Freezes getting worse, Windows not loading at all

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DrDivi

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May 21, 2014
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Hello,

Please see my previous question "Freezes and error/reboot loops" for the development of my current situation, which has gone from bad to worse.

In short, the laptop (Gigabyte P35K-CF2) was constantly freezing and/or showing BSOD either during booting or when Windows was already running. A couple of times the BSODs specifically mentioned iaStor.sys, but mostly it was just inaccessible boot device or irql not less or equal. I couldn't even refresh or reset the system because the recovery partition could not be found.

So, I finally tried resetting the Windows installation after changing the SATA configuration in BIOS from AHCI to IDE. The system was reset normally and I managed to install the first set of Windows updates, although the laptop now worked quite slowly. However, after downloading the 8.1 update I haven't managed to boot Windows at all whether in IDE or AHCI mode. Now it doesn't BSOD but won't load Windows either. Is the booting SSD dying or something? Is there anything that can be done?

Sincerely,

DrDivi, Finland
 
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DrDivi

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May 21, 2014
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Indeed, but the problem was that when the configuration was AHCI the reset feature could not find the recovery partition, thus making installing Windows with AHCI impossible. The change to IDE was just something I tried in desperation.
 
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plaintuts

plaintuts

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"AHCI the reset feature could not find the recovery partition" - sorry but can you please elaborate on this..

you may have discussed this before, but just for clarification...
on AHCI mode, the SSD is detected but without the recovery partition during OS installation.. do you have another media for installing windows? cd/dvd or usb drive?
 
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DrDivi

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May 21, 2014
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Ok, so here goes.

The laptop has always been in AHCI before all this started. After the freezes got more frequent and I manage to boot to Windows like once in every ten tries, I figured I should try to reset the Windows installation. After firing up the laptop I went to the recovery menu where you can refresh, reset and so on. I tried to initiate the reset feature a number of times but every time it complained that the recovery partition is missing. After that I somehow managed to boot Windows and went to create a recovery drive with the utility found in Windows. It managed to copy the laptop's recovery partition into a spare external USB hard drive I had. Then I restarted, changed the boot location in BIOS from the SSD to the external hard drive and tried to initiate the reset function from there, and somehow it started the process and Windows was reset correctly. However, the same freezing and error/boot loops persisted and kept getting worse, so I tried resetting the Windows installation from the system's own recovery partition with IDE selected and somehow that worked but then I got into the situation where I am now - after downloading the 8.1 update Windows won't boot at all.

So, the recovery partition seems to be there but with AHCI selected the reset feature won't recognize it. Actually, I don't know if resetting the system will even fix my original problem (the freezes and boot loops). I don't have any other Windows installation media.

 
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DrDivi

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May 21, 2014
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Ok, my wife's Asus laptop runs W8.1. The device I'm going to use is a Buffalo external USB hard drive, since I don't have a large enough USB thumb drive. Will that be a problem?

 
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DrDivi

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Very well then, I'll head out tomorrow and buy a larger USB stick since it's already 10pm here and the shops are closed. I'll report the results here, thank you so much for your time!

 
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DrDivi

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I do have an 8GB USB stick, but if I check the box "Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive" it says I need at least 16GB. If I leave the box unchecked it only needs 512MB but then I won't get the recovery image.

 
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DrDivi

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Ok, I tried resetting Windows with the recovery image I got from the Asus laptop. The reset worked just fine, although of course I didn't get the Gigabyte-specific tools, the laptop was full of Asus bloatware and the drivers were all wrong. But when I tried installing the first set of Windows updates and restarted the computer, the updating process failed and the computer was left hanging to the "Reverting changes" screen. When I try to turn the laptop off and then back on again, it just goes back to that screen and I can't do anything about it. Any suggestions how I should proceed?
 
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DrDivi

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It hasn't finished whatever it's trying to do, it's been stuck in the "Reverting changes" window for two hours now.

