Windows encountered a problem communicating with a device connected to your computer

[Chrisc84]

So my computer won't boot into Windows citing the error above. Windows says there has been an unexpected i/o error. I can't run safe mode either.

I downloaded Easy recovery essentials and it hangs when trying to rebuild the MBR.

Ive been reading a lot online about a virus rewriting part of the MBR or changing the BIOS drive from SATA to something else (something along these lines sorry I'm not a technical expert). The virus theory makes sense as my anti virus did pop up that it blocked an attack the night before this happened.

I've tried a lot to get to the bottom of this and the simplest solution that appears to work for a lot of people appears to be changing the SATA setting around but it looks like that isn't possible on this model?

I'm open to any advice received.

[Chimney_83]

Hi @Chrisc84,

Welcome to HP Forums, great place to find answers and tips. 

I understand that the computer is not booting and kudos to you for trying the Recovery essentials. I will be happy  to help. 

Recommend you to run diagnostics by tapping F2 on startup. Refer http://hp.care/2cVsiaU

If the hard drive and memory test pass, restart the PC and keep tapping F11 on startup. It should take to the HP Recovery manager. 

You can try to repair the computer using it, refer http://hp.care/2bNw5Hd

If the test fails, you will need to replace the appropriate component. 

Let me know if this helped. 

Please click ‘Accepted Solution’ on the post that solves your issue to help others find the solution. To show appreciation for my help, please click the ‘Thumbs Up’ Icon below.

[Chrisc84 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your suggestions.

Before I got round to trying it I attempted a different solution which worked perfectly.

As suspected something had gone wrong with the Windows bootloader so I completely removed it and rebuilt through command prompt.  Everything is running just as it used to.

I am putting this message here in case anyone should recognise similar symptoms and it might give them an idea of how to fix theirs.

[Chimney_83]

Hi @Chrisc84,

Thanks for the reply. Glad that your PC is booting fine now. 

Please do reply if you need any help. 

Please click ‘Accepted Solution’ on the post that solves your issue to help others find the solution. To show appreciation for my help, please click the ‘Thumbs Up’ Icon below.