Updates :: Windows 8.1 Upgrade Crashed System Entirely - Repeat BSODs
Nov 5, 2013
I have a Toshiba laptop (Portege R835-P56X). I was running Windows 8 upgraded from Win 7. I successfully upgraded to Windows 8.1 but was having some problems with the Wifi. I followed the instructions to reset the TCP/IP Autotuning. When I restarted, Windows failed to start, and all repair & recovery options failed, so I cannot even access System Restore.
Windows attempts Automatic Repair then shows options to "Restart" or "Advanced Options" but I am unable to click either one--the keyboard and keypad are both completely non-responsive.
Unfortunately, I do not even have a Win 8 disk to use for a repair. I do have a disk image from just before I upgraded to Win 8.1. The problem is: how to access it?
I did a legitimate upgrade from Windows 7 and have a license for Win 8 with Media Center, but unfortunately cannot locate my original email, so Windows won't send me a Windows 8 DVD.
I'm tempted to simply restore to factory settings and Windows 7, which I'm running on my other PC without all these hellish problems. I hate Windows 8 anyway.
My laptop hp pavilion g6 has been trying to update and it has a blue background saying "Configuring Windows Updates 12% complete" it's has been like this for almost 2 hours now I tried to remove the battery but when it boot it comes back to the update.
Yesterday, I clean-installed Windows 8 Pro x86 on an old Dell Vostro 1400 laptop which had been running Windows 7 Ultimate, and it activated and ran fine, without even a single exclamation point in Device Manager. I applied the update necessary to make the Store offer 8.1 and proceeded to install it as I've done on a couple other machines. After downloading the thing, it errored out with:
Couldn't install Windows 8.1
Contact your PC manufacturer to see if you can upgrade the System BIOS
When I clicked the OK button, it then gave me the informative and grammar-challenged error box:
Something happened and the Windows 8.1 couldn't be installed. Please try again. Error code: 0xc1900104
Try again Cancel
Ever the optimist, I clicked Try again, and of course, it proceeded to download all over again from scratch, only to error out in the same way. I then downloaded all the Windows 8 updates, although just the one had been necessary on my other machines that successfully upgraded to 8.1, and tried again, only to get the same result.
Today, I've discovered the Windows 8.1 Compatibility Assistant, which avoids the lengthy download of the upgrade every time (Microsoft, maybe you should run it implicitly before downloading 3 GB of transient data), and it tells me:
This PC doesn't meet system requirements
Contact your PC manufacturer to see if you can upgrade the System BIOS
Obviously, no BIOS updates are available, and what exactly is the problem here with my BIOS. The obvious googling turned up nothing except some people with Sony Vaios that had the same problem, which was corrected with a BIOS update, and of course, there is no information on what their BIOS update does to make the 8.1 upgrade possible.
I've just upgraded from win8 to win 8.1 using the windows update (store), my questions are :
1. Can the ISO file that was automatically downloaded by the system during windows 8 upgrade to 8.1 be saved or backed up? the download was about 2.6 GB.
2. If so can the backed up file be used to do a "clean install" in future on the same machine?
I have had to system restore 3 or 4 times in the last week or so as Windows 8 refuses to boot after installing the latest updates discovered from the last couple of weeks (though some are from December 2012)
I have unchecked all the current updates and have decided against installing them as they seem to be preventing Windows from booting.
Pattern - "Restart to install updates"
Restart locks on the start screen - Restart again and locks again (repeat this process 3x)
"Windows is automatically repairing..." - Fails
"Windows must restore settings to a previous time..." - Usually succeeds, sometimes fails.
Then I can get back into Windows.
As soon as I install these updates, I won't get back into Windows until I system restore since before the updates and my build won't remain stable unless I prevent Windows from installing these updates.What could be going on?
They are quite big updates (totalling ~740mb and have all been discovered in the last week or so though some date back to late last year)
A couple months ago I put together a new computer with these specs: Asus M5A99FX MotherboardAMD FX-4300 3.8Ghz Quad Core CPU8GB Corsair Dominator RAMThermaltake TR2-600 PSUAsus Silent 210 Video CardWindows 8 ProfessionalWestern Digital 1TB Black Hard Drive
It seemed to work fine for the first month and then suddenly every day or two it would throw a BSOD and not always the same one. The various BSOD stop codes have been 0x00000139, 0x0000001a, 0x00000019, 0x00000001, 0x0000000a and as far as I can tell no one happens more than any other. Also not only BSOD's but I've seen a number of disk related errors as well:A corruption was discovered in the file system structure on volume C:.
A corruption was discovered in the file system structure on volume Boot The driver detected a controller error on DeviceHarddisk1DR1 I believe that the BSOD's preceded the start of the disk related errors. Various things that I've tried to identify a hardware problem: Ran Seagate Seatools both short and long test and the hard drives passes bothRan Memtest86+ for a full day with no errorsUpdated the Catalyst chipset drivers from the version on the driver cd to the latest available from the AMD websiteSwapped the Thermaltake PSU for a Corsair PSU
I've put together four AMD based machines in the last four months with various Asus motherboards and mostly similar specs, the first three have Windows 7 Pro installed and work perfectly but this fourth one nothing I've done has made any difference and I can't find a hardware based problem although I suppose there's always a chance it's a bad CPU or motherboard. If that's the case how would I know that and which part it is?
