Stuck in Windows 8.1 repair loop - no recovery disc

Discussion in 'Windows 8' started by tylerjune, Nov 5, 2014.

  1. tylerjune

    tylerjune MDL Novice

    Nov 5, 2014
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    My Gateway machine was performing a windows update when the neighbourhood power went out. It was off for four hours. When I went to turn the computer back on, it said automatic repair the diagnosing your pc.....that lasted about 5 hours! Then a blue screen with options came up. When I went to pick the advanced options, I clicked accidentally on the first one and it rebooted into the repair loop again. Since it takes so long for the diagnostic part, when the blue screen came up again it was likely the middle of the night. I saw it at 7:00 am and tried to click the advanced options but the computer had gone to sleep by then (stupid thing..LOL) and so once again it got rebooted into the loop. Gateway refused to help since the warranty is up. I can't find a Recovery disc image for 8.1 to put on a usb stick, and I'm back to trying to find answers on my 12 year old machine running XP. If anyone has any suggestions for me I'm more than happy to have them. Oh, and I tried the boot to safe mode with alt+F10 but can't get that to work either. If I knew how to force a reset to factory defaults without being able to get into windows I would. I've been doing this for 3 days now and I was just starting to like 8.1 too :) Thanks in advance for any help at all.
     
  2. Snuffy

    Snuffy MDL Expert

    Jan 7, 2008
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    boot to your bootable media, what ever it is.
    move thru and down to x:command prompt
    there type this cmd " rstrui.exe /offline:C:Windows " without the " marks.

    if C: is your Boot drive OK if not then change to what ever your boot drive is....
    this is a MS command that restores back to you last known good restore point...

    99% of all corrupt no boots are fixed with this.. this is what i use...
    you also might try this: if you can get there.
    Bootable Media to Install...
    •From the Advanced options, select Command Prompt

    •Now, using the CD command, you need to change the directory to WindowsSystem32config folder, simply type cd %windir%system32config and hit Enter

    fix windows 8 boot winre cmd
    •Next, you need to rename the System and Software registry hives to System.001 and Software.001. To do so type the command given below one after the other and hit Enter ?ren system system.001
    ?ren software software.001

    •To use Refresh your PC, simply rename the System hive. In case, the Software hive is also corrupted, then also you are not allowed to use the Refresh your PC option. So, you need to rename the Software hive too. Upon renaming the Software hive, you won’t be to use Refresh your PC option, but only the Reset your PC option.
    •Lastly, type Exit to close the Command Prompt window.

    Now, Restart your windows 8 PC back to the Automatic Repair screen and Select Advanced options > Troubleshoot > Reset your PC or Reset your PC as per your requirement.

    Upon following the tutorial described here you can fix the Windows 8 booting issues or fix issues with automatic Repair, Refresh and Reset PC.