Dual Booting Issues

[Waltee]

I'd like to start off by saying that I've dual booted with various operating systems for ages, whether different versions of Windows or different distros of Linux and have fixed just about every issue I've come across, but for some reason I just can't get this one to sort itself out.

 

Anyway, here's what I'm working with:

I was originally running Windows 8.1 Pro and tried to (and successfully) install Windows 10 Tech Preview, all seemed great and I've got the tech preview running (it's what I'm using to type this message), but upon restarting my system I realised that something went wrong with the bootloader and Windows 8.1 has disappeared. 

 

Using the Tech Preview disc - unfortunately I've misplaced my Windows 8 disc, and have no spare DVDs or USB sticks to create a replacement at the moment - I went into recovery settings and ran the start-up repair to no avail. I then tried following this guide (https://neosmart.net/wiki/recovering-windows-bootloader/), which has always helped out before when nothing else seems to work, but that hasn't helped either. 

 

After that failed I decided to use Easy BCD to add my old OS manually, but for some reason when I click it from the menu 1 of 2 things happen. 

I either get this:

 

 

Or it looks like the system is going to boot, it goes to the black and blue windows splash screen where it sits for a little while, then comes up with a blue screen and error message that I think is exactly the same error that is above (it flashes for a split second before rebooting). 

 

For a bit of added information, Windows 8.1 is installed on an SSD, Windows 10 Preview is installed on a spare HDD. I know the SSD is perfectly fine, the data hasn't somehow been corrupted as I can explore all the data, files, folders, and all the disk check utilities have come back with no errors on any of the storage devices. 

I've also tried removing other storage drives in case they were somehow causing issues and changed SATA ports on the motherboard.

 

I'm literally at a loss for what else I can try. 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

[FatPenguin]

when I get my new PC i'm gonna dual boot Windows 8.1 and ubuntu

[Altecice]

Have you tried disabling Secure Boot in your BIOS?

[Waltee]

Have you tried disabling Secure Boot in your BIOS?

I haven't, no. I'll try it now and see what happens and get back to you. 

[Waltee]

Have you tried disabling Secure Boot in your BIOS?

 

Exact same issue. Although I did manage to find out what the blue screen says when it does the second thing. It' just an unhappy face stating that it ran into a problem and needs to restart, no error code or anything. 

[Altecice]

Exact same issue. Although I did manage to find out what the blue screen says when it does the second thing. It' just an unhappy face stating that it ran into a problem and needs to restart, no error code or anything. 

 

I would not be surprised if its just a Windows 10 issue, Its still not finished yet and it has many bugs.

[Waltee]

I would not be surprised if its just a Windows 10 issue, Its still not finished yet and it has many bugs.

Unfortunately I'm 99% sure that's not the case, I had this exact version of it installed before on the same machine with the same hardware, plus I feel that if it was a Windows 10 issue it would have been the Windows 10 part that had the problem? 

 

I'm just irritated that I can't access the Windows 8.1 as that's the one that has all of my programs installed. 

 

I just need to find a way to somehow sort whatever it is that's wrong with the boot manager and it's driving me slowly mad.