Windows 8.1 installation issues

[EpicEagle44]

I recently got a copy of windows 8.1 Pro, and was installing it on my grandma's computer when my power went out. It was halfway through the installation process when my the power went out, shutting down the computer as it was almost done with the beginning loading screen (windows logo with the loading circle). After the power came back on, I took out the disk, and attempted to install it again. But something weird happened. As I was making a password, the screen faded to black, and presented me with the beginning of the customization part again. So i did it again. This time I was successful. However, after about 3 minutes on the desktop, it did the same thing, but this time it shut down. Now, when I try to turn it on, I am greeted with the windows logo and the loading circle, with the words "diagnosing PC", followed by "attempting repairs", and finally, "Startup repair could not repair your pc." when I use the wipe option to attempt to reinstall, I'm using the original install disk, and it says not valid. Does anyone know what is wrong and how to fix it? This is, for the record, not and upgrade, but an original install.
Thank you

 

[jnewegger23]

I would reformat the hard drive first to avoid dealing with a corrupt os. Once complete when you try your install as before it should run smoothly. Having an unexpected shutdown on your OS install can easily yield a corruption of some sort. Please keep us up to date and your progress with this and good luck!

 

[EpicEagle44]

I would reformat the hard drive first to avoid dealing with a corrupt os. Once complete when you try your install as before it should run smoothly. Having an unexpected shutdown on your OS install can easily yield a corruption of some sort. Please keep us up to date and your progress with this and good luck!

How do I reformat a hard drive?

 

[jnewegger23]

For your situation, you will most likely need to remove the hard drive and connect it to a different computer as a secondary (tertiary, etc.) drive and go to my computer and right click to go to properties and select manage, then select disk management. Here's a pic of where you want to end up:

Select the correct drive and right click to select format.

 

[EpicEagle44]

For your situation, you will most likely need to remove the hard drive and connect it to a different computer as a secondary (tertiary, etc.) drive and go to my computer and right click to go to properties and select manage, then select disk management. Here's a pic of where you want to end up:

Select the correct drive and right click to select format.

and then I can just put it back in the other pc?

 

[jnewegger23]

That's exactly the right idea! Yes! The point is to restore the hard drive to how it was before the power outage. It should go very smoothly. Good luck!

 

[EpicEagle44]

That's exactly the right idea! Yes! The point is to restore the hard drive to how it was before the power outage. It should go very smoothly. Good luck!

So I did exactly what you said, but after plugging it back in, I got the same results. Anything else I can do?

 

[USAFRet]

That's exactly the right idea! Yes! The point is to restore the hard drive to how it was before the power outage. It should go very smoothly. Good luck!

So I did exactly what you said, but after plugging it back in, I got the same results. Anything else I can do?

You need to restart the install process.
Early in the install process, you are asked 'where'. Select Advanced. You should be presented with several partitions.
Select each one, and Delete.
Eventually, you are left with one large unallocated space.

Let windows install to that, creating what it needs.

 

[EpicEagle44]

That's exactly the right idea! Yes! The point is to restore the hard drive to how it was before the power outage. It should go very smoothly. Good luck!

So I did exactly what you said, but after plugging it back in, I got the same results. Anything else I can do?

You need to restart the install process.
Early in the install process, you are asked 'where'. Select Advanced. You should be presented with several partitions.
Select each one, and Delete.
Eventually, you are left with one large unallocated space.

Let windows install to that, creating what it needs.

The problem is, after putting the drive back in, I turned the PC on with the install disk in the pc, and still got the same messages, no option to install. It was as if the drive never got erased, even though it should have. Any ideas?

 

[USAFRet]

That's exactly the right idea! Yes! The point is to restore the hard drive to how it was before the power outage. It should go very smoothly. Good luck!

So I did exactly what you said, but after plugging it back in, I got the same results. Anything else I can do?

You need to restart the install process.
Early in the install process, you are asked 'where'. Select Advanced. You should be presented with several partitions.
Select each one, and Delete.
Eventually, you are left with one large unallocated space.

Let windows install to that, creating what it needs.

The problem is, after putting the drive back in, I turned the PC on with the install disk in the pc, and still got the same messages, no option to install. It was as if the drive never got erased, even though it should have. Any ideas?

Is it actually booting from the DVD? While you may have deleted/formatted the broken C partition, the partially broken boot partition may still be trying to do its thing.

Boot from the install DVD.