In my laptop, SFC or DISM cannot fix corrupt files so I have to manually replace them but can these corrupt system files cause BSODs? Im asking because I am having BSODs ...
I got a new Dell XPS 8700 a few days ago, and have been getting pretty random BSODs always containing ntoskrnl.exe as the cause on my blue screen viewer. They tend to happen sometimes in game, on game closing and once on start-up. Some games I can play for hours and no blue screen some I play for a while and I get one. I've tested all my RAM and my HDD for bad sectors and errors.
I have uploaded my dump files and system info
UPDATE: I'm not 100% positive but it seems like these BSODs only happen on games that have access to an internet connection. It has never happened on games that are single player only.
I've been having 3 different BSODs the last while. SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION, KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR, and SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED. The bug check codes are 0x1000007e or 0x0000003b for the system_service_exception.
My laptop is running windows 8.1, it is an Asus G46vw. I've updated my video drivers, both intel and nvidia. I've updated other drivers that i can find updates for. I've run memtest 86+ 5.01 on both sticks of ram individually, and they both pass multiple passes. I've also updated my Intel SSD to the newest firmware.
The crashes happen when the computer is waking up from both sleep and hibernate. They have been more frequent lately (4 crashes the last 9 days). I've attached the files from sf diagnostic tool.
is there a way to migrate an upgrade license? i try to explain it better.
i bought a windows 8 pro upgrade license and activated on a windows 7 pc now i would like to restore windows 7 and use windows 8 on another pc is it possible to migrate in some way that upgrade license (maybe with a phone call activation)?
I came back to my laptop 8 pro to find a blue band across the screen with an upgrade notification. I don't want it(8.1). Can I stop that notification coming up again. It did lock the screen and I had to log out to get arround it.
I have an image of Windows 8.1 on a laptop I am testing with and would like to install/upgrade to 8.1 pro to test our product when running on a domain (thus the need for pro). How do I do this upgrade using the MSDN bits available? I would really prefer to not to a clean install if I can avoid it because the bump to 8.1 pro has to be minimal from an upgrade point of view.
I called microsoft activation center and the only suggestion they have is clean install of windows 8 and redo the upgrade because the media center activation key was expired (after the promotion period). It wasted me an hour to make the call and talk with the manger (employee id 2814). They sound like it is none of their business.
can i upgrade my laptop from windows 8 to windows 8.1 using a system builder iso?
my VAIO shipped with pre-installed windows 8 on it and no serial stick, so i extracted the serial from BIOS, it is a Core edition of windows 8 x64,(don't know if i got single language or not!) and found someone that shared a genuine untouched iso of windows 8.1 non-PRO OEM x64 for system builders,
so if i use it to upgrade from 8 to 8.1 does it accept my serial after the installation assuming i enter the generic serial in the installation? and does it differ from my own edition of windows and do i lose anything or any info will change on the laptop using this upgrade method?
I recently purchased a Acer Desktop PC, well recently was in Feb/March of this year.
I tried to refresh the system. All worked fine until I rebooted the system. After I input my log on password in it a screen comes on saying that windows cannot be activated at this time. Please try later or input the product key.Also I cannot download any updates, I presume because of the activation.
The Pc was purchased New and had windows 8.1 installed with no installation disks or product keys in sight. After much searching I managed to get the product key, manually input it and Nada, Nothing! It would not accept it.
I was running windows 8.1 back in January and it crashed during an update. After that, the system wouldn't start and just kept on going round in circles trying to fix itself. (See thread 'Solved: Can't fix windows 8.1, PC locked. Last post 28-2-2014.)
Under diagnostic tests at a local PC repair shop, a hard drive failure seemed to be the problem. Since it was under warranty, it went back to PC World who sent it back to Lenovo. I got it back in March but all they did was a system reset, putting it back on windows 8.
Everything is now working fine apart from one fact. It won't update. I just get the 'failure configuring updates, reverting changes' message. My metro tiles stopped working yesterday as well. I presume this is also an update issue. Under investigation it appears updates have never been installed. I came across a message saying the place where windows stores updates has been moved. How do I repair this, since the windows update troubleshooter doesn't work? I am fairly conversant in DOS, but it's been a while.
I'm using a Lenovo Ideacentre B340 running windows 8 with the following spec:
Intel Pentium CPU G645 @ 2.90GHz DDR3 SDRAM Lenovo Mahobay motherboard 440GB Hard Drive
I have enabled safemode startup on the F8 key and everything of importance is backed up.
After installing Windows 8 upgrade over Win7 on two desktops and one laptop, I ran sfc /scannow (in an administrator command box) as I usually do after new installations, and in all three cases sfc found corrupt system files and repaired them. So downloading the upgrade and installing might find running sfc useful!
