Windows 8.1 not booting

[alphanumeric]

I never said I was using the RTM version.

OK, that's fine, I wasn't sure if you knew the difference that's all. I would think you'd be better off running the Preview release versus the Beta, if in fact you are running the Beta.
Meet Windows 8.1 Preview - Microsoft Windows

 

[Dijas]

OK, that's fine, I wasn't sure if you knew the difference that's all. I would think you'd be better off running the Preview release versus the Beta, if in fact you are running the Beta.
Meet Windows 8.1 Preview - Microsoft Windows

Yup, that's what I installed.

 

[XweAponX]

How come it will boot if I use a restore point?

If it does, then leave it as it is. Someone suggested it was maybe a Video Driver update - Never use Beta drivers especially from nVidia, they have caused a lot of problems for people in these forums. Ah, you DID install a Beta. Well, now we know to avoid ATI betas as well as nVidia.

As a rule I always avoid any Beta driver updates, particularly Video drivers, cos those are the most important.

If you are a Beta tester, then that is the function of the Betas, to see if they work. But any normal user should not do this.

 

[Dijas]

I can't exactly leave it as is if that means I can't shutdown/sleep my PC without using a restore point.

 

[alphanumeric]

OK, that's fine, I wasn't sure if you knew the difference that's all. I would think you'd be better off running the Preview release versus the Beta, if in fact you are running the Beta.
Meet Windows 8.1 Preview - Microsoft Windows

Yup, that's what I installed.

Which one Preview or Beta? You know which one you meant when you said that but I'm not so sure so I'll just get you to nail it down for me.

 

[Dijas]

OK, that's fine, I wasn't sure if you knew the difference that's all. I would think you'd be better off running the Preview release versus the Beta, if in fact you are running the Beta.
Meet Windows 8.1 Preview - Microsoft Windows

Yup, that's what I installed.

Which one Preview or Beta? You know which one you meant when you said that but I'm not so sure so I'll just get you to nail it down for me.

The preview

 

[alphanumeric]

OK, thank you for clarifying that for me. As a test you could disable fast startup, http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6320-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-8-a.html
Or disable hibernation, Hibernate - Enable or Disable - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

[Dijas]

OK, thank you for clarifying that for me. As a test you could disable fast startup, http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6320-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-8-a.html
Or disable hibernation, Hibernate - Enable or Disable - Windows 7 Help Forums

Tried these earlier with no result.

I bit the bullet and re installed, I'm going to go driver by driver and figure it out.

 

[alphanumeric]

I'd manually create a system restore point before each driver install.

 

[XweAponX]

The system boots from the restore point but NOT regularly? After you restore, will it still boot?

One thing to keep in mind, is that sometimes the restore points fail, so your Restore may have failed, leaving the system in the same state as before you ran the Restore. You may have to choose a different point.

 

[Dijas]

Update, turns out it was infact this:
http://www.eightforums.com/drivers-hardware/32121-steelseries-driver-install-uninstall-problems.html

I've not tried to reinstall that driver, and everything works like a charm.

I might try and install it later with a restore point, but for now I guess I'll just leave it.

 

[alphanumeric]

I briefly had a SteelSeries Merc Stealth Gaming Keyboard. One of the reasons I returned it was that the software wouldn't work in Windows 8.1. The software installed fine but when I tried to launch it I got an "unhandled exception" or something like that error message. It uninstalled OK though, as far as I know anyway.