BIOS and HDD issues - need some advice

So, here's the situation:
Shortly after updating Windows 7, the whole system just freezes up. Everything stops responding.
My first instinct was to just grab my hair and wonder if my hard drive finally kicked the bucket. And, it looks like it did. I had about 500 GB of everything on there, so I tried everything to save it.
Basically, I pulled the HDD out and tried connecting it via a cable to a new PC just to see if I could migrate the data. But nothing. It’s dead. So, I went on YouTube to see if anyone knew anything, and I found this guy who swaps the PCB on a dead hard drive with one from a working drive to bring it back to life. Since I have an identical second laptop with the exact same HDD, I figured I’d give it a shot. I was hoping maybe a chip on the board had just fried and this would revive it. But no luck.
Now I'm stuck on something else. Why can't I even get into the BIOS? I've tried every key combo—F-keys, Delete, all of them. It's a Samsung laptop. Getting into the BIOS was never an issue before this. Do I need to reset the BIOS, or is that dead too?
Does anyone else have any ideas? 🤦
thx

Typically, you’re looking at F2 or F10—though sometimes you might need to hold down the Fn key as well, so try tapping Fn+F2. Even the Esc key might trigger something useful. Usually, those little prompts pop up right on the startup screen the moment you boot the laptop, provided you can catch them before everything else loads.
And just as an aside—your hard drive actually has zero impact on the BIOS. The BIOS lives right there on the motherboard, so it ought to function perfectly fine even if there isn't a single drive inside the machine. Have you had a chance to test that HDD on another computer? You could always plug it into a desktop to check. As for the freezing issues, well, there are honestly a million different reasons why that might be happening.

Jonathan Mendoza17 said:It’s usually F2 or F10. You might need to hold down the Fn key, so try Fn+F2. The Esc key should also do something. It usually tells you what to press on that initial splash screen right when the laptop boots up, if you can catch it in time.
And just as an aside, the hard drive shouldn't have anything to do with the BIOS. The BIOS is located on the motherboard, so it really ought to function even if there isn't a hard drive installed at all. Have you checked if that drive works on another machine? You could always plug it into a desktop. As for the freezing, I suppose there are quite a few different reasons why that might be happening.

I've tried everything you suggested, but the hard drive just isn't responding the way I described earlier. It doesn't move at all. What's really bothering me is that I can't get into the BIOS. Does that mean I need to reset the BIOS, or does it mean the BIOS itself is dead?