Windows 8 Disc not Working?????

Discussion in 'hardware' started by hawki, Jun 29, 2014.

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  1. hawki

    hawki Registered Member

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    Hi :)

    Yesterday I did a Windows 8 Refresh with my Windows 8 Disc. Windows Refresh either repairs or re-installs the Windows OS (I really don't know which, I believe it's a reinstall). A Refresh removes all of your installed programs but leaves your files, e.g.,Downloads, Documents.

    So after waiting for the program to refresh and then after downloading and installing 109 Important Updates my newly refreshed OS was dead as a doornail - nothing responded to a right or left mouse click. The pc boots into the non functional windows OS after a manual shutdown (turn-off the power).

    Now I can't get my Windows Disk to function to try another Refresh. The Disk boots and the first page responds when you click "Repair" and takes you to the page where when you click "Troubleshoot", which normally takes you to the page where the Refresh and Reinstall are located, that page is dead. It does not respond. When working normally when you mouse over the options on the first repair page they highlight and take you to the selected page when you clickon. My troubleshoot page is totally dead and does not respond to a click, thus preventing me from doing a Refresh or Install.

    What can I do now to restore a working Windows Optiono_O
     
  2. guest

    guest Guest

    The not so annoying way:
    Boot from a recovery CD/media and restore an image of the last time it was still working fine.

    The a lot more annoying way:
    I'm afraid you'll have to wipe the drive (reminder: everything will be nuked) and completely re-install the OS with the installation disc.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 30, 2014
  3. hawki

    hawki Registered Member

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    Hi thank you for offering your assistance:)

    1. I do not have an image :-( doh

    2. I do use a Raxco program called Instant Rescue, Luckily that remained in tact and contains pretty much a working version of my system. IR creates a recovery area and copies your working system to a recovery area. It has a pre-boot screen that allows you to boot to either the original or recovery area. I was surprised to see it survived because a Windows Refresh is supposed to wipe out all your installed programs. If you have to boot to the Rescue area you are then able to copy that area to your original area. I was only able to make a partial copy from my Rescue area to the original area but it was enough to get it unfrozen to make most of it functional but still had some serious issues like my Office was not working and I was unable to reinstall it and some other stuff.

    I was able to use the windows install disk by inserting it when windows was operating, my prior attempts were to boot from the Windows disk. In any event at 80% installation completion of the reinstall I got a message that Windows Failed to Install. Now my original area is totally locked and because of that I am unable to use the install disk because I can't click on "what should windows do with this disk" and I am unable to copy the Rescue area to the original area. So all I have on my PC is an operating system in the recovery area with all my installed programs and all my data and files such as Documents and Downloads.. Instant Rescue has a unique system that "Anchors/shares" certain files to Intant Rescue's operating system on my recovery area.

    I am trying to think of an appropriate gift for Bill Gates to send him witha note telling him to insert it where the sun doesn't shine.

    All of this started when I downloaded and installed a very tiny program that disables the Caps Lock key by changing one value in my registry. That's what first crashed my PC and made it totally inoperable. Amazing.
     
  4. guest

    guest Guest

    When re-installing the OS from the installation disc (booting from the disc), was the drive wiped/formatted? It usually fixes all the problems I had when the OS was messed up.
     
  5. hawki

    hawki Registered Member

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    Nope nothing was wiped because on rare occasions my main system is operable to some degree. But, for example I can't reinstall Office which no loger works.but can install other programs. It is operable about once every 20 reboots. It is on those rare occaisions I try to refresh or reinstall Windows but despite the fact the installation get 80% to 100% installed according to the Windows Installation Program, I get an error pop up saying that Windows failed to install.

    I am afraid to wipe the drive. First I don't know if I could but more importantly it would wipe my fully functioning Recovery Area.

    I was looking through the net for a solution and have seen many with a similar problem installing Windows 8. The supposed best solution is to uninstall A/Vs and unplug all USB devices except, of course your mouse and keyboard. It has worked for many but not for me.

