WIndows 8 Hangs on restart

Anonymous
2012-11-08T06:10:40+00:00

I have Windows 8 Pro and when I restart, the Restarting... screen just hangs. It doesn't go away, so I have to power off my machine(hold power button).

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2012-11-08T19:50:48+00:00

Hello Kim,

Sorry for the inconvenience that you are facing with Windows 8 on restarting it. I will definitely assist you in fixing this issue.

Let us start with couple of questions.

1.       Have you made any changes on your computer prior to the issue?

2.       What happens on the first boot?

3.       Do you have any third party security software installed?

Perform the following troubleshooting methods:

Method 1:

I would suggest you to boot the computer in safe mode and check how it works.

Follow these steps to boot the computer in safe mode.

a.       Press the “Windows + R” key on the keyboard.

b.      In the ‘Run’ windows type “msconfig” without quotes and click “Ok”.

c.       Click the “Boot” tab.

d.      Under “Boot Options”, select the “Safe Boot” option.

e.      Choose “Network” option below the “Safe boot” check box.

f.        Click “Apply” and then “Ok”.

g.       Then select “Restart” option.

h.      Once you check in safe mode, then I would suggest you to place the computer in normal boot option.

i.         Remove the check mark next to “Safe boot” option in “Boot” tab to place the computer in normal boot.

Method 2:

Place the computer in clean boot state and then try to install the program.

You can start Windows by using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. This kind of startup is known as a "clean boot." A clean boot helps eliminate software conflicts.

Step 1:

a.       Press the ‘Windows + R’ key on the keyboard.

b.      In the ‘Run’ windows type ’MSCONFIG’ and click ‘Ok’.

c.       Click the ‘Boot’ tab and uncheck ‘Safe Boot’ option.

d.      On the ‘General’ tab, click to select the option ‘Selective startup’, and then click to clear the option Load startup items check box.

e.      On the ‘Services’ tab, click to select the ‘Hide all Microsoft services’ check box, and then click ‘Disable all’.

f.        On the ‘Startup’ tab, click ‘Open Task Manager’. In the Task Manager window under startup tab, right click on each startup item which are enabled and select ‘Disable’.

g.       Click ‘OK’, and then click Restart.

h.      If it works in clean boot state, then follow rest of the steps.

Step 2: Enable half of the services

a.       Follow steps 1a and 1b to start the System Configuration utility.

b.      Click the Services tab, and then click to select the Hide all Microsoft services check box.

c.       Click to select half of the check boxes in the Service list.

d.      Click OK, and then click Restart.

Step 3:

a.       If the problem still occurs, repeat step 1 and step 2. In step 2, click to clear half of the check boxes that you originally selected in the Service list.

b.      If the problem does not occur, repeat step 1 and step 2. In step 2, select only half of the remaining check boxes that are cleared in the Service list. Repeat these steps until you have selected all the check boxes.

c.       If only one service is selected in the Service list, and you still experience the problem, the selected service causes the problem. Go to step 6. If no service causes this problem, go to step 4.

Step 4: Enable half of the Startup items

·         If no startup item causes this problem, a Microsoft service most likely causes the problem. To determine which Microsoft service may be causing the problem, repeat step 1 and step 2 without selecting the Hide all Microsoft services check box in either step.

Step 5: Determine whether the problem returns

a.       If the problem still occurs, repeat step 1 and step 4. In step 4, click to clear half of the check boxes that you originally selected in the Startup Item list.

b.      If the problem does not occur, repeat step 1 and step 4. In step 4, select only half of the remaining check boxes that are cleared in the Startup Item list. Repeat these steps until you have selected all the check boxes.

c.       If only one startup item is selected in the Startup Item list, and you still experience the problem, the startup item that is selected in the list is the service that is causing the problem. Go to step 6.

d.      If no startup item causes this problem, a Microsoft service most likely causes the problem. To determine which Microsoft service may be causing the problem, repeat step 1 and step 2 without selecting the Hide all Microsoft services check box in either step.

Step 6:

·         After you determine the startup item or the service that causes the problem, contact the program manufacturer to determine whether the problem can be resolved. Or, run the System Configuration utility, and then click to clear the check box for the problem item.

