Windows 8 Error Code: 0xc0000185.

Anonymous
2013-12-09T20:33:51+00:00

When I startup my Windows 8 Asus laptop it shows the Asus logo but underneath the logo it says "Preparing automatic repair" Then it goes to a blue screen that says "Your PC needs to be repaired A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed . Error code: 0xc0000185 you'll need to use the recovery tools on your installation media" ect. also when I Press F8 for startup  settings it brings me something like this "File: \Windows\system32\winload.efi" Error Code: 0xc000000f" ... Please help! Also, my laptop was shutting itself off even when it's fully charged... I would very appreciated if someone would help me. Thank you for your time.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2015-01-21T16:29:34+00:00

Hello Pete,

Thank you for keeping us updated on the status of the issue and apology for the delayed response.

I understand the inconvenience that you have to go through due to this issue.

I would suggest you to create a Windows 8 bootable USB drive and the try the above steps provided by me.

**Note:**When you use System Restore to restore the computer to a previous state, programs and updates that you installed are removed.

Please reply with the results, in order to help you fix the issue.

Thank you

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Anonymous
2015-01-28T04:01:16+00:00

Hello Ana,

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

Was Windows 8 preinstalled on your laptop?

If yes, then I would suggest you to contact Asus support team and with the help of that serial number they might be able to assist you for the product key.

Hope this information helps.

Please feel free to reply, in case you face any other issues with Windows in future.        

Thank you

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Anonymous
2016-09-06T18:59:57+00:00

Hello,

Make sure that the BIOS settings of your computer would allow you to boot from an external device by following the steps below:

  1. Press the Power button to turn on your computer, then immediately tap on F2 key repeatedly until you see the BIOS screen.
  2. Go to Boot tab and make sure that Launch CSM is Enabled.
  3. Go to Security tab and then set Secure Boot Control to Disabled.
  4. Save and Exit out of BIOS to apply the changes.

After doing the above-mentioned steps, kindly attempt to boot to your USB Windows installer by doing the following:

  1. Press the Power button to turn on your computer, then immediately tap on Esc key repeatedly until you see the prompt showing "Please select boot device".
  2. Select your bootable USB media and then hit Enter.

You may also refer to all the information below about bootable USB operating system:

  1. After creating the bootable USB operating system installer, you need to boot to that drive. Simply connecting it to the machine and turning it on will not do anything.
  2. After successfully booting to the USB operating system installer, select the custom/advanced install and delete all partitions. (All data will be lost)
  3. After installing the operating system, download drivers from manufacturer's website.

Let us know how it goes.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-08-04T16:55:54+00:00

    Can't you create a Win8 installation USB from your Win7 machine? Then use the USB on your Win8 machine?

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-07-21T02:49:24+00:00

    OK, I have had this problem on 2 Acer V5's but my solution may just work for you.

    Basically you NEED to run CHKDSK. Unfortunately its impossible to do this with a Windows 8 installation that wont boot past "No bootable device" or "You need to repair your PC" and the F8 option does nothing or takes you to the next menu but none of those options work.

    For your consideration I have two options to try. 

    First go into your BIOS, F2, and make sure you see your HDD. If its not there you might as well stop as your HDD is damaged and needs to be replaced.

    Next follow Amit K Verma's guide and create Windows 8 installation media (USB) set PC to boot from USB and boot up. Set your options, click next, and at the bottom of the next window look for repair. You should see an option to the right for command prompt. Click it and type chkdsk /f C: and hit enter. This can take awhile to run depending on the errors or/and size of your HDD. When it is done type EXIT. You will go back to the repair options. Select to start windows. This will probably fail. But with Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot and you should now have the auto repair start. At this point you will ether boot or get a working option to

    restore.

    The other thing you can do, which I take no responsibility for, you will need to remove your HDD. Stop here if you have no skills to do this as you will only make it worse. But if you are adventurous you may be able to find a teardown for your laptop/netbook on Youtube. Both my V5's have teardown guides there.

    I then connected my Windows 8.1 HDD to my Windows 7 tower PC (you know for power users; games and the like) If you or a friend don't have one then I cant help you further. Why did I do this? Because Seagate has no option to use Disk Wizard from a bootable USB for W 8.1 to use its DOS mode repair and I thought I would try to repair the HDD first with the help of my W7 pc before I reformatted the drive and found out that the HDD was bad and to not waste my time. Its odd that Seagate has no option for a W8 bootable USB for DOS disk repair but still offers a "floppy" option.

    Make sure that in your W7 PC boots from its Main HDD first and that it can see your W8 HDD and set it as the second boot device.

    Now in my case it took about 15 mins. with a black screen at startup then it told me that one of my HDD's needed to be checked for consistency, it was the W8 HDD. Make sure it only checks the area of the disk where the OS is installed. In my case it was Acer C:. It will try to check all partitions just skip till you get to the OS. In my case it came up first and the others after which you will see the option to skip.

    After that I popped it back into my V5 and now the auto repair runs and the PC boots!

    Take note that if you have a V5 like mine there is no HDD lite and while it restores it just shows the Acer logo. It is working so let it run. You can hold your ear to the PC and hear the HDD spinning.

    UPDATE

    I just repaired another V5 that I could not repair using the W8 USB repair/install. It is similar to the method above but this time after attaching the HDD to my W7 PC it just booted right up into OS W7 but then installed the driver for the V5 HDD (this time it was a WD HDD)

    and asked for a reboot. After rebooting I selected the HDD with W8.1. All files were there and I could access all my documents. So to fix I selected the HDD with Properties, Tools, Error Checking and let it run. I did see a few errors listed and the report said that all were fixed. Shut down my PC and put the HDD back into the V5 and right away the V5 Acer logo came up with the spinner for a few mins and I was back in business.

    I cant explain why this has worked twice for me or why I couldn't repair this netbook with the repair USB or why W7 did repair it. I tried countless times to run the error check from the USB and tried to reset back to save point, when I could even get to that menu, and failed each time. But it worked so if you are having this problem I would highly suggest you try my method before reinstalling W8. If your like me you don't have a OEM install disk or a Key for W8 you have nothing to lose.

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