Acer Aspire SW5-012 bios version B1.13, windows 8.1 won't boot - error 0xc0000185

Hello! I am desperate! My Acer Aspire Switch has given up, I think after a windows update. On boot it either goes to a black screen saying Windows Boot Manager, windows failed to start. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer. Or else a blue screen with Recovery: Your PC couldn't start properly, a required device isn't connected or can't be accessed. Both screens give the error code 0xc0000185. The computer didn't come with installation media. I have made a USB installation disc by downloading from Microsoft having formatted the USB to FAT32 and made it 'active' . The computer doesn't see it even when plugged into the screen. I have gone to BIOS / UEFI and set a boot password, that enables me to select EFI file to boot from USB1, didn't change anything. I have tried alt + F10 and it just makes the screen flicker. Once, by fluke! it came to a proper recovery screen from disc x:, I tried the bootrec/fixmbr, bootrec/fixboot, but bootrec/rebuildbcd said there were 0 installations of windows. I cannot now get that screen back. Any help would be very gratefully received. Thanks in advance. Ricksingle.

Accepted answers

JackE

>>>I have made a USB installation disc by downloading from Microsoft having formatted the USB to FAT32 and made it 'active' . >>>

OK. You need to make another Win8.1 installation USB stick. It needs to be GPT-partitioned, NOT MBR-partitioned, with FAT32 format. If possible you should also try to get into the BIOS menu by tapping the F2 key on boot to set a supervisor password. Then re-enter the BIOS menu with the password to disable secure boot and change the boot priority order. I'm not confident that you'll be able to retrieve your personal files but it's worth a try.

As an aside, the noise you're hearing on turning the machine on is the fan, not an HDD. You have a rather small SSD system chip soldered to your mainboard. The difficulties you've had with updates due to its small size can sometimes be fixed by inserting an NTFS format SD card for temporary storage Win8.1 needs to complete its update process.

Jack E/NJ

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JackE

You can try the ALT+F10 cold boot recovery method if the generic Microsoft version that you tried to install hasn't already wiped out the hidden ACER-flavored Win10 recovery partition on your HDD/SSD. Press and hold the power button for about 5secs till the machine is completely shut off. Then turn it back on and immediately press and hold the ALT key while tapping the F10 key. A recovery screen should appear as in the video below if the ACER partition is still intact. Follow directions to either reset to a factory fresh state or refresh the system while trying to save your files. Jack E/NJ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpzLJRAZldA

Ricksingle

Many thanks for your help. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to work. If I hold alt and press F10, the screen flashes and then produces a blue screen saying "Recovery your PC needs to be repaired, a required device isn't connected or can't be accessed. error code 0xc0000185. " I can hear the hard drive starting when I try to start the PC. Sometimes a Windows Boot Manager black and white window opens telling me Windows failed to start, and again to insert the installation media etc. Same error code, and \windows\system32\winload.efi is missing or corrupt. It has always been a bit unreliable with odd error messages saying drive

has a problem, and the C drive is too small for updates to windows, but I would like to have another go at retrieving my files if nothing else. Thanks.

Ricksingle

Please note in above comment it has turned drive D into a moji!

JackE

>>>I have made a USB installation disc by downloading from Microsoft having formatted the USB to FAT32 and made it 'active' . >>>

OK. You need to make another Win8.1 installation USB stick. It needs to be GPT-partitioned, NOT MBR-partitioned, with FAT32 format. If possible you should also try to get into the BIOS menu by tapping the F2 key on boot to set a supervisor password. Then re-enter the BIOS menu with the password to disable secure boot and change the boot priority order. I'm not confident that you'll be able to retrieve your personal files but it's worth a try.

As an aside, the noise you're hearing on turning the machine on is the fan, not an HDD. You have a rather small SSD system chip soldered to your mainboard. The difficulties you've had with updates due to its small size can sometimes be fixed by inserting an NTFS format SD card for temporary storage Win8.1 needs to complete its update process.

Jack E/NJ

Ricksingle

@Jack E, thank you so much, you are brilliant! With your instructions it worked fine up to the point where it asked for the Windows key, I inserted what I thought it to be and windows rejected it. After looking with a magnifying glass I saw this was the key for MS Office, which we never used, and there was no key for windows. We have the original box and contents, no key to be found. Is it possible to retrieve the key from Acer if we furnish the serial number of the computer. By the way, I did copy the personal files from C drive to D drive using the command prompt option. Hopefully we can recover them from that. Thank you so much for your help.

JackE

I'm not sure if you can get the original ACER-flavored Win8.1 installation USB stick in Cagliari based on the serial number id (SNID). I suggest that you send an email to the ACER store with the SNID to see if it's available. The price in the US and Canada is about $50 so it's probably similarly priced for you.

The other option is to make your own free Win8.1 USB installation stick using Microsoft's USB creation tool. If your machine was originally equipped with an ACER-flavored Win8.1, the OEM license key is already embedded on your mainboard so it should install by automatically reading this key. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery Since this is a generic Win8.1, not the ACER Win8.1, you may have to update drivers here. https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/5547?b=1

Jack E/NJ

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