Dell Venue 8 blocked. I need help, what do I do?

[i2ils]

Some months ago I installed Window 10 on my tablet - del venue 8 pro 64mbytes.

after a Windows update my tablet is blocked.

when start i read : "preparing automatic repair "

an then : " diagnosing your pc"

and then "automatich repair couldn't repare your pc"

I need help and suggestions to exit from this situation.

And if I would return to Windows 8.1, how can i do it ?

Thanks . Regards.

 

[pankaj981]

Re: Dell Venue 8 blocked. I need help.

Going back to 8.1 is a pain. Read around, you'll probably find some threads explaining the procedure.

 

[Jack Neill]

Re: Dell Venue 8 blocked. I need help.

I say go back to 8.1, W10 on Tablet isn't ready yet.

 

[i2ils]

Re: Dell Venue 8 blocked. I need help.

I would go back to 8.1 but where I can find how to do it ? Thanks . Regards.

 

[blackfire]

Re: Dell Venue 8 blocked. I need help.

I tried one of the first Insider Preview builds of Windows 10 on my DV8P. At that time the tablet experience was very bad, so I rolled it back to Windows 8.1. Here is how I did it:

Disclosure: Follow the instructions below at your own risk. I will not be responsible for any damage caused to anyone or any system as a result of following these instructions.

Things you'll need:

1. USB OTG cable adapter. This is so that you can connect a mouse & keyboard (I only needed to plug in a keyboard, don't remember needing a mouse), and a USB Flash Drive to your Dell Venue 8 Pro. This one from Amazon worked perfectly fine for me.
   
2. 2 Flash drives. For Windows you'll need at least a 4 GB flash drive. I used an 8 GB USB Flash drive when I did it. The second one can be quite smaller, and it is for the DV8P drivers. Or you can just add a "Drivers" folder to the root of the same flash drive you use for the Windows installation once it is ready.
   
3. Windows 8.1 Installation media, which you will use one of those USB flash drives for. I will guide you through the process of creating one directly from Microsoft's website. IMPORTANT: You don't need a Windows 8.1 product key. The Dell Venue 8 Pro has it encrypted in its UEFI, and during setup it should recognize the product key and it should not ask you for one. 
   
4. USB keyboard. I had to use a wired one, but some wireless setups might work too. 
   
5. I am going to assume you'll run most of the steps to prep up for your rollback from another PC instead of from the DV8P itself.

Steps:

1. Make sure your DV8P is 100% charged. You may not be able to charge your tablet while you have other devices attached to it through the OTG adapter. For now, just leave it plugged into your charger while you prep up.
   
2. Go to Dell support site and download all of the most recent drivers for the Dell Venue 8 Pro. Save all downloaded files to the smallest of your two flash drives. 
   
3. Go to the "Creating your Windows 8.1 Installation Media" section below to create your Windows 8.1 USB installation Flash Drive directly from Microsoft's website, then come back and continue with step 4.
   
4. Once you have the media created, unplug your DV8P from the charger, connect the OTG adapter to your DV8P, plug in the USB flash drive with the OS and the external USB keyboard; then completely shut down your DV8P.
   
5. When completely off (not sleeping), press and hold the Down Volume button; with it pressed, also press and hold the power button. Keep both buttons pressed until you see the Dell logo. Once you see the logo, release both buttons. This will take you wo the UEFI BIOS screen. Go to the "Boot" tab, in the boot priority section, tap option #1, and choose the USB flash drive with the Windows 8.1 installation media. Go to the Exit tab, Save and Exit. This will reboot your DV8P, and it should boot up to the Windows 8.1 installation.
   
6. Once you boot from the USB drive, follow screen instructions to install Windows 8.1. 
   
7. You may not be able to sign in to your account because, at least for me, the WiFi drivers were not installed as part of the Windows installation, so you will just create a local account. Don't worry, once all the drivers are installed (or at least the WiFi driver) you will be able to link your local account to your Microsoft Account. 
   
