Windows 8 Toshiba Satellite Laptop Boot Loop Failure

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Timotheus

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Jun 16, 2014
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After some routine updates, my computer won't start and gets stuck in a boot loop. It's important to note that my computer did complete the restart after installing the updates. However, after turning back on and seeming fine for a few minutes, it went black and restarted on its own without any warning.

It then seemed to be loading up fine at first, and it came to a screen reading "Installing Windows Updates 1/1." At least, I think that's what it said, but unfortunately, I cannot recall the exact text. I thought this odd, as I had just finished installing updates, and they had been successful as far as I knew.

The computer then restarted itself again right after that install screen had disappeared. This is where things get really bad. Right after the "Toshiba Leading Innovation" screen loads for a bit, the screen goes black and restarts. The Toshiba screen is then displayed again and the problem starts over. To clarify, and in case it helps, here is the screen I'm referring to:
7610980764_a2329a6432.jpg
This is not exactly the same screen, but the only difference is that mine does not have the AMD image, the boot tips, or anything but "Toshiba Leading Innovation" with the arrows and the typical Windows 8 spinning circle of dots.

I do have access to the F12 Boot menu, and have thus tried almost everything in there (as seen in the list below).

My computer is a Toshiba Satellite C850D-ST3NX1 running Windows 8 64-bit. It has an AMD Dual-Core E1-1200 Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics, 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 320 GB HDD.

Here's what I've tried so far, not necessarily in chronological order:

  • ■I've taken out the battery and held down the Power button for thirty seconds, and then reinserted the battery and restarted the computer. This accomplishes nothing.
    ■I've tried to do a System Restore many times. I've tried every restore point, and all of them fail, giving an "unspecified" error with the error code 0x8007051a.
    ■I am able to boot in Safe Mode and do things there, such as attempting a System Restore and turning off Startup Items and Services, but these things don't help.
    ■I am able to boot in Safe Mode with Networking, but cannot access the Internet. At least, I can't access the Internet via WiFi and I can't find an Ethernet cable.
    ■I've tried a System Refresh, but this fails and says no changes were made.
    ■I've run the System File Checker from Safe Mode and it says it could not repair some files. The log is of no use to me because I can't get access to replacements for the corrupted files.
    ■I've run the Automatic repair in the F12 Boot Menu's Advanced Options, and it fails.
    ■I've tried to restart with boot logging, but it does nothing new (that I know of).
    ■I've tried disabling driver signature enforcement and early-launch anti-malware protection (separately, of course). These don't do anything noticeable either.
    ■I've tried launching the recovery environment, and it acts like it's doing something, but then it only brings up the HDD recovery screen.

Here is the list of items that the System Restore said would be affected, and thus the changes made before failure:
Items that will be deleted:
Java 8 Update 5 (64-bit) 8.0.50
Java SE Development Kit 8 Update 5 (64-bit) 8.0.50
Realtek High Definition Audio Driver 6.0.1.7246
Security Update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2767915) 32-Bit Edition
Update for Microsoft Word 2010 (KB2880529) 32-Bit Edition
Items that might be restored:
Realtek High Definition Audio Driver 6.0.1.7183
Security Update for Microsoft Word 2010 (KB2863926) 32-Bit Edition

I don't have any other Windows 8 computers, so I can't make recovery disks or get good copies of files to replace my corrupted ones.

I know that I can try resetting my computer to factory settings, but if I was okay with doing that I wouldn't be here. I'll do it if no one has any other options to give me, but I'd really rather not reset my computer.

Any help is accepted and appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
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Have you tried making a system repair disc or recovery drive from safe mode? I haven't tried this on Windows 8 but on Windows 7 and back I had good luck doing it.

There's a tutorial for it here: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2855-system-repair-disc-create-windows-8-a.html

Barring that, as much as I hate recommending solutions that require $$, order a set of recovery media from toshiba.

https://support.toshiba.com/repair

Since you can still get on the web you should be able to order online. Stinks but it's an option
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Timotheus

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Jun 16, 2014
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It's not under warranty, and it came with Windows 8 to begin with, so I don't have any way to reload Windows.
I'll try contacting Toshiba support, but I've never had any luck with them before.

Edit: Upon calling, I've been reminded that Toshiba's office hours have ended, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to make that call. I'd really rather not wait, though, largely because I honestly don't think they'll be of any more help than anyone here. In fact, they're probably less helpful than most people on this site.
 
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dodger46

dodger46

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Nov 19, 2011
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Really need an Ethernet Cable!

Then, if you can still get to CMD prompt as Admin in Safe mode with Networking, try this


Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth (Observe spaces before /)

It compares your Windows Install with an online image and corrects any differences...



 
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Timotheus

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Jun 16, 2014
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After much searching, I found an Ethernet cable. With it, I am able to connect to the Internet in Safe Mode with Networking. I tried running the command you gave me in an elevated command prompt. After it reached 100.0%, it gave this error:

Error: 0x800f0906

The source files could not be downloaded.
Use the “source” option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. For more information on specifying a source location, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=243077.

I've looked at that web link, but I can't get anything useful from it. I don't have any Windows Image files, and I don't have another Windows 8 computer to make one on.

What should I do from here?
 
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danigurl

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Jun 17, 2014
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Have you tried making a system repair disc or recovery drive from safe mode? I haven't tried this on Windows 8 but on Windows 7 and back I had good luck doing it.

