HP desktop giving non-system disk error msg. during boot.

[jhe799]

This desktop system intermittently exhibits the issue of giving a non-system disk or disk error when trying to boot. A few months ago I had to reformat the hard drive in this machine and reload Windows 10 and all programs then this week we have had power outages the last few days and when power was restored I tried today to boot up this desktop and am getting the non-system disk error once again. I tried unplugging power and at one point was able to get it to boot into Windows 10 to the point where I was able to try a system restore but then that failed as well and went back to giving the non-system disk error again. I suspect that we have a hardware issue here. maybe with the hard drive but when the system is up and running everything checks out fine.  

[WAWood]

@jhe799 

In my experiences with power outages, it is not the outages that are the issue -- it's the surges that often accompany the power restorations, so much so, that my desktops now all are attached to Surge Protectors.

Based on what you said, it sounds like your desktop fell victim to a power surge and that can damage almost anything in it.

You should run diagnostics to attempt to find any hardware issues.  To do that, you press the Esc key repeatedly while rebooting and when the HP Startup Menu appears, select the option for diagnostics -- usually F2.

[jhe799]

Thanks so much for this info; I have passed it on to my boss, whom the desktop belongs to.

[jhe799]

Today I am back onsite to run the F2 diagnostics. Memory test passed and short hard drive test passed but the extensive hard drive test gave the messages SMART CHECK: NOT INSTALLED and Long DST: NOT INSTALLED

[WAWood]

@jhe799 

Sounds like your hard drive is failing and needs to be replaced.

Once you have the replacement drive, read the information below about HP Could Recovery to be used to restore your PC to working condition:

If your PC is a 2016 model or newer, you should see if you can make a bootable USB recovery drive using the HP cloud recovery tool on a working PC.

The recovery drive can then be used to install Win10 and the HP drivers and utilities that originally came with your PC.

Here is the link: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06162205