Fix bootloader

hele

New Member
Messages
2
I have two computers - a desktop and a laptop. The desktop has multiple hard drives attached - an SSD (Windows), two internal drives and an external drive.The Windows installation was on the SSD with the boot partition. One internal drive contained the system partition.
I had erroneously marked the SSD (c:) as the active partition, which caused the computer to stop working and display a failed boot message.
When I tried to load the BIOS settings, this failed too. The BIOS loads basic information such as RAM info, but gets stuck and does not display other information such as fan speed, processor info, etc. Also, the mouse does not move.
I have an installation disk, but am unable to boot to it as I had removed all drives from the boot order except the SSD.
I tried connecting the SSD to my laptop and marking it as inactive, to no avail.
How would I go about recovering from this mess?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
I would doubt very much that you removed all your boot devices from your Bios settings - Disabled Maybe...

With the drive out - Go into your Bios and Restore Factory Defaults..

This should allow you to bring up your Boot Menu during post...

Unless we can get it to boot SOMETHING we are pretty much SOL.. You gotta be able to at least boot the setup media

Once you boot to setup media > F10 or Shift+F10 will bring up a command prompt and you can then follow this guide..
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
You are right, I had just disabled them. I thought that was the same as "removing them". I disconnected both the SSD and the HDD and I am now able to boot to my installation USB. The BIOS works now too.

I will try the steps in the linked PDF and report my results here.

Out of curiosity, what does SOL mean?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
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