I purchased Windows 8 disc in the first 3 months of it being released. When 8.1 became available on line, I installed it also. I had my backups set for monthly and everything was running ok, I say ok, because I have found that Windows 7 seems to be a lot easier for browsers hence, the internet is faster when using 7. In December I woke up one morning to find my system was turned off, I usually leave it on. Windows 8.1 would not boot, however post was/is fine. I did the usual repair attempts and finally restored to just before last update. Next critical update attempt (that day) my system crashed. This time I could not restore so i used my system image, which was, at that time, two weeks old. The message I got was that the system image was different architecture and was invalid. In the end I re-installed. However, I soon found out that my Win 8 disc was an upgrade so i had to start at Win 7 Pro, install with updates, then win 8 with updates, then 8.1. Lesson learnt, I thought, backups weekly WITH sys image weekly.

Fast forward to Feb 2015, critical update and win 8.1 is crashed AGAIN! Same routine only this time I could not get the updates to install for 8. So I re-installed 8, three times! Before updates would install. Because...unless Windows 8 is up to date, it will NOT let me install Windows 8.1!

Then, this week my OS RAID array (5 x 240GB SandDisk Extreme SSD in RAID 0) failed...install AGAIN! Understandable...errors happen, discs fail, although is unexpected for an SSD less than 8 months old (intermittent failure that I have not gone into yet). It just made matters feel worse AFTER the first two crashes!

Microsoft advertises that Windows 8.1 AND 10 are/will be free upgrades for those who have purchased 8 however, this is NOT the case because if I have to re-install then I need a product key, my Windows 8 key will not suffice. Can anyone help with this? I don't see why I should have to pay for an error caused by Microsoft. I run Trend Micro Titanium and Malwarebytes Premium. I try to be proactive with my passwords so i am not suffering from virus, malware etc...but I am VERY frustrated and am for the moment, going back to Windows 7! If there are any more issues I am at the point of changing to Ubuntu, Apple or chrome OS.

I need help! Has anyone else found these issues? Can anyone suggest  a course of action for me?

ASRock z87 Extreme9a/c / i7 4770K / 32GB DDR3 2400MHz RAM / 2 x GeForce GTX770 Ac 4GB RAM in SLI / OCZ ZX-1250W PSU

I know hardware will not be an issue here but I included anyway, to clarify.

Hi Bluismycat,

What is the main issue here ? How to upgrade to Windows 8.1 from Windows 8 ?

If we want to upgrade the windows 8.1 from windows 8,we can refer to the following link :
Update to Windows 8.1 from Windows 8
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-hk/windows-8/update-from-windows-8-tutorial

As for failuring to install the updates ,have you got any error messages ? We can try the following steps to have a check(Turn off the antivirus software temporarily ):
1.Run "dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth " to check the health of the system
2.Run the built-in troubleshoot tool to have a diagnostic:
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Troubleshooting\All Categories\Windows update
3.Clear the windows update cache.
Net stop wuauserv
cd %systemroot%
Ren SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
Net start wuauserv
4.Reset Windows update components
 How do I reset Windows Update components?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

Considering the Windows 10 is still in testing ,it is not recommended to install it for working environment.If we want to enjoy this system in advance , we can refer to the following link :
A preview for PC experts
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-hk/windows/preview-faq

Best regards