I downloaded the manual 3 times, 2 version and non of them has the BIOS settings, so difficult tell more. As your HDD is a new one, there shouldn't be a problem with that. Unfortunately you didn't have any more warranty for that machine, so, if you take it to the Asus Service, it would cost some bucks! Because you used the Install Media on different machine with no problems on the others, it seems to be an hardware problem on this laptop. If you could, try to install Windows 7 and if that works, don't install any Apps, just try to upgrade to Windows 8.
Sounds like a good plan, I will perform the upgrade now and will report back on if it solved anything And compatible mode is IDE. So enhanced would be AHCI/SATA
It was set to enhanced all this time. But I thought, why not try IDE mode and see if that does any good. Still downloading Windows 7 updates. When those are finished I will install 8. (Lucky I had an ISO with SP1)
Well I was at the point of giving up, but the last thing I will try to solve this is the upgrade seeing as I don't want to waste another day on trying to get Windows 8 working properly
That's really wired!! Could you check the Event log if there is any hint? Right click on Computer (in Windows Explorer/File Manager) and click Manage. Click on Event Viewer and click the + in front of Error. Check for errors regarding booting the OS. May that gives a explanation.
Never been inside the event log. Uploaded a printscreen for clearance. I can translate if needed. What error should I look into?
If you in Event Viewer and highlight do a right click on the lines with error like Kernel-Event Tracing, and click on View All Instances of This Event, it will open a new windows and show all error's related with an detailed explanation in the lower part of the windows. In that lower part are 2 Tabs: General and Details. In Details you'll get the full available details include file names involved. You could also click on that link: Event Log Online Help for even more information. Here you'll have to look up every single error to get an clue what the hell is going on with your computer and system. Hope that brings you a step further!
Is there any way to just disable the video starting on every boot? The notebook just works fine and I can't get anything out of the event log on what could cause it.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] "EnableFirstLogonAnimation"=dword:00000000 Added this to the registry and now it just skips the video. Booting will only take 5 seconds longer or so due to the "Preparing Devices". I can live with this solution.
just for grins, any chance you might have tried this in an elevated command prompt type Code: ren c:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml pending.old and reboot.