PC won't start, "An unexpected I/O error has occurred"

keemst4r

Commendable
Nov 6, 2016
5
0
1,510
Last night I was on my PC as usual and the power turned off for a few seconds. This happens sometimes where I live and it's never done anything to my PC before, but since then my PC won't boot up. It will automatically restart when I restart it normally, and when I go into startup repair it only shows me the same error screen every time which says "Windows has a encountered a problem communicating with a device connected to your computer".
It also says the error can be caused by unplugging a removeable storage device or a failing hard drive. The status is 0xc00000e9 and the info is "An unexpected I/O error has occurred". I am unable to try anything in the advanced boot options. It will either try to reboot over and over, or give me the same error screen as before. How can I fix this error, or is my PC Done for?
 
Solution
Hey there, @keemst4r!

This sounds unfortunate. I'd strongly recommend you try resolving the error by swapping the SATA cable and the SATA port where the HDD is connected to the motherboard. This error indicates that there's something wrong with the connectivity to the storage device but it could also be associated with a faulty HDD as well. I'd advise you to check how the drive would get recognized if you connect it as a secondary storage to another PC and see if you will be able to access your files. Make sure you back them up immediately somewhere else! This is the surest way to avoid any potential data loss.

Hope this helps. Let me know how the troubleshooting is going!
SuperSoph_WD
Hey there, @keemst4r!

This sounds unfortunate. I'd strongly recommend you try resolving the error by swapping the SATA cable and the SATA port where the HDD is connected to the motherboard. This error indicates that there's something wrong with the connectivity to the storage device but it could also be associated with a faulty HDD as well. I'd advise you to check how the drive would get recognized if you connect it as a secondary storage to another PC and see if you will be able to access your files. Make sure you back them up immediately somewhere else! This is the surest way to avoid any potential data loss.

Hope this helps. Let me know how the troubleshooting is going!
SuperSoph_WD
 
Solution