Sick And Tried Of Computers Breaking Down And This Message

In the last past 2 or 3 years this is about the 100th time this has happened and every time these computers have to get taken back in for repair at the shop like a vicious circle. Every time they go wrong this is the message it comes up with:

Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key_

I always nickname this the message of death as every time it happens the computer has to get taken back to the shop. Even the guy in repair shop is getting pretty fed up with this happening. Although I've kept my cool this time there were times last year where I actually beat some computers up with anger and frustration with this thought:
NOT THIS AGAIN!
Most of the times the guy has just wiped all my memory and put a new hardrive in which in most cases has been Windows 7. This has meant I've had to install everything all over again which is very annoying. Just before Christmas though he put a Windows 10 drive which only lasted about 5 days before displaying that same old message. However the guy in repair shop was able to retrieve all my information with this but has now put me back on Windows 7 again thinking that windows 10 was too much for me. The current computer has lasted into New Year until breaking down again today. I just logged onto this forum to find out why this keeps on happening. The guy in repair shop just thinks it's some idiot from USA that won't stop attacking the IP which I don't believe. I would like to know what causes these messages where you can't get into the desktop and it displays the message about not having a boot device.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
A lot can cause hard drives to go bad. Do you have power outages where you live? Is your system old like your power supply? Are you using old hard drives or a certain brand?
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
If it's a laptop you're handling it too roughly. If they never actually replaced your hard drive then it's likely failing.

The guy in repair shop just thinks it's some idiot from USA that won't stop attacking the IP which I don't believe.
Get a new repair guy.
 

AlienMenace

Well-Known Member
Mechanical Hard drives don't last forever. Sometimes your lucky and have 1 last 4 to 5 yrs, most of the time that is why there usually only 3 yr warranty. Now if your repair guy is using old drives and charging you for new. Well.
 
Mechanical Hard drives don't last forever. Sometimes your lucky and have 1 last 4 to 5 yrs, most of the time that is why there usually only 3 yr warranty. Now if your repair guy is using old drives and charging you for new. Well.

I do know that whenever this message comes up absolutely everything has gone (every megabyte of data). Music, games, hard work, the lot all out the window. And this is not the first time. It's happened like thousands of times now! Can in any way information be stored in a retrieval program to avoid loss?
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Can in any way information be stored in a retrieval program to avoid loss?

Unless you created a backup then no.
What specific parts do you have? If this is an older system I would highly recommend getting it replaced. How often does it happen? If you can answer the questions in my other post it might help.
 
Unless you created a backup then no.
What specific parts do you have? If this is an older system I would highly recommend getting it replaced. How often does it happen? If you can answer the questions in my other post it might help.

It's a local computer shop that repairs these computers every time they go wrong. They do keep putting windows 7 drives in them which information is not retrievable although the repair guy did manage to retrieve stuff when he once put a Windows 10 drive in which was the one before what I've got at present. It's to get taken back tomorrow with my Mom where it will probably last for another month and come back a fresh, empty system once again. As for the parts I don't know what he puts in as he doesn't say. Before the support stopped about 2015 they use to install Windows XP drives in meaning he always uses the oldest supportive drives.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
They do keep putting windows 7 drives in them which information is not retrievable
There are no drives specifically designed for any operating system. Not sure why you are saying windows 7 drives, windows XP drives. There should be no operating system on them at all when they put it in your system. From the way you are talking, it sounds like he's using old drives. If you want the system to last, don't be using old stuff. You have the final say on what the tech uses. I understand cost effectiveness but if he's using old drives look how much money has been wasted already. I would be very leary about this system you have and the tech people you use. If this system is more then say 5 years old, get a new one.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
As a repair tech in a local shop, find a new one. Unless you're leaving info out then he's witholding info from you and something is fishy here.
 
As a repair tech in a local shop, find a new one. Unless you're leaving info out then he's witholding info from you and something is fishy here.

If retrieved he does store some information but after a short while deletes it all so it's lost anyway.
 

strollin

Well-Known Member
In the last past 2 or 3 years this is about the 100th time this has happened and every time these computers have to get taken back in for repair at the shop like a vicious circle. ...
What you are describing is not "normal". While it's true that hard drives are mechanical and open to failure, there must be a reason why you are experiencing these types of failures on a frequent basis. How many computers are involved? If the answer is thousands then I could see this type of thing happening 100 times in 2 or 3 years but if the number of computers involved is less than a dozen or so then there has to be a reason for the frequent failures.

