I've actually cried all over a computer. That I think I broke.

[CarpeVinum]

Or maybe windows 8 hates me.

I need a fecking drink.

I'm 46 years old, allegedly not technologically incompetant (I used to repartition and reinstall and everything when I had windows XP, just haven't needed to do it for years) and I've cried all over this virtually new computer and I think I am about to cry again. Like actually plopping tears and everything.

If I can't fix it my son gets two crap Christmasses in a row. ( Mil was dying in hospital last year, so not so grave, but his most wanted xams pressies are totally redundant without his 'puter.

Due to a FURBAR during a.... "go back to factory settings you laggy git faced computer" session ....things went horribly wrong. Mainly cos the computer was speaking in Italian and I was tired. Probably.

So I had amazon UK rush a proper full copy of windows 8.1 in Bloody ENGLISH to Italy. DHL finally found me after a tense 48 hours of increasingly heated phone calls with me yelling "how can I always be "customer out" if you have kept me trapped in the house for TWO DAYS!"

I got into BIOS (whatever that is) I changed the boot thingie to CD-rom drive as first choice (gingerly, never been in BIOS before) All went swimmingly, but then it hung for hours and It couldn't finish the last bit of a clean install.

So a youtubber siad delete partitions.

So I did. Well some of them. 2. ACER and USER

And then I clicked next and the fecking computer complained something was missing so it couldn't run the cd-rom drive. Or something like that.

I have spent 113 euros. And all I have managed to do is kill the computer more.

And christmas is ruined cos the computer shop is not taking any repairs in till he comes back in the New Year.

Dos anybody have any ideas what has gone so horribly wrong and how to put it right ?

And if you don't. Can you please start sticking pins in an effigy of the Windows 8 wholly annoyingly displeasuring start screen of pissingoffness.

Or pass a hanky.

Is this peri menopause making me an emotional wreck due to poxy software ?

Wine. I wish I had wine.

If zou have the recoverz partition, can zou not start the computer up from there and run that_

My bf who is an IT engineer said you need to contact the computer manufacturer and get the original installation disk.

Oh FFS! I have a German keyboard and forgot to turn it back into English. I was translating something.

If it helps, DP installed Windows 8 in German and then it took him about 3 weeks to work out how to make it be in English. And he is computer fixer extraordinaire. I just know about laptops because I used to work in CEX.

@skin

In Italy they don't give you the installation disk or recovery disk anymore with computers (God knows why).

@Carpe

Let us know how you are getting on tomorrow morning :)

Nah, there'll be a way around it without waiting until after Christmas for a disc.

Honestly, even if you had completely wiped the hard drive it would just be a case of installing it as though it was brand new.

And look! You're not alone :) www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1765998/deleted-partitions-installing-windows-repair-install.html#.

Hmm. Well that DOES say to delete all partitions and also the way it explains it, it makes sense. Will delve more, though, don't do anything rash!

I shoud delete more ?

what! Noooooooo!

Maryz
Glad it's not just me. Have been a mess.

My bf who is an IT engineer said you need to contact the computer manufacturer and get the original installation disk.

Oh god pe,ase anything other than having to go thrpugh Italian customer services. It's only three months old, but ... I'd rather chew my own leg off than try and fix this by using the guarentee or contacing manufactures or dealers here.

Please.... anything but that!

WINE!WINE! GIMMEWINE!

Ask Lake she'll tell you. Taking a sledgehammar to the puter would be less painful.

OK. This actually looks pretty helpful, and not youtubey. It does say to delete the partitions, but that does actually make sense with what it's saying. (And the other link too)
pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/ss/windows-8-clean-install-part-1.htm

If you had no operating system installed, then you wouldn't get that purpley-blue screen (Like on page 6 of that tutorial). You'd get the garish Windows XP shade of blue or a black screen, both with old typewriter-style font writing like a command prompt interface.

If you're getting any colour other than the garish XP type blue or black (or possibly grey in the BIOS screen), any other fonts or any graphics, like a windows logo or little twirling dots, then it's loading Windows from somewhere, either the computer itself or the CD.