 

[jnewegger23]

@USAFret glad your jumping in and giving the appropriate details I sometimes forget to.
@op follow him to the "t" and you will be fine! You are in great hands here. USAFret has helped me as well many times. Good luck!

 

[EpicEagle44]

That's exactly the right idea! Yes! The point is to restore the hard drive to how it was before the power outage. It should go very smoothly. Good luck!

So I did exactly what you said, but after plugging it back in, I got the same results. Anything else I can do?

You need to restart the install process.
Early in the install process, you are asked 'where'. Select Advanced. You should be presented with several partitions.
Select each one, and Delete.
Eventually, you are left with one large unallocated space.

Let windows install to that, creating what it needs.

The problem is, after putting the drive back in, I turned the PC on with the install disk in the pc, and still got the same messages, no option to install. It was as if the drive never got erased, even though it should have. Any ideas?

Is it actually booting from the DVD? While you may have deleted/formatted the broken C partition, the partially broken boot partition may still be trying to do its thing.

Boot from the install DVD.

So I should I set my boot device in the bios to the dvd drive?

 

[USAFRet]

So I should I set my boot device in the bios to the dvd drive?

Yes.

 

[EpicEagle44]

I just wanted to thank everyone for helping me and providing missing details about my situation. Thank you very much!

 

[EpicEagle44]

So I should I set my boot device in the bios to the dvd drive?

Yes.

Ok, so even after trying all of this, booting from the DVD, it still goes to the same screens about repair. What am I doing wrong?

 

[USAFRet]

So I should I set my boot device in the bios to the dvd drive?

Yes.

Ok, so even after trying all of this, booting from the DVD, it still goes to the same screens about repair. What am I doing wrong?

hmmm...
Power down.
Disconnect any and all hard drives, leaving ONLY the DVD drive connected
Boot and see what happens.

It still seems as if you are not booting from the DVD.

 

[EpicEagle44]

So I should I set my boot device in the bios to the dvd drive?

Yes.

Ok, so even after trying all of this, booting from the DVD, it still goes to the same screens about repair. What am I doing wrong?

hmmm...
Power down.
Disconnect any and all hard drives, leaving ONLY the DVD drive connected
Boot and see what happens.

It still seems as if you are not booting from the DVD.

Ok, now it's booting from the DVD, showing the normal installation screen. Now what do I do, since there's no drive to install to?

 

[USAFRet]

So I should I set my boot device in the bios to the dvd drive?

Yes.

Ok, so even after trying all of this, booting from the DVD, it still goes to the same screens about repair. What am I doing wrong?

hmmm...
Power down.
Disconnect any and all hard drives, leaving ONLY the DVD drive connected
Boot and see what happens.

It still seems as if you are not booting from the DVD.

Ok, now it's booting from the DVD, showing the normal installation screen. Now what do I do, since there's no drive to install to?

OK....there we go. That was a test to see if it would actually boot from your DVD.
Power down, reconnect the target hard drive, and reboot.
You should, hopefully, again boot from the DVD.
Install. During the install, delete ALL existing partitions on that target drive, as mentioned above.

 

[EpicEagle44]

So I should I set my boot device in the bios to the dvd drive?

Yes.

Ok, so even after trying all of this, booting from the DVD, it still goes to the same screens about repair. What am I doing wrong?

hmmm...
Power down.
Disconnect any and all hard drives, leaving ONLY the DVD drive connected
Boot and see what happens.

It still seems as if you are not booting from the DVD.

Ok, now it's booting from the DVD, showing the normal installation screen. Now what do I do, since there's no drive to install to?

OK....there we go. That was a test to see if it would actually boot from your DVD.
Power down, reconnect the target hard drive, and reboot.
You should, hopefully, again boot from the DVD.
Install. During the install, delete ALL existing partitions on that target drive, as mentioned above.

I did everything I was told to do, and even double checked that it was booting from the DVD drive in the bios. And I still get the same messages and screens.

 

[SuperAdithya]

looks like your installation cd and/or your hdd both are corrupted. And next time onwards, buy a UPS. 😀
I think your hdd has failed too much that even reformatting doesn't help! 🙁
Remove your hdd, insert it as secondry drive, and format it to NTFS. Then in 'my computer' foler, right click on the newly formatted drive, click on properties, go to Tools tab, and select Check.

Then check the disk for error If errror were found, fix it. Then reinsert the drive to the pc which you want to install windows, and boot and try to install.