Can't boot into windows 8,hard drive locked, can't refresh

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satpe

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Forgive me if I posted in the wrong section, I wasn't sure if the "Crash" section was the right place. Here is what I posted on microsoft and no one has helped me there. :(

Hi all,

My laptop suddenly turned off because the battery was drained and I didn't have the power hooked up. Upon restarting windows, I got this message

screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/RH3WP.jpg

so I clicked on the troubleshoot option and selected "Automatic repair" and then got this message

screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/GoBqq.jpg

I went back to the main screen and just shut my laptop down again, only to be met with the same "trouble shooting" screen. I then tried to do the "disc image" option and got this message

screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/dlNNd.jpg

since that didn't work, I decided to try the "refresh your pc" (save all files) option

and got this error message

screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/4uyWe.jpg

How can I get my laptop working again? I downloaded the upgrade to windows 8 online so I don't have a disc. I can't clean install it, I have a 10 page paper I've been working on for two weeks, that needs to be turned in tomorrow. I can't lose that paper! Please tell me there is hope??

*I really feel like crying, this had to happen at the worse time.
 
Maybe someone will be able to think of a work-a-round, but when it happened to me I couldn't find a way around it. There was no safe boot option, only repair, refresh or reset and none of them worked anyway (as you've discovered). Why Microsoft didn't make it possible to safe boot is beyond me.

For me it wasn't so bad as I didn't have anything on the drive that wasn't backed up, but if I did, I would have removed the drive and plugged it into another computer as a second drive to recover the files.
 
Last edited:
From memory, when I booted from DVD it didn't give any different options to what was already in the troubleshooting screens before, so it didn't help. I'd also be careful that you don't re-install the OS, otherwise you will lose that document.

Just out of interest, if I remember correctly, there was a command prompt available in one of the troubleshooting screens. Does anyone know if it's possible to make it boot in safe mode from this? For example "bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal" then reboot?
 
Oh wow, the windows 8 disc, did absolutely nothing. It's getting close to my paper turn in time. Please tell me there is another option? This is like a nightmare, I made a bad mistake installing windows 8 in the first place.
 
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2757-safe-mode-start-windows-8-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2269-system-recovery-options-boot-windows-8-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4924-advanced-startup-settings-boot-windows-8-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2758-safe-mode-add-windows-boot-manager-windows-8-a.html


Safe Mode 004.PNG

Startup_Settings.jpg
 
Maybe it's different for the OP, but 'Windows Startup Settings' wasn't an option shown. Did Microsoft disable it in the final version?
 
theog said:
ARC1020 said:
Maybe it's different for the OP, but 'Windows Startup Settings' wasn't an option shown. Did Microsoft disable it in the final version?
Click to expand...

The easist way to go to Safe Mode, is to add to boot manager.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2758-safe-mode-add-windows-boot-manager-windows-8-a.html
Click to expand...

It will not allow me to do that. Here is a picture: imgur: the simple image sharer

I also noticed that it says X:

I know it's suppose to be C: right?

It's like my C drive is invisible.

also theog, I did not have all the options you showed in the pictures above.
 
theog said:
Now you your DVD.



Try this, starting 1) & down until Windows 8 boots OK.


How to do a Automatic Repair:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2843-automatic-repair-run-windows-8-a.html

How to do a Refresh:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2293-refresh-windows-8-a.html

How to do a Reset
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2302-reset-windows-8-a.html
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but those are the same things I have already tried as mentioned above in my earlier posts. I used the dvd once again, and I do not have the same options as shown in those links.

picture:
imgur: the simple image sharer
 
Take a look at the screenshot in post 7, you should have all options, but not Windows Startup setting.
 
The option to have safe mode in the boot manager is all well and good if you can access the machine, in this case (and my case where graphics drivers prevented the OS from starting) it doesn't help. But add it once you do get back up and running.

You can get into safe mode though, here's how I did it.

Shut down, then, turn on power and start tapping F8, if windows starts to try and boot hold down the power button so it shuts off. You may need to repeat this a few times but Windows will detect repeated failures to start and then give you a full screen blue menu which gives you a boot options screen including, safe mode, safe mode with network, command prompt etc.
 
theog said:
Take a look at the screenshot in post 7, you should have all options, but not Windows Startup setting.
Click to expand...

Okay, I may be slightly confused, I apologize. I have those options but not the windows startup setting. I tried the other options and they still don't work.
 
steveb said:
The option to have safe mode in the boot manager is all well and good if you can access the machine, in this case (and my case where graphics drivers prevented the OS from starting) it doesn't help. But add it once you do get back up and running.

You can get into safe mode though, here's how I did it.

Shut down, then, turn on power and start tapping F8, if windows starts to try and boot hold down the power button so it shuts off. You may need to repeat this a few times but Windows will detect repeated failures to start and then give you a full screen blue menu which gives you a boot options screen including, safe mode, safe mode with network, command prompt etc.
Click to expand...

Okay, I tried it till my finger got tired, I counted a total of 15 shut offs. It keeps trying to diagnose. Would it make a different if I tried f9 or f10?
 
ARC1020 said:
satpe said:
Okay, I tried it till my finger got tired, I counted a total of 15 shut offs. It keeps trying to diagnose. Would it make a different if I tried f9 or f10?
Click to expand...

It didn't work for me either. Here's an article about it, but I doubt it will help as what they say and what they do seem to be two different things:

Designing for PCs that boot faster than ever before - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs
Click to expand...

Thank you, Arc! Yea, it didn't work. I'm going to take the memory out of the laptop to try and save the information that is on it and use it as an external hard drive, then hopefully erase windows 8 from my laptop. This really does suck.
 
Did you not backup?

Microsoft said:
• Make sure you’re on the PC you want to upgrade. This must be a PC that is currently running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3), Windows 8 Release Preview, Windows 8 Consumer Preview, or Windows Developer Preview. (Windows 8 Setup checks that your PC meets all system requirements before it installs Windows 8.)

• Have your product key handy. You can find it in your online order information, in the confirmation email for your purchase, or on the packaging. The product key will look something like this:
XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX

• Make a backup of everything you want to keep. Save it somewhere you can get to it later, like an external drive or a DVD.
Click to expand...
 
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