[jaffacake]

Hi,

My Asus laptop with Windows 10 won't boot, and I would really appreciate your help!

Here's what happened: I was on vacation and had the laptop running for days, and it got slow, so I wanted to restart it, which usually helped. It took me a while to close all my open programs, but Firefox had a lot of tabs open and wasn't responding. I really needed to look up something important, so I was impatient and wanted to close Firefox through the Task Manager before restarting, so I pressed CTRL+ALT+DEL. It showed the usual purple screen that says "Please wait" before it gives me the options that include opening the Task Manager. I waited a pretty long time, however, and nothing happened. What I had to do got really urgent, so I impatiently decided to turn off the computer by pressing and holding the power key. It finally did turn off, but when I tried to start it again, it showed a blue screen with error 0xc0000185 and the message "The boot configuration data for your PC is missing or contains errors."

I left it sitting around with that screen for a while, and then the blue screen started flashing on and off. After a while, the Asus startup logo came on again, and I thought it had recovered itself, but it stayed on that screen for a pretty long time with the usual waiting throbber under the logo. Then the screen turned black, though still backlit, and then the light turned off completely, with just my F2 key and my power key illuminated. When I listened closely, I could still hear a very soft noise, as if the computer was still working on something.

I left it sitting like this over night (plugged in), but closed and put it away in the morning. Now, when I open it and turn it on, the Asus logo comes on again, and then it goes back to that black screen, and nothing else happens. The blue screen has not come on again so far.

I know I shouldn't have been so impatient, and I'm not usually like this, but it really was very urgent and important. Is there anything I can do? I really don't want to lose all my data... I would really appreciate your help!

Oh I forgot to say that I got a different blue screen before I turned off the computer, about a faulty something (it only showed for a second, and I don't remember) and that the computer would restart automatically. I get a message like that every now and then, but it always restarted without problems.

Whan I start the computer now, the Asus startup logo comes on as usual, but it goes to a black screen quickly and stays there, but it still makes little rumbling noises.

Edited by jaffacake, 27 July 2016 - 04:42 AM.

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Was there any other information with the error code?

It should have given you a reason for the error like "File: \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD"

[rshaffer61]

Was there any other information with the error code?

It should have given you a reason for the error like "File: \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD"

[jaffacake]

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's what it said, but I may be wrong. I'm sorry I don't remember for sure!

[rshaffer61]

OK then then here are 3 ways to try and fix it. Do you have your recovery disk cause you will need it for this.

 

 

First method:

1. Power up your device.
2. After your operating system started normally please insert the Windows 8 Installation media into the CD or DVD ROM.
3. Reboot your operating system with your Installation Media inside the device.
4. Now you should get to a black screen that says: “”Press any key to boot from CD or DVD” in which case you will need to press any button on the keyboard to boot from your Installation Media.
5. When you get to the next screen you will need to set the correct time and also the correct keyboard type.
6. After you chose the above you will need to left click or tap on the “Repair your computer” button situated in the lower left side of the screen.
7. You should now have on your screen the “Choose an Option” window.
8. In this window you need to left click or tap on the “Troubleshoot” feature.
9. Now from the Troubleshoot menu left click or tap on the “Advanced Options” feature.
10. Now in the “Advanced Options” window find and left click on the “Automatic Repair” feature.
11. In this next window you will need to choose the operating system you are using by left clicking or taping on it.
12. Now Windows 8 should start the checking process and also repair any additional errors you may get in your system this causing it to show the 0xc0000185 error code.
13. When the process has finished you will need to take out the Windows 8 installation media disk and reboot your device normally.
14. Check to see if the error code 0xc0000185 still appears in your system.

Second method:

1. Insert again your Windows 8 Installation Media disk into the CD or DVD ROM
2. Reboot your operating system.
3. When the device starts you will be asked to press any key to boot from the CD or DVD.
4. When the message above appears press a button on the keyboard.
5. Select again the correct time and keyboard type as you did in the first method.
6. Left click or tap on t he “Repair your computer” button situated in the lower side of the screen.
7. From the “Choose an option” window left click or tap on the “Troubleshoot” option.
8. Now from the “Troubleshoot” menu you will need to left click or tap on the “Advanced options” feature.
9. Next you will need to select the “Command Prompt” feature.
10. A black screen should pop up after you have chosen the feature above.
11. In the black screen (Command Prompt) window you will need to write the following: “BOOTREC /FIXMBR” without the quotes.
12. Press the Enter button on the keyboard.
13. Now write the following: “BOOTREC /FIXBOOT” without the quotes.
14. Press the Enter button on the keyboard for the command to execute.
15. Write in the command prompt window the following: ” BOOTREC /REBUILDBCD” without the quotes.
16. Press the Enter button once more.
17. Now when the process has finished take out the Windows 8 Installation Media from the CD or DVD ROM.
18. Reboot your operating system and check again if you still get the same error message.

