If OP has a drive on hand, then sure, give that a shot.

Thats how I would look at it, just because the amount it would cost you to look further and replace further would be a lot higher, if spare drive this will be able to rule out this aspect and allow him to put his focus on either rebuilding, or buying new

I'm aware but still a chance its unrelated to hardware.
Just figured easier to get a windows disc vs buying hardware for testing purposes.



You can test the drive without needed to buy a new one with software.

This post was edited by King Atrhur on Sep 26 2016 10:45am

doing a fresh OS install could fix this, you maybe certainly right. Its really hard to say unless we know he takes that apporach!

Yeah, but from how I read the OP, it seems like he restored the unit. If it was only the Windows System Restore function, as opposed to a full OS wipe and reload, then yeah, you'd want to do that first before replacing any hardware. Now, if booting to another OS image (the USB) generates any BSODs within that environment, then it's going to be hardware-related.

agreed 100% system restores don't do anything but keep potential issues around, a fresh os install is done and still had issues, then from here, I would do a swap on SSD/HDD and boot up the fresh os to see if issues continue, if not then we know the drive was bad, if it continues its a larger issue

This post was edited by VFW on Sep 26 2016 10:35am