Issues booting up Windows 8.1

So, here’s the situation. Everything just completely froze up while I was browsing the web, and since the whole system was crawling along at a snail's pace during recovery, I decided to just force a reboot. Right then, Windows decided it was the perfect time to try an update, but it choked halfway through. Now, it's stuck in this endless loop of restarting and attempting to finish that failed update, but nothing actually happens. I tried to force my way into Safe Mode, but I ended up failing that too and just told it to load Windows normally instead. Since then, I haven't been able to get past this black screen filled with white text—the one that mentions booting from a CD/DVD. It just sits there, staring back at me. Even when I try to prioritize the hard drive in the BIOS, it’s like hitting a brick wall; it stays stuck on that screen, even if the "boot from cd" message isn't even showing anymore. I can't even reach the Safe Mode option now. I used to be able to trigger the automatic repair via the recovery menu, but because I can't move past this black screen, I can't get anywhere near those settings. Is Windows totally trashed here? Or am I looking at a dead hard drive?

Have you checked your BIOS settings to make sure it’s actually set to boot from the hard drive? I honestly can't wrap my head around how else that setting would flip on its own... Also, did you just finish installing Windows, or have you been running it for a while without any issues? If this is a fresh installation, we might be looking at some kind of software glitch within Windows itself rather than a hardware failure.

I tried tweaking the settings, sure. But honestly, nothing changed. I've been running Windows on this machine for three years now without a single hiccup, so it’s definitely acting strange all of a sudden.

When you're booting up, you can try tapping F6 or F8—I can't recall exactly which one it was, my memory's shot—but that should bring up the Safe Mode option.
My advice? Grab some Linux and use it to move all your important files onto a USB drive or an external hard drive that isn't running an OS.
And while you're at it, head over to Microsoft's site and download the latest version of Windows 8.1; it'll have all the essential patches included so you aren't fighting constant updates later. Honestly, just reinstalling the OS from scratch is usually less of a headache anyway.

The reason it won't boot is probably because the boot data for your current OS is trashed. You could try http://www.thewindowsclub.com/repair...rd-mbr-windows to see if that fixes anything... might help, might not.

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That’s a possibility, but I’m struggling to wrap my head around how the Windows boot files could just vanish mid-stream and cause a total freeze right after everything loads into RAM. If you were to wipe out all the boot files while the system is running, it should technically keep functioning until those files are flushed from the RAM—meaning it wouldn't actually crash until you tried to reboot, right? Am I missing something here?

He mentioned that Windows started running those updates—you know, the kind where it sits there during boot-up replacing system files... Since the whole thing didn't actually finish, he’s stuck with this weird hybrid of old and new files, and obviously, everything is just broken. I have no clue why it stalled out, but my guess is the process got cut short because someone hit reset or pulled the plug mid-update...

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I might have actually interrupted the process for the third time now, mostly because the first two attempts just kept forcing a reboot to try and finish those updates on their own. Once I realized the third time was going to follow that same loop, I decided to take matters into my own hands—but after that, I just hit a dead end at that same screen I mentioned earlier.

Honestly, if I were you, I’d just wipe the slate clean and reinstall the OS. Here’s the link where you can grab Windows 8.1 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8—you're going to need a USB flash drive, too. Since it'll install with all the latest updates already baked in, you should be able to run a repair once you boot from that USB flash drive. Just... do yourself a favor and back everything up first. If you happen to have some Linux distro lying around, boot into a live session and rescue whatever files aren't completely trashed...