Windows won't start, please help! :( :: Hardware and Operating Systems

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PROFILE (Banned) Jul 30, 2014 @ 11:53am

Windows won't start, please help! :(

Don't know what happened. Windows will not start.

My laptop: ASUS Zenbook UX31A. running Windows 8.1

I used it this morning without any problems. Opened Steam, and noticed there was a 1.1gb update for DayZ. Downloaded it and let it complete, and I read the change log for about 5 minutes, then I had to leave for work, so put the computer to sleep with Shift+F1, because I was in a hurry to go. Not sure if the update was still installing or something.

Now when I came home, and tried to start the computer up again, there is nothing but a blank screen. Nobody touched my computer while I was gone.

I tried several times to restart. Once I noticed the ASUS startup screen initialize, but then it went black. After several more tries, the computer just automatically started booting into BIOS.

I tried using my recovery USB (no DVD drive on my laptop), but it says the drive where Windows in located is locked.

Tried running Linux off a USB to see what's up with the harddrive, but that won't work either.

Tried reinstalling Windows from recovery drive, but again it failed because "drive is locked" or "cannot be found"

Don't have a backup image saved on the hard drive.

Don't know how to boot into Safe Mode on Win 8.1.

Can someone please help me? I can't think of anything more to try.

Thanks.

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Showing 1-3 of 3 comments

chiefputsa☒lag Jul 31, 2014 @ 10:08am

the computer just automatically started booting into BIOS.

afaik, computers won't boot into bios unless a pre-determined key is pushed (F2, F8, del, etc).

turn on computer and press the appropriate key and go into bios.
see if the hdd is still detected.
if detected, see it's health status (s.m.a.r.t.status)

i'm afraid hdd cannot be found may mean the hdd is dead (serious and needs another hdd replacement) or sata cable is loose (fixable but cumbersome for laptop).