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I changed a setting on my Windows 8.1 PC and now the screen has gone black. Ive tried to get into safe mode using F8 / Shift-F8 but it never gives me safe mode.

All the guides on how to get into safe mode just state to do it through windows but as i disabled GPU Scaling on my AMD graphics card the screen is just black. I need to get into safe mode and re-enable GPU Scaling.

I've tried booting from Windows 8.1 disc and used repair PC that didn't work.

Also i tried restoring to an earlier version but that didn't work keeps saying cannot restore.

Really hope i don't have reformat the drive.

Anyone got any advice?

Exoon
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  • That guide says to use Shift+F8 which i tried and doesn't work – Exoon Jan 29 '14 at 17:56
  • Yeah, the Shift-F8 only works on slow computers (if that). Doesn't make it a different question though, we just need a better answer on the dupe. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Jan 29 '14 at 17:57
  • So my only option is to format and re install the OS? – Exoon Jan 29 '14 at 17:59
  • You say you booted from the disk and hit "repair PC", but it 'didn't work'. What "didn't work" exactly? Did you see/choose the "Repair your computer" link, and did you not get the Advanced Startup Options screen once you chose it? If not, what happened exactly? – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Jan 29 '14 at 18:01
  • "I changed a setting..." What did you change, *exactly*? – and31415 Jan 29 '14 at 23:51
  • i changed a setting on the AMD Drivers, Turned GPU Scaling off, which made a black screen. Seems alot of people have the same issue. @techie007 - I tried to roll back to a previous point neither of the points i could roll back to worked. I also tried the automatic repair that didn't work. By "didn't" work i mean it didn't give me the option to reboot into safe mode. – Exoon Jan 30 '14 at 18:25

1 Answers1

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Microsoft changed it because they believe that Windows 8 starts so quickly you don't have time to press F8. From: Windows Startup Settings (including safe mode)

There are two ways to get to the Windows Startup Settings screen in Windows 8 :

  • If you're not signed in to Windows, tap or click the power icon Power icon from the sign-in screen, hold Shift, and then tap or click Restart

  • Or, if you're already signed in:

    1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, and then tap Change PC settings. (If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings, and then click Change PC settings.)

    2. Under PC settings, tap or click General.

    3. Under Advanced startup, tap or click Restart now.

    4. On the Choose an option screen, tap or click Troubleshoot.

    5. Tap or click Startup Settings.

    6. Tap or click Restart.

    7. On the Startup Settings screen, choose the startup setting you want.

    8. Sign in to your PC with a user account that has administrator rights.

If all else fails, you may be able to reset your GPU scaling settings by directly accessing the registry from the repair console command prompt.

This forum post suggests that zeroing out a couple of keys may fix your problem. You can use the REG ADD command to accomplish this.

PaulH
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