    Although I have checked my disc several times could this be caused by some hardware Failureo_O Luckily my Raxco Recovery Area which contains everything on my Original Areara remains perfectly functional while I search for a solution and look for a new PC. Sadly, my PC will not let me copy my Recovery Area back to to my Original Area as that is how Instant Recovery is intended to work.

    I still can't believe that installing a 628 kb Caps Lock Disabling program caused all this damage to my system which appears more and more to be irreperable. Instead of a Caps Lock Program I got a system lock program :-( It's a freebie download on Softpedia by a developer I have a lot of respect for. He sold a very good Trojan scanner/remover in the late 90's. I have communicated with him and he doesn't understand it either. He uses the program himself, but I don't know if he uses Windows 8.
     
  6. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    On the rare occasions that you PC is working have you tried doing the Refresh from within Windows itself? (not use the disc)


    Do you have system restore turned off? If not you can also try that from within Windows when it is working.
     
  7. hawki

    hawki Registered Member

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    Hi Stapp :)

    The only way I know how to "refresh " Windows is by Booting from the Installation Disc or by starting the Installation Disk Set Up while Windows is running. Is there another wayo_O

    My system restore hasn't worked for years on Windows 7 or 8. I think Kaspersky's Self Protection has something to do with it but I'm not at all sure of that. It's turned on but If I create a restore point, my System restore never saves it after a reboot and almost never makes one on its own, either on an install or as a daily checkpoint.. On the rare occasion when I have needed a restore and there was actually an existing restore point, the restore has always failed.

    Maybe it's just that my PC is wearing down, I am on it 15/7, and its about 3 years old. For years I never had any need for a restore or reinstall with Windows 7 until just recently when uninstalling a trial Version of the new Zone Alarm Extreme crashed and totally borked my PC. One of my manufacturer's restore discs failed, they looked pretty degraded physically - I live in an area where its hot and very humid 7 months of the year and maybe that's the reason for the disc failure. When the PC crashed and restore failed it was 9PM Sunday eve and the only store open was a Target near me that was only selling Windows 8. I have now had to refresh or reinstall Windows 8 three times in the past 4 months.
     
  8. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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  9. hawki

    hawki Registered Member

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    Hello again stapp. Thanks for taking the time to find for me that web page.

    Evidently, that information contained on it is outdated. If you look down through the page you will see that it is based on The Developer's Preview of Windows 8. In the official released copy the Control Panel has been changed. There is no "General" on the left side. In fact there is nothing on the sides. I did use the Icon mode to go through every available screen and function on the Control Panel. Evidently, as far as I could see, the developers in their great wisdom decided to remove the ability to Refresh your PC internally from the control panel.

    I did change the configuration to a Diagnostic Start-Up but got the same result. After getting 80% through the installation, the Windows Install Failed error dialogue popped up :-(

    One benefit of this fiasco is that I have tried to Install Windows 8 so many times this week I now have memorized my Windows Key. Now how many people can say that? :)

    I will be able to use this PC as long as my Instant Rescue recovery area continues to operate as well as it does. I would hate to have to buy a new PC. I am totally intimidated by the prospect of building one. My personal circumstances are such that ordering a PC on-line is currently not a a viable option. I live in the Metro DC Area so the only real retail options for me are Micro-Center and Costco. I have not been able to get to a Costco yet because it's hard to get around being on crutches from a recent accident, and their online website contains many items that are not sold at their brick and mortar stores.

    The choices at Micro Center are very limited now. I have totally lost my respect for Micro Center which was one of my most favorite stores. On the high-end they are basically pushing the latest stupidly configured Dell's (XPS) with the latest Intel processors (4790) at ridiculously high prices. While these Dell's have the latest processors and 256 GB SSDs, they have low-power (460W) PSU's and a low tier, good performance to price ratio AMD graphics card that is prone to stop working. They also sell their own Power Spec line which are notorious for poor quality control in putting them together. They also sell a fairly-priced HP Phoenix that has a good processor (4770) and 600W PSU's but comes with a rock bottom GPU. I have had several discussions with HP and have yet to receive a definitive answer of how long a card can be put into the case and how many,if any, available connectors run from the PSU and if one is a 16 pin. It's unbelievable, but the HP Phoenix was marketed as a gaming rig and despite it's 600W PSU they have installed a rock bottom, 4 inch long GPU that runs from power off the slot rail.

