + pause/break key) and see what it says under Windows edition. Also click Help, about Windows and see what that says. Once you figure out what exact version you have you can download the correct ISO from option 1 of the link Ztrucker posted. The new download in option 1 will let you install 8.1 with an 8.0 OEM embedded key. I installed 8.1 Core from that link Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help and did a clean install on my ASUS laptop. It came with Windows 8.0 Core. The OEM 8.0 key was used to install 8.1 and I was not prompted to enter a key. It activated online automatically with no issues.