Windows 7 / 8 Dual Boot - Locked In Automatic Repair / Can't Refresh
Jan 23, 2013
I have a Windows 7 / Windows 8 dual boot setup that was initially working fine. When attempting to update the graphics drivers in Windows 8 last week, something went wrong and the system crashed. Now when I attempt to boot into Windows 8, it goes into the Attempting Automated Repairs loop which never finishes, even when left running for several hours. I attempted to boot off of the Windows 8 installation CD and do a Refresh but it just errors out saying Windows could not be refreshed.
I have a PC that I have been running Win 8 Consumer Preview since it was available. I have two HD's partitioned to dual boot Windows XP SP3 and Win 8, with Win 8 set as default. I have been running Win 8 over 95% of the time. Everything has been working fine until this morning.
When I came out of screensaver in Win 8 and attempted to get to my login page nothing happened. So i shut down using the power button, after that Win 8 would not start, nor could I get to the dual boot screen. After a number of tries i finally got the dual boot screen and attempted to start in XP. XP nearly completely started (I had desktop, task bar, desktop icons, etc), but then it shut down as well and displayed a blue screen and error message "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.".
I have tried starting from my XP install disk with the same error message ("A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer." ). I have tried starting from USB flash drive that has my Win 8 Install. It is the same USB flash drive that i originally used to install Win 8. It hangs at the 'fish' screen. I have tried just starting the machine several times, but it hangs at 'Preparing Automatic Repair'.
I have everything disconnected (printers. ethernet, USB Wifi adaptor). The only things connected are my keyboard/mouse, speakers, and (1) 17" monitor. I normally run a 23" widescreen and the 17" monitor.
I have disconnected the slave HD and tried booting with XP install disk and USB Win 8 with no success.
Currently, both HD's are connected. I tried a normal start up and the machine is stuck at 'Preparing Automatic Repair'
This has never happened before such that I could not boot into either XP or the XP Install CD or the Win 8 USB Install flash drive, in order to attempt repairs to MBR or Win 8 troubleshooting diagnostics.
Complete error message on Blue screen:
"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Run CHKDSk /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.
I accidentally removed a usb cable from a powered usb hub , and a volume slider of some other program appeared superimposed and floating above my music making program , so I restarted the pc. From then on , it wouldn't start , and kept saying preparing automatic repair, then reached 40% and wouldn't go any further.
I unplugged my 2 external drives because they weren't showing in the bios , and plugged them into my laptop to check they were ok , and I am relieved to say they are.
Since i removed the drives , my desktop ( asus ) will eventually arrive at the blue recovery screen , but all these things that are supposed to fix it , aren't working.
When I try to refresh , it says the drive where windows is installed is locked. I've tried to do a system restore from 3 different restore points and none of them have worked ( one actually cited a mozilla profile as being the cause )
Re-image wont work because it cant find the image file , which is on one of my external drives which are now unplugged. Automatic repair diagnoses , but then says it cant repair. It also will not boot into safe mode.
I can use command prompt, and was hoping I could rename the system hive name , but the command prompt says X=windowssystem32.
I've tried cd%windir%system32config , but it says " the drive , the path, or the filname is not valid" . I have successfully ran regedit from the command prompt .....
I had no reasons to expect anything untoward before yesterday. The automatic repair thing happened before , about 4 months ago , but i was always able to get out of it by switching it off at the wall. Now that doesnt work and its in an endless loop .
I have hirens bootcd but there are a lot of things on it that i dont know how to use. I was able to get mini xp working via hirens but couldn't access system restore.
My PC fails to boot into Windows and launches Automatic Repair to attempt to repair Windows. When i try to refresh or reset alway get msg " there is a problem resetting your pc, no changes are made" My PC is preinstalled so no I don't have recovery CD/DVD Here pics
You have Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro installed on your PC. Your PC fails to boot into Windows and launches Automatic Repair to attempt to repair Windows.
Automatic Repair is unable to repair your PC and you select "Advanced options". After selecting "Troubleshoot", you choose to either "Refresh your PC" or "Reset your PC".
In this scenario, recovery may fail and you are returned back to the main WinRE screen. This issue may occur if the System or Software registry hives have become damaged or corrupted.
To attempt to resolve this issue, follow the steps below. Following these steps should only be used if you are attempting to use the "Refresh your PC" or "Reset your PC" options in Windows RE because your system is in a non-bootable state.
-After Automatic Repair fails to repair your PC, select "Advanced options" and then "Troubleshoot". -Select "Advanced options" and then select "Command Prompt". -If prompted, enter in the password for the user name. -At the Command Prompt, go to the windowssystem32config folder by typing the following command: cd %windir%system32config. -Rename the System and Software registry hives to System.001 and Software.001 by using the following commands: ren system system.001 ren software software.001
I did all that but when I tried to rename the Software.001 file the system responds: "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process" ...
I tried to create a Ubuntu start up usb key so that i could maybe get in and rename the file but that presented more problems.
