Windows 8 Computer updated, serious problems now

Ethelwolf

New Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2015
Hello everyone,

I've been trying to figure out a fix (along with looking around in the forums) for a few hours now, but I'm worried about my computer. I have a Lenovo with 8.1 installed and today I got a notification that my computer was going to restart and update, which it did without any problems. However, when it rebooted, almost nothing worked anymore. The sound, connection settings show-er, and many system related applications (such as Windows Update and System Restore, everything Control Panel related) are all unresponsive. Startup programs also don't automatically run anymore, though they are still enabled. At first, I just noticed the audio no longer working and tried to use Troubleshooter, but that was unsuccessful (it has been at everything it will allow me to attempt to troubleshoot) and trying to look into the advanced details causes a blank screen to load. About the only system application that is working is connecting to the internet (though I can't see what I'm connected to or change my connection).

After troubleshooting, I tried rebooting the computer, which does work, however it takes a ridiculous amount of time to do so. I've tried the system restore option which allows me to keep my files, but after a ridiculously long amount of time waiting, I came to the conclusion that this was also something that was not going to work. I've never seen anything like this caused from an update so I'm hesitant to believe there's a bug which has caused this, though it does seem believable that somewhere during the installation process there was a glitch which halted a lot of the system functions and has me trapped. To be on the safe side, I ran a complete virus scan, but it didn't detect anything.

Has anyone experienced this before? If so, how did you solve it? If not, is there anything I can do aside from wiping the entire system?

Thanks,
Ethelwolf
 
Hi Ethelwolf,
1. Did the computer have 8 or 8.1 installed when you first got it?
2. Is it a laptop or desktop?
3. What anti-virus program is installed?

What you decribe sounds like the free 8.1 upgrade which windows 8 gets from the Microsoft store... and yes it can/ does cause all kinds of issues (mostly because Microsoft doesn't like to tell people about it before they install it) but you haven't told us any tech details yet so perhaps not.
 
ussnorway,

Thanks for responding!

1. The computer came with 8.1 installed
2. It is a laptop, a Lenovo Flex 2
3. I use AVG

I've had the computer now since August and haven't had any issues until a few hours ago when this started happening.
 
1. press [windows key] + [x] and then press [t] to bring up your task manager... I want two screenshots;
a. the main page showing your system usage under normal load i.e after start up has finished but before running any other software.
b. the start up tab... showing what apps start auto-mattic and last system start time.
I also want to know how much spare space is currently on your c drive and how much ram is installed on the system.

With the above we can start to trouble shoot the issue but also clear up for me... when you say you tryed a system restore; are you talking about a reset to factory or just some 3rd party software funchion?

p.s. I would tip post example screens for you but the forum doesn't like me today.
 
I've tried compressing the screenshots you've asked for, but I am still getting the message that they are too large to attach (even when compressed into a .zip file). Perhaps my account has upload restrictions since I just made this account yesterday?

When I tried to system restore, it was the option "Refresh your PC without affecting your files". Also, I have 31.9 GB free on my C drive.
 
Hi

You need to set up an account at someplace like (Photo Bucket which I use, it's free) and then you can upload large images to it and then place them here using the image icon about the compose window. Once you get the hang of it you can have a screen shot on here in less then a minute using the Snipping Tool.

If all else fails...

Can you copy your data from your computer to some place safe to back it up, you say your C:\ drive do you have another that you could move your files to? Remember to copy your whole Users folder to another drive so you have access to favorites, game saves and things in you Libraries folders. Export your address books from your email client and save them so they can be restored, etc.

If so you can you should be able to reset your computer to factory settings and get it back to normal.

http://www.lenovosmartphone.biz/review/lenovo-flex-2-factory-reset

You will have to set everything up again if you do this including reinstalling what ever software you have, so this is a last resort.

I know this isn't helpful right now, and everyone is tired of my saying it, but this is why everyone should use a program like EaseUS TODO backup and recovery (or what ever software you prefer) to back up their computer. 30 minutes and everything is back the way it was no hassles.

Mike
 
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Thanks, Mike.

I'm afraid I will have to do a complete wipe. My laptop has now lost the ability to connect to the internet which is something that I can't work around. EaseUS TODO looks like a good software, I really should have been backing up my files more often. Luckily I've installed most of my data on an external drive already so the current file management won't be too bad. ussnorway, I really appreciate your help, thanks for trying to get me through this without having to start over.
 
I've tried compressing the screenshots you've asked for, but I am still getting the message that they are too large to attach (even when compressed into a .zip file). Perhaps my account has upload restrictions since I just made this account yesterday?

This is forum wide, isn't letting people post images... Mike knows about it and I expect will have it sorted soon... so not just you mate.

Luckily I've installed most of my data on an external drive already so the current file management won't be too bad.

If you have the money, a new blank hdd could be put in instead and load windows onto that... this allows you to recover any files off your old drive without formatting it and your key is stored in the bios so that should just kick it during install.
 
If you can't access files that you want to save you could do as ussnorway suggested, an other option is to create a Ubuntu boot disk and boot into Ubuntu to copy the data to your external hard drive.

As to EaseUS TODO Backup, (ironically a Chinese company) I use the Free home addition, it always works, and it's super easy to use only 3 clicks and your system backed up.

And it creates either a Linux or Windows bootable repair disk, both work fine, I prefer the Linux interface.
 
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