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windows 8 will not boot / repair or anything

Hi,

 

When windows 8 came out i decided to jump on it

 

So bought a brand new REVODrive X3 ( 256 GB) and used this as my os drive

I also have 1tb apps drive , 1 tb data drive and a variety of other drives

 

Installed windows 8 and everything was great

 

Have taken a system image 7th Jan 2013 ( i only take full system images when i make system changes, at this point I added a 3tb nas), file backup is upto date.

 

On the 15th the system prompted me to say that it needed to perform updates and restart ..so i did that ( so I have no idea what it wanted to install)

 

Then had updates to say issues when perfming updates and then goes into repair mode..but then cannot repair

Have since gone into say ok restore image but it says my drive where windows is installed is locked

 

I have booted into repair mode and then gone into dos and chkdsk and it says can not chkdsk /f as drive is read-only, but does say that errors detected in uppercase file / table.. and ( failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50)

 

I have been through booting from CD and repairing from there, have not made any changes to the system...was working fine..

 

In dos revodrive shows as x: rather then c: and volume does not show in diskpart at all..

 

 

When i go into diskpart to unlock the drive the revodrive is not shown..other drives are

 

Windows is booting into the revodrive just windows is not starting

 

Ideas please....

 

Ray

Hi Ray,
 

Thank you for posting the query on Microsoft Community and we are glad to assist you on this issue.
 
As per the query, you are unable to boot to the computer after installing updates from Windows updates on the computer. You have also tried to run check disk on the computer using the command prompt resulting in an error ” cannot chkdsk /f as drive is read-only,” although it does shows errors in the files.
 
I would like to ask some questions on this issue to help you further in a better way:
 

1) Did you get any error message when you tried to repair the computer using Automatic repair? If yes, what is the exact error message that you get?
2) Have you tried to boot to the computer after disconnecting the hard drive?
3) Did you try using the same hard drive on a different computer?
 
I would like to let you know that running Chkdsk in Read-Only mode may seem to work, but Chkdsk does not fix any problems.
 
 
You can also check if you are able to access the files in the hard drive when you connect the hard drive to a different computer.

 
I would suggest you to check if you are able to boot to the computer after disconnecting the hard drive.
 
You can follow the methods:
 
Method 1:
 
Disconnect the external hard drive and restart the computer. Check if you are able to boot to the computer.
 
Method 2:
 

I would suggest you to perform system restore and check if you are able to boot to the computer. You can use the Windows 8 installation DVD to perform system restores on the computer.

 
Perform System Restore from Advanced Options screen and then check if you are able to boot to the computer.

Follow the steps:
 
a) After you boot your computer using Windows DVD or System Repair Disc, a black screen appears with gray text "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD". Press any key.
b) Select the correct time and Keyboard type.
c) Click Repair your computer in the lower left corner.
d) Select Troubleshoot from Choose an option screen.
e) Click Advanced options in Troubleshoot screen.
f) Select System Restore.
g) Follow the onscreen instructions to restore the computer to an earlier point before the issue occurred.
 
Please reply us with the result on this issue.
 
Feel free to contact us if you have any other Windows related issue and we would be glad to help you.

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HI Pinaki,

 

Thankyou for your email

 

Reponses are inline

 

1) Did you get any error message when you tried to repair the computer using Automatic repair? If yes, what is the exact error message that you get?

 

Yes "drive where windows is installed is locked" and then I can either shut down computer or try another option...which gives the same error

 

This pretty much confirms what I have tried

 

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/W8ITProPreRel/thread/5f731c27-5769-408d-a95b-8af25a9b7dc7/


 2) Have you tried to boot to the computer after disconnecting the hard drive?

 

No as this is my OS drive..if I do that nothing will happen, the harddisk is working and bios and windows start to load then get the windows error to say that automatic repair tried..failed and then restore fails also as drive locked


 3) Did you try using the same hard drive on a different computer?

