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Win8 won't boot after system restore

Discussion in 'Legacy Windows' started by Frank D, 2013/04/17.

  1. 2013/04/17
    Frank D

    Frank D Inactive Thread Starter

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    I'm trying to help a friend with his Toshiba Satellite L300D laptop. He bought it in Australia about 5 years ago. It was running Vista, but it had problems, and in short it got wiped and wound up with no OS. So he bought a copy of Windows 8 Pro. He moved here to the U.S. I helped him install Win8 and we spent a lot of time customizing and personalizing it. Unfortunately, it wouldn't run a particular graphics intensive program that previously had run for him under Vista. So I made a full system image backup of the Win8 installation as it was and wiped the HD to try to reinstall Win Vista. Well, he couldn't find/didn't have the installation disc and though I tried, I couldn't find a copy of it to install it. So, I ran a recovery from the system backup of Win8 that I had made.

    Here is the problem: the machine won't boot into Windows 8! It starts up and then just closes down after about 30 seconds with nothing ever appearing on the screen. I tried reinstalling Win8 and then restoring again from the backup, but no difference.

    Can anyone help me get this PC up and running again in Windows 8 without our having to go through all the customization again? Thanks!

    Frank D
     
    Frank D,
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  2. 2013/04/17
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    Hi Frank.

    Follow these steps to repair the laptop:

    1. If you have a Windows 8 installation disk then boot the computer from it.
    2. From the Windows Setup screen click the Next button.
    3. Click on the Repair your computer button at the bottom of the next window.
    4. From there click Troubleshoot and then click on Advanced Options to get to the Windows Recovery Options area.
    5. From the Advanced Options area click on Automatic Repair to allow Windows 8 to fix any problems that it finds.
    6. After its done, reboot the computer and see if you can boot into Windows 8. If you can't boot into Windows 8 then go back into the Advanced Recovery Options and select Command Prompt.
    7. When the Command Prompt window opens type the following commands, exactly as written below, in the order in which they are presented, and press enter after entering each command:

    • Bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
    • ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
    • Bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd
    • BootRec.exe /fixmbr
    • BootRec.exe /fixboot
    • exit

    8. If you receive any warnings or notifications asking you are you sure press Y to confirm. After exiting the Command Prompt window, reboot the computer and see if the machine boots properly.
     
    Last edited: 2013/04/17
    Evan Omo,
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  4. 2013/04/17
    Frank D

    Frank D Inactive Thread Starter

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    Evan,

    I followed the first part of your instructions, but this changed nothing. So I followed the second part, using the command prompt, and succeeded in booting the machine to Safe Mode! In Safe Mode, however, even though I could see it recognized the personalized version of Win8, I was in an environment where nothing looked familiar to the way it was in Normal mode. Not knowing what else to do, I blundered around until I found the Restart prompt and activated it. However, now, even though it looks like the Win8 installation is being recognized, the machine won't start up in Normal mode. It just turns off. Every second restart, I've gotten to the Recovery screen where it says "Your PC couldn't start properly / A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed. / Error code: 0xc000000f / You'll need to use the recovery tools on your installation media. / Press Enter to try again / Press F8 for Startup Settings / Press F9 to use a different operating system ". I tried pressing Enter but the machine just turned itself off. After rebooting, it went back to the same Recovery screen.

    Is there anything else I can do? Thank you.

    Frank

    P.S. There isn't any device that I know of that isn't connected. The only one that I used during the install was the external USB drive that had the system image backup on it, and that is still connected.
     
    Last edited: 2013/04/17
    Frank D,
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  5. 2013/04/17
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    The error code: 0xc000000f indicates that an error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data which means that your BCD is corrupt.

    So just for clarification, you ran all the commands in my first post from Command Prompt in the Advanced Recovery Options area correct? The laptop now boots into Safe Mode without a problem but not in Normal Mode right?

    If that is the case then try performing a clean boot and see if you can get the computer to boot into Normal Mode, How to perform a clean boot to troubleshoot a problem in Windows 8, Windows 7, or Windows Vista.

    I know this also sounds obvious but make sure there are no other peripheral devices connected to the laptop and see if you can successfully boot into Normal Mode.
     
    Evan Omo,
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  6. 2013/04/17
    Frank D

    Frank D Inactive Thread Starter

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    Evan,

    Belay that last message from me . . . It's working!!! I'm back to the elegant Windows Desktop and functional Start Menu (using Classic Menu) that we worked so hard to get right. I just kept rebooting and rebooting until the Windows OS option appeared, then clicked on it -- and it booted into our beautiful environment. You did it!

    Now that the pieces have all fallen into place, can you suggest what I should do in the future to prevent this sort of thing from happening? I mean, I totally erased the hard disk, then tried to restore from a system image backup, and it failed! For example, I did a System Backup. Should I have done a Disk Backup? Does it make a difference?

    I appreciate your help.

    Frank
     
    Frank D,
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  7. 2013/04/17
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    Awesome. I am glad that I was able to help you get the system back up and running. ;)

    Backing up your data on a regular basis and paying attention to what modifications you make to the Operating System and the computer is a good start.

    It doesn't make that much of a difference. You can either back up your individual files manually or create a system image of the entire hard drive. I don't know why restoring the system image failed but its possible that the image was corrupt when it was created. System images have been a pretty reliable backup solution so if it failed then its possible that the hard drive is starting to develop bad sectors that could lead to data loss or like I said that the image was corrupt to start with.

    I would take the time to run check disk on the hard drive just to be safe. Take a look here, How to run Disk Error Checking in Windows 8.

    After check disk finishes scanning/fixing errors on the hard drive would you consider this thread resolved?
     
    Last edited: 2013/04/17
    Evan Omo,
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  8. 2013/04/17
    Frank D

    Frank D Inactive Thread Starter

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    Evan,
    Yes, regardless of the backup type question and chckdsk results, I think I've now got the solution to my original problem, thanks to you. I'll mark this topic resolved. And I'll take a look at the site: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/disk-error-checking-windows-8.

    Frank
     
    Frank D,
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  9. 2013/04/17
    Frank D

    Frank D Inactive Thread Starter

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    P.S. According to the report from File Explorer, disk errors were fixed, so we should be in good shape from here on. Thanks again, Evan!
     
    Frank D,
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  10. 2013/04/17
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    Your Welcome. Thanks for letting me know that this issue has now been resolved. :D
     
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