Freeze At Desktop With Spinning Cursor After Logon. SSD Error Light?

Trying to summarise:

1. Sandybridge machine with OCZ Vertex 2 boot drive crashed today. Upon trying to reboot it kept asking me for a valid boot disk. I powered down, waited and re-started.

2. It booted up BUT... after I log in and the desktop appears I get the endlessly spinning cursor the moment I try to do -anything-. This seems to be the new normal. Ever 2nd or 3rd boot I get a blue 'Windows Did Not Shut Down Correctly. Would you like Advanced Startup or Restart buttons.

3. I opened the case and the OCZ drive has a green ready light and a red error light. Both the green -and- red light are on.

4. I've tried booting with F4 and F5 and F6 and it won't boot into 'Safe' mode. It hangs when I do.

5. I unplugged the OCZ drive and attached to another PC. It is recognised and the files on most of the drives are visible. But again, the red -and- green lights are on. Also, the Windows and Program and Program X86 folders show as empty... which is of course... impossible, right?

So...
1a. I assume the OCZ drive is toast, right? Or can it be rehabilitated?

b. Is there a way to boot Win10 without ANY startup programs or with a 'log' of some kind as in previous versions so I can see where it's getting stuck?

2. I just got the Win 10 'free' update from Win 7 right before the July deadline. I do not have a rescue disk. I have a DVD of the Win 10 install, but nothing with a serial number. So... if I get a new SSD, how will I validate my Win 10 install? Or do I have to buy a new license?

I'm not so worried about a 'backup' as all my data is on a separate HD which is fine. I just need the machine to boot up to Win 10 and then I can re-install what I need.

Thanks in advance.

The red light or 'red light of death' as it's commonly known means it has to go back to OCZ to be fixed unfortunately , lots of people say their customer service is really bad though and people have been waiting 3-4 weeks to get it back , many do just buy a different manufacturers drive instead.

So are you saying that I could theoretically send it back to them and they repair it?
If so, does the data persist or is it wiped during repair?

Wullail said:

The red light or 'red light of death' as it's commonly known means it has to go back to OCZ to be fixed unfortunately , lots of people say their customer service is really bad though and people have been waiting 3-4 weeks to get it back , many do just buy a different manufacturers drive instead.