Until my system tried to install KB2919355 it had been stable giving no problems at all.
On trying to install I got stuck in the boot, fail, repair, fail loop. Of itself not a huge problem except that by now I couldnt roll back my system.
Not a problem, I have backups so using another computer I downloaded 8.1 including update from technet, created a usb and tried to reinstall.
Simple boot from usb, clean install, I deleted all partitions but once again confronted by the boot, fail, repair, fail loop.
Must be hardware related so pull everything except memory and ssd and try again. same failure but I cant tell the error message as the fail screen flashes up momentarily before being replaced in the next boot cycle... and there's no logging as there isnt a drive to save the data to...
Frustrated, I reach for technet and find lots of people with the same problem but no real solutions.
So now I clean boot with windows 7 ultimate, install that, fully patch and install all hardware and drivers so I have a clean windows 7 system. I've installed nothing else at this point.
It's as close to a generic machine as I can get.
On trying to install 8.1 with update I go through the same fail loop except that because I've started the install from win 7 I get rolled back to before the crash.
I'm open to suggestions as I really cant believe I have some borderline hardware thats only manifesting itself with the 8.1 install. Likewise everything on this system is clean, I dont even have office on here yet!
Just for shits and giggles I've updated the bios on the MB and the video card in case there was an issue there.. but no. Still just the same.
The hardware is an Asus P8B75-M LE with a 3.5GHz i7 3770, 16GB ram, a geforce GTX 650 and a samsung 840 evo ssd and a microsoft 2000 aes kb and mouse.
It flies. With win 7 now....
I could try 8, then 8.1 and turn off updates but I use this for development... It needs to be stable and I need it soon.
Please help me obiwan before I virtualise you into linux land......