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Windows 8 Causes Black Screen then HDD Fail! - Printable Version

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Windows 8 Causes Black Screen then HDD Fail! - mclarenclarkson - 10-16-2014

Hi guys,

One of my family members recently did a standard windows update and everything appeared to be ok but then when it had finished and rebooted it was only just a black screen when you logged on. I then created a bootable ubuntu usb so we could get any important files off but the problem was at first I couldn't access the C Drive because windows had done it's stupid hibernate mode and was hogging the C drive for itself! So I had to get off ubuntu and get back into windows then logon then when at the black screen do CTRL + ALT + DEL it and turn it off using the power icon at the bottom. So then ubuntu was fine and we got the files that we needed off but then we had the problem of that we need to get into safe mode to uninstall the updates. This was so ridiculously complicated because you now have to SHIFT + CLICK on the restart button in windows then take a few other paths which then finally allowed you into safe mode. Once in safe mode we managed to uninstall the updates that had been done and restart the computer. Thankfully everything was ok and he could get on with his work (Graphic Design) but then today his external Hard-Drive failed and a gigantic folder containing 100 or 200GB's of files was screwed. He then tried recuva but it was no use as everything recovered became strange strings of numbers! So fed up of windows 8 and I'll NEVER upgrade from 7 to 8!

Anybody else have this problem? Anybody know why this could have happened?

I hope this helps somebody out their.

Take Care guys,
Dan (hackerinthehills.com).


RE: Windows 8 Causes Black Screen then HDD Fail! - Britec - 10-16-2014

Hi Dan, Welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you solved your issue with the Windows update problem. Now you have another issue with your external hard drive. So I take it all the data is gone from that drive? hence why your using Recuva to recover data.
  • I would suggest you test that external hard drive to make sure its not bad or failing.
  • Recuva is not may go to tool for data recovery, GetDataBack Simple Data Recovery - NEW is a good way to recover data.
  • You could try to Recover external hard drive partition.



RE: Windows 8 Causes Black Screen then HDD Fail! - Timster - 10-16-2014

Hi Dan, that sounds like a nightmare you went through. No telling what had caused that black screen after updating. Windows 8 can be like that sometimes. Glad you resolved it.

Tough thing about the lost data.

Thanks for sharing.


RE: Windows 8 Causes Black Screen then HDD Fail! - mclarenclarkson - 10-16-2014

In the end he decided to format the drive to minimize the chances of that happening again. He did take off what he could though. Personally that's not what I would have done but it works.