Major Win8.1 headaches on MSI Cubi

[BoberFett]

I bought an MSI Cubi last week to build a little media center, and trying to install Windows is quite literally driving me insane.

I have a spare Win8 key from when MS was selling it for $40, figured I'd install that then upgrade to Win10 from there. Should be simple, right?

I added a 4GB Kingston RAM, and 60GB mSATA Kingston drive, nothing too exotic. BIOS is set for Windows 8/8.1 UEFI mode.

I created a Win8.1 Pro install USB key using the Microsoft media creation tool here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8

Boot to the USB key, installation proceeds, it accepts my Win8 key, continues on it's merry way. Everything in setup appears to run normally. The disk partitioning portion creates the 4 partitions as expected with Windows loading onto the main partition. Everything is copied over to the mSATA drive successfully, the installer tells me to remove the D : drive (the USB key) and reboot.

Setup never finishes. I get an 0xc0000034 BCD error immediately on boot. Following general info around the web, I boot back to the USB key, use the repair option from the Win8 installer, go to a prompt and attempt to repair the BCD using bootrec. After that I reboot and it tells me Windows setup has experienced an error.

I upgraded the BIOS to the latest 850 version on the MSI site. I've tried various BIOS combos such as secure boot enabled and disabled. Always the same results.

Does anybody have any suggestions? I'm at my wits end. This just doesn't seem like it should be this difficult. :\

 

[mikeymikec]

I'd boot from the setup media, get a recovery console up and run chkdsk /f /v /r on all the available volumes on the mSATA.

If you have an older version of Windows available, I'd be inclined to try it and see if I get the same error.

My first thought was to run memtest86 for a pass or more, though I would have expected a serious RAM fault to have stopped the copying process in its tracks rather than waiting for the reboot to manifest symptoms. I'd probably run it anyway to rule it out.

IMO the issue is going to turn out to be hardware related. I don't know of a utility that will run from say a live CD that will report the SMART readings for the mSATA device, but I'd be inclined to look into that as well.

 

[Ketchup]

Look in the BIOS and make sure it is set to boot from the mSATA drive.

 

[mikeymikec]

Look in the BIOS and make sure it is set to boot from the mSATA drive.

Surely if that was the problem, he wouldn't have received that BCD error? That results from a binary being run on the mSATA drive so therefore the computer has already booted off the correct device, AFAIK.

 

[nerp]

FYI you can use that Windows 8.1 key to install Windows 10 using USB media. No need to upgrade after the 8 install.

 

[Ketchup]

Surely if that was the problem, he wouldn't have received that BCD error? That results from a binary being run on the mSATA drive so therefore the computer has already booted off the correct device, AFAIK.

With the amount of data loaded into UEFI, I am thinking this may be a possible cause. Thinking more about it, I wonder if it is a setting in the BIOS. BoberFett, also wouldn't be a bad idea to re-check settings in the BIOS, and possible try to install out of UEFI mode. I did a little looking, but haven't found any material on BIOS options yet.

 

[BoberFett]

Thanks for the tips everyone, mikey was correct. Tried Win10 on the Kingston drive, it failed. Picked up a Samsung mSATA drive, works like a champ. I'll be returning the Kingston.

 

[Ketchup]

Glad that's all it was! Enjoy!