Third method:

It is recommended to make a backup copy of your important files and folders before you go through with the steps below.

 

1. Insert your Windows 8 Installation Media once more into the device.
2. Reboot your operating system.
3. When the device starts you will be asked to press and key to boot from the installation media and at that point you need to press a button on the keyboard.
4. In the window that appears select again the correct time and keyboard type.
5. Left click again on the “Repair your Computer” feature.
6. Left click or tap on the “Troubleshoot” feature.
7. From the Troubleshoot window left click or tap on “Advanced options”
8. Now left click or tap on the “System Restore” button.
9. After you successfully completed the System Restore process you will need to reboot again your operating system normally and check if you still get the error code

[jaffacake]

Thank you. I tried it, but it isn't working. All I get is the start-up logo with the waiting throbber, but pressing a key doesn't get me anywhere. I'm not sure if it's because my flash drive isn't bootable (although it should be, but I'm not sure how to check that) or if it is because my computer is messed up. I'm not getting a blue screen anymore though. It just turns black after a while (sooner if it's unplugged) and stays there (pressing keys or moving the mouse doesn't change it).

[rshaffer61]

OK can you get into the bios to check if the boot sequence is set right and if it is actually seeing the hard drive?
Second try to get to the recovery partition on your Asus by doing the following:



Asus:

You can use it from a special hidden partition on the hard drive by pressing F9 at system startup

[jaffacake]

Thank you! Yes, I was able to get into the BIOS, and then it gave me the option to boot from the flash drive. I was going to follow your instructions for the first method, but I think I accidentally clicked on "Startup repair" instead. Now it's showing the startup logo with the throbber and the message "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." It has been like this for almost 2 hours now. How long is normal? Do I need to stop it somehow?

[jaffacake]

Oh and I'm pretty sure that it does not have a recovery partition :-(

[rshaffer61]

Let me know what startup repairs does. It looks like it may be a hd problem from the message.

[jaffacake]

Oh:-( It's still on that screen right now. I googled it, and it looks like it took pretty long for some people, up to 24 hours. Others had it actually stuck on that screen though. I wonder how long I should leave it like that...

[rshaffer61]

If the errors are bad it could be awhile for sure. I would wait 24 hours and then see if it finishes.

[jaffacake]

I doesn't look good... I left it on that screen, and when I checked again hours later, the computer was off. I turned it on to see if it starts up now, but it was stuck on the startup logo as it was before. I turned it off again and then tried to boot off the flash drive again, but when I turned it on, I heard a terrible clicking noise rom what I assume is my dying hard drive... I turned it off and left it. Do I have any chance of saving any data? Do I need to give it to a professional data recovery service?

[rshaffer61]

Top 10 Data recovery software is Here
http://www.raymond.c...overy-software/

The sound you hear is most likely what is called "The Click Of Death" on a hard drive. Professional Data recovery is expensive as heck and they only guarantee up to 80% of your data in most cases. How old is the system and is there any warranty on it at all? I've had to replace the hard drive in my daughters laptop twice already which were both covered under her warranty. If it is a RMA issue you will have to send back the old hard drive which means you have a very limited time to recover data. If it is not covered under warranty let me know what size it is and I can do some looking around to see what is available to replace it.

[jaffacake]

Yes, I've heard the Click of Death before, and it sounds a lot like that...  :-( It's an ASUS 302L, so it's pretty old, and I don't have any warranty. I had to have the screen replaced a while ago, so I checked that already. What do you mean I may have limited time? Do you mean I'd have to act quickly now? I'm actually travelling in Germany right now, but I'll be back in the US on August 3. I'm pretty sure it's a 2.5" SATA3 500GB HDD With 16GB SSD.

[rshaffer61]

Click of Death is exactly what it sounds like. The HD is going to fail. You may be able to hook it as a slave in another system but right now I am not thinking it will work really good. You might get lucky and it will work. If it does get everything you need copied off as fast as you can without shutting down or rebooting.

 

I'm pretty sure it's a 2.5" SATA3 500GB HDD With 16GB SSD

So is the drive a 500 gig then? What is the 16gb ssd as that is confusing me. here are some drives for you to look at.

 

http://www.newegg.co...ICE&PageSize=30