In our small office, we've made the decision to bring in a server. Right now, we have multiple PCs installed with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, both basic OEM editions; and several others installed with Windows 7 Home Premium OEM.
In order to insert them into the server's domain, I'm forced to upgrade them to their respective Professional editions, for which I've recently received a VLSC license.
Now, I've been trying to use the MAK keys to upgrade my current OEM versions with no success. Attempting to "Add Features," using 'slui.exe' and 'slmgr.vbs' to install the new key all come back with an error that the keys can't be used.
My question, as such, is whether it is even possible to upgrade Windows 8 Basic OEM to Windows 8 (or 8.1) Pro Volume License?
I wonder whether one or more of 13 recent Windows Updates has caused an issue. I can use System Restore to take my PC back to September 7th, three days before the Windows Updates were installed (there is just a Java update that has taken place since that I would have to carry out again). Alternatively, I can uninstall the Windows Updates one at a time or all together to see whether that rectifies the situation. Is there a preference? Should I uninstall from the highest KB number downwards if I uninstall the Updates one at a time?
Been running this system since 2010 win7 and upgraded to win 8.
When I switched over to win 8 I also bought an ssd drive (C) and it seemed to be working fine ever since.
I recently bought a couple 3TB drives and wanted to replace the old HDD (F), installed the drives, transferred all data off F and then shut down the pc. I took F out of the pc and it won't boot.
Going from loads of tutorials on here I found that F was listed as active and a system drive.
Any attempts at making it inactive and activating C resulted in nothing. I used my startup repair disc but there was no OS listed to repair??
Whenever C is active and F inactive, I've no options at all with startup repair.
After updating windows 8 when I try to launch system properties, explorer hangs and restarts itself but I noticed that it gives me activation section Product ID:Not Available.
I have a sony vaio laptop which came with a pre-installed windows 8 OS. I recently upgraded it to windows 8.1. After the upgrade, I have observed that many softwares that are actually installed on the system are not listed in the apps list, such as Microsoft office, autocad, freemake, etc. It becomes really inconvenient to open any new file of these software.
I am trying to update my system to the new Windows 8. I am already operating on the old one, so the update should be free. My computer will not load the store to allow me to update my software.
Acer Aspire V5 laptop that was running an OEM Windows 8 to upgrade to 8.1.
After selecting the Upgrade to Windows 8.1 via the store, the system went through it's install procedure, however after it does an auto reboot, it gives you a blank screen with the message No Operating System found, in the upper left corner.
But, you can turn the machine off and back on, and it will boot just fine. However if you select restart it does the same thing "no operating system found", on restart and again you must power down and power back on.
I have searched for fixes, but all seem to point to some sort of re-install process. I am not to crazy about the idea of re-installing to factory settings or doing a repair back to Windows 8 and attempting to upgrade again, are their any known shorter fixes for this?
And if I do go back to Windows 8, and try to upgrade again, what is to say it won't happen again?
I have a Toshiba (satellite) laptop and it has just been upgraded to Windows 8.1. I made recovery discs before the upgrade but would like to backup again after the upgrade so i don't have to revert to the factory set-up or refresh option as I have already had that experience and i don't want to go that route again! My laptop is only 9months old & running fine so far with no issues, i can back-up my documents etc to my flash drive but i would like to back up, 'or do you call it copying', the whole setup so if i have a problem i can re-install the whole lot as it stands from today. I have increased the system restore percentage bar to allow more restores points as another safety option.
I upgraded to 7 to 8 Pro using usb to do clean install. I want to reinstall again from usb and change the system language from French to English as not everything comes up in English by changing language settings. Device descriptions, system accounts, bitlocker screens are still French.
Is this possible? When I try the installation instructions are in French. Do I need an English ISO or can I change the one I have?
I have upgraded my Windows 8 PC to 8.1 yesterday and it seemed like everything is working fine until I tried to create System Image. I got an error 0x80780119 saying that there is to little space on one of the partitions.
I started looking into this problem and indeed one of the partitions does not meet the requirements. There are following partitions on my drive:
Partition 1 has only 13MB free space. Partition 2 has 70MB free space, partition 3 is MSFTRES, partition 4 is my C drive with around 35GB free and partition 5 is not included in system image. Partitions were create like this during installation of Windows 8 - clean install from scratch. I am using UEFI so the drive is GPT formatted.
So I thought, OK I can resize my C drive a little, move the partitions and expand the 1st one. I tried using GParted but it is not able to move the MSFTRES partition. It does not recognize the file system on it.
So the question is: Is it possible to "clean up" the 1st partition in anyway? If not, is there anything special about MSFTRES partition? Or can I just remove it and create it a little further and just flag it as msftres with GParted?
I have windows 8.1 on a lenovo laptop. A week ago there was an update and I installed it. But after that I first noticed that there was no sound. The volume control has always a red cross and I can't adjust it. Whenever I go to control panel the window freezes. Same goes windows update/recovery/system restore and other pc settings. I think something went wrong with installing the update so i want to go back to a point before that update. But how do i do that when i cant go to control panel/windows update etc.?