stuck on attempting repairs

[Rollo_]

I'm new to windows 8, trying to fix a month old notebook for a friend. Been reading other threads, here and elsewhere, and I seem to have a handle on fixing this thing.

How long should it take to complete 'attempting repairs?' Its been stuck on it now for at least 8 hours, I started the process by attempting to boot it up last night around midnight, its now 3 PM so overall, 15 hours or so.

Is this typical?

 

[Rollo_]

Update:

It finished sometime around 5PM, so around 17 hours total. It reported it couldn't repair the system and noted the location of the log file. But since I can't boot into Windows I can't look at the file.

I tried to load Hiren's 15.2 in order to access the HDD, but for some reason, I can't find the setting in BIOS that changes the boot order. There is a Windows Boot Manager shown on the Boot page, but doesn't appear to be any way to add the DVD drive. GRRRR.

So last night, I started the entire process over again, and this morning I saw what appeared to be a success screen, and one of the options was to proceed to Windows 8. Good news, right? WRONG. The spinning wheel came up again, and 3 hours later it's still "diagnosing your PC."

I ain't diggin' Windows 8 much.