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I REALLY SCREWED UP-PC WONT BOOT AND WONT GO TO BIOS


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#1
ColleenB

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Hi.  I bought a desktop PC for my son about 9 months ago.  We had it built by a private person.  I know it runs windows 7 OS and it has 1 TB hard drive and 6G of ram.  Thats about all I know.  Apparently he turned it off several times without shutting it down first.  The other day it wouldnt boot up so I tried to get ahold of the guy who built it because it was asking for a boot disk and he didnt give us one.  I never could get ahold of him.  Anyways, yesterday my older son brought me a boot up on a usb flash drive.  He told me to go into the BIOS and disable everything on the boot order but make sure the usb was enabled.  I did this and when I went to turn it on, it no longer can go into the BIOS.  It finally went to a screen that says " A bootable device has not been detected.  Please refer to the product guide at http://support.intel...boards/desktop/ "  I think I really messed up.  Can anyone help me or is it a lost cause.


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#2
Caliburn

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Right, go back into the BIOS. If you're using Pheonix, then press the key bound to "Setup Defaults". It will prompt you if you want to carry out this operation, press Yes (or y), and then save and exit (not just exit). This will reset the CMOS (which stores the information about the computer), and should allow you to boot again.


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#3
iammykyl

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Gday ColleenB.

 

 

 I did this and when I went to turn it on, it no longer can go into the BIOS.

Are you saying that the key to enter the BIOS no longer works?

When you press the restart button, what happens?

If you know, please tell us the brand/model of the Mother Board. 


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#4
ColleenB

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Hi.  Thanks for getting back to me.  I dont know the brand of the mother board.  Sorry.  Can i find it by looking at it?  And yes when I repeatedly hit the F2 button it wont go into the BIOS anymore.  It just give the message about no bootable device.  I guess the files my son had on the USB are not bootable.  Here is a list of the files on the usb:  bcd;   boot.sdi;   boot.wim;   bootfix.bin;   bootmgr;   BootDiskDemo-Setup.  Those are the only files on the flash drive.  Does this help? 


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#5
ColleenB

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Also when I press the restart button it goes to the Intel screen that always first comes on when you first turn it on. It gives 2 options in the lower right corner of the screen.  First is BIOS Settings:  <F2>  and  Intel ® SRT:  <F3>.  Nothing happens for about 2 or 3 minutes and finally the screen that says no bootable device found. 


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#6
terry1966

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sounds to me like you may have accidentally disabled the usb keyboard option in bios so it now doesn't know when your tapping any keys and why it no longer allows you to enter bios.

 

to fix this if you don't have a ps2 keyboard to use instead of the usb one i assume your using is to disconnect the pc from the mains then open the side of the case and remove the little round battery on the motherboard, hold down the power button for a few seconds, replace the battery and side then connect the power and try again with the F2 to get into bios.

 

by remove the battery and all power it should reset the bios to it's defaults removing anything you may have changed in there so with luck it will now recognise your keyboard again and the F2 key will now work.

 

now go into bios and see if it sees the hard drive, if it doesn't then your problem is probably a failed hard drive and it needs replacing and a new operating system installed.

 

here's some images of what i mean by if the bios sees the hard drive. :-  https://www.google.c...Q_AUoAg#imgrc=_

 

:popcorn:

 

ps2 keyboard has a purple connection plug :- https://www.google.c...iw=1161&bih=754


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#7
ColleenB

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I will try to get ahold of a ps2 keyboard.  Everything is closed here tonight but I will buy one first thing in the morning.  I will try the things you said. starting with the keyboard.  When I can get to the BIOS I will let you know about the hard drive and just to make sure I will post a picture of what the screen says in the BIOS okay.  Thank you for the help.  I was really starting to panic.


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#8
iammykyl

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A suggestion to try first before buying another keyboard.

Remove the USB flash drive as I don't think it has any useful tools that will solve this issue.

Insure the keyboard/mouse are plugged into the top 2 USB sockets on the back of the case, they should be controlled by the BIOS, before handing off to the OS.

Restart the computer and press down the F12 key.

A screen should open giving you some Boot options, use the arrow key to highlight, (option that mention) enter setup, CMOS, BIOS, > press enter.

IF, a BIOS screen opens,

Use the right arrow key to tab along the top menu to the Exit Menu.

