Laptop blue screen/ missing boot files

[lonestar31]

My mother in laws laptop throws up this screen when booting. I can get to bios fine but this looks a bit serious. Worried the hard drive is failing. Any suggestions on where to start would be appreciated! Screen shot in spoiler.

Spoiler

 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

If you have a spare Windows 8/8.1/10 disk or USB (depending on your version of Windows), boot into that and when you get into the screen where it says Install Now, click Repair this Computer  on the bottom left corner. In that menu, select Troubleshoot and then Command Prompt.

 

Type this command and hit enter:

bootrec /RebuildBcd

 

[lonestar31]

5 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

If you have a spare Windows 8/8.1/10 disk or USB (depending on your version of Windows), boot into that and when you get into the screen where it says Install Now, click Repair this Computer  on the bottom left corner. In that menu, select Troubleshoot and then Command Prompt.

 

Type this command and hit enter:

bootrec /RebuildBcd

 

Thanks I will try the USB, and should I replace the HDD just to be safe? 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

1 minute ago, lonestar31 said:

Thanks I will try the USB, and should I replace the HDD just to be safe? 

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a HDD error that corrupted the BCD. If you can afford an SSD, I would say go for it. Speed and reliability of the machine would definitely go up.

[lonestar31]

6 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a HDD error that corrupted the BCD. If you can afford an SSD, I would say go for it. Speed and reliability of the machine would definitely go up.

It is an older dell and I have had some HDD trouble from them in the past. Probably what I will do then, thank you. I will update if I need more help. 

[lonestar31]

It worked! Thank you, she does not want me to replace the HDD though as it would require a complete teardown of this laptop. She will just keep running it till it quits, though now I can tell my brother in law how to fix it if it happens again.