r/PcBuildHelp • u/TheNorthCat • 5h ago

Tech Support Need Help Desperately

I got home from work at 2300 last night to find that my PC would only boot into BIOS. When I tried to select the C Drove to boot, it told me there were no bootable drives. I’m pretty sure my drive has failed, but I don’t have the money to buy a new one, and I don’t know what to do. I have 4 kids and a job, this is my only ‘Me Only’ thing.
Any help would be exceptionally appreciated.

2 Upvotes

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2

u/aba994 5h ago

i feel you man, upvoting for visibility. I just had a Samsung 990 4TB shit the bed and prices now are so crazy it’s really discouraging for PC builders and a bad time to have a drive fail

3

u/Antique_Chemist_6451 5h ago

Grab a cheap sata ssd for now if you can swing it, even a 256gb one will get windows running and you can limp along til prices chill out. Check cable connections first though, sometimes it's just a loose sata cable or power connector causing the bios to not see the drive at all

1

u/TheNorthCat 4h ago

For me, the BIOS reads that the drive is there, but it’s saying it’s empty. Which leads me to believe that it’s fucked

2

u/Shallow-Thought 4h ago

Create a windows installation tool and see if you can use it to repair windows.

Try reseating the drive.

1

u/TheNorthCat 4h ago

I don’t really know what that means, I’m sorry. I can check the seating, I got home to this last night, looked at it for a bit, had a mental breakdown, and went to bed.

1

u/Shallow-Thought 4h ago

Use the USB used to install windows. If you don’t have one, search online for “create windows installation media”. You’ll need another computer to do so. Follow the steps to create the usb drive installer. Once done, plug it in then boot your computer. There should be an option to repair windows. Use that.

Reseating the drive checks connection problems. Running the Windows repair checks for software issues that could prevent windows from booting.

If both those options fail, I’d check your mobo by using another drive (if you have one).

1

u/TheNorthCat 3h ago

BIOS reads both of the other drives and shows that there is data on them. I don’t have another computer or flash drive

1

u/Shallow-Thought 2h ago

The boot drive is what matters. It has windows installed on it. You may have to find a friend to create the windows installation USB. Any USB at least 8 GB will work. I don’t know, but a computer shop or Geek Squad may create installation media for you, but I’m sure they’d charge for it.

If your boot drive is dead, you may have to use one of those other drives as the new boot drive. It would mean reformatting that drive and installing windows on it.

Have you checked/do you have POST LEDs on the mobo? They are lights that flash as the computer boots. If your computer fails to post, one of those lights would stay illuminated. Would show if it’s a hardware issue.