Windows 8 fails to start [Check Media Fail]

Almost every time I restart my computer the OS (windows 8) fails to load. Instead I am greeted with this message "Check Media: Fail". I cannot boot into windows period when it does this. Through some fiddling I've come to realize that if I attempt to do a repair the error message that I get is "The hard drive is locked" or something to that effect. If I attempt to do a clean install, it will not detect any HDD, when I move to load the HDD driver from a USB the HDD then shows up. When I cancel this and click exit to Windows 8, the system loads as normal and everything seems fine. My drivers are up to date, I have formatted the drive and restored from a system image but the same error still arises if I shut down again.

Additional info:
The system uses a standard HDD being used in tandem with a SSD through Intel Rapid Storage Technology
BIOS Mode is set to UEFI
Secure Boot is enabled


Summary:
Windows 8 fails to load as if there is no OS detected
If I load the HDD driver the system then functions as normal
It appears as though the HDD driver is somehow being overwritten with each reboot

Any Ideas beyond Nuking the system and starting from scratch?

 

have you already tried flashing the BIOS and/or upgrading the firmware on the hard drive (by the way, which hard drive are you using?)?

 

Yes I've flashed the BIOS and tried to upgrade the firmware on the HDD, no joy. The drives are a Hitachi HTS54505 and a Samsung PM830 mSata.

 

Bios settings? Is the SATA operation mode RAID or AHCI?

 

There is no HDD driver, per se; there are SATA drivers and there is the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver, as well as a USB mass storage driver (which comes into play when you connect the HDD via USB). Make sure the SATA driver and IRS driver are up to date. Also, be sure that the SSD is in the primary disk drive slot.

And are you using the HDD for data and the SSD for the OS? Is your boot sequence set up properly? If you could quote the error message you mentioned verbatim, or even better: take a screen shot and post it here, that would be great!

 

The HDD is used for the OS. Boot sequence is good to go, the error just started happening and I can't think of any change that may have triggered it. I've attached it. When I go to the dump location that the screen shot mentions I see no such file, it's not hidden or anything.

It's set to Intel Smart Response Technology. It's an XPS 14 which uses the HDD/SSD combo.

 

If you're using the HDD for the OS, then scratch what I said about physical placement, and have the HDD in the primary slot if you don't already (although it's better to put the SSD in the primary slot, since the primary is typically the only SATA III port).

With that, update your SATA driver and IRS driver, and even the chipset driver, if applicable. It's hard to decipher the minidumps, although you can refer to this guide for deciphering the problem. Let me know if you try the programs in that article, and update us on the status!

 

I eventually came to a program called WhoCrashed that analyzed the minidump and this was the report generated

"On Thu 1/31/2013 6:07:08 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\013113-28375-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: tcpip.sys (tcpip+0x9013D)
Bugcheck code: 0xD1 (0xFFFFF8811D28F2C4, 0x2, 0x1, 0xFFFFF88001EC013D)
Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\tcpip.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: TCP/IP Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode driver attempted to access pageable memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system that cannot be identified at this time. "

tcpip.sys is an internet related service no? So I'm not sure why it would be causing drive errors. What I did was clear out the SSD caching and re-enable it. It has crashed during sleep and forced me into a full restart one time since then but I have not had the other error where the OS does not load yet. Unless they are unrelated issues.

 

Interesting find. Yes: tcpip.sys is a system process - and a necessary one. TCP/IP is the internet protocol used for sending and receiving packets.

You can attempt to disable it, but chances are you'll either run into new error messages, or you simply won't have internet access.

 

Okay. What I did was flush my ip settings using the command prompt. I loosely followed what this guy said in the 8th post. DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL tcpip.sys - Geeks to Go Forums

 

I don't quite understand why this would have caused the message every boot, but I'm glad you got it resolved. And thanks for following up with results!

 

I'm not sure either. But hopefully it is. The thing with this issue is that it keeps resurfacing when I think its gone away.

 

It could be IPV/6. Since Modern UI is so dependent on an internet connection your IPV/6 could be causing issues................

 

So you think it might be acting up because I have IPV/6 disabled?

 

I don't think the IPV6 is a heavily implemented protocol just yet, but you're welcome to try it.

 

It could be it needs it either way. Media fil though on prior windows versions meant something in storage but now you are looking at an OS with modern ui wanting possibly internet connection and cloud storage. Unfortunately not a windows 8 expert here but as the old saying goes; the more you have and the more complex it is the easier for it to all break down and go wrong.......................

 

I have the exact same problem with my XPS 14...I went through the diagnostics and BIOS and everything is up to check...I have the newest BIOS (A13)....so I am not sure what is wrong

 

Disable the SSD caching. Or follow this http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...x-intel-rapid-storage-issues.html#post9139052. It might mean a clean install but beyond that I found no other solution.

 

Check your BIOS settings, you need to be in RAID mode for the SSD cache to work, and some BIOS updates revert the settings to a pre defined setting which is not always the same as before the flash/update. I suspect the driver for the SSD isn't being loaded and causing windows to panic. Check your boot order as well.