 

Not possible as this is a PCIE SSD drive I do not have another computer that can take this drive

 

I have logged this with OCZ the drive maker to see what they would suggest and they posted

 

"Once Win8 locks a drive, be it a SSD or conventional, the only workaround I have found is a fresh install of Win8. If you do this first Secure Erase the Revo."

 

I would like to let you know that running Chkdsk in Read-Only mode may seem to work, but Chkdsk does not fix any problems.

 

No aware of that and running / F gives me the error highlighted above saying the disk is Write protected.. I can log into drive in dos mode and navigate round the drive just fine the files are there and all is well..

 

I would suggest you to check if you are able to boot to the computer after disconnecting the hard drive.
 

You can follow the methods:
 

Method 1:
 

Disconnect the external hard drive and restart the computer. Check if you are able to boot to the computer.
 

 

I am confused if the drive registers in bios and windows starts to load and i can view the files in dos what would booting a computer without a harddisk achieve...

 

 

I would suggest you to perform system restore and check if you are able to boot to the computer. You can use the Windows 8 installation DVD to perform system restores on the computer.
 

 

Again I have posted that I am trying to restore using the advanced options but the drive is saying it is locked..as per above I have tried using both the booting computer and the windows 8 64 disk and it will not allow me to restore the image due to the disk being locked..

 


Perform System Restore from Advanced Options screen and then check if you are able to boot to the computer.

 

Yes tried this as per "

Have since gone into say ok restore image but it says my drive where windows is installed is locked"

 

SO as per OCZ advice..do I need to wipe the disk and start again...once I have installed windows again can I then restore the system image ontop and it will revert to as per the image?

 

I am hoping that there is a simple option as used windows 7 for a long time and it never had an issue....if this is what I can expect from windows 8 I will not be so gushing about it on the news groups..

 

Kind Regards

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Hi Ray,

Thank you for the quick update on this issue.
 
 
I would like to let you know that system drive letters are shown as 'X' when we boot to the operating system using a drive or any external device.
 
 
Let's unlock the drive first and then perform system restore on the computer.
 
 
I would suggest you to follow the steps:
 

Step 1:
 

I would suggest you to unlock the drive using the command prompt in advance option. You can use the Installation DVD to go to the command prompt in advance startup.
 

a) After you boot your computer using Windows DVD or System Repair Disc, a black screen appears with gray text "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD". Press any key.
b) Select the correct time and Keyboard type.
c) Click Repair your computer in the lower left corner.
d) Select Troubleshoot from Choose an option screen.
e) Click Advanced options in Troubleshoot screen.
f) Click on Command Prompt.
g) Type the following command without quotes and check for the errors and press Enter.
“UNLOCK [drive:]”

Step 2:
 
Now, go back to the same screen which shows system restore in advance start up options and follow the steps to perform system restore.

Note: You can create a system restore using restore points available with out using the files created while creating a system image.
 
a) Navigate to advance options in troubleshoot screen.
b) Click Advanced options in Troubleshoot screen.
c) Select System Restore.
d) Follow the onscreen instructions to restore the computer to an earlier point before the issue occurred.

 
Hope it helps.
 
Please reply us with the status of this issue.
 
Feel free to contact us if you have any other Windows related issue and we would be glad to assist you.

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Hi Have booted from DVD as you say...but typing Unlock in dos says 'Unlock' is not a recognised command..where can I find this in windows 8 dos.

 

 

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Decided to install windows 8 again and then restore the images in the vain hope that I would get back to what I had before..

 

Backups are held on a NAS, which I have now appreciated that windows 8 does not do very well...I have googled and found the comments from many people.

 

I now will have to re-install everything..luckilly I have not lost any files..but I would rather not be doing this..

 

I will be buying an external 3rd party backup application ..and leaving the standard win 8 one alone..

 

to say I have gone from loving windows 8 to considering going back to windows 7 (or other) is an understatement.

 

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Last updated March 20, 2024 Views 7,258 Applies to: