Windows will not boot

I have a friend who lives in another state that got this message when he just tried to start his computer.
22635439_1664607190227015_1298856499_n
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER
What should I tell him?
Is there a way to run chkdsk from the Bios?

First thing is have him check power and data connections to the HDD. Just in case something came loose.

That’s a problem…

I will have him do that, but I think it is unlikely that it is the problem. It is a computer that is about 6 years old and never had an issue. It sure would be awesome if wiggling some wires fixes the problem

All the wires are connected properly

Check to make sure the bios sees the drive and it is set to boot to it in the boot options. The process to check this varies from manufacturer to manufacturer so I cant give you specific details…but usually F2/F12/DEL during boot will get you into the bios then you have to navigate to something like hardware settings/boot options to make sure the drive is there and that its set to boot from it.

Right on, Thanks. He is going to have some time to play with it pretty soon on his lunch break, so I will have him do that next. I also told him to make a Win 10 repair USB stick. Apparently Windows has been acting strange lately,(stranger than what is the normal strange)
He said, "Whenever I try to open folders it would freeze, the screen would flash and never open the file"
Could this be part of the problem?
I have never had a HDD die on me, do they usually make a loud noise before they die?

HDDs can die in a multitude of ways but one of them is the click of death which is usually pretty audible. It could very well be that this drive has failed, given its age.

So he is now trying to get into the BIOS and apparently;
“I tryed spamming esc and now it’s froze on a black screen and whenever I press any key my computer makes a small peep/click sound”

Sound like it might be hanging going into the bios, possibly due to the drive. Have him power it down, unhook the drive power and try to get into the bios again.

We got back into the BIOS. Changed the boot order because it was set to boot from the DVD drive first. The BIOS recognizes that the HDD exists.
We checked the internal clock, and it is still on the proper date and time, so the CMOS battery seems to be ok.
We hit reset and now this error comes up;
/boot/bcd
I am guessing we need a recovery disk?

Did he perhaps have multiple hard drives? That error points to a missing MBR. You should be able to fix it with a windows install disk using the repair options but I would make sure the boot record isnt on another drive first. Windows has a habit of putting the mbr on another drive in some circumstances.

He only has one drive. Is there another way you would suggest fixing it?

If thats the case the windows repair tool via USB or CD is the only option.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2004518/error-message-when-you-start-windows-7-the-windows-boot-configuration

Once its repaired I would begin doing diagnostics on that drive to see its health, like checking the smart info. Its unusual for the boot record to just go missing or become corrupt, but without knowing more about what was going on before the computer became bricked I cant say for sure whats really going on.

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Awesome! thanks! You have been a huge help! He was freaking out that he might have lost that hard drive. It is time for him to upgrade to an SSD anyway.

Once he gets his hands on a bootable windows installer there should be a menu just for one time boots on his board (possibly F11?) so he doesnt have to go into bios to change his boot order just to boot once to the repair tool. It should say first thing at startup what the key is. The ISO of windows can be had from microsoft which is downloaded via an executable that will also make it into a bootable USB for you. IIRC if you need the win 7 iso then you also need your key but the w10 iso is available without the key.