Winload.exe corrupt

Occasionally windows (10) won't start, with an error message indicating that said program is missing or corrupt. And that I should repair things. But, so far, it has always booted normally if I just restarts the beast. This doesn't happen frequently - approximately once per month or so.

Question: Should I replace the disk (SSD, 2-3 years old)? Please say yes… (actually, just tell me the truth).

pibbur who boots normally every day, although sometimes quite slowly.

Copy \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe to \windows\system32\winload.exe.
If that didn't fix it, press win+r then "chkdsk C: /f".
If even that didn't solve the problem then "sfc /scannow".

No, you shouldn't replace SSD.

Depends on number of writes done to ssd. Depending on brand there should be a tool to examine smart data for drive and indicate if ok. Also if samsung some older drives require firm ware update due to bug that failed to refresh nand (basically the nand would run out of charge and reset)

Also check that drive is firmly seated if not sata and if sata cables firmly seated both in drive and mb.

There's some other boot repair commands to try if that doesn't work. I do find these hard-to-pin-down errors around booting have become more common in the UEFI/Windows 10 world.

Thanks for your replies. As it happens so rarely and I can always get it to boot by restarting I don't think I'll do much about it yet.

My main concern was if it meant that the disk was failing, so I had (an excuse) to replace it.

pibbur who happily|sadly realizes that is not the case.

FYI: I found out a bit more about my boot problem. I use a KVM switch to control 4 PCS. It turns out that this boot problem only happens if I boot the PC when the switch is linked to one of the other machines. Ideally this should not happen, the switch should simulate a keyboard/monitor connection no matter what PC is controlling it.

I've had the problem (rarely) with the other PCs's as well. Also, sometimes the keyboard and mouse don't work when I switch between PCS's (works if I switch back again). So I assume that the KVM is not entirely healthy. However, the problems occur only occasionally, so at the moment I don't bother replacing it.

pibbur

PS. Why 4 PCs?`If you want to know, these are the machines connected to the KVM:

1. Floortop gaming PC
2. Job laptop
3. Old dual boot XP/Linux machine
4. MS Surface pad, sometimes gaming laptop in stead,.

DS.

I've used KVM before and have had problem with keyboard/mouse not being detected at boot but if my memory is correct the system still booted (can't remember if it was linux or windows 7). Thanks for the update; i am surprise that you don't get a message like "missing keyboard" on the screen when the reboot fails but then again I've been less than impress with ms products (esp windows 10).