The tutorial I linked does keep going on about not deleting the wrong partition, but TBH, usually you don't need drivers on a clean install anyway. If you have a totally custom built PC, for example, it doesn't come with drivers magically installed. Also, you can't install anything without an OS so there would be nothing to install drivers onto.

What will probably happen if you install it without drivers, is that it will look a bit funny on the screen (no graphics drivers) and features like wi-fi and any extra ports (usually on the front of the case) won't work, but the basics like USB and CD/DVD should do. You also might not have sound without sound drivers. But all of these can be downloaded later.

And, I have to catch a plane tomorrow, so I may not be around :( But do put a link to this thread in Geeky Stuff, there are some very knowledgeable people around in there who will help you out.

I think... but am not sure, that it can't find the "media" thing that does the flashy "I am installing, look at me do stuff" splash from the cd. But that menas maybe the cd is duff ? Or my puter is missing something it needs ?

And BEFORE I started my mad deletions exercise, it did almost install twice. Just couldn't do the last 'finishing up" step. And refused to carry on. Sent me back to the begging, three hours a pop.

Isit the brand new copy of windows 8.1 that's fucked ? I'll kill amazon. 2 days trapped i the house to get DHL to deliver it at an extortionste rate.

The tutorial I linked does keep going on about not deleting the wrong partition

Do they say whatmthe wrong one is ? Am I supposed to just guess ? Like some evil kind of lottery ?

That sounds very mean!

Maryz

I did beg DH to just buy a new one. He could not be moved.

Have a lovely flight Berties I am calmed by this thread,,which means I should be able to work things out... rather than randomly fucking things up more. Or I will start calling around and leap on an unsuspecting techie type in my address book.

No. It doesn't need any "media thingy" to do the installing from the CD.

Hang on - when you say it sent you back to the beginning, was that after it restarted? When it restarts after it's done most of the installing, it needs to boot from the hard drive and NOT the CD. If it boots from the CD then it will start all over again.

No it was explaining examples of what not to delete, but all of the examples were user set up, not "Don't delete the partition that the manufacturer put all the drivers on". In fact I know people sometimes delete this partition on purpose to cut out all the crap but I think they do usually back up the drivers first.

Sorry to explain further on my last post. If it's loading the CD then the CD doesn't need anything extra. It can have no drivers at all and it will work.

Yep and you DID say that you set it in the BIOS to boot from CD first.

was that after it restarted?

It never restarted. It just sat there flahding and not doing anything for hours. Then an error "can't install" came up.

Twice.

I was teying to put it on my ACER pertition, cos that is the one it picked.

Yep and you DID say that you set it in the BIOS to boot from CD first.

Yes I had too, cos otherwise it just sat there telling me it needed repairing and totally ignored the disc. The youtbers told me to do that too.

I remember when rebooting something or other I had to remove the cd and let it reboot with no cd in the drive. Every time I rebooted with the cd in the drive it just started again.

I was waiting for it to restrat and maybe tell me to remove it so it could boot from...somehwere else, an elfin ai think. But it didn't restart. It just sat there. Is it my new disc?

I used the 64 cos it just spat out the 32 with disgust. I checked (I really did, and not on youtbe) the model comes with 64.

Here is the error message when I tey to install post mass deletions

.....

a media driver your computer needs is missing. This could be DVD USB or Hard Disk driver. If ypu have a cd, dvd, usb with the driver please insert now (but I don't, computer didn't come with any cds, only four useless black ones)

Note if the installation media for windows in in the dvd/usb you can safely remove it for this step.

Killdisc the fckin thing and start again.If you have windows 8 disc once its killdisced you should be all set ( I am not an IT person :o but killdisc is the dogs bollox)

So I had amazon UK rush a proper full copy of windows 8.1 in Bloody ENGLISH to Italy

Was this Amazon, or a dodgy marketplace seller? The most common cause of the error you describe is bad installation media, i.e. the installation disk itself - bad pirated copies burnt onto inferior quality media. Was it a full retail pack sealed disk with the genuine Microsoft holographic product-key label? If you're unsure, feel free to PM me a link to the exact item you purchased. If you're desperate, I can mail you a genuine copy of Win8.1 64bit OEM (free for postage as it'd just be the disk, not a licence, which I'll assume you already have) but I doubt it'd reach you in time for Christmas, from Canada...