Help! my Alienware 17 R3 laptop is stuck in a "diagnosing PC/preparing automatic repair" loop

[creednick83]

A few days ago I tried restarting my computer, and got stuck in a loop. An alienware icon shows up, then a spinning circle of dots shows up. It then jumps to "Preparing Automatic Repair." The screen goes black and a blank window appears in the upper left of the screen. Then it goes back to the alienware icon, and the spinning circle of dots appears and the phrase "diagnosing PC" appears.

For a split second afterwards, it says it's trying tor repair my hard drive. But almost instantaneously it restarts the machine. I tried contacting Dell tech support, but they weren't very helpful. The suggested I remove my battery to reset the bios, but my model has a built in battery. I think they were using a manual for another model. My machine also doesn't have an optical drive, so it didn't come with a recovery disk. I can get into the Bios, there's a brief window when I can press f2 to enter the setup or f12 to select boot options, but I'm not quite sure what to do once I'm there.

I ran a diagnostic from one of the BIOS tools, it checked everything and didn't register a problem with any of the components. I'm a novice, and any help would be appreciated greatly.

 

[webworkings]

Note: If this problem started after an update, please make sure the laptop is not connected to the internet in any way before you use the following instructions.

Try the following...

1. Power off the laptop.
2. Power on the laptop.
3. As soon as you see the rotating loading circle, press and hold the Power Button until the computer shuts off.
4. Repeat this process a few times until you see the "Preparing Automatic Repair" screen.

NOTE: You need it to stay on the screen, unlike you are getting so far.

5. Now you want to let the laptop boot to the "Automatic Repair" screen.
6. Click "Advanced Options" and then select "Troubleshoot".
7. Here you want to select "Refresh your PC", if you do not wish to erase data, or "Reset your PC" to erase all data and restore your system.
8. From here just follow the screen instructions until the recovery is completed.

NOTE: You will need to get into the "Advanced Options" in order to get the "Refresh Option". This choice will keep your data, but any programs installed will be lost.

Do not do a "Reset" as that will wipe all data you have on the laptop.

 

[creednick83]

I really appreciate the help! For some reason now the spinning icon doesn't show up anymore. When the machine starts up now, it shows the Alienware icon, and in the corner a label appears that says "Powered by Klipsch." Then it instantly goes to preparing automatic repair and gets stuck in the loop.

Note: If this problem started after an update, please make sure the laptop is not connected to the internet in any way before you use the following instructions.

Try the following...

1. Power off the laptop.
2. Power on the laptop.
3. As soon as you see the rotating loading circle, press and hold the Power Button until the computer shuts off.
4. Repeat this process a few times until you see the "Preparing Automatic Repair" screen.

NOTE: You need it to stay on the screen, unlike you are getting so far.

5. Now you want to let the laptop boot to the "Automatic Repair" screen.
6. Click "Advanced Options" and then select "Troubleshoot".
7. Here you want to select "Refresh your PC", if you do not wish to erase data, or "Reset your PC" to erase all data and restore your system.
8. From here just follow the screen instructions until the recovery is completed.

NOTE: You will need to get into the "Advanced Options" in order to get the "Refresh Option". This choice will keep your data, but any programs installed will be lost.

Do not do a "Reset" as that will wipe all data you have on the laptop.

 

[webworkings]

You still may be able to use the info sent, even if you don't make it to the rotating circle. Sometimes it works before or right as get to the message.

 

[creednick83]

How many times should I do so? The "Preparing Automatic Repair" Message always shows up, should I power it off right afterwards?

 

[webworkings]

You want that preparing message to 'stay' on the screen. Where as you said yours disappears. It needs to stay long enough so that it goes to the "Automatic Repair". If it doesn't do that, or never does that, then this option won't work.

 

[ac13044]

Press The Shift+F8 Keys Or F8 Key Repeatedly When The System Starts

http/www.howtogeek.com/131916/how-to-use-the-advanced-startup-options-to-fix-your-windows-8-computer/

if above does not help try this Advanced Startup Options again shift + f8 or f8 till you get back into Advanced Startup Options then open cmd


get cmd to open and check
bootrec /fixMBR
bootrec /Fixboot
bootrec /rebuildBCD
and also
chkdsk /r c:
chkdsk /r d:
chkdsk /r e:
chkdsk /r f: