"OS not found" problem after windows explorer has stopped working.

[anoirdinaryemail]

So one day I was caught in the unfortunate time when I was using my laptop then suddenly it says "windows explorer has stopped working", probably because I ran a lot of programs and whatnot causing it to stop respinding. as usual everything wouldnt respond on my laptop so I did a hard reset.

Then suddenly it would only boot on the acer logo and would restart over-and-over without reaching the windows logo. I tried entering safe mode and was shocked it wouldnt enter no matter how I pressed F8 and other combinations (im on Windows 7 btw), I thought my keyboard was broken but it wasnt, as "Press F2 to enter bios" worked fine.

So I went through the bios and decided to restore my windows by pressing alt-f10 on boot. So I did just that, but as it processed through...

It says that "Operating System not found, press ctr-alt-del to restart."

Like did something happen when my laptop said windows explorer has stopped responding before I hard reset it? I did this all the time when it does that before but this never happenned.

My Ram is definitely okay since my laptop was still able to display. So is it the HDD? Should I de-attach and re-attatch the HDD? Was my OS corrupted and should reinstall windows from a USB/CD?

It was really weird.

 

[omina.fornoz]

Likely that your OS has been corrupted somehow. If you can't get to System Recovery Options or similar utilities then reinstalling is definitely in order, unless you can try the Repair your computer button from booting a Windows 7 install medium.

Unless you have one drive for OS and another for data (assuming you don't since you're on a laptop), back up any personal data on the drive Windows is installed on by taking it out of your laptop and hooking it up via SATA to another PC, or boot from a live USB / CD (Ubuntu or anything that will allow you to access your stuff) and copy to external drive.

 

[SkyNetRising]

So is it the HDD? Should I de-attach and re-attatch the HDD? Was my OS corrupted and should reinstall windows from a USB/CD?

Is your HDD being detected in BIOS? Your HDD may have died. If so, you'll need to replace it.

 

[anoirdinaryemail]

Likely that your OS has been corrupted somehow. If you can't get to System Recovery Options or similar utilities then reinstalling is definitely in order, unless you can try the Repair your computer button from booting a Windows 7 install medium.

Unless you have one drive for OS and another for data (assuming you don't since you're on a laptop), back up any personal data on the drive Windows is installed on by taking it out of your laptop and hooking it up via SATA to another PC, or boot from a live USB / CD (Ubuntu or anything that will allow you to access your stuff) and copy to external drive.

I have a Windows 7 usb as a matter of fact, but yet the problem persists. I went into bios and set it to boot on usb. but yet it still does the same thing. it just boots for quite a bit second longer then restarts again. starting to think probably the HDD is the problem. but im still not quite sure.

 

[anoirdinaryemail]

So is it the HDD? Should I de-attach and re-attatch the HDD? Was my OS corrupted and should reinstall windows from a USB/CD?

Is your HDD being detected in BIOS? Your HDD may have died. If so, you'll need to replace it.

As far as I can see, it does display my HDD on the bios information.

HDD Model - HDD 0: ST9500325AS
HDD Serial - 6VEWS762

 

[SkyNetRising]

You'd have to diagnose your HDD.
Connect it to some other working pc (as secondary drive) and post screenshot from HDtune health.

 

[anoirdinaryemail]

You'd have to diagnose your HDD.
Connect it to some other working pc (as secondary drive) and post screenshot from HDtune health.

Yup, turns out you were right, my HDD is definitely dead.

I tried to reinstall OS using a USB but it would always turn out the same. it would only load for a few seconds and also restart (I set the USb as priority in BIOS btw). So i decided to take out my HDD and turned my laptop on. it loaded for a few seconds past the acer logo and stated "Operating system not found". so it turns out the HDD is the problem after all.

my laptop is an acer aspire 4750 and its been seven years since it was bought. im willing to bet that the "explorer has stopped woking" was its last breath before i hard reset my laptop and seeing it restart several times past the acer logo.
tbh I already did notice my laptop do the "explorer has stopped working" numerous times last year, i guess it was a warning sign to indicate its already passed its life span.

looks like I have to buy another HDD, or maybe even as SSD if budget is on point.

Thanks btw.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I'd try to connect the hdd to some other working pc before completely giving up on it.