SSD not showing in BIOS and system booting direct to BIOS

[craggle58]

I turned on my PC today and it is booting straight to BIOS (UEFI Bios version 1103). My SSD (Samsung Evo 120gb)with Windows 10 installed is not appearing as a boot option. I have tried swapping SSD to Sata 2 but still showing empty. My hdd is recognised on both Sata ports 1 & 2 so do not think it is a motherboard issue.

I have checked all connections.

Is this a dead SSD or are there any BIOS troubleshoots I could try? I am not particularly confident navigating the BIOS.

I asked a guy in PC World and he said SSD failures are very rare. The PC was fine yesterday and I had no indications of SSD failure or trouble.

I also have no idea about how to install a new SSD and transfer my OS etc.

Specs: I5 4670k, Asus Z87 k mobo, 8gb ram,GTX 970, Samsung EVO 120gb, 1TB hdd, Windows 10.

Any help would be great as PC and SSD 6 months out of warranty.

 

[ArtPog]

Since you're able to communicate with this forum you obviously have a bootable PC at hand. So can you connect the SSD either internally or externally as a USB device and test the SSD with Samsung's Magician program or other diagnostic program you use? The first thing you want to determine is whether you're dealing with a defective drive. Probably not, as the PC World rep indicated, but it's always wise to check it out. Capiche?

 

[craggle58]

I am currently using a tablet pc. I can get to a regular pc on Monday. Will I have to remove the SSD for testing as the rigorous cable management means completely breaking the case down? Do i require a specific usb cable to connect internally?

Thanks for your help. This issue is a bit out of my league.

 

[ArtPog]

1. It's true that it's really unlikely that the Samsung SSD is defective unless it was subject to some physical damage that you would probably have mentioned. We've worked with a multitude of Samsung SSDs over the past few years and it's been an extremely rare occurrence that we've encountered a defective Samsung SSD (other than one DOA). In virtually every case we've come across the problem has been with a corrupted OS or other type of system problem.

2. Let me mention in passing that I trust you will have learned an important lesson arising from this issue (although it's of no import at this very moment). You must - repeat, MUST - comprehensively backup your PC from time-to-time, preferably utilizing a disk-cloning program. So that when disaster strikes either in the form of a defective drive or a hopelessly corrupted system you have the means at hand to return your system to a functional state easily & quickly. Don't neglect this in the future.

3. I'm assuming, of course, that neither one of your HDDs contains an OS. Presumably your 120 GB Samsung SSD had been fresh-installed with the Win 10 OS, yes? I take it this desktop(?) PC was built for you? Or it's an OEM machine?

4. When you power-on the PC have you tried accessing the boot menu by pressing the appropriate F key - I believe it's the F8 or Esc key with ASUS - to determine if there's any listing for the SSD?

5. I guess you don't have Win 10 installation media available to attempt a repair/recovery process, right?

6. If you can wait until Mon. you can install the Samsung Magician program on that PC (assuming it's not already installed on that PC) and use an ordinary USB cable from that PC to your tablet's USB port to test the Samsung just to test that SSD.

7. Is there any chance you could install Win 10 on your existing HDD so that you would have a working OS? Perhaps shrink the existing partition (I'm assuming it has a single partition encompassing the entire disk-space of the disk) so that you could create a 20 GB or so partition to contain the OS? I realize you may not be up to this but I thought I'd just "throw it out".

 

[craggle58]

H,

Sorry for delay and thanks for the advice.

I thought I had backed up using a thumb drive but when I try and boot from this I get to the select language part and can get no further.

I would still like to test the faulty SSD but do not understand the instructions in point 6?

I have decided to bite the bullet and buy a new SSD. I took some further advice from a local electrical outlet (Maplin) and they reckon its a corrupted SSD. To be honest I needed a bigger SSD anyway as 120 GB is not enough these days. There were a few storms about on Friday night. I have surge protection but the guy said the SSD could have been affected anyway.

I am not sure how to go about clean installing using the OS license that came with the PC. The OS came preinstalled on the SSD with Windows 8.1. I have the Windows 8.1 installation disk. Will I still be able to install this license on the new SSD and upgrade back to Windows 10 for free? Also will I have to reformat the other hdd as well?

Can anyone point me to some kind of tutorial on how to go about the reinstallation procedure?

Thanks.