In my home we have about a dozen computers that I maintain that between them have almost 20 hard drives. These computers are used on a daily basis by myself, my wife and our 4 children. The last time we had a hard drive failure was in 1996! I can't say my experience is normal or average and certainly don't believe that everyone should expect the same results but I firmly believe what you are seeing is far out from the norm.

There has to be another factor other than the hardware/software is at fault. It could be due to something like power surges/fluctuations, or environmental issues such as temperature/humidity, or perhaps you're being subjected to malware or virus attack or it could even be due to the way the computers are handled or treated. The point is that it would behoove you to investigate other possible reasons for this failure happening as frequently as it does.
 
What you are describing is not "normal". While it's true that hard drives are mechanical and open to failure, there must be a reason why you are experiencing these types of failures on a frequent basis. How many computers are involved? If the answer is thousands then I could see this type of thing happening 100 times in 2 or 3 years but if the number of computers involved is less than a dozen or so then there has to be a reason for the frequent failures.

In my home we have about a dozen computers that I maintain that between them have almost 20 hard drives. These computers are used on a daily basis by myself, my wife and our 4 children. The last time we had a hard drive failure was in 1996! I can't say my experience is normal or average and certainly don't believe that everyone should expect the same results but I firmly believe what you are seeing is far out from the norm.

There has to be another factor other than the hardware/software is at fault. It could be due to something like power surges/fluctuations, or environmental issues such as temperature/humidity, or perhaps you're being subjected to malware or virus attack or it could even be due to the way the computers are handled or treated. The point is that it would behoove you to investigate other possible reasons for this failure happening as frequently as it does.

It feels like thousands of times but I'd guess at about 7 times in the last year I've had these drive failures. It all depends how you use your computers. If you use them just for games and not the internet like basic Amigas then nothing will probably happen which is why the repair guy thinks someone is attacking the IP.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Your repair guy is literally stupid.

IP has nothing to do with hardware failure. Please go to a different shop, he's just talking out of his ass to sound like he knows what he's doing in front of a customer.
 

AlienMenace

Well-Known Member
Next question?
Are you paying for Windows every time these hard drives goes out. Or do these drives already have Windows on them. And if these drives have Windows on them and if you don't own the key. You have a big problem.

Another thing is, if you are worried about losing all the crap you have. You should get a 2 tb External HD to keep everything in a backup. Do you do Cloud backups.
 
Next question?
Are you paying for Windows every time these hard drives goes out. Or do these drives already have Windows on them. And if these drives have Windows on them and if you don't own the key. You have a big problem.

Another thing is, if you are worried about losing all the crap you have. You should get a 2 tb External HD to keep everything in a backup. Do you do Cloud backups.

I've been suggested cloud before so I think I'll give it a try although only seen that displayed on a mobile phone.
 

strollin

Well-Known Member
It feels like thousands of times but I'd guess at about 7 times in the last year I've had these drive failures. It all depends how you use your computers. If you use them just for games and not the internet like basic Amigas then nothing will probably happen which is why the repair guy thinks someone is attacking the IP.
As long as you continue to live with your head in the sand, you will continue to have these issues.
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
It all depends how you use your computers.
No. Please don't regurgitate whatever crap he's trying to tell you.

Is this warranty support or do you actually have to pay each time? If you actually want to solve this problem it'd be more cost effective to both get a new system and find a different shop.
 

Agent Smith

Well-Known Member
Either he's giving you shit hard drives, or the SATA interface is messed up. I'm thinking shit hard drives.


Screw the "cloud." Get external USB drives and clone the entire computer with AOMEI Backupper. You can clone back to the computer and it will be like nothing ever changed. Just make sure to make periodic backups. If you do chose the cloud, I would use Boxcryptor.

What kind of computer is this? Make and model.
 

AlienMenace

Well-Known Member
Personally, I don't use cloud much. Just to transfer stuff from my phone. Then when I get to the computer. It is transferred to the computer. I have all my important files, pictures, music and what ever else I want backed up to different locations, ext HD, usb flash drives and dvd's. And a lot of non-technical people that I know, don't even do it. I warn them about hard drives crapping out, do they listen, nope. I even have a my Windows Recovery Drive on a USB just in case.
 
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