Step 7:

Note: After you have finished troubleshooting, follow these steps to boot to normal startup.

a.       Press the ‘Windows + R’ key on the keyboard.

b.      In the ‘Run’ windows type ’MSCONFIG’ and click ‘Ok’.

c.       On the ‘General’ tab, click the ‘Normal Startup’ option, and then click ‘OK’.

d.      When you are prompted to restart the computer, click ‘Restart’.

Method 3:

Perform System File Check (SFC), and then check if this fixes the issue.

Follow the steps:

a.       Press “Windows Key + Q” to open Charms Bar.

b.      Type “cmd” without quotes in the search box.

c.       On the left pane, right click on the “cmd” option and select “Run as Administrator”.

d.      Type “sfc /scannow” without quotes and hit enter.

**Note:**It may ask for windows installation DVD to fix and to enable SFC to make more than minor repairs. Some files saved on your computer might get deleted when fixing corrupted files.

I hope this helps you fixing the issue. If the issue continues, reply to this thread, we are glad to help you further.

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94 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-02-02T21:49:25+00:00

    As I have recently uninstalled Norton, I tried restart again and this time it worked.  Coincidence?

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-02-02T04:28:15+00:00

    I uninstalled Norton 360 several weeks ago. No hangings on Restart since. This week, I installed Norton 360. Went on several days without a glitch, then suddenly and without warning, today it hung again. This is the way it goes with Norton. One thinks everything is ok but about once a week (about every 6 to 8 restarts) and the way it goes right off the rails, meaning it hangs again.

    How can I be convinced that Norton 360 is not compatible with Windows 8? The face there was a patch with Norton says something in itself. There was / is a compatibility problem. I've pulled out up to three hairs today. It would be nice to see Symantec or Microsoft get a hold of this one before I pluck out another hair or two!

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-01-27T06:53:25+00:00

    I really would love to see which driver is being loaded during boot

     

    I don't know about boot log but I do know that the install creates lots of diagnostics.   The problem is finding them.   They usually end up in a directory called Panther.   So, then the question is:  would that be on the drive which is being upgraded or in the virtual drive that the WinPE process creates?   If the latter we would need to be able to get in with Shift-F10 (e.g. to open a cmd prompt) but I suspect that feature has been disabled.   It would be nice if there was a way to re-enable it somehow.

    BTW slightly different symptom but same diagnostics are being discussed here:

    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w8itproinstall/thread/f3846fb7-0db9-446d-bc8c-33d34ff47122?Name=w8itproinstall&outputAs=rss 

    I have given you the RSS view because that thread is so huge it takes forever to load otherwise.

    Mentioning WinPE for some reason reminded me of another tack that some users have taken, Virtual Machine install and image cloning...

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-windows_install/windows-8-hp-envy-15-installation-issue/c7a2f670-a44c-4c45-b87a-7ebcb9d3eff0?msgId=e9fc466d-e0fb-4aa4-90ce-052b4f660071

    I think I was imagining that if it crashes in there for you too you may have some easier debugging.   ;  )

    FYI

    Robert


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  4. Anonymous
    2013-01-27T01:55:28+00:00

    So... I'm thinking about the Os Kernel itself, because the first things got loaded during boot were ntosknrl and hal. And as far as I know, if a driver could not be loaded, Windows has mechanisms that makes Windows either bypass the driver or try again.

    While speaking of this, I did noticed many entries in the boot log(logs generated by SUCCESSFUL boots) that indicated the driver dxknrl.sys wasn't loaded. It's something like this:

    BOOT_NOT_LOADED. . . . . . . . . .  dxknrl.sys

    Entries like this appeared consistently in all boot logs, and within each boot log, multiple entries of BOOT_NOT_LOADED. . . . . . . . . .  dxknrl.sys appeared. Sometimes it was loaded in the end, as I could tell from BOOT_LOADED. . . . . . . . . .  dxknrl.sys entry not far from BOOT_NOT_LOADED. . . . . . . . . . . .  dxkrnl.sys entries.

    As dxkrnl.sys is provided by Microsoft, it could be the problem with DirectX?

    Sometimes I just got so furious when Windows couldn't start.

    Anyway, thank you so much for your help.

    I'm editing this on my Phone and I accidentally pressed enter when I was editing my last post. So this continues my last post.

    ;)

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