Since upgrading to windows 8/8.1 x64 i have twice had this situation when during boot up windows tries automatic repair & fails , every time i restart same repair fail happens , its stuck in this cycle , neither "Refresh" or "Reset" option works , . I have to do a fresh format & install , loose all my files stored in the OS partition , I even tried to recover the files using linux boot cd but the folders were inaccessible/corrupted .
I tried every solution i could find to make it boot including Unable to refresh or reset PC after Automatic Repair fails in Windows 8 but nothing worked .
This has happened twice in the one year since i have been using Win 8 , Is there any way to avoid this from happening i future ?
Just reinstalled windows 8, loaded everything up and had it perfect. Then I installed a windows update (could it have been 8.1?) and then my computer would not boot. It got stuck on the windows 8 logo with the circle just spinning. After I restart it tries to automatically repair but that doesn't work. I popped the Windows 8 disc in and tried to do a system restore using a restore point but it said "You need to select an OS. Please restart the system and select an OS". ??? I'm not dual booting! Windows 8 is the only OS installed!
Tried safe mode but the windows logo just hangs. Any possibilities to salvage this before doing yet ANOTHER reinstall or refresh or whatever.
Acer Aspire V5 is the PC I am using. I turn it on, the boot fails and the pc restarts. Then begins an automatic repair, which crashes and the PC turns off. It is a loop I cannot get out of. I don't have a Windows 8 Disc or anything like that.
It is a Toshiba satellite L675 and the stickers indicate it is a windows 7 model. However, when I open the machine and turn it on, I am welcomed by the windows eight logo. Past this, I get an endless wait time. It alternates from no message to preparing automatic repairs from boot to boot. I have tried to go into its preperscibed setup mode (f2 at startup) and the boot menu (f12 at startup) neither of these have taken me to a bios or any other interface. I have tried ctrl+f8 and have gotten no success. I have also tried every function key and ctrl plus every function key individually.
Some Three Months ago, I updated online my WIN 8 Pro OS to WIN 8.1,Since when it has run without any problems, but Unfortunately this morning,when I switched on my PC, I got the following Messages.
1. Preparing Automatic repair 2. Diagnosing Your PC 3. Automatic Repair 4. Your PC did not start correctly - Pressed restart button 5. Repeat of 1, 2, 3 6. Pressed Advance Options button 7. Pressed Continue button 8. Repeat of 1,2, 3 9. Pressed Troubleshoot button 10. Pressed Refresh your PC 11. There is a problem with refreshing your PC 12. Pressed Start Up Repair 13. Start Up repair couldn't repair PC 14. See D:windows system32logfilesmtsattrail.txt 15. Tried System restore but got a message saying No System restores available 16. Selected option for booting from my old WIN 7 Disk
After a short wait my WIN 7 OS booted up successfully and I was able to see the WIN 8.1 OS Disc . I ran my Kaspersky AV on it which came up 'clear', I then ran the OS Disc test which also came up with no errors. Also I Cannot find the log message referred to in 14
Unfortunately I only have my WIN 8 CD, and WIN 8 System Repair disk, which will not work with my current Windows 8.1 installation. I can get into my BIOS by pressing the "del" key on boot, but cannot get into the F8 menu for Safe Mode options.
Computer was running slow so I did a reset of windows. It worked but the problem still existed. My computer froze so I turned my laptop off and back on only to find it stuck in that automatic repair loop. I tried system restore, no luck. I made that bootable usb for repairing and that didn't work either. Straight repair won't work either. I have tried every option and am completely lost as to how to proceed. I need the files off the hard drive but don't have a way to connect it to anything to be able to access the files.
I had my system set up for Dual boot (on separate hard drives) for both Win 8.1 and Win 7. Win 8.1 developed a problem and unfortunately the only back up I had (my fault) was for Win 8 before I installed Win 7 and the dual boot.
I reinstalled from the backup and then updated Win 8 to 8.1. Both the Win 8.1 64 bit and the Win 7 64 bit work OK but the dual boot is now missing in Win 8.1.
Is there any way of repairing/creating the dual boot, either in Win 7 or Win 8, without using BCD Edit?
Ok, So, I started up my laptop this morning and the screen was all wonky, It was light blue and there were swiggly white bits, I waited a bit and then restarted it.
The Auto Repair started up when the computer started back up so I left it alone for a bit
"Automatic Repair couldn't repair your PC"
I was like Ok, I checked the logfiles "Boot critical file c:/ci.dll is corrupt"
It won't let me refresh or restore my computer.
Forgot to say, If I restart it just loops back to the auto repair.
My Dell laptop, new this past Christmas and running Win 8, has entered into a repair mode: "Repairing disk errors. This may take over an hour to complete"
Have decided to take the plunge to reset my computer (because Windows Store would not open). Booted from the installation disk but cannot Reset or Refresh, I get "The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again."
I upgraded to windows 8.1 when it was available and the first time I turned off my computer after upgrading, it all started and now I'm stuck in this automatic repair loop. To top it all off my mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3... has now become my main issue.