Press the F10 key (resets BIOS to Default settings), a window will open to confirm your choice, > highlight Yes or Y, click OK, or press enter.

Hopefully your computer restarts to the desktop. 

A second screen should ope giving you more options, Look for 


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#9
ColleenB

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Ok iammykyl I tried every usb slot just to make sure.  The F12 key never worked on any of them.  Should I try what terry1966 said and take the battery out from the motherboard and hold down the power button for a few seconds and then replace it and see if that works?  I am so afraid to do anything because of what happened already.  Please advice me.  Should I do what other members tell me to try?  I think I should stick with a tech.  I don't know.  Thank you for your help.  I will go buy a keyboard or borrow one this morning.  Waiting to hear from you......                Colleen


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#10
terry1966

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i wouldn't buy a new keyboard unless you need it and at the moment you don't to in my opinion, it would have been great if you had one already but seeing how you don't then just clearing the bios by removing power from it will work just as well even if a bit more involved than simply plugging in a ps2 keyboard.

 

your right to always take a tech's advice over anyone else's, doesn't mean that anyone else's advice is not accurate or safe but after all that's why they have tech status in the first place. :D

 

here's more on clearing/resetting the bios/cmos :- http://www.wikihow.com/Reset-Your-BIOS

 

:popcorn:


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#11
ColleenB

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terry1966.......   I did not mean to offend you in any way.  I am sorry that you took offense.  I just do not want to make any mistakes after what happened.  My son repairs computers and phones and such all the time.  I followed what he said and now I have this problem.  He is out of state for a month working and can't help me.  I just dont want to mess up anymore and my adopted 12 year old needs this computer for school.  I hope you understand.  I am going to go try the jumper or battery thing right now.  I will get back to you......  Thank you for your time and help.                                 Colleen


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#12
terry1966

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no worries and i certainly didn't take any offence, always check and double check is my motto after all it is your hardware and data that is at risk and not ours.  :D

 

:popcorn:  


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#13
ColleenB

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ok terry1966, I tried removing the battery and doing the jumper thing and I tried a different usb keyboard and with the battery I tried every usb port I have and with both keyboards each.  Also the same with the jumpers.  I guess I will have to try a PS2 keyboard.  I am looking for one now.  Someone said try the goodwill store.  Anyways the same message appears on a black screen but it takes 2-3 minutes to get there.  Again this is what it says:    "A bootable device has not been detected. Please refer to the product guide at http://support.intel...boards/desktop/".  Is there any hope?


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#14
terry1966

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there is always hope. ;)

 

first thing needed tho. is a way to communicate with the pc before an operating system is installed.

 

if the removal of the battery didn't get the usb keyboard recognized that probably just means the uefi/bios defaults have it disabled in the first place anyway so yes looks like your going to need to buy/borrow a ps2 keyboard from somewhere first to change those settings again.

 

the error message your getting usually means the operating system on the hard drive is damaged so it can't be found/booted or the hard drive itself is damaged and can't be read.

 

with luck as long as it's not a failed hard drive, needing a new one, then the problem might be able to be fixed using software but i'll let iammykyl advise you on that.

 

sometimes it's simple things that can fix a problem, so i'd first check all cables are firmly attached, power and data cables to the hard drive and motherboard for example, even changing the data cable to the hard drive if you have one laying around or swap it with the working pc just to test that's not where the problem is.

 

you'll find there are usually lots of options to get things up and running again depending on where the real problem is.

 

worst case scenario is you'd need a new hard drive and install a new operating system, best case is running a simple repair using software on a cd will get things back up and running again as if nothing happened without any loss of data.

 

so like i said there is always hope, :D

 

:popcorn:


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#15
ColleenB

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OKAY terry1966, I bought a ps2 keyboard and it didnt help any.  I checked all the cables and connections, still no change. Prior to this problem, the pc all of a sudden gave a message about insering the boot disk.  Thats how I went into the BIOS and disabled everything but usb so that it would boot from the usb only.  My son said there was a boot disk on it and would fix it.  Now I am in a world of hurt.  He said he only had the windows 7 boot on a usb and not a dvd or cd.  I guess I shouldn't have tried to fix it myself.  Anyways the computer didnt have any problems prior to this.  I think in the 8 months since we bought it, it has only been ran for maybe a total of 30 hours.  I dont know what to do at this point.  What should I try next?   Colleen


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