[Solved] Windows 10 loops saying "Preparing automatic repair"

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 12/26/2015 20:17:09

I upgraded my Windows 7 computer to Windows 10 a couple days ago and it seemed to work fine. Then all of a sudden today when I turned on the computer it shows a boot screen with the MSI logo and keeps saying "Preparing automatic repair" and continues looping forever. Powering off and on the computer doesn't fix the problem.

Any ideas?

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 12/26/2015 20:17:36

Have you tried building a Windows 10 system image?

I recommend getting the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft's download page and burn a DVD (may require dual layer DVD).

If you set the bios to boot from DVD and power cycle the computer, the next time it boots, the automatic repair may just do the trick.

that works!

thanks!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 01/17/2016 21:42:33

When working on another machine that had the same problem, the problem appears to be caused by a bad SATA cable connection. Reconnecting the cable enabled the computer to break the "Preparing automatic repair" loop at the next bootup. It is unclear if the cable is bad or if there is noise on the SATA connection.

While troubleshooting we also had to workaround a motherboard feature that enables fast boot. On MSI motherboards if you enable the Fast Boot BIOS options, it skips the "delete" key signal to enter the BIOS. To get into the BIOS, we had to clear the CMOS by temporary removal of the CMOS battery on our MSI AM1i motherboard.