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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
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

Was this answer helpful?

200+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

156 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2014-09-11T13:01:53+00:00

    Hello Seth,

    Thank you for the update.

    Please use bcdboot c:\windows command again with USB recovery drive plugged-in.

    If it does not help, then you may perform power drain. Please follow these steps:

    a. Shutdown the computer and unplug the power cable from the computer.

    b. Press and hold the power button of your computer for 30 seconds to drain the power.

    c. Reconnect the power cable and start your computer.

    Thank you

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2014-09-10T15:24:11+00:00

    bcdboot c:\windows

    Returned: Failure when attempting to copy boot files.

    bootsect /nt60 all /force /mbr

    This seems to provide an explanation of the tool, but did not correct the problem upon system restart.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2014-09-10T14:23:49+00:00

    Hello Seth,

    Thank you for keeping us updated on the status of the issue.

    I would suggest you to follow these steps and check the issue.

    a. Open command prompt in recovery options.

    b. Type the following commands in command prompt and press Enter after each command.

    bcdboot c:\windows

    bootsect /nt60 all /force /mbr

    c. Close command prompt and restart the computer.

    I hope this information helps.

    Thank you

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2014-09-10T13:59:13+00:00

    chkdsk/f/r returns:

    The type of the file system is NTFS. 

    Cannot lock current drive.

    Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments