Question I got a "an operating system wasnt found. Try disconnecting any device that dont contain an operating system."

[sblue]

Hello,

As the title states, I got that message "an operating system wasnt found. Try disconnecting any device that dont contain an operating system."

I was using my PC as normal, just browsing chatGPT. I wanted to do a calculation and noticed when pulling up the calculator, the calculator program almost wouldnt start, and then I noticed everything else got really slow.
I force shut-down the PC, and when trying to start it up that message came.

I don't really know what to do, and I am pretty good with my hands. I am reading for multiple exams, so I am pretty often at my laptop and ready to check in here and take some action!

It's windows 10 with a ROG MAXIMUS XI HERO (WI-FI) Motherboard.
- 2x NVMe Samssung m2

 

[Aeacus]

It's windows 10 with a ROG MAXIMUS XI HERO (WI-FI) Motherboard.
- 2x NVMe Samssung m2

Full system specs, including PSU make and model (or part number) is? Also, how old the PSU is, and was the PSU bought new or used/refurbished?

"an operating system wasnt found. Try disconnecting any device that dont contain an operating system."

Either corrupted OS or dead OS drive.

Boot to BIOS and look if OS drive is detected and also listed as one of the boot priority drives (should be 1st one).

 

[LinuxDevice]

Just a side note: When a program is running it lives in RAM (except possibly if swap/virtual memory is used). Even if the disk were to die the program actually in RAM will usually work just fine until disk access is needed. Having the calculator fail could be a disk failure. Not finding the o/s on boot tends to back up that idea. What @Aeacus mentions about going into the BIOS is a pretty valuable suggestion because the BIOS can see disks as a whole, and not just files on a filesystem inside of a partition. If the disk does show up, then it might still be failing, but you stand a chance. If the BIOS itself for example had corrupted (maybe the button battery is low), then it might be as simple as setting the BIOS up again. While power is on the BIOS won't corrupt just from a battery dying, but when power goes off it might.

 

[Aeacus]

If the BIOS itself for example had corrupted (maybe the button battery is low)

1. IF BIOS would be corrupted, PC won't pass POST and OP would not see the error message they see (or any image in that matter).

2. Dead/empty CMOS battery doesn't corrupt BIOS. All it does, is keeping user made BIOS settings saved when PC isn't plugged to the mains and doesn't receive power.
PC can still operate fine, even without CMOS battery in the system at all. But it may annoy user to show that BIOS settings have been reset to the default/factory settings and PC also fails to keep internal clock going (latter isn't an issue as of late, since Win takes the correct time from the net, once build boots to OS).

 

[sblue]

Full system specs, including PSU make and model (or part number) is? Also, how old the PSU is, and was the PSU bought new or used/refurbished?


Either corrupted OS or dead OS drive.

Boot to BIOS and look if OS drive is detected and also listed as one of the boot priority drives (should be 1st one).

Okay, let me try:
The PSU was bought new and is no more than 4-5 years.
- CPU Intel Core i9-9900K Processor
- Motherboard ROG Maximus XI Hero wi-fi
- RAM Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 C16 BK DC - 16GB
- GPU GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 2060 OC - 6GB GDDR6 RAM
- SSD 1x Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD M.2 2280 - 1TB
--> 1x Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD M.2 500Gb
- PSDU: corsair cx750
- Win10 Home

2)
It looks like the BIOS detects both M.2's.
I am pretty certain (maybe 95%) that windows were placed on the 500Gb M2.

Under Boot Option Priorities, Boot Option #1 is set to the 500Gb M2.
When I try to 'Boot override' with and use the 1TB one, nothing different happends.

A side note: Under Boot Option Priorities, under Boot Option #1, I dont have the option to choose the other M2 (the 1TB one) as an option. It's only the 500Gb or 'disabled'

--> Though it might not be relevant: I am not sure what settings the CSM settings should be with regards to all the "UEFI", "LEGACY" etc.

 

[CountMike]

Okay, let me try:
The PSU was bought new and is no more than 4-5 years.
- CPU Intel Core i9-9900K Processor
- Motherboard ROG Maximus XI Hero wi-fi
- RAM Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 C16 BK DC - 16GB
- GPU GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 2060 OC - 6GB GDDR6 RAM
- SSD 1x Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD M.2 2280 - 1TB
--> 1x Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD M.2 500Gb
- PSDU: corsair cx750
- Win10 Home

2)
It looks like the BIOS detects both M.2's.
I am pretty certain (maybe 95%) that windows were placed on the 500Gb M2.

Under Boot Option Priorities, Boot Option #1 is set to the 500Gb M2.
When I try to 'Boot override' with and use the 1TB one, nothing different happends.

A side note: Under Boot Option Priorities, under Boot Option #1, I dont have the option to choose the other M2 (the 1TB one) as an option. It's only the 500Gb or 'disabled'

--> Though it might not be relevant: I am not sure what settings the CSM settings should be with regards to all the "UEFI", "LEGACY" etc.

You haeaccess to another PC, download and make bootable USB with this.
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/sergei_strelecs_winpe_64_bit.html
It has many utilities to check disks and system and even fix some problems.

 

[Aeacus]

I am pretty certain (maybe 95%) that windows were placed on the 500Gb M2.

When Win was installed, were both drives connected to the system or only one? Since when both were connected, it could be that boot manager lives on 2nd drive and it might got corrupted. Hence why not able to boot to OS.

It looks like the BIOS detects both M.2's.

Then, at least, there is some life in the SSDs. Maybe enough for repair the OS or format the drive for clean Win install. Or maybe not. Unknown at this point.

Best course of action;
1. Any empty drive (e.g SATA SSD will do).
2. Disconnect both M.2 drives.
3. Install the new, clean Win to the empty drive.
4. Make sure you can boot to OS.
5. If successful, power down, connect both M.2 drives back to system, make sure in BIOS that the new installation (SATA SSD) is 1st boot priority.
6. Boot to OS and run checks on both of your M.2 drives (e.g Samsung Magician). This way, all the data you have in M.2 drives is kept safe, since both drives would then act as data drives. And you can copy/paste your personal data over.

This method would keep both M.2 drives safe, just in case there was an OS drive failure. While giving you good grounds for data recovery.
Now, it is possible that due to drive failure (if drive did fail), BIOS will see it, but Device Manager will not. And once in the OS, you can't access the drive. In this case, your options are limited. There is option to recover personal data from failed drive (albeit expensive). But if there is no need to recover data from failed drive, you can just RMA the drive and get a new one where to install OS 3rd time around (2nd time around would be the SATA SSD for possible data recovery/drives diagnostics).

 

[sblue]

When Win was installed, were both drives connected to the system or only one? Since when both were connected, it could be that boot manager lives on 2nd drive and it might got corrupted. Hence why not able to boot to OS.


Then, at least, there is some life in the SSDs. Maybe enough for repair the OS or format the drive for clean Win install. Or maybe not. Unknown at this point.

Best course of action;
1. Any empty drive (e.g SATA SSD will do).
2. Disconnect both M.2 drives.
3. Install the new, clean Win to the empty drive.
4. Make sure you can boot to OS.
5. If successful, power down, connect both M.2 drives back to system, make sure in BIOS that the new installation (SATA SSD) is 1st boot priority.
6. Boot to OS and run checks on both of your M.2 drives (e.g Samsung Magician). This way, all the data you have in M.2 drives is kept safe, since both drives would then act as data drives. And you can copy/paste your personal data over.

This method would keep both M.2 drives safe, just in case there was an OS drive failure. While giving you good grounds for data recovery.
Now, it is possible that due to drive failure (if drive did fail), BIOS will see it, but Device Manager will not. And once in the OS, you can't access the drive. In this case, your options are limited. There is option to recover personal data from failed drive (albeit expensive). But if there is no need to recover data from failed drive, you can just RMA the drive and get a new one where to install OS 3rd time around (2nd time around would be the SATA SSD for possible data recovery/drives diagnostics).

1. How about a flash drive, will that do?

It seems like there is something I cant quite figure out.

I am now trying to do a clean Windows 11 install on the 1TB M.2, but the installation keeps failing.

- A sidenote: When im about to do the Win 11 install I can sort of "browse" into both M.2(when they are both plugged in ofc). And there I can see which folders I have on them etc. I don't know if that says anything of help.

I deleted the partition on the Disk 1 (which is atm. the 1TB M.2), trying to proceed with "next" with the installation I get the error message "There is an error selecting this partition for install. choose another partition or refresh choice.". I saw a video going into the CMD, selecting the Disk 1 and typing in "clean", it was successful and after pressing update in the installation window the error message persists.

Do my BIOS settings need to be at something specific such as "UEFI ONLY" or in the secure boot OS Type "Other OS" or "Windows UEFI mode".
I am quite confused, but it seems like I did delete everything from the 1TB M.2 drive, which is ok - I do however want to try and keep everything from the 500Gb drive.

 

[LinuxDevice]

1. IF BIOS would be corrupted, PC won't pass POST and OP would not see the error message they see (or any image in that matter).

2. Dead/empty CMOS battery doesn't corrupt BIOS. All it does, is keeping user made BIOS settings saved when PC isn't plugged to the mains and doesn't receive power.
PC can still operate fine, even without CMOS battery in the system at all. But it may annoy user to show that BIOS settings have been reset to the default/factory settings and PC also fails to keep internal clock going (latter isn't an issue as of late, since Win takes the correct time from the net, once build boots to OS).

Some trivia related to this: An UPS for maintaining power to a PC when the wall power fails can be in two varieties. One variety does not help if there is an undervoltage (the cheaper UPS), and another variety will help even if wall power has undervoltage instead of outright power failure. The riskiest failure is not complete power failure, but is instead "brownout" (undervoltage). During undervoltage the system appears to operate normally, but there will begin to be bit flips.

The BIOS is its own micro operating system and is a computer (though simple, it controls bringing up power rails and clocks in the correct sequence). The BIOS would typically have some sort of minimal driver for things like RAM and disk controllers. If the BIOS is good, and the battery is gone, but power is never lost, then nobody will care about the dead battery. If the power completely fails, then it is also true that it is unlikely the system would even POST, but it might get you to the BIOS depending on the BIOS design. The real problem is the same as the described "brownout" or undervoltage. Parts of the firmware can in fact corrupt while leaving the rest of it fully working. It is possible for an individual piece of hardware to fail under those conditions, in which case the BIOS would need to be powered back up and reset. The reason is that if there is a flipped bit, then restoring the battery or power will not flip that bit back to what it should have been. It isn't a "likely" thing to occur, but it also is not as rare as one might think. It is worth checking via resetting BIOS to defaults, which does not take much time.

 

[Aeacus]

1. How about a flash drive, will that do?

Well, you can't install Win on a flash drive and then boot off from it. Flash drive is used to create Win installation media, so you can install Win on proper drive.

I am now trying to do a clean Windows 11 install on the 1TB M.2, but the installation keeps failing.

In-depth guide here, including creating installation media,
link: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/windows-11-clean-install-tutorial.3831442/

Do my BIOS settings need to be at something specific such as "UEFI ONLY" or in the secure boot OS Type "Other OS" or "Windows UEFI mode".

Win11 only supports UEFI. Win10 can get by with Legacy mode as well. So, select/enable UEFI. Also, secure boot must be enabled before installing Win11. (You can disable it afterwards when need be.)

Some trivia related to this: An UPS for maintaining power to a PC when the wall power fails can be in two varieties. One variety does not help if there is an undervoltage (the cheaper UPS), and another variety will help even if wall power has undervoltage instead of outright power failure. The riskiest failure is not complete power failure, but is instead "brownout" (undervoltage). During undervoltage the system appears to operate normally, but there will begin to be bit flips.

When it comes to the UPS, there are actually more options that the two you describe.

Based on your description, you are describing UPS without AVR (most likely stand-by topology) and UPS with AVR (most likely line-interactive topology). Now, when you also include double-conversion on-line and delta-conversion on-line topology UPSes, then for those two, brownouts doesn't matter at all since all the power PSU gets, is directly from UPS'es battery. While the mains power is used to recharge the battery as it's draining.

No-one should buy UPS without AVR, unless it is on-line topology. And in my opinion, every PC should be backed up by an UPS (my two PCs are, one UPS per PC).

but it might get you to the BIOS depending on the BIOS design.

I actually have never seen a partly failed BIOS. Since BIOS is specific set of instructions during power on (POST) and when one of the parts fails, PC won't POST and won't show an image, let alone being able to enter BIOS.

It is worth checking via resetting BIOS to defaults, which does not take much time.

Well, yeah, it doesn't take much time. But resetting BIOS after each hardware failure isn't the one fix to rule them all. It is far more likely that the individual component failed, rather than BIOS got corrupted.

 

[sblue]

Hello everyone,
Thank you for pitching in! I have learned a lot in the process.

What helped was using a USB to plug into the PC with "Hiren’s BootCD PE". With this I was able to go into the "Crystal Disk Info" and confirm that the 'health status' on the SSD (the 1TB) was in fact labled as "Bad".

