Windows 8 Tablet Stuck in BIOS

[Souw]

Hello, I've had an Asus Transformer Book T100TAF for some time now which got into an issue. It came with a pre-installed Windows 8 but I updated it to Windows 8.1.
For some time it worked without any issues until it shut down and when I tried to boot it up it gave me a windows error [0xc0000225]. I then downloaded the Windows 8.1 Media Creation Tool to a USB to try and fix it. I set the BIOS to boot from the USB but it did not and just went back into the BIOS.
I then downloaded [Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment] to do a CHKDSK, and when I tried to boot from the USB it again didn't start and just went back to the BIOS.
Can you help me with resolving this please? I'd really like to use it for university. Thank you in advance.

 

[appletatoes]

I have this same transformer book. It sounds like either the hard drive inside has died or the boot files needed to load Windows are corrupted.

I would say the easiest solution, if you didn't have any files you wanted from it, would be to open it and replace the hard drive inside and do a fresh install. I've opened mine before and you'll have to use a credit card of sorts to do that.

Here's a video on how to open and replace the hard drive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrGHcb42NSA&vl=en

Replacement HDD (You could also get a SSD like from the video above):
http://a.co/27zDhNK

Windows 8.1 Media Creation Tool (To reformat either your old or new HDD):
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8

Hope that helps!

Appletatoes,
IT Specialist

 

[Souw]

Thank you for the response, I watched the video and understood how to change the HDD now. I'm not quite sure that it would help me though, from what I remember when I was upgrading it from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, I believe that some of the boot files landed on the HDD in the keyboard so it can't find them now, if I change out the HDD wouldn't the issue still persist?

But my biggest issue is that when I insert my USB, either with the Windows 8.1 media creation tool or with the WinPE tool to do a CHKDSK, and set the BIOS to boot from the USB rather than the Windows Boot Manager, it does not start what I have on it? I've tried changing Safe Boot Off/On to see if that was affecting it but at the end I turned on the defaults of the BIOS but it still did not boot from the USB, what could be causing this?

 

[appletatoes]

To answer your first question about the issue still persisting if you changed out the HDD and reinstalled Windows the answer would be no. You would be creating a fresh install and all the the boot files would be re-created thus canceling out the problem you're currently having.

For your second question, your computer will only boot an Operating System if you burned an .ISO file to either your USB or CD/DVD (USB in this case) but you also may have to change some settings in BIOS in order to get it to boot from a USB device.

Here are some things you should consider changing in BIOS to see if you can get it to boot from a USB device:

- Make sure you have burned an .ISO file to the USB
- Make sure you have disabled secure boot in BIOS settings
- Make sure the boot to UEFI mode is turned off or set to boot to 'Other OS' or 'CSM Boot'
- Make sure USB boot support is enabled in BIOS settings
- Make sure the boot order is set to boot to USB devices first

Give those a try to boot your USB device. Chances are you'll need to do a fresh install and without buying a new HDD then you'll want to download this on a separate computer:

Windows 8.1 Media Creation Tool (To reformat either your old or new HDD):
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8

Then choose your install method (USB) and then follow the on screen instructions. You should then be good to boot from your USB drive, once you've configured BIOS with the above settings to boot from USB drives.

Of course, if you had files that you wanted to backup before you reformat your HDD and install the Operating System again, you'll have to open up the transformer book and take out the hard drive and then attach it to another computer via USB to backup the files manually first.

Give that a shot!

Appletatoes
IT Specialist

 

[Souw]

Hello, I've had the ISO for Windows 8.1 burned to the USB using the Windows Media Creation Tool since the beginning, but I formatted it to FAT32 just to be sure and then redid it again. I went into every nook and cranny of the BIOS and only found how off the Secure Boot. I've been disabling the Windows Boot Manager and giving first priority to the USB but afterwards when I restart it, it stays on a black screen for a bit and goes back into the BIOS, avoiding the USB totally. I updated the BIOS with the Asus drivers as well to be sure but still the same. The last thing I can do now is change the HDD with a new one and hope that fixes it. If you have any other suggestion about what I could do I'd greatly appreciate it, but if not, so far you've helped me tremendously, at least now I'm fully comfortable with the BIOS. Thank you in advance.

 

[appletatoes]

You're very welcome Souw. I know it can be very frustrating when things just don't work!!

So it sounds like you've done everything to a T and should be booting your Windows 8.1 OS properly but maybe try downloading Rufus and using Rufus to make your bootable USB stick instead and you can use the Rufus 2.16 Portable version for convenience under the Download section:

https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Here is a quick tutorial on how to use Rufus to make a bootable Windows 8.1 USB Stick:

http://www.techverse.net/how-to-create-bootable-usb-flash-drive-install-windows-8-1/

After that, I would just watch this quick video on YouTube just to make sure you've got everything setup properly in BIOS. Perhaps reset your BIOS to default settings and then follow this video if you would like to make sure everything is set right:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDoP6h8TQw8

Try those out and let me know if you get any further.

Best of luck!
Appletatoes