froze, crashed, no boot to os

[shekkeleer]

asus laptop, locked up and unresponsive

powered off and now it only boots to eufi

 

[shekkeleer]

asus laptop, locked up and unresponsive

powered off and now it only boots to eufi

so, after power off and reboot, the laptop boots directly to UEFI and there are no boot options

I made a recovery USB, tried to refresh and reset, but received an error message stating that the hard drive is locked and that I need to unlock the drive

I have searched for solutions but none of them are conclusive, and now I am concerned it might be a hard drive failure

I would like to consider another alternative rather than replace the laptop

I didn't notice anything that would indicate a hard drive failure prior to, but none of the troubleshooting has yet resolved the issue

 

[Slavic]

First, you should have a bootable USB drive with your OS (x32 or x64). Try to test it on another machine to be sure that it starts properly. Then boot from it, test the HDD state (e.g. checkdisk from command line) and try to use OS recovery. It may be reasonable to remove the battery and use the AC adapter only, because battery failure may prevent OS from working.

By default, options to look at the HDD content from boot media are quite limited. From my practice, I usually add Total Commander (the whole directory of its installation) to USB drive. This allows to run TC from command line; it requires minimal OS support like Windows PE on booting media. Sure, you need to add the appropriate TC version (x32 or x64). After boot, go to command line, change a drive (X: by default) to your USB (e: for example), go to TC dir and run it (totalcmd or totalcmd64). TC allows to look at HDD content more easily, make some fixes and copy your important files to external media.

But the main options are the system restore, HDD boot repair if OS is unable to begin to boot from HDD normally, or, if all that was unsuccessful, re-installation of the OS with keeping its current settings. Of course, if you have an HDD controller failure, nothing will work and you will not be able even to see the HDD after booting from USB and the option to (re-)install OS will not work. Need to replace of the main board or whole PC. HDD only failure is less worse because in many cases it can be replaced without sending the device to service centre.

 

[shekkeleer]

thanks that is a lot of info

the im running into after every thing is that the command line from UEFI, which is only available with the recovery USB, doesn't even see the C drive

diskpart lists one disk, the USB, and the cdrom

if i try to install fresh, it asks me for an actual product code, but the OEM is buried in the bios

the command to retrieve it doesn't return any results, and none of the generic codes work

 

[Slavic]

OK, I understood that you see the a physical HDD device, but not a logical device (drive letter). You can check more exactly using diskpart commands like list disk (disk 0, online or offline, size...) and list volume (volume 0, its letter, NTFS..., status). Then you may decide what is wrong, e.g. disk 0 has offline status instead of online, no file system instead of NTFS (or FAT32 for EFI partition), status isn't healthy etc. If you need to fix non-bootable HDD, then suggestions here may help.

As for OS reinstallation, if your OS has been activated by manufacturer and a code is built into BIOS, no need to extract it. You can use any generic key, which is suitable for installation but not for activation: after installation, OS will look for a built-in key and activate automatically. There is a list of keys on this forum. But it's an ultimate solution if you cannot restore boot at all.

 

[shekkeleer]

well to be more clear

if I start the computer on its own, it goes straight to UEFI

with the recovery USB, I am able to enter setup, with the option to install or repair,

trying to repair gives me the error that the drive is locked, whether I try and refresh or reset

trying to install asks me for an activation key, every generic code I have tried failed

if I go to advanced options in the recovery environment, and access command line, the diskpart only yields the USB and the cdrom as disks, not the hdd at all, no partitions or volumes as if it were not there

 

[Slavic]

Oh, that's not good, sorry I haven't understood this before. Please tell more exactly: do you see the HDD device in BIOS setup? It should be mentioned at least twice: on the main setup page (HDD name, size) and in the list of boot sequence (HDD, USB, CD-ROM) and default boot device. If you don't see HDD in the hardware list, it's a controller or disk failure. Of course, SATA controller should be enabled, it's always enabled by default.

As for generic key, it's strange. Apparently your OS version on the USB drive is rare or non-standard. For the most common OS version, Windows 8.1 Pro, all these keys should work. You can create such bootable drive from ISO image and flash drive 4 Gb or more, it's easy.

 

[shekkeleer]

thanks for sharing your knowledge

I am convinced it's a hdd failure after all, do you have a recommendation as to retrieve the data, or is it over with?

thanks in advance

 

[Slavic]

If your warranty expired, try to carefully remove the HDD, most laptops have a removable hatch over that place, then connect it to another PC as a second HDD. If BIOS setup of that PC will show your HDD at least as a connected device, then you have a chance to restore data and copy them to another drive. Otherwise, if HDD isn't detected, only a specialised service lab can help (replace the electronic board etc). It may be expensive, so decide whether your data are so important.

At the same time you may buy another storage device, I'd suggest an SSD with size 200-250 Gb or more, if you can afford. Then you will have to install OS anew, add the manufacturer's drivers (usually they are available on the support page) and other software.

And remember: a backup software like Macrium Reflect, for example, is your best friend.