    Among other things I do a lot of gaming on my PC. My current PC is a Gateway F/X made after the Acer takeover. Acer tried to make the new Gateway's mark in the PC world by entering into the mid-level gaming market with the extremely reasonably priced Gateway F/X series. They had near top of the line Intel processors, 8 gigs of memory expandable, and 500W PSUs and large cases that can take any card. Acer/Gateway no longer makes the F/X series but relies on it's Predator line, which is similar to the F/X series with a major exception being that the F/X series never blew up because of overheating as the first Predator did :). (The first Predator was appropriately named -- they actually did blow up and catch on fire.) I currently have a EVGA GTX 580 with 3 gigs of on board memory installed that is too good to not use in my next PC.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2014
  10. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    Sorry if mentioned. Can't you do a clean install 8.1 or install 7 instead?
     
  11. hawki

    hawki Registered Member

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    Hi zapjb :)

    The Windows 8 Install Disk always fails to install whether I start it from boot or while Windows is running. Didn't think about a clean install of 8.1. I will have to look into that. This AM I got one of those "Would you like to upgrade to Windows 8.1" banners but when I clicked yes nothing happened.

    Haven't tried to install Windows 7. One bad thing about Gateway is they do not supply you with a Windows Disc or a pre-made recovery set,you have to burn your own. A full set is a one-time burn. One of the 3 discs you can only burn once. But now that you mention it, I may be able to re-burn a new partial set which I believe includes the Windows OS.
     
  12. WSFuser

    WSFuser Registered Member

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  13. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    hawki I am on Win 8.1 and I can get to the option from within Windows.

    Charms Bar--select Settings

    Then select Change PC settings (which is at the bottom)

    At the PC Settings page select Update and Recovery.

    Then select Recovery... the one you may like to try is the top one.

    (By the way, the Advanced Start Up option that you see there is where you can boot directly into Safe Mode by selecting Restart Now. This of course, as well as giving you the safe mode option, also gives you the option to do a system restore)
     
  14. hawki

    hawki Registered Member

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    Hi stapp :)

    I can't install the 8.1 upgrade. Whenever I click on upgrade the page just closes and nothing happens.

    On Windows 8 doing as you suggested takes me to a page where that "General" on the left side you spoke of earlier is present. Clicking it I get several choices, none are referred to as Update and recovery but there are selections for "Refresh","Re-install"."Advanced Start-Up".

    When I click "Refresh" I get the following error pop up"

    "systemreset.exe - Bad Image

    C\windows\system 32\Dism\ Imaging provider.dll is either not designed to run on windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media................error Oxc0000125"

    :-(

    I have not yet tried a full reinstall, fearing it would not complete and at the same time wipe out my working Instant Rescue Recovery area [as well as all my files (which I do have backed-up on an external hard drive that I now keep in a draw because of Cryptolocker paranoia)]

    There are some things I MUST use my PC for so I won't attempt a full reinstall until I have located a reasonably priced replacement for my current PC.

    Tuesday will be interesting. I noticed one of the optional updates that I never installed referenced in general as an update for win 64, so I thought it might contain some bug fix not everyone had a need for. It downloaded and "installed" but configuring the update failed and rolled it back. If I can't install this coming Tuesday's updates, I have read there are several, I guess I will have no choice other than try a reinstall even if I have not found an acceptable replacement by then.
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2014
  15. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    hawki,

    Do you have the Win8.1 or Win8.11 ISO? Right click setup.exe and Run as Administrator.
     
  16. hawki

    hawki Registered Member

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    I was able to do a successful clean install from the Windows 8 disc. :)

    Thank you stapp and all others for your thoughtfulness in trying to help me with this issue.

    Last week I could not do anything from booting with the disc because my system was so messed up it only allowed me two working clicks on the disc. Somehow that probblem got resolved.
     
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