Windows 8 Manually updated a driver, performed a Windows update, now Laptop won't start

[Nickborg94]

Dear Windows Forums,

This is my first time posting here as I have found myself caught in an emergency with my laptop. I have purhcased an Asus N550 Laptop with Windows 8 installed already (so I have no CD) merely yesterday, and I believe that I have slipped up somewhere and made a fatal mistake.

Since it was new, yesterday, on the day of the purchase, I decided to update some drivers to keep them up to date, and I updated my Graphics Card (NVIDIA 745M) manually from the device manager. I proceeded to perform a restart and all went normally. This evening, I had to perform a restart because my McAfee AV had requested a restart for an update, and was I went to the restart button, I noticed that some Windows Updates were available, so I restarted. Upon startup, my laptop encountered an error with the updates, the error was along the lines of "video_dxgkrnl_fatal_error". From then on, whenever I started up my laptop, my Windows startup page (the metro screen), would not appear, and all I would get was a flashing screen at 1-2 second intervals, and my cursor would sometimes appear. Meaning, I can not get to my windows startup page.

I then restarted again and was introduced to the repair page, and tried to perform a system restore which for some reason, failed since it lasted almost an hour and a half - which to me, seems very abnormal for a laptop that was not older than 24 hours, so I performed a hard reset. After a while, I was reintroduced to the repair page, and this time, I have gone for a 'Reset' option so everything is restored to factory settings, and it is in the process of doing so as I type this. I am not sure what the outcome will be, but I hope that it can be restored to the point where these updates were not installed - as, like I stated earlier, my system restore failed.

Sorry for the long post, but this is a brand new laptop and I am deeply worried that irreversible damage has been done, so any help and insight upon this issue will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Saltgrass]

When I get a new system, I like to take things slow. In doing so I may be able to find problems at a point where I can definitely assign blame.

The Reset will take the system back to the Factory Image as it was when you took it out of the Box. During the setup, you might set the Windows update option to not install updates, or just leave it as not configured. Then when you are ready, you can watch what is being updated.

I just got a new ASUS system about two weeks ago, which is currently in the Warranty process for another type of problem. The McAfee stuff did not cause my system not to boot, but I did see situations with the Windows Update that I was not used to seeing. So I turned off the Active protection and even the Firewall while I was doing updates. Of course this might leave you open to infections, so use your best judgment.

Also, if you get a chance, after your system is configured the way you want, create backups and recovery media, just in case.

But be patient with the updates. Hardware drivers, like video should show up shortly. At least for the initial time period, if it is running normally, perhaps let it run that way for a while.

Your system was Windows 8 and not 8.1?

 

[badrobot]

If the Reset worked, the FIRST THING THAT YOU SHOULD DO IS TO "CREATE A RECOVERY MEDIA" on USB flashdrive. That will save you a lot of trouble.

 

[Joe S]

After frying a video card with the latest driver update that was flawed I'm a lot more picky about just updating drivers because they are available. If everything is running smooth sometimes if it ain't broke don't fix it is best!
Joe

 

[Nickborg94]

Thanks for your replies. Thankfully, resetting the PC brought my laptop back to life, and no more flashing screens were seen.

However, this time, I have kept my hands away from any driver updates, but instead, I opted to go for Windows Updates first. They downloaded fine, but when it came to configuration after resetting, at around 15-16%, the updates failed and I got a message saying 'Failed to configure Windows Updates. Reverting changes'. I encountered no problems after that, however I still have a lot of updates and my laptop is still running Windows 8, not Windows 8.1. I cannot update to 8.1 without these updates.

I ran the FixIt tool, and it said that my service registration was fixed, as well as another error, but it also said that missing files were detected and that the windows updates were not installed.

I've looked around and saw many different responses. Some said that the NVIDIA driver is getting in the way, but I'm awfully scared to touch that driver after what happened before - in fact, I haven't updated it yet - but some people also claimed to install some updates 10-30 at a time. Please note that this is a laptop that came with Windows Installed so I cannot use any CDs.

As Joe S said, I'm quite tempted just to leave things as they are as everything is functioning well. Any possible solutions as to what might be causing these updates to fail? Anything I can provide to show what's wrong?

 

[ussnorway]

My advice is to purchase a new 1t hdd or sshd and have a computer shop clone the current drive onto it and then swap them over… you put the old one in the bottom of your sock draw and keep it there for a rainy day.

p.s. while at the shop you can also purchase a 4-8g usb stick and ask them to put windows 8 on it as a bootable… you don’t need the key because that’s in the machines motherboard.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

One thing that I do is install Windows updates a few at a time.
If there are 5 or 6 updates I do them 2 at a time.

If there are a lot then I may go up to 4 at a time.
But I want to know what's causing problems if I have them.

If I get a failure then I have some idea what it was that failed.

And I have the option to go back to the last created restore point if I only want to get rid of the last couple of updates I installed.

You may want to upgrade your video drivers directly from nVidia but if you are't having problems there's no reason to change them.
Unless you are a gamer you are unlikely to see any difference.

Make sure you create a restore point before updating.

I use a program called Restore Point Creator instead of doing it through the Windows interface because it's easy.

http://www.toms-world.org/blog/restore_point_creator

Link Removed

Anytime I make changes I take a couple of minutes to create a restore point, it can save a lot of headaches.

You can also use it to initiate a recovery without having to navigate through the maze of Windows to find the recovery option.

Mike