My PC won't boot

robfosters · 1 Jan 2016 at 13:39

Was working fine last night. This morning it won't boot. Also bizarrely, my SSD has disappeared from my boot menu and even more bizarrely, it is now refusing to let me into the BIOS. When I try to boot I am just getting this screen all the time. The SSD is however, recognised in the bios, it just does not appear in the boot menu :confused:

Nix · 1 Jan 2016 at 14:38

Have you tried clearing your CMOS?

I've had lots of boot problems with my SSD over the last couple of years.

If the CMOS doesn't help, try moving the SSD to another port on your motherboard. Also, try removing other media; it's a bit of trial and error here.

If you still can't get it to work, it will probably be easiest to remove all other devices, format the SSD (I find GParted helps here) and do a fresh installation of the OS.

You can obviously still try a Windows repair but in my experience, it didn't do anything to help.

If the disk doesn't show up in the Windows installation environment, try changing ports again.

robfosters · 1 Jan 2016 at 15:31

Thanks but I fixed it in a weird way.

I installed Windows 7 on my secondary HDD and that gave me a dual boot option on startup. However, the Windows 10 boot now works fine.

I can only assume that the Windows installation has altered the bios or something else to the correct settings.

Nix · 1 Jan 2016 at 15:34

My guess is it sounds like it could be a corrupt MBR on the SSD then.

robfosters · 1 Jan 2016 at 16:02

Nix said:
My guess is it sounds like it could be a corrupt MBR on the SSD then.

Is there an easy way to fix that now I can get into Windows?

Nix · 1 Jan 2016 at 16:15

robfosters said:
Is there an easy way to fix that now I can get into Windows?

I'd suggest giving Windows repair or Chkdsk a go.

Backup anything crucial first, though, just in case!

ZeroG · 2 Jan 2016 at 09:41

Might seem like a simple thing but often over looked. Make sure the cable is in both ends properly and even try with a different cable too.