Desktop won't boot! Help!

[Dabba]

Desktop is a windows 10 machine upgraded from windows 7. Asus mobo with AMD FX-8350, 16 gigs of DDR3, Nvidia gtx970, Samsung 500GB SSD and 1tb HDD.

I should note that the HDD is the old main drive and while still having a windows 7 installation along with ubuntu they have not been booted to or used in years. It was designated a slave drive for storage I just never needed, but kept as a redundancy.

Last used the computer this morning. Shut it down before work, came back and that's when I ran into issues.

When attempting to boot, it would show the bios screen and just stay on it with a spinning circle like windows was loading, but never ended. On other attempts it showed a blank screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left. Sometimes it would go into automatic repair mode which would get me into windows 10 recovery which was useless. In a few cases after a few seconds on the bios screen the computer would just turn off on it's own.

Things I've tried:

Isolated each drive by unplugging the other: Nada. SSD does the above presentations. HDD will just do the black screen with blinking cursor.

Tried the integrated windows recovery as well as recovery from boot usb made from a windows 10 laptop.

Chkdsk found nothing wrong with the SSD

Tried going into cmd and running bootrec /RebuildBcd: Bootrec scanned and found the windows installation, however when trying to rebuild it gave an error something like "device cannot be found".
-I did not try the other bootrec commands

Have a very old ubuntu disc. Loaded ubuntu from the disk (Not an install). Tried to access the internal drives from ubuntu and could not. HDD was not seen. SSD gave an error, I forget what it was but something about maybe not being mounted?



I have a windows 10 laptop, external SSD, and usb drive of 8gb at my disposal. I am trying to figure out if this is issue with the drive(s) or motherboard, or something else. The old HDD could have been long dead without my knowing so not sure if its just the SSD took a dump or my mobo is being weird. A drive would be easily replaceable, a mobo would mean specing out a new build as the system is already quite dated.

Help. Please.

[Jimbo]

I can't remember the name, but in order for my M.2 drives to show I have to have it set to look for legacy and something else, maybe make sure the BIOS can actually see all drives?

Also, SSDs shouldn't go bad unless they've been used a ton over many years (I think my m.2s can handle about 3 years of use if I remember right)

[AOD_Darkwhip]

From what i can tell, the HDD isn't looking healthy, but this kind of work is hard to diagnose from forum post alone

[AOD_Anvil]

I'd suggest you isolate whether it's a hardware or software issue.
Do you have the ability to test the drives individually in another computer, perhaps at a workplace or at a friends place? This would allow you to isolate whether it is a problem with the hard drives or something else. If you can, do a scan for bad sectors; random freezing or lock ups; or unusual sounds from your HDD
I would try turning your external SSD into a windows 10 boot drive, remove both the internal SSD and HDD, and boot from the external SSD. If it will boot from the external drive and work normally, you're less likely facing a hardware issue and more likely facing a software issue with one or both of the drives
Do you have access to another working internal SSD or HDD from a friend or from work? If you plug it into your rig and have the same issues, you'll be able to isolate that it's more likely a hardware problem than a software problem
Open your case, grab a flashlight and physically inspect your mobo. Smell for an unusual burning odor. Look for bloated, blackened, or cracked capacitors. Look for anything that looks like a black or brown fluid leak (example)
Also check for any LED warning lights which may give an indicator to a problem.
It sounds odd, but if none of the above is giving any indicator, I'd do a voltage test of your PSU to make sure that the power output is normal. Sometimes a failing PSU can cause inconsistent power causing other components, such as mobo, to break.
Do you have access to another desktop that could you swap parts in and out with to individually test them?
In your description, it sounds like the post is successful sometimes and you're able to load the OS at least to a diagnostic screen, correct?
Did the machine suffer an impact such as a kick or a knock over? If so, reseat all of your hardware/check the connections, CPU excepted.

[Dabba]

I can't remember the name, but in order for my M.2 drives to show I have to have it set to look for legacy and something else, maybe make sure the BIOS can actually see all drives?

Also, SSDs shouldn't go bad unless they've been used a ton over many years (I think my m.2s can handle about 3 years of use if I remember right)

This was the key, also something is going on with the HDD.

So, I isolated the SSD, and then changed the boot to UEFI windows boot manager and now it works. If I keep those settings and plug the HDD back in either where it was or into a slot in the top of my PC, it won't boot. When I use just the HDD the computer does not always recognize it and will never boot to it. I'm not sure what changed but it appears something happened with the HDD. I don't know why it would effect my bios boot settings or the SSD.

I may buy a usb and power adapter for the HDD to see if I could salvage the HDD, because as of right now I cant even boot with it installed.

[AOD_Anvil]

This is very good news, all in all.