OS not usable

[Mike Wazowski]

Hi guys,

I am trying to use a fairly old HP laptop that I hadn't used in a while and use it for college, but then an issue with my HP Laptop arises where I try logging in to Windows 8 (not 8.1, regular 8) and I try to update it to 8.1 but it won't let me. When I try to boot up the laptop, sometimes even BIOS has a hard time locating the Hard Drive saying a "No Bootable Device" message. Then at times when BIOS does pick up the HD and actually boots to Windows 8, the sign screen comes up fine, logging in works fine, but as it's running all the necessary Windows processes and services, there is a service or process that it runs that it causes the HD to freeze up, making it inaccessible or unusable. I've rebooted several times (most of the time I get "No Bootable Devce" message) and tried using different steps in using Windows 8 but no use. I've already tried running CHKDSK command in command prompt to see if it will fix some part of the HD but it goes back to freezing up in Windows 8. I'm thinking there is something related to the Hard Drive itself but I don't want to conclude that is it just yet. What next step should I take to recovering my system?

P.S. because of lack of usage on the laptop, there are no documents, pictures, videos, or music files in the laptop at all (pretty much a clean installation) so I am open to formatting the HD if necessary.

Thanks

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Mike.

Well, the good news is that you don't need to recover any data, but unfortunately, the bad news is that it really sounds like the drive might be on it's way to fail. This behaviour is typical for failing drives. However, you could still try it out with a different computer, to see what happens. If everything is OK, the problem probably lies within the SATA port, cable, or the motherboard of the laptop. I'd also recommend that you download the HDD manufacturer's diagnostic tool and test the drive for errors and bad sectors, to see what's the situation.

Hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Boogieman_WD