My Windows 8 PC will not boot up at all..... stuck on BIOS

[True Colors]

This is frustrating. Extremely frustrating.

I have a pretty new computer. Just a few months old. It is supposed to be a good one.

Dell XPS 8500
Quad core i7 processor
lots of memory and extras

This computer also has the 64 bit edition of Windows 8 installed on it. Windows 8 is driving me up the wall!!! I have had numerous problems with it since day 1.

As recently as a few days ago, my system was running reasonably okay. Then I downloaded a driver for my network card from the dell.com website. From that point on, I cannot get my computer to boot up properly. I have turned my computer off and on multiple times in hopes that it would correct whatever is wrong.

When I first turn my PC on, it will stay stuck at the Dell logo window for a while.

Sometimes it will make it past that and it will give me an error message that says:

"error sending end of post message to ME, system HALT!"

Also, I sometimes get a message which says:

"the last USB device you connected to the computer malfunctioned, and Windows did not recognize it.

Try reconnecting the device. If windows still does not recognize it, your device may not be working properly."

This is insanity. I have NOT connected any new USB devices to my computer.

I do not know what to do. I figured that the easiest thing might be to try simply reinstalling Windows 8 from scratch. So I inserted my Windows 8 reinstall disk that Dell sent me when I bought this thing. However, my computer will not boot from this disk. So I guess I am stuck.

Please help.

TC

 

[XweAponX]

You can restore to just before you downloaded the driver using a Windows 8 Install Disk. Boot to the Install disk, and go into the Utilities, choose "System Restore" and it should find any restore points from right before that happened. If you cannot get into Windows 8 at all, this will be the only way to get around this.

 

[XweAponX]

If your system will not boot from the disk, then your System Board may be stuck in some kind of sleep state or hibernation state.

Try taking the battery out, and then unplug the box and then turn the power on, do that a few times to make sure that any caps in the area discharge. Then try booting again.

It may also be that your BIOS does not have the Optical Drive first in the chain of Boot Devices. ergo, you still cannot boot, because it it still trying to boot from the HD.

Check your System BIOS and set up the boot paths so that the Optical Drive is first.

 

[alphanumeric]

You could also try booting into safe mode. http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4924-advanced-startup-settings-boot-windows-8-a.html?ltr=A
If that works then uninstall the offending driver.

 

[XweAponX]

IF he can get to it, that is. When stuck in a Boot Loop, ya can't get to that due to Microsofts WISDOM at making the Safe Mode impossible to get to if the System can't boot.

Just use the Install Disk to get into that, but he says he can't boot to the Disk, which tells me, he's got to change his Boot Order, then he'll be able to try at least one of these things we've told him to try.

 

[alphanumeric]

I hear you, that menu can be tough to get to some times. I took a quick look at the tutorial and it looks like it lists three ways to get it. I thought it was worth a try anyway.

 

[True Colors]

An update on this situation......

It just goes to show, sometimes you just never really know what is wrong.

I will post the results here in case anyone else ever has this same problem and they happen to stumble across this thread.....

My computer has a couple of external storage devices hooked up. One of them is a Mediasonic H82-Su3S2. It holds eight 3.5" sata drives. I also have a few other random storage drives hooked up to my PC as well.

I had more than one of these drives connected to my computer with USB 3.0 cables. For whatever reason, that caused some sort of conflict.

I unplugged all of the USB devices and then restarted my computer. It fired up perfectly. Then I plugged in my large Mediasonic enclosure with a USB 3.0 cable and everything is fine.

Evidently it is okay to hook up ONE of the external drives with the USB 3.0 cable but it is NOT okay to hook up more than one external drive with USB 3.0. I guess the other drives need to connect using USB 2.0.

TC

 

[alphanumeric]

That's weird, but at least you figured it out and got it working again. There may be a BIOS option for "Boot from USB device", turning that function off might help with that problem. Your PC may be looking for bootable disks during bootup and that's a lot of disks. This is just an educated guess mind you.

 

[XweAponX]

True Colours - I know how to defeat this then. Boot your system without that array connected - Then Connect it later, and see if it works normally.

I have an HP Photodumb Printer which stops my Booty sequence 100% if it is connected. Once I reconnect it after the System is booted, it works great. Sometimes, a Windows 7 or 8 system will not boot with USB drives connected.

Check your BIOS boot order, and see if your Array is being given priority over the System drive. I'll bet you this is what is happening, your system is trying to boot to those disks, and since there are no OSes installed on that array, it does not boot.

 

[Ucla74]

This is why I love this site. Had the same error this morning (after hearing a couple curious USB disconnects/reconnects over the past couple days). Unplugged my USB 2.0 backup drive from the USB 3.0 port, and booted right up. (New USB 3.0 external drive is now on order.) THANKS!

 

[XweAponX]

Glad someone made use of this!

Think I've driven through Rapid City in the late 70's, I was all over that region, Sioux City, Omaha, Preston Idaho, Box Elder, UT. Beautiful area.