System hangs after windows update

[Sulfurous]

Hi,

Everything was working fine yesterday. When I selected to shutdown the pc I selected the option 'Update and restart' then forgot about it.

Today I can start the PC, login to Win 8.1, select to view the desktop, the icons load but then none of the apps are responsive.

Unable to get the task manager to come up. I can type 'msconfig.exe' in the 'Apps' windows but clicking on it does nothing. Opening the 'My computer' icon works but it scans my drives endlessly and I'm unable to close the window. Opening another 'My computer' window works scans endlessly and sees no drives although I have 3 connected and could see all partitions on the 1st window.

Saw somewhere to try 'dism.exe'. i can over my mouse over the program in the 'Apps' menu but clicking on it doesn't make it come up.

Not sure how to active boot in safe mode without msconfig.exe.

No idea what to do about this

Thanks

 

[SchizTech]

Dism.exe is a command line tool, so it won't open like a desktop program. You can open a command prompt with "cmd.exe"

 

[SchizTech]

Also, have you tried to restart? Sometimes the system gets caught on something and a simple restart can fix it.

 

[Sulfurous]

Tried that like 10 times. No effect.

 

[SchizTech]

OK, if windows is corrupted recently a system restore could bring it back. If "system restore" doesn't load from the search tool it's filename is rstrui.exe. Choose a restore point from before the update and let it do it's thing.

 

[Sulfurous]

I tried using the app found in the 'Apps' screen but it gave me an error. I looked it up on the internet and it said that it could launched by console command so I tried that: I type rstrui.exe then the blinking cursor goes to the next line and just keeps blinking. I left it like so for the entire night (8 hours). I was sure it was jammed so I hard reset the PC.

Now there is text on the bottom right of the screen saying 'Windows 8.1 Build 9600' but the performance issues are still the same.

Could it be my Windows or the SSD it is installed on?

 

[SchizTech]

Either a corrupt installation of Windows or a failing boot drive is exactly what I'd pick as top suspects. You can run diagnostics to check the SSD (check to see if the drive manufacturer has their own utility, or use something like Seagate Seatools).

I'd offered the restore as a way to possibly repair Windows non-destructively but whether on a new drive or the same one it looks like a reinstall will be needed.