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I am using Windows 8.1 (as an upgrade from 8). Yesterday I had to boot in safe mode through msconfig, but when my PC restarted, the Windows logo screen went black with only the cursor on the screen. I can't login, and I can't access task manager.

I had such an issue with Windows 8 when normally booting, but it was related to a Nvidia driver problem.

I have tried:

  • using Windows 8.1 USB to boot in advanced recovery:
    • Restore to recovery point failed telling me that my antivirus is the problem.
    • Refresh did not work either - There was a problem refreshing your PC. No changes were made.
    • sfc /scannow returned: There's a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run sfc again.

I was able to get into F8, but none of options provided there worked.

  • I tried Shift+F8, but that didn't work.
  • I tried install windows 8 and picked Upgrade:Install Windows. That returned: The computer started using the Windows installation media. Remove the installation media and restart your computer so that Windows can start normally.
  • I tried install windows 8.1 as upgrade,but got the same message.

I have not tried Custom option, as I don't want to loose all my files.

It seems like I am stuck here! Is there any way I could access my data and back it up on external HDD? I will try any suggestions you have!

ᔕᖺᘎᕊ
  • 6,393
ChrisM
  • 91

3 Answers3

1

"It seems like I am stuck here! Is there any way I could access my data and back it up on external HDD? I will try any suggestions you have!"

Boot from a different operating system. This could be another Windows installed on another partition, or it could be something like these:

http://knoppix.net/

http://www.linuxliveusb.com/

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

You can then mount your harddisk and copy the files to an external HDD, as long as your hard disk is not encrypted.

Peter
  • 4,630
0

Either it is a Nvidia driver or you are potentially low on ram. Nvidia no doubt has an updated driver for 8.1 vs 8 since it was a substantial system change. That is best guess without further system information. Your data can be saved if you can connect your hdd to another computer as a last resort.

Matthias Kittok
  • 1
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The answer is that your Graphics Card could be bad or seated incorrectly. If you are using a PCI-E Graphics card and you have on board video,here are steps to correct the issue.

1: go into your bios and select to display from the onboard video.

2: Shut down computer, use grounding strap, and remove the graphics card.

3: Boot into windows, shouldn't have any issues unless ram is also bad at this point.

4: After your config.ini is repaired by doing this, shut down the computer.

5: Reinstall graphics card, and attempt to boot through to windows again.

6: If issue returns, buy a new graphics card, if not, then graphics card was not seated correctly/ bad ram.

Cheers!

Alternatively, Try to shrink the C: drive and install another OS (windows, preferably) and then open msconfig, go to the boot tab, select your previous OS and remove/untick the safe mode option you selected. If everything fails, try to connect your hdd to another computer and copy your files off it.

aryanisno1
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Jesse Glover
  • 121