Windows 10: So many problems! Error messages. Please read and help if you can

All USB sticks can be "made" bootable - it depends on what you're doing with them. They're not bootable just because they're a USB stick. You have to put the boot files on them.

You might try creating the USB stick using RUFUS - that will make sure your stick is bootable.
Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10 - Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

You can use RUFUS to create the USB stick for Kyhi's rescue media. You'll have to do it on another machine though, as yours is just too messed up right now.

Maybe we just figured out why it's not working? You have to download the ISO, mount it, and copy all the files over to the USB stick. It should be bootable. But, when having problems, I go to RUFUS - never fails. It has to be done on a working machine though.

 

Ok I will try that... just to clarify , I need to format it for legacy and not UEFi? I can borrow a laptop. So i create a bootable USB stick with rufus .. as there will need to be these boot files on it as well as Kyhi's ISO file ultimately ?
i need then to download Kyhi's ISO file direct to the stick? When you say mount it, is that done when it boots up as my system kept wanting to open the file in Roxio. No option to mount it. And then i am a bit confused on this bit..l I need to copy the mounted files back to the stick? Thanks

 

Let's try to avoid Roxio, since I don't have that installed and can't walk you through it:

Okay so borrow a laptop. Download Kyhi's custom rescue media ISO and save it to the desktop of the borrowed laptop.
Download RUFUS, save it to a folder on the desktop of the borrowed laptop.
Run RUFUS to create the bootable flash drive using Kyhi's rescue ISO.
(Don't return the laptop yet...we'll still need it.)

 

Hi - I think I have done this successfully - fingers crossed!

 

I just tested boot up of this flash drive on my desktop as per original instructions and it seemed to work, bringing up a number of files. However, none of them appear to be called HDTune or Speccy. I shut down.

i now have another really serious issue. I shut down as I say, removed the stick, and I now cannot boot up my desktop at all *Sad it says missing operating system *Sad I checked F2 on bootup and it is set to the hard drive.

I have not yet done my backups *Sad *Sad *Sad Has the flash drive removed my operating system? I didn't run any of the software on it

I just tried booting from the stick again and now it is not booting up at all.. it says press any key to boot from flash drive and then I get the windows logo and then nothing - blank screen!



HElp!

 

My big worry now is all my data ..will this be retrievable somehow?

 

Okay I noticed that in the bios boot up, the RAID drives are missing from the list to select from. Not sure why this is.. there is now a SATA option instead.

 

No. It hasn't. Let me see if I can get us some help on the RAID issue.

 

Is data retrievable if raid drives die?

 

Hi Squibbler, I am far from an expert on Raid but I am somewhat familiar with it. Do you know if you were in Raid 0 or Raid 1?
There is nothing that booting from the USB would have done to cause your problem you are having now.

 

When you booted into the USB, did you change your boot options in BIOS? If you did, go back and put it just like it was before you changed it.

 

I believe it was Raid 0 *Sad

no I actually didn't change the boot options today when I tried the stick , it was set to hard disk raid 0 as first option, then the cd/ DVD and third was USB stick... but it obviously bypassed the first two and went with the stick.

what is odd though, is the stick won't boot now to a screen showing files either after that first successful attempt. Now I get the windows logo for a few seconds followed by a blank screen

my disks are not making strange noises, I believe that is a good thing regarding retrieval chances

 

In BIOS do you have the option for hard disk raid 0 ? If so set that as your first boot device.

Have you done any backups or images of your system? If you are in Raid 0 and lost a hard drive, I know of no way to recover your data. This is one of the problems with running Raid 0.

 

No the option appears to have gone.. it used to say raid and now it says sata.. there is no raid option now, I checked.
i have been really lax on backups/ images...last one was embarrassingly win 7 in 2013.. i was actually going to do one tomorrow .. we do back up photos etc to an external drive but I haven't been good at backing up email folders. I also have some genealogy documents I have paid for which I held electronically on there and should have backed up.

 

Could it be the disc controllers and not the disks that went? I am wondering if I can get the data professionally retrieved