First thing that happened was my external hard drive and (separate) usb hub wouldn't work. Oddly though my qwerty and mouse which are in the usb hub both work, none of my thumb drives nor camera card reader, nor the external 5Tb backup drive, work or show up on "My Computer".
 
Then my studio desktop PC wouldn't boot. I had it reboot from my restore point of a couple days earlier. That didn't work. I've tried over and over since then. My earlier restore points all disappeared and I only have the "couple days ago" one, now. I get a message that the resetting to that restore point was successful, but it still won't boot.
 
I couldn't get it to boot from my Recovery flash drive, either, after trying in several ports. I've been "allowed" to boot from it but nothing happens.... literally nothing. Can I make a new Recovery file to that drive on my laptop to "bring over" to the studio desktop?
 
I have an Acronis back up image on my external drive, but haven't tried that yet, in the hopes that there is some other way.
 
Suggestions?
See my signature for specs/details on both my desktop and laptop.
 
Michael
 
 

If it "won't boot" how are you getting to the point of System Restore?  I'm hung up at that point.  If it "won't boot" then you can't get to try a System Restore which requires Windows to have started.
 
 

If you've got True Image, see if you can get the machine to boot from the "Bootable Rescue Disc".
If so, you can use that to restore the backup image file.
 
This is one reason I prefer backup/restore done completely outside the OS...

Don't know, fireberd ....   A blue page gives me options to
Repair
Boot from usb,  a disc, UEFI etc
Turn off
or Restart
and there Advanced Options for most of those.
I've tried them all save for the back up image, to no avail.
 
Thanks Jim      Do you mean outside of os like True Image?
 
BTW When I have tried Restore from my Recovery thumb drive, it "goes so far" as to ask which language for my keyboard, but then nothing happens.
Michael
 

So if you are unable to boot from external media, that suggests that there is more than just a Windows problem. You can try downloading a Linux live rescue distro (I do not know if your TrueImage rescue disc is using Linux), but if you cannot get that to boot, then you are probably looking at a hardware problem. Disconnect everything except your keyboard, including any internal hard drives and try to boot from USB or your CD/DVD drive with a Linux distro. Make sure your BIOS is set to boot from those media. If no joy from either of those, you may find replacing the MB to be the ultimate solution. Check your MB documentation to see if there are any diagnostic lights etc. on the board that may help. Check your memory with Memtest, clean and re-seat all the connections etc. etc. In any event, if there is data you need on the internal hard drive, it is probably wise to mount it (not in the boot sequence obviously) in another computer and copy off anything you can before you do much more. Or take the machine in to a repair shop and pay the piper. 
 
http://www.itprotoday.com/cloud-data-center/three-rescue-disks-your-toolbox
 

Thank you slartabartfast. I don't know about the True Image/Linux relationship. I am not clear what a Linux live rescue distro is, but will google that!
I did try changing the BIOS once to read the Recovery thumb drive (which the file seems not corrupted while plugged into my laptop).
I'll try that again and report back as soon as I can get to it.
I'll hope the mobo is fine, until afterwards.... LOL
I have 3 internal drives 1-1Tb and 2-2Tb Seagates. The mobo is an ASROCK Z97 ANNIVERSARY
Michael

Hi pentimentosound
 
As was mentioned .. first port of call try a LINUX LIVE Distro DVD/CD. You can make one of these free if you have a CD / DVD handy and another puter to do it on. Try UNBUNTU Live here, download the ISO and burn:
 
https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
 
Once you have burned that ISO, boot your PC off that CD/DVD .. It will run LINUX op Sys from the CD/DVD. It will reach a point asking you do you wish to install UBUNTU to the Hardrive OR Run it off the CD/DVD. Pick the latter :D
 
Then you will end up with the Linux desktop running off the CD/DVD and not interfering with your Windows Drive or Data.
 
The Linux D/Top is pretty self explanitory .. Go for the File manager over left and you should be able to see all the folders and files on your C Drive. You can then, if you wish, Backup to another USB Drive you just attached, Linux will see that immediately.
 
The other Q of course is .. Could this be MALWARE / VIRUS? There are many Free Anti Virus Distros running off a live CD/DVD also. Here is a recent article on these:

https://www.lifewire.com/free-bootable-antivirus-tools-2625785
 
So again, download, burn, boot off one of these and run an AV test on your drive.
 
Finally, i assume you tried booting off a Windows 10 install CD/DVD? To get/make one:
 
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
 
Go for the DOWNLOAD TOOL NOW and run that on another PC. When run it will ask do you want to upgrade in place this PC OR Create an ISO / Win 10 Media file to burn to a DVD. Again take latter option. Then boot your broken puter off that and at some point it gives an option to REPAIR WINDOWS, down the end in smaller writing, keep an eye :D
 
Hope that lot helps .. Aidan 
 
 

Thank you Aidan, that does help a lot. That is more "mentally manageable" for me, at my level of PC-osity! LOL
I will slowly and carefully go through those options/steps and see where I land......
Michael
 
I did try booting from my recovery thumb drive and could try that again. Nothing happened last time.
I don't have a Windows 10 disc, it came installed on these desktops, so I thought making a Recovery drive was equivalent.
 

pentimentosound
Thank you Aidan, that does help a lot. That is more "mentally manageable" for me, at my level of PC-osity! LOL
I will slowly and carefully go through those options/steps and see where I land......
Michael

No prob Michael, any troubles pop them up here OR PM
 
Its handy anyway to have a Linux Live DVD/CD knocking around. Boots off CD and Runs off DVD/CD without interfering with your system drive. And also useful to have an ANTI VIRUS Live DVD/CD as this allows you to boot the system, bypassing Windows and check for malware. Finally useful to have a Windows 10 Setup DVD in the locker too :D
 

I guess I thought I'd done that with my recovery thumb drive (Win10), but maybe that's not the same thing.
My wife and I bought a pair of desktops and laptops (ASUS) and "fleshed them out" from there, but this is the first problem I've ever had like this.
I can see that all 3 of those tools allow lots of options in the "sorting it all out" realm.
Michael