Getting to loading screen and no further.

[Kc9400]

PC had an error message saying windows 8 had crashed and cancel the operation. I then tried to restart the PC and I'd get to see the 4 blue squares for windows loading screen and the little spinning dots for it loading and it's not going any further.

2 sticks of RAM, took one out and the other to try and eliminate this being the problem.
Ran a repair on windows, no joy.
Reinstalled windows 8, no joy stuck at loading screen again
Cannot remove the graphics card as I have no on-board graphics on the motherboard.
I also tried changing the SATA cables around and using different ports but to no avail.

I detached my additional HDD.

What else can I try? Could the HDD be dead?

 

[blockhead78]

when you re-installed windows, did you format the drive during the install process?

 

[Kc9400]

I chose the option to save the old installation in a back-up folder. Should I try a complete wipe? I wasn't sure it'd make much difference.

It took around 18 hours for it to complete which seemed very extreme. When I originally installed it, it took about 30-60mins....

 

[blockhead78]

18hrs! that is a long time, so something might be on it's way out

If it took that long to install, it was probably just taking forever to boot. ie. it would've booted eventually

If you've got important things backed up, then a complete format of the drive might do the trick

If it still has the same issue, then running a check disk might be in order

If you've got a spare HDD, you could try installing to that and if it's fine then yeah, original HDD is faulty

 

[Kc9400]

I'll give it a try once I get in from work and I'll let you know how I get on.

Cheers block.