I have a bootable flash drive loaded with windows 8.1 and a bootable DVD loaded with windows 8.1 but my mobo supports only HDD and CD-rom...
I have no clue what to do, as I can't use a repair disc to repair my computer and I CANNOT Reset my PC, I have way to many files that I need on my HDD.
It's only been two days since I got windows 8 Pro on my alienware. Recently I force shut down because it was not shutting down. And when I open it today it gives an error message saying that Automatic repair could not fix the problem.
The error code is: "D:WINDOWSSystem32LogfilesSrtSrtTrail.txt
I have tried everything. I have used command prompt and the following commands have also been tried.
Nothing has worked so far. I have tried everything except a fresh installation of windows. I have already taken a backup previously. I am a little apprehensive about formatting again.
When I turn my windows 8 pc on it shows the Windows icon with the little thing swirling around it, however if I click go to set up it sends me to the same page but says preparing automatic repair. This page has been up for over 2 hours with no progress, any support? When I try to boot off a disc it does the same thing just comes to the black screen with the light blue colored windows icon and shows it loading but makes no progress.
my Gateway SX 2370 shutted down during system restore and now my computer keeps running automatic repair. And I getting tired of this continuous operation....
My laptop is stuck on preparing automatic repair! I've tried shift+f8, I've tried them separately. Nothing is working! I have no windows 8 install disc. The only thing I have access to is the laptop. Can I in someway fix the laptop
A couple of days ago, I was on steam on my ASUS X550L Notebook when it suddenly blue screened and shut down. I waited a couple of minutes and turned it back on, and it went to the ASUS automatic repair system. After 6 hours of my laptop being stuck on the repair system, I shut it down. I waited around a minute and turned it back on and ran it through login, where it blue screened again and has not turned on since. If I go to try to turn it on, the lights in the bottom of the laptop flash for a couple of seconds, but it never turns on. I am okay with wiping the computer if I can get my files on an external hard drive, don't want to redownload them steam files.
Recently was running a backup program and suddenly I get the Windows 8 blue error screen (the one with the mocking '' icon) and system dies. I turn on and it seems to booting very slowly then it proceeds to do the pre login screen installation of updates. After half an hour or so and with updates on around 70%, system dies again. Now when I turn the machine on it appears to alternate between either hanging for ever on the Windows 8 loading screen or attempting to run an 'Automatic Repair' which invariably results in a blank screen and no fix.
Having read several 'Automatic Repair loop' posts on the net, it appears I need to load the recovery disc and run repair or restore programs from there. Of course the CD I made failed (crappy disc?) so I had to search my original licence email and use the provided link to download and create a new installation disc from a working machine. This disc loads and gives me the option to install Win 8 (presumably a fresh install with loss of files) or a troubleshoot menu. Running the automatic repair option results in a rather inane 'Couldn't do it' message and gives a blank path to a log file. The system restore option prompts me to 'Restart and select operating system before trying this' and i'm not sure how to do this as no such option is given at boot.
I initially had a different processor and motherboard, but after changing both of those due to failures, everything is now working fine, until I do a restart. The main restart issue is that it gets stuck in an automatic repair loop until I can get to Safe Mode and then restarting from there somehow undoes the updates from Windows Update. If I keep those updates off, though, and just try to do a general restart, I get a BSOD Watchdog error. I'll include that log, just in case. It'll be in CBS.zip since I'm including the whole CBS folder from WindowsLogs. I'm really not sure what's wrong here.
Working as a Mainframe programmer, I am automatically assumed to be an expert in all things IT and so a friend of the family has passed me a laptop to repair
What we have is the common Automatic Repair loop. The computer restarts, states "Preparing Automatic Repair" and "Diagnosis..." etc etc, and then does it all again. I cant get to the recovery menu or bios having tried different combinations of Shift F8, F12, F2.
I have found so far recommends booting from disk. Unfortunately, the owner of the laptop has no manual or box or any record whatsoever of the product key.
The laptop came with windows 8 preinstalled. I have tried to boot from a Windows 7 DVD, but it does not appear to be recognised and continues to do the automatic repair loop.
My Toshiba laptop/Windows 8.1 installed a VLC Media player & Malware bytes today. I was instructed to Restart as 'drivers not working properly' & since then have been on the Automatic Repair loop. It says it cannot fix it - log file: C:WINDOWSSystem32LogfilesSrtSrtTrail.txt, & I tried a few System Restore points but that just says -
System Restore could not access a file. This is probably because an anti-virus program is running on the computer . Temporarily disable your antivirus program and retry System Restore. You can try System Restore again If you continue to see this error, you can try an advanced recovery method.
Thing is I can't get into Windows or my laptop to disable the antivirus program.
I don't have any CD or DVD & no product key as the disc has been misplaced.
I have a new gateway lap top and after trying to install updates it crashed and went to black screen with Gateway logo on it and underneath the logo states "Preparing Automatic Repair" and is frozen there. It is a Windows 8 operating system. Now it states "Scanning and Repairing drive (C):1%complete. and just stuck there............................
