My Windows 8.1 is stuck in an automatic repair loop, how can I fix this?

Anonymous
2014-01-02T16:49:35+00:00

my laptop will not boot at all, when I turn it on the screen shows 'preparing automatic repair' then 'diagnosing your PC'. After this, the screen shows 'your PC did not start correctly' and it doesn't work when I restart it so I selected advanced options. After this, if I click continue the repair screen appears again and I am redirected back to the same page. I can't access my desktop at all and an administrator hasn't been set on my laptop, so after clicking troubleshoot I can't refresh or reset my PC.After this I clicked on advanced settings and I cannot choose system restore, command prompt, system image recovery or startup repair because they either don't work or need an administrator and I haven't set one as I mentioned before. My last resort was startup settings which requires restarting the PC. 9 options are to choose from and I tried almost all and it won't boot up in safe mode. Help!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2014-04-02T19:25:00+00:00

I've inserted the System Recovery disc 1 that came with the computer. No change.

Usually that means that that device is not higher than the hard drive in the boot device order.  You would probably need to get into your BIOS screen to change that.  See your User Guide or contact HP for more information.  Post your product id (e.g. what details you need to use HP's site to find your particular documentation and downloads but not your serial number) if you need someone to help interpret your user documentation.  In W7 HP had a nice tool that gave me those details.  I never found anything analogous from W8, except in bits and pieces.

HTH

Robert Aldwinckle


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  1. Anonymous
    2014-09-13T16:41:28+00:00

    The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

    See if diskpart can be used to help see what is going on.  Your drive may be locked.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-09-13T13:06:32+00:00

    bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup

    Returned: The store export operation failed.

    The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-09-13T10:20:57+00:00

    Thank you for the update Seth.

    Do you get stuck while rebuilding BCD?

    If yes, please try the following steps from the command prompt and check:

    Go to the command prompt and re-build the BCD and check.

    Follow these steps to do so:

    a. Boot the computer using the Windows 8 bootable DVD.

    b. On the ‘Windows Setup’ wizard click on ‘Next’ and click on ‘Repair your computer’.

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

    d. Click on ‘Troubleshoot’ then click on ‘Advanced Option’ and then click on ‘Command Prompt’.

    e. Type these commands on the Command Prompt:

    bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup

    c:

    cd boot

    attrib bcd –s –h –r

    ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old

    bootrec /RebuildBcd

    (Press Enter after each line of command)

    Following these steps will re-build the BCD.

    Hope the above information is helpful.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-09-12T12:39:13+00:00

    fsutil dirty query c:

    Returns: 'fsutil' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

    chkntfs /x c:

    Returns: They type of the file system is NTFS.

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