I just received a response from Gigabyte's tech support:

"Thank you for your kindly mail and inquiry. According to the error message you mentioned "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE and IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL", it seems there is SSD/ HDD problem with your product and further examination would be required. Please note that if this is a hardware problem, it cannot be resolved by mails, we suggest you contact your supplier (where you purchase the product) for more help."

So now I'm writing to Overclockers UK (the place I ordered the laptop from) and explaining the situation while asking for instructions on what should be done. I'm really starting to have a bad feeling about this. Any suggestions on what I could try while waiting for the supplier's response?
 
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DrDivi

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I tried formatting the USB stick I bought today that had the Asus recovery image and just copy-pasting the files on the USB hard drive (Gigabyte recovery) to the formatted stick, but the reset feature complained that the recovery partition is missing when I tried using the stick to reset the laptop. Did I do something wrong? Is there some specific tool I have to use to copy the recovery image from one USB device to another?

 
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plaintuts

plaintuts

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This is the last option before we conclude that reseting your OS is no longer viable.

Use an application like RUFUS to make a bootable usb drive, "im replying from my phone so i cant give you a link" but its an easy find on google.

Maje bootable usb drive, copy the recovery partition, then retry.

If this doesn't work, then it would be safe to conclude that we may have a different problem.
 
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DrDivi

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Well, I managed to make the recovery stick and to reset just fine. Now I'm doing the 8.1 update. The laptop has acted really sluggish but so far no errors. I'll report later whether I've managed to get all the updates for Windows and drivers. Although, even if this works I still have no idea what caused the original errors and whether this might happen again.

 
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DrDivi

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Well, I've now managed to install the 8.1 update and subsequent updates, though not on the first try - at first the market couldn't download the 8.1 for some reason but with a couple more tries it finally did. I've also managed to update a few drivers. But after the latest restart, immediately after the login screen appeared, I got a BSOD with VIDEO_DXGKRNL_FATAL_ERROR. The laptop automatically restarted, the same thing happened, and now whenever I try turning the laptop on the same BSOD appears.

Any idead how I should try to fix this? Perhaps rolling back drivers would help but I can't access Windows and the device manager.
 
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plaintuts

plaintuts

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You may need to reset again, i know that this is becoming a real pain..

But try the driver installer on the dics that was with the laptop when you purchased it.

Else, if that was the driver you used.
Then, use the download the drivers from the laptop manufacturer's website.

The error you encountered is a gpu related critical error, that has something to do with switchable graphics.
 
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DrDivi

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Ok, I managed to boot in safe mode with networking and updated the 4600 and 765M drivers and I haven't seen the BSOD since. But as I expected, some of the original problems are back - boot and restart times are several minutes and the computer may hang at any given moment for a couple of minutes. Any ideas where the problem might be?

 
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plaintuts

plaintuts

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Now is probably a good time to compare with a different SSD, because that is not normal..

Your laptop is natively configured for win 8, yet it is acting like an old system being forced to a new OS..

Do you still have warranty for the SSD?
 
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DrDivi

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May 21, 2014
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Well, the SSD is part of the laptop model's configurtion, I haven't installed it myself. It's just a 128GB for Windows and some routinely used things like a browser. The laptop also has a 1TB HDD. So, I suppose if it comes to using the warranty I'll have to send the whole laptop for servicing or replacement. I have no extra SSDs or other extra equipment. I only bought the laptop half a year ago so the warranty must still be valid. The thing is, Gigabyte's website doesn't say where I should send my laptop and it seems they have no service centers in Finland. First they told me to ask the supplier (Overclockers UK) for help, and they in turn told me that warranty related things with this laptop should be discussed with Gigabyte directly. I have yet to receive a response from Gigabyte regarding what I should with my laptop, or where I should send it to.

For now I suppose I'll perform one more reset and won't update to 8.1 since this time the problems seemed to start/increase after the update. I'm going out of town for the whole summer excluding the weekends, and I need my laptop to be at least in some kind of working order. Thank you for your patience with my problem, I'll keep posting here if there is some development in any direction.

 
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