# Non system disc error **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 18, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439 "2024-09-18T17:13:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/1 "2024-09-18T17:13:36Z")
My Windows 10 computer has done this twice in the past few weeks. I get up in the morning to an ominous, “Non system disc - remove and press any key” message. But I don’t even have any way to insert a non system disc unless the USB ports count. The first time I just pressed return a few times and it went into a full BIOS reboot. This morning I just shut the computer off and it fired up just fine. Is my hard drive doomed? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/2 "2024-09-18T17:23:04Z")
You do not know yet. Check that the BIOS is indeed set up to boot from that hard disc. Also, try to boot from a USB disc and then see if the files and OS on your hard drive are still there… ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/3 "2024-09-18T17:23:34Z")
Yeah, looks like your system drive is flaky. If you haven’t backed up your data, do it NOW. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/4 "2024-09-18T17:41:01Z")
Step 1: Backup all important data. Do this before doing any testing, because if the drive is flaky running tests might push it over the edge. Step 2: Download a hard drive diagnostic utility such as HDDScan [https://hddscan.com/](https://hddscan.com/) or Seagate Seatools [SeaTools | Seagate US](https://www.seagate.com/ca/en/support/downloads/seatools/). I haven’t used either of them. Used to use Western Digital’s WDDiag, but it appears to be long gone at this point. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/5 "2024-09-18T19:20:28Z")
Also … if your system disk is not SSD, upgrade to SSD ! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/6 "2024-09-18T23:36:32Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I get up in the morning to an ominous, “Non system disc - remove and press any key” message. But I don’t even have any way to insert a non system disc unless the USB ports count. What do you have plugged into your USB ports? I have an external hard drive that causes a similar message if I reboot when it’s plugged in. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/7 "2024-09-19T06:24:38Z")
The only thing in the USB ports is a charging cord I leave there. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/8 "2024-09-19T07:15:33Z")
Have you looked at the Event Log to see if there are any errors there? ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/9 "2024-09-19T16:48:05Z")
And where do I find the Event Log? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/10 "2024-09-19T19:33:28Z")
Go to the Control Panel, then select Administrative Tools. One of the tools is Event Viewer. Open that. Choose Windows Logs, then look at the System Log. Look at the log around the time that the error happened. More serious errors are labeled “Error” with a red exclamation point. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/11 "2024-09-20T15:29:00Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Is my hard drive doomed? Is it an old school one with platters or an SSD? How old is it? ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/12 "2024-09-20T19:00:55Z")
I think the computer is about 6 years old. It is listed as a Hard Drive, that’s all. I looked in the event log and there are lots of warnings with a yellow triangle. Most are “distributedCOM”. A couple of errors with a red exclamation point. TPM-WMI and DNS Client events. The last bunch of yellow warnings are from last night when I did a Windows update. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-system-disc-error/1007439/13 "2024-09-21T08:44:13Z")
Have you run [CHKDSK](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/chkdsk?tabs=event-viewer) ? I had HDD problems a couple of years ago, CHKDSK reported several errors… I did a disk image immediately and restored to a SSD. No problems since.