SOLVED - Laptop: Windows 8 Repair Failure / Need Help

[Fingolfin269]

Someone in the household freaked out the other night when unable to find a live sporting event on tv. Went rogue on the net attempting to find a live stream and installed god knows what all throughout the laptop. All I know is that after this was done I couldn't get the thing to work at all.

Tried repairing and somewhere along the line likely botched it. Haven't had to do this in Windows 8 so not sure if something has changed or if I've just grown old and lazy. Anyway, we did the Windows 8 repair route and completely wiped everything. Got it back up and running but somewhere along the line the new install got corrupted during Windows Updates and now I'm in the following situation:

1) Attempt to boot computer from HDD goes to Automatic Repair. This fails due to this error:

Your PC needs to be repaired.
A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed.
Error code: 0xc0000185

(I can provide a picture if needed)

2) So I figured I'd just do a clean boot and downloaded the Windows 8.1 ISO and put it on a USB drive. Booted from the USB drive and it appears to work just fine at first. Windows logo shows up. Circle shows up and rotates. Then... black screen.

3) I've tried booting from a DVD as well. Same as #2.

FYI, no issue getting into BIOS. The laptop is a Lenovo E530.

I'd appreciate any help. Hoping I'm just missing something small here.

 

[Fardringle]

Assuming you didn't delete the partition when installing from the 8.1 ISO, use the factory restore partition on the laptop. Press F11 repeatedly while turning the computer on to access the restore partition.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Assuming you didn't delete the partition when installing from the 8.1 ISO, use the factory restore partition on the laptop. Press F11 repeatedly while turning the computer on to access the restore partition.

Unfortunately that brings me back to the same error as #1 above.

 

[ArisVer]

Wipe the disk and reinstall. Use this as the last option since you will not be able to recover the factory setup after this.

 

[Ketchup]

If your install and the factory install didn't wipe the C partition, I could see a virus getting in the way here.

Are there any system restore points that are usable?

 

[Fingolfin269]

I literally can't get to any screen other than the bios screen, the boot from x screen, and that error screen.

If I try booting from a usb or dvd I do see the windows logo and circle but then I see nothing after a few seconds.

I'm ok just wiping and doing a reinstall but can't figure out how to get there based on above. Am I missing a step? Any idea why the screen just goes blank after the windows logo flashes for a bit when trying to load from bootable media? I've tried an install and repair disk. Same result.

Thanks again for the help here guys.

 

[Ketchup]

Here are some steps that might be helpful:

Method 3: If automatic repair doesn’t work please perform System Restore, please restore the computer to the date when the computer was working fine using USB drive.

1. Insert Windows 8 installation media (USB) and restart the computer.

2. Swipe F12 key (typically this is F12, but it can differ between computer manufacturers) and choose the drive that you inserted the installation media into.

3. Once the Windows Setup window appears, follow these steps:

4. Swipe Next and select Repair your computer.

5. You will then see a blue screen and an option to choose.

6. Choose the option Troubleshoot and select Advanced options.

7. Select Restore and follow the onscreen prompt.

from here:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...c0000185/01330aee-06f5-4bc0-a669-b1efa850a502

If that doesn't work, I would be tempted to try a Windows 7 installation DVD and see if it gets any farther.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately I can't get it to work as booting from both usb and dvd end up with seeing the windows logo, the circle processing underneath, and then a black screen.

Planning to try a hard drive scan from bios tonight. I guess the hard drive could have gone out as part of this whole ordeal.

 

[Ketchup]

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately I can't get it to work as booting from both usb and dvd end up with seeing the windows logo, the circle processing underneath, and then a black screen.

Planning to try a hard drive scan from bios tonight. I guess the hard drive could have gone out as part of this whole ordeal.

That's what I was wondering as well. Good plan.

 

[silicon]

Someone in the household freaked out the other night when unable to find a live sporting event on tv. Went rogue on the net attempting to find a live stream and installed god knows what all throughout the laptop. All I know is that after this was done I couldn't get the thing to work at all.

Tried repairing and somewhere along the line likely botched it. Haven't had to do this in Windows 8 so not sure if something has changed or if I've just grown old and lazy. Anyway, we did the Windows 8 repair route and completely wiped everything. Got it back up and running but somewhere along the line the new install got corrupted during Windows Updates and now I'm in the following situation:

1) Attempt to boot computer from HDD goes to Automatic Repair. This fails due to this error:

Your PC needs to be repaired.
A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed.
Error code: 0xc0000185

(I can provide a picture if needed)

2) So I figured I'd just do a clean boot and downloaded the Windows 8.1 ISO and put it on a USB drive. Booted from the USB drive and it appears to work just fine at first. Windows logo shows up. Circle shows up and rotates. Then... black screen.

3) I've tried booting from a DVD as well. Same as #2.

FYI, no issue getting into BIOS. The laptop is a Lenovo E530.

I'd appreciate any help. Hoping I'm just missing something small here.

you could try to run linux mint as a live cd as this will give an indication the laptop still works.

 

[redzo]

Lenovo seems to offer a bootable diagnostic software solution that's linux based. I've never used it before but I guess that you could give it a try. You can drop it on a usb flash.
http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/lenovodiagnosticsolutions/tools

 

[Fingolfin269]

I ran the HD tests and every one of them failed. Man I do not want to invest any cash in this pos so may just chuck it. I do have an old HD I yanked from my MBP after installing an SSD so may see if I can get that one formatted and in the system just to see if it actually works from that point.

Appreciate the replies everyone.

Lesson learned: She gets a guest account with no installation rights moving forward. And whatever other walls/barriers I can put in place to protect my sanity.

 

[ArisVer]

The disk might be okay. I suggest you run more tests after you erase and format the disk as there may be a few programs that might be causing this. Also...

My notebook disk has failed on every test I have done to it (used to be my sisters external disk which I have replaced). Since it was my only 7K 2.5 inch disk I decided to install Windows and see. After the fresh install Windows found some problems (bad sectors I believe) and after 3 or 4 restarts it runned a chkdsk and repaired the disk the way it wanted. It has been almost a month and I have no issues at all. You may not want to do that for a critical installation though.

 

[Ketchup]

It depends whether the errors are in the file system or the disk itself. Since Fingolfin269 has not told is what type of tests he is running, it would be impossible to say if the issues are repairable or not.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Just wanted to follow up on this. Had an old HD sitting around that I pulled from my MBP when converting to an SSD. Managed to get it formatted and installed and everything is now working perfectly. I'm planning to see what I can do with the old HD and will just use it as a USB drive if I manage to get it working.

Frankly the laptop may be even smoother now than before since I had to do a fresh Win 8 install instead of a restore from the factory image. No bloat!

Thanks again for all of the advice guys.