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June 6th, 2026 15:16
WIN 11 CANT BOOT TOWER 5810
Looking for help after trying everything I can find in my head and online. Any advice would be gratefully received, thank you.
Dell tower 5810 running Win 11 very well with no problem until last week.
I was copying over large music files (60Gb) and the transfer stopped - completely frozen.
After leaving things for a while to see if they would sort themselves out (they didnt), I switched off and rebooted.
I can't reboot from the SDD. The Dell logo appears then nothing under it showing any boot progress. Rebooting using F2 or F12 show the F2/F12 menus but then freeze. So all attempts to boot from SDD or to BIOS options do not work.
Other boot options (USB and DVD boot) get as far as "repair computer" then seem to revert to rebooting the SDD OS so go nowhere.
I have run cmd from a working laptop and run repairs on the SDD but can find nothing wrong.
Crucial disk review software says there is nothing wrong with the SDD.
Trying to repair the SDD from any other route doesn't seem to work.
If I connect the SDD to my laptop then try and boot from it via S12 I get error "Operating system loader signature not found in secureboot database ('db')"
I am not at all qualified to comment, my GUESS is its a Win 11 boot issue.
I am able to edit the SDD and replace folders so if I could replace boot folders with those working from a fully working Win 11 HDD would that work ? And if so, what would that entail ?
I'm looking for any advice at all which may help, thank you.
Regards
David
Tesla1856
10 Wizard
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June 6th, 2026 17:06
1. Hopefully you have a backup.
2. The computer should F2 and F12 (and ePSA Diagnostics) fine ... without a SSD even installed.
3. Maybe it's fine. Hard to say.
4. That is NOT something you do.
5. If you DO NOT have a recent backup, I suggest you use this ability to recover/copy your important files.
(edited)
anne_droid
5 Journeyman
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June 6th, 2026 21:04
Hi
I suggest the seemingly pointless action of getting your BitLocker from Microsoft.
Then try something like (it may need the BitlockerKey)...
I have mounted and accessed a BitLocked W11 partition in Linux Mint.
Then you can try ...
mazzinia_
6 Operator
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June 9th, 2026 13:53
@anne_droid bitlocker in this case is not involved, he said he can easily read and move files from the ssd to the laptop, so the ssd is not encrypted.
mazzinia_
6 Operator
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June 9th, 2026 13:55
Very cheap thing to try, even if likely not going to solve the issue : change the cmos battery ( assuming it was never changed ? anyway depends how many years ago did you change it last time. If never , is past dead and leads to very weird things )
bradthetechnut
9 Technologist
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June 9th, 2026 21:30
"I am able to edit the SDD and replace folders so if I could replace boot folders with those working from a fully working Win 11 HDD would that work ?"
No,, one can't just replace transfer boot files and have it work. That would be like transferring Window boot files to another SSD and hope it boots. It just doesn't work that way.
I'm with @mazzinia_ with replacing the size 2032 CMOS battery. Bad batteries affect BIOS and leading to freezes is just one of the things it can do. Try that and we'll go from there.
Windows shouldn't need a reload. If the same thing is happening in BIOS, it's definitely PC related.