8. Once you boot up to your fresh and clean, new Windows installation, you will notice everything looks bigger than usual, and everything runs quite slow. This is because of the missing system drivers. So now just find the flash drive you put the drivers for the DV8P into (or go to the Drivers folder if you put them on the same Windows Installation media), and start installing drivers. My recommendation is to start with the Intel Atom Driver. This has most of the drivers you need. Once you install that and reboot, go to Device Manager, and verify if anything else is missing and just go from there. I don't remember having to install many others after the "Intel Atom Driver" package.
   
9. If you now want to link your Microsoft Account, just go to Settings > Accounts, and follow the instructions to connect your MSA with your local account.

Creating your Windows 8.1 Installation Media: 

1. Connect your USB Flash Drive in a USB port to your computer.
   
2. Download and run from this URL: Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help
   
3. Choose appropriate:
   
   
   

   • Language
   • Edition (Even though you can download a version like Pro, keep in mind that the Product Key stored in the system's UEFI is for Windows 8.1 (non-Pro). For the purpose of these instructions, I'll assume you just want to install the same version that came with the DV8P, so choose Windows 8.1 (Or Windows 8.1 N if you live in a country that is part of the European Economic Area or Switzerland).
   • Architecture - Even though the CPU on the Dell Venue 8 Pro is a 64-bit CPU, the original OS is 32-bit. I have never tried the 64-bit version on my DV8P, so unless you know for sure all drivers for the device work on 64-bit, I suggest you use the 32-bit version.

   
   ​
4. Click Next.
   
5. Choose "USB flash drive" and click "Next".
   
6. Select the USB drive you want to use to create the installation media - If you only have one plugged in, just click Next. If you have more than one, choose the one you plan to use, and click Next.
   
7. A warning will come up informing that all the content on the flash drive will be deleted. Click OK.
   
8. Now wait until the files are downloaded and your installation media is created. This process mainly depends on your internet connection and the speed of your USB device and controller. To me it took 13 minutes.
   
9. Once done, the tool should tell you it created the media successfully. At this point you can click "Finish". Your installation media is now ready.

I hope you find this useful. I tried covering everything. If I left anything out, please add a comment and I'll update the process. It worked perfectly fine for me and I hope it does for you too. I'm now just patiently waiting to install the final version of Windows 10 on my Dell.

 

[pepelepieux]

Hello,

The same thing as the OP happened to me.
I have my USB windows8 install stick and I have told the tablet to boot on the USB stick.

But then I have an infinite loop screen with "Choose your keyboard layout"
Any ideas folks?

Thanks.

 

[Black3ternity]

I faced the same issue.
You need the USB Host adapter cable AND a little USB Hub in order to attach an external keyboard (!)
Then you can plug both the USB stick and the keyboard on it and proceed to install it like regular.

You need an extra keyboard for that because the stick loads up and then it reboots and you need to press a key again in order for it to boot into the installation procedure. And that only works with an external keyboard because the touch keyboard is obviously not present then.


Regards,

 

[pepelepieux]

Thank you.

I was talking about the keyboard setting on the Windows 10 install screen. I am stuck in some kind of in between Windows 10 limbo

I have downloaded a Windows 8 installer from MS. I will restart from scratch.
You can get the installer on the MS site :
Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help.

And here is the whole process explained :
https://forums.windowscentral.com/e.../article/us/en/19/SLN289267/EN&token=n-JIYKLz

Pepelepieux.

 

[pankaj981]

Okay so I went through the whole process a couple of hours ago. My Windows 10 wasn't activating due to the key being blacklisted (at least that's what the error read), not sure why though. Either way, this is what I did.

1) Install Windows 8.1 Enterprise evaluation x86 using USB. You would need a USB hub, keyboard and mouse for this operation. Install as usual and install all chipset drivers (touch, wifi, etc.)

2) Format the USB in FAT32 format and restore the contents of the recovery drive (read around, you'll find one in the forums) on the root of the drive

3) Plug in this USB and from 8.1's recovery options, select Advanced Startup >> Troubleshoot >> Reset your PC. The tablet with restart and restore from the contents of the recovery drive and once complete, you'll have the image restored.