There's a tutorial for it here: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2855-system-repair-disc-create-windows-8-a.html

Barring that, as much as I hate recommending solutions that require $$, order a set of recovery media from toshiba.

https://support.toshiba.com/repair

Since you can still get on the web you should be able to order online. Stinks but it's an option
 
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Solution
dodger46

dodger46

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Guess you're heading for a Reset unless anyone else has an idea.
The suggestion to try creating a Recovery Drive in Safe Mode is worth a try, it will contain a WIM file...
 
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Timotheus

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Jun 16, 2014
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No, it doesn't seem any hotter than usual. No, I don't use a laptop cooler. When you say "cleaned it out," do you mean remove junk files and things like that, or physically cleaning the inside of it? I do clean out junk files and whatnot occasionally, but I don't often open it up and clean it.
 
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Timotheus

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Jun 16, 2014
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Upon running through these suggestions, I've run into another problem, but it's quite possibly just a new manifestation of the same problem.

First, let me say what I did that may or may not have led to this. I ran the Windows Update Troubleshooter as a desperate hope that I might have my first experience with a troubleshooter actually doing something helpful. It discovered some issues, and was unable to fix two of them: "a problem installing recent updates" and "missing or corrupted files." Of course, it didn't provide any helpful information as to what updates/files or how I could fix them.
I then saw your message here (i.e., the one I'm replying to now), so I began trying your suggestions. I ran a virus scan and found some adware files—nothing too serious, but I had them removed nonetheless. I was given a message saying the computer needed to be restarted in order to ensure their complete removal, but I told it not to for the time being.
Then I ran chkdsk C: in an elevated command prompt. It told me that there were problems and it couldn't fix them in read-only mode. I ran chkdsk /f C:, and it told me that the volume was in use (obviously), so I instructed it to fix the volume upon the next restart. I decided to see if that could be accomplished or not, so I restarted my computer. It gave me a standard message reading "Preparing to configure Windows. Do not turn off your computer" with the loading dot circle. It has now displayed this message for more than half an hour. Obviously, I'm concerned. The loading circle is still moving, meaning the computer is not frozen.

I don't know what exactly the computer might be doing, so it could obviously be dangerous to just turn my computer off now, especially considering it's telling me not to.

What should I do?

Edit: I should've just been more patient. It eventually turned all the way off and now it's doing the disk check and repair. I'll say more once it finishes that.

Edit 2: It appears to have gone into a boot loop as before, but this time there's a slight difference. I still get the Toshiba loading screen, followed by a black screen, followed by it shutting off and repeating. However, there's now a message at the bottom of the Toshiba loading screen reading "Scanning and repairing drive (C:): _% complete." The percentage goes up to 100 and then the boot loop continues, each time bringing that disk scan percentage to 100. I can only assume that the disk check is failing, considering it does it over and over. I suppose I'll just boot in safe mode and finish your suggestions.
P.S. I'm sorry about that colon-parenthesis combination becoming a smiley face. I don't think I can stop that from happening.
 
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dodger46

dodger46

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If you can still access CMD Prompt, try bootrec /fixmbr
Meanwhile I suspect there may be a specific Driver not loading correctly that's preventing normal Boot process.
Favourite is the Graphics Driver, could try booting in Safe Mode and uninstalling the Display Driver in Device Manager, then when you reboot Windows should install the last known good one.
 
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Timotheus

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Jun 16, 2014
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I ran chkdsk C: and got this:
The master file table's (MFT) BITMAP attribute is incorrect.
The Volume Bitmap is incorrect.
Windows has checked the file system and found problems.

I ran Seatools for Windows, both the Short DST Test and the Short Generic Test. Both passed, indicating no found issues.

I tried bootrec /fixmbr and it said "'bootrec' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file." I tried bootrec.exe /fixmbr just to be sure, and got the same error. I then did a File Explorer search and a dir/s for bootrec, and no such file was found.

I updated my BIOS using a download from the Toshiba support site. It appears to have properly updated my BIOS, but that didn't fix the issue.

I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool and it found no errors.

I uninstalled my graphics card driver. Unfortunately, it didn't automatically reinstall when I restarted. I tried to manually install it using a download from the Toshiba support site, but this download gives the error "Failed to load detection driver" when I run it. So now I have no graphics driver.

I'm strongly considering trying a factory reset. I don't know if I have any other options left.
 
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Timotheus

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Jun 16, 2014
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Good news, everyone!

The factory reset worked! I ran a factory reset through Toshiba Recovery Wizard using the recovery USB I made in Safe Mode. It certainly appears to be totally functional now—knock on wood. I haven't done much with it yet, so it's hard to be certain that it's fixed, but it seems to be running fine.

Once again let me thank all of you for all of your help and suggestions. You were all really on top of things and I appreciate it immensely.
 
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dodger46

dodger46

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Shame you couldn't avoid the reset, but begs the question, why did it happen? Might have been down to the latest Windows 8 Update, which according to my Windows 8 machine was KB2955163 which arrived on 14.06.2014
You may want to change the way you install Updates, change it to Download and Choose rather than Auto Apply, then when you get to the recent ones, set a Restore Point before you apply them just in case...
 
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Timotheus

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Jun 16, 2014
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Yes, I've changed it now so it will ask me about updates. I thought I had it that way before all of this, because I hate auto-updates. I think you're right though, it was probably a Windows update that caused it. Now I'm going through 88 updates in small groups so that if anything goes wrong, I'll have an easier time figuring out which one caused the problem.
 
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