Windows8.1 Recovery CD

[Namsnik]

My SSD with Windows 8.1 will not boot.

I made an 8.1 recovery drive (USB) which is the only option available in 8.1. However my PC does not seem able to boot from USB. The Bios has options:
USB-FDD, USB-ZIP, USB-CDRom, USB-HDD

So having faffed around with that for hours I am thinking there must be a simple way to make a recovery CD/DVD??

I have GA-965P-DS3P motherboard with Bios version F4 1/8/2007

I found this http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/277163-30-gigabyte-965p-ignores-boot-priority

To get a GB to 'see' a USB stick at boot, you must have the stick formatted to FAT-32, and, on the "Integrated Peripherals" page of the BIOS, the "USB Controller", "USB 2.0 Controller", "Legacy USB storage detect", and likely "USB Keyboard Support" items all need to be "Enabled"; also, have you succeeded with this stick prior to this problem? If it's a new stick, there are some that the GB BIOS just 'doesn't like', and simply won't work - or worse, can corrupt CMOS...

and have made sure that I have those Bios settings. I also tried 2 different USB sticks and they both work on a different PC.

 

[Namsnik]

Solved: I downloaded the ISO using a link in another thread here and was able to use that as recovery DVD.

1) Download Windows 8.1 Update 1 ISO.
2) The ISO comes straight from Microsoft. Compare the SHA-1 file hash to verify authenticity.


You can use HashTab to calculate the SHA-1 hash of the file.

4) Install using one of the place holder keys:



4) Activate Windows 8 using your own key after the installation has finished.

Interestingly startup repair said it couldn't fix the problem but it seems to work now anyway so it did.