Laptop wont start

[winelad]

My HP Pavilion 15-cs0511sa 15.6" Intel® Core™ i7 GeForce MX150 Laptop - 256 GB SSD, Silver has just died - will not boot up cannot get safe mode or any command on screen - error came up as Hard Disk (3FO)

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@winelad 

That's definitely NOT good news -- as the HP diagnostics we normally recommend do not do a reliable job of checking SSDs.

Folks think that because SSDs are just a bunch of chips on a circuit board, they can not fail -- but I have SSDs in all my PCs and I have seen failure after failure -- and not limited to one brand.

About all you can do is remove the SSD from the laptop, hook it up to a working PC using an adapter, and then run a CHKDSK on the SSD from the working PC.  If that comes back without errors, then all you can do is replace it.

[AndyStuart87]

The Boot Device Not Found Error, or most commonly said Hard Disk 3F0 error is generally occurs when hard disk does not support the system boot process. It mainly happens due to incorrect boot sequence, damaged MBR or boot sector, hard drive connection issue, malware attack, corrupt drive partition or damaged hard drive. Further, to fix Boot Device Not Found error, you can try the below methods:

1. Perform Hard Reset
2. Reset BIOS default settings
3. Reset Hard Drive

Hope it helps!

[winelad]

Thanks guys , I've deduced that no amount of pressing F this or F that is going to get me anywhere (and that's where my technical skills end ) . 

I'm booked in to my local PC repair shop to review now that I know it's not a "simple" fix that I've missed .

Thank you both for your feedback , much appreciated

Alan