PC will not boot!!

[pingyao]

First of all my spec:

Case - PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU) - Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard - ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
Memory (RAM) - 12GB SAMSUNG DDR3 TRI-DDR3 1333MHz (3 x 4GB)
Graphics Card - 1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 470 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card - 1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 470 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
Second hard disc: - 60GB OCZ VERTEX 2 SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 285MB/sR | 275MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive - 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader - INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply - CORSAIR 850W PSU (TX850) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£99)
Processor Cooling - TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card - ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities - ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options - 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System - Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Monitor - IIYAMA E2472HD 24" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D FULL HD 1920x1080

Windows 7 is installed on my SSD
I bought the PC November 2010.

I have a serious problem. Today the PC decided to blue screen and then will simply not boot up on startup. I had a similar problem about 4 weeks ago during a day when the weather here was about 31c. It would bootup, but then crash after a few minutes. I put this down to overheating, and sure enough later in the day while cooler it booted up fine and has worked without fault until today - the hottest day since 4 weeks ago. Coincidence, I think not?

Anyway the PC crashed, I rebooted, everything loaded, did a bit of work on Photoshop, wham crashes again. Since that crash some 4hours ago I have not been able to get passed the ASUS startup screen \/

From here it hangs for about 1 min then...

I can't seem to access the boot menu from 'F8', I have to press 'delete' and then I get...

Which then brings up the BIOS setup. I have reset to default everything, but this still makes no difference. Obviously I have unplugged it and done numerous restarts to no avail.

I have tried to boot from Windows 7 disc. At the win7 splash screen I click on 'Repair your computer'. The next screen, system recovery options, shows no installation of windows 7 in the 'operating system' pane. The only options are to 'restore computer using a system image' (however when I click this, it simply says 'windows cannot find a system image on this computer') and 'load drivers'. By clicking 'load driver' another windw appears asking to 'insert the installation media for the device and click ok to select driver'. Well I'm not sure what I should be doing at this stage, I guess this is the driver for the SSD, although i have no disc for that?

I have unplugged the PC and cleaned the inside with a blower, which i also did about a month back.

I'm now stuck not knowing what other options I have with a PC that fails to boot. I would be very grateful for any help and suggestions, this is driving me mad.

*STOP THE PRESS* It appears my SSD has disappeared. It does not appear to be in the BIOS, on the windows installation drive options or in the ASUS EZ flash 2 utility. This is surely the problem?

 

[vanthus]

Go to your Bios settings and make sure your OS hard drive is selected as first boot option..

 

[Rakk]

*STOP THE PRESS* It appears my SSD has disappeared. It does not appear to be in the BIOS, on the windows installation drive options or in the ASUS EZ flash 2 utility. This is surely the problem?

Yes, this would likely cause an issue if the BIOS cant see your OS drive, you might try opening up the PC and make sure it's still connected properly, it's possible its been a bit loose and has mostly worked but it's got knocked slightly or the heat has maybe unsettled it (no I don't know how, expansion of plastic/metals or something - I making this up at this point btw)

 

[pingyao]

Thanks I have checked all the connections from SSD to Motherboard and the power connections, after removing and reseating and now rebooting I get the same problem. No sign of the SSD in the BIOS's boot options, just the hard HDD and the CD/DVD. Any other suggestions?

 

[vanthus]

What drive is your OS installed on,if it's the hdd,(being the first drive)try disconnecting ssd and rebooting.
If it's the ssd ,it would appear it has packed in,
are you still under warranty.

 

[pingyao]

The OS is on the SSD. Yes I still have a few months warranty for parts. I assume installing a new SSD is something i could do myself?

 

[vanthus]

you may need to go into bios and set up AHCI so that your system knows you are running an SSD drive.
also make sure (if you can now see it)that the SSD is at the head of the boot priority list as well as the HDD boot priority list.
failing that give tech support a call.