Unexpectedly, system fails to start Windows!
Unexpectedly, system fails to start Windows!
What occurred? Yesterday I put my PC into sleep mode. About eight hours later, I returned home and noticed it was still on. Upon checking, it was active in BIOS but not in Windows. After exiting BIOS and restarting, it went back to BIOS immediately. In the BIOS menu, the storage drive—a 256GB Kingston SSD—didn’t appear. My 2TB M.2 and 3TB HDD were present. What was the issue? I powered off the PC again, unplugged the SATA cable and the power supply to the SSD, then reconnected it. After restarting, the PC displayed storage info but couldn’t select any drive as a boot option. I tried enabling CSM to investigate. It prompted a reboot with instructions to choose a boot device or insert a USB drive and press a key. Then I connected a Windows 10 USB drive to test. In BIOS, the USB was detected, and the M.2 SSD showed up as a potential boot option. After restarting, I accessed the Windows Boot Manager. I attempted to run Windows 64-bit, but after loading it failed with the message: "Windows failed to start." A possible fix involved using the installation disc to reset the system. If unavailable, contact support or the manufacturer for help.
restarting the BIOS is a solid initial action; it seems like a potential SSD problem might be involved, possibly related to memory. If possible, create a Hiren's BootCD PE (using a USB and Rufus) and test the SSD with the provided software—this could point to something as basic as Windows corruption. Either way, these checks are useful every 6 to 12 months if you're cautious.
Join the discussions here! It seems your SSD might be failing. Consider using a Windows installation USB for repair software.