Computer Problems Round 2 (Error Code 0xc0000001)

Not long after I had restored my laptop to working condition, probably about a month or so, I had a promo email from Microsoft reminding that the free upgrade to Windows 10 was still being offered. Thinking that my laptop was touchscreen-enabled and not too old, I reckoned that my laptop could handle the upgrade. Unfortunately, halfway through the upgrading, I got the BCD again!


And this time my previous remedy didn't work. I was stuck with a non-functioning laptop for another 1-2 months. Having an office laptop reduced the urgency of fixing the problem.

After lugging my office laptop home for a number of weekends and still unable to find a solution from Google, I decided to reformat my laptop (thanks to a random discovery of the HP Assistant which enabled a clean swipe). I was convinced that the data loss was worth it. After all, my laptop was getting older by the day and it's non-functional state was depriving my getting the best value from this investment. Besides, what would be lost were just photos and non-essential documents.

After reformatting to Windows 8, I was prompted to upgrade to Windows 8.1 and later 10, and I did so. I learned the trick to successful installation was to allow all updates to be installed and to let the system run although it may seem to be stuck at a certain percentage for a really long time. Do not be overzealous and try to restart your PC as this will just give you problems.

And the second surprise was when I realised that my data was not lost, as during one of the hundredth time I was troubleshooting a backup (which I was prompted had failed), I had actually saved my data on my external hard drive. No doubt, some files must have been missing due to the "failure" I had been notified of.

So my first self-bought laptop is back online without me having to spend a dime. Feels like brand new with a new OS and a spiffy wipe down. The only telltale that it's not as new as it looks is its dead battery. Well, that is for another time to replace and when the need to bring it out is so undeniably pressing.