Question Boot Configuration Data for your PC is missing or contains errors

[dmmontal]

Hi folks, I've been struggling with a BSOD issue since yesterday and could really use some input. I've searched forums here and elsewhere and have tried a number of fixes, but nothing seems to work. I'd really appreciate any help anyone might be able to provide. Please see below for my PC specs and breakdown of steps I've taken thus far:

PC Specs
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX DDR4
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700k 4GHz
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080
RAM: 2x 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SATA III (primary drive - OS, software installs)
HDD: Seagate 8TB BarraCuda Pro (storage drive - OneDrive, misc. files)

Issue Description
PC woke from sleep in middle of night. Next morning PC was running but unresponsive, with monitors dark. No response from mouse/keyboard.

1. Hard rebooted (using power button). PC automatically booted to BIOS saying there was a config issue. I restored BIOS to default settings.
2. PC booted to desktop. OneDrive immediately crashed upon boot. I rebooted again.
3. Received blue screen: "Bad System Config Info"
   1. Automatic Repair. "Automatic Repair Couldn't Repair Your PC"
   2. Startup Repair. " Couldn't Repair Your PC"
   3. Startup Settings > Enable Safe Mode. Rebooted and took me back to blue screen: Bad System Config Info
   4. System Restore. "No restore points have been created on your computer's system drive"
   5. System Image Recovery. "Windows cannot find a system image on this computer"
   6. Reset PC. "There was a problem resetting your PC. No changes were made."
   7. Use Another OS. Selected Windows 10. "Recovery: Your PC/Device needs to be repaired. File: \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD"
4. Created bootable USB using Windows Media Creation Tool (made using a 16GB SanDisk USB stick I had)
   1. From BIOS > Booted to UEFI SanDisk Partition 1. "Recovery: Your PC/Device needs to be repaired. The Boot Configuration Data for your PC is missing or contains errors."
   2. From BIOS > Booted simply to SanDisk (which was available in edition to UEFI SanDisk Partition 1).
      1. Entered Windows Setup > Repair Computer. Received blue screen: "Bad SystemConfig Info"
      2. System Recovery Image. "Windows cannot find a system image on this computer."
      3. Uninstall Updates. "We ran into a problem and won't be able to uninstall the latest update of Windows"
      4. Startup Repair. "Couldn't repair your PC"
      5. Continue to Windows 10. "Recovery: Your PC/Device needs to be repaired. The Boot Configuration Data for your PC is missing or contains errors."
      6. Command Prompt:
         1. chkdsk /r c: "Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems"
         2. chkdsk /r d: First scan crashed partway through Stage 4 to unresponsive black screen (same as how the PC was when I first found in the morning". Second scan: "Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems"
         3. chkdks /r f: "Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems"
         4. bootrec /fixmbr "The operation completed successfully"
         5. bootrec /fixboot "Access is denied"
         6. bootsect /nt60 SYS "The system partition was not found - the requested system device cannot be found"
         7. bootrec /scanos "Successfully scanned Windows installations. Total identified Windows installations: 0"
         8. bootrec /rebuildbcd "Successfully scanned Windows installations. Total identified Windows installations: 0"
         9. bcdboot c:windows "Failure when attempting to copy boot files"
5. Reformated USB and created new bootable USB using Rufus/Windows 10 ISO
   1. Command Pprompt:
      1. bootrec /fixmbr "The operation completed successfully"
      2. bootrec /fixboot "The operation completed successfully". At this point, noticing that this was a different result from before, I rebooted the PC. It brought me to a different blue screen error: "Your PC/Device needs to be repaired - the boot configuration data for your PC is missing or contains errors - File: \Boot\BCD - Error Code: 0x000000f"
      3. bootrec /scanos "Successfully scanned Windows installations. Total identified Windows installations: 1"
      4. bootrec /rebuildbcd "Successfully scanned Windows installations. Total identified Windows installations: 1 - Add installation to boot list? > Yes > The request system device cannot be found"

This is where I left off. Currently if I try to boot the PC without the bootable USB, it enters an endless bluescreen loop. I'm at my wits' end - any advice or suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[onespeedbiker]

I would think there are two possibilities 1) Your ssd likely needs to be reformatted and repartitioned, so a clean install will be necessary. 2) your SSD has failed and needs to be replaced.

 

[dmmontal]

Thanks for the quick response. I'm certainly open to the idea of doing a clean install as a next step. Any suggestion as to how I would do that though? Would I just select "Install" rather than "Repair" when using the bootable USB? I'm concerned that that wouldn't really be "clean".

 

[onespeedbiker]

This forum has just the thing for that https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/how-to-do-a-clean-installation-of-windows-10.3170366/

 

[dmmontal]

Ahh perfect - I see now. Thanks a lot!

My next consideration then would be with my files remaining on the drive. I back up fairly regularly, but there are some newer files that I know I'll lose and would prefer not to. Short of taking the drive to a data recovery center, are you aware of any way to recover files for a home user such as myself? I do have a second computer (a laptop) and an external HDD, if that helps.

 

[onespeedbiker]

Just because your hard drive doesn't boot, does not mean all the data is gone. Hook the drive up to a computer to be other than a boot drive and see if you recover any of the files.

 

[dmmontal]

Right - just wasn't sure how to actually do that. I just picked up a SATA III to USB 3.0 cable on Amazon - I think that should do it!