Cannot boot into automatic repair on this PC

[Andre S. Veteran]

I had to boot into automatic repair to fix my Windows installation recently (this problem happened after booting in safe mode). I tried it in every way I know of:

 

1) Shift-click restart from the login screen

2) Force reboot several times until Windows boots into it automatically

3) Use a USB installation media

 

In case 1) Windows just boots normally. In cases 2) and 3), it gets to a Windows logo and a spinning animation and then switches to a black screen indefinitely. When the black screen appears, the keyboard and mouse flash off and back on, and that's it. No more activity.

 

From there I've tried:

 

 - Leaving it running all night - never got unstuck

 - Unplugging all drives from the computer including the system drive, booting only from installation media

 - Unplugging all other devices as well leaving only the CPU, RAM, Video card and USB installation media

 - Clearing CMOS and loading optimized defaults

 - Resetting the RAM

 

I can never get it past the loading screen. Note that, if it wasn't clear, this has nothing to do with my Windows installation; even with the system drive physically unplugged, I cannot get into the installation/repair environment from installation media.

 

The installation media works fine on another PC. I ended up taking out the system drive, plugging into another computer and doing to the Windows reset there. Note that I could get into automatic repair just fine, from the system drive (without installation media), when it was plugged into another PC, so the Windows installation seems fine. Once this was done, I plugged the system drive back in the original PC and booted normally into Windows. I still cannot get into automatic repair on this PC though.

 

This seems to be hardware-related but I have no idea what could be the problem. Config:

 

Intel Core i5 4670K Unlocked Quad Core 3.4GHZ Processor LGA1150 Haswell 6MB

Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Z87

Kingston HyperX Blu Black Series 16GB 2X8GB DDR3-1600

MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC Twin Frozr IV

Fractal Design Define R4 Titanium ATX Mid Tower Case

 

The rest isn't really relevant because the problem occurs even with all drives and peripherals disconnected.