So yeah, the other SSD (the 500GB) is still in 'good shape'.

Right now im installing Windows
Have a nice day everyone.

 

[Aeacus]

and confirm that the 'health status' on the SSD (the 1TB) was in fact labled as "Bad".

970 Evo Plus has 5 year warranty. So, if your drive has warranty left, RMA it to get brand new 1TB 970 Evo Plus as a replacement.

Though, my very 1st 970 Evo Plus 2TB also died shortly afterwards. I only had it in use 28 days before drive completely died (was in use as OS drive and didn't show up in BIOS). I RMAd my drive and got a replacement brand new drive, which for now, has been in service for the past 3 years and still going strong.

 

[LinuxDevice]

Well, you can't install Win on a flash drive and then boot off from it. Flash drive is used to create Win installation media, so you can install Win on proper drive.


In-depth guide here, including creating installation media,
link: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/windows-11-clean-install-tutorial.3831442/


Win11 only supports UEFI. Win10 can get by with Legacy mode as well. So, select/enable UEFI. Also, secure boot must be enabled before installing Win11. (You can disable it afterwards when need be.)


When it comes to the UPS, there are actually more options that the two you describe.

Based on your description, you are describing UPS without AVR (most likely stand-by topology) and UPS with AVR (most likely line-interactive topology). Now, when you also include double-conversion on-line and delta-conversion on-line topology UPSes, then for those two, brownouts doesn't matter at all since all the power PSU gets, is directly from UPS'es battery. While the mains power is used to recharge the battery as it's draining.

No-one should buy UPS without AVR, unless it is on-line topology. And in my opinion, every PC should be backed up by an UPS (my two PCs are, one UPS per PC).


I actually have never seen a partly failed BIOS. Since BIOS is specific set of instructions during power on (POST) and when one of the parts fails, PC won't POST and won't show an image, let alone being able to enter BIOS.


Well, yeah, it doesn't take much time. But resetting BIOS after each hardware failure isn't the one fix to rule them all. It is far more likely that the individual component failed, rather than BIOS got corrupted.

No-one should buy UPS without AVR, unless it is on-line topology. And in my opinion, every PC should be backed up by an UPS (my two PCs are, one UPS per PC).

I actually have never seen a partly failed BIOS. Since BIOS is specific set of instructions during power on (POST) and when one of the parts fails, PC won't POST and won't show an image, let alone being able to enter BIOS.

A BIOS battery acts as AVR for the BIOS. If the battery starts failing, but is not completely dead, then the ability to protect a BIOS from low voltage starts going away. Settings will be outright lost if power goes off and the battery is simultaneously completely dead, which does happen sometimes (nobody would notice this if the PC is not unplugged from the wall).

I have seen a BIOS which appears to work, but some setting does not behave correctly (and can change after shutdown, unplug, and replug...or if local power is somehow lost and then turned back on). This is a stage which is equivalent to loss of brownout protection in an UPS.

This isn't necessarily for a BIOS, but if you look at the eye diagram for more complicated encoding formats, then you'll find that the "open" (correctly functioning) signal starts to fail if some part of the signal either has too much jitter, or if the voltage produced at some moment in time starts going out of spec. The PCIe PHY is maybe the best known example, but there is a lesson in this: Preservation of bits being communicated using more complicated algorithms has a dependency on the 1s and 0s having a stable voltage; a partial failure may not reveal itself unless you've performed a checksum at both the send side and receive side. A BIOS which does not have stable power and data can flip a bit in small samples without the communications failing as a whole. This is why brownout issues are so dangerous: They can corrupt some parts of data with no indication that the data is now corrupt.

And you are correct, nobody should buy an UPS without the AVR. Better yet, no manufacturer should sell an UPS without AVR, but sometimes they do. Even harder to control: A failing battery which is not yet completely failed. How do you design a battery which knows it is partially failed and should be shut down, at least inside of a BIOS where cost and hardware expense matters?

It's such a simple thing to replace a button battery. It is exceedingly difficult to diagnose power issues from a battery which seemingly works, but doesn't quite "always" work.

 

[Aeacus]

I have seen a BIOS which appears to work, but some setting does not behave correctly (and can change after shutdown, unplug, and replug...or if local power is somehow lost and then turned back on).

Given that how many different MoBos and BIOSes have been made over the years (not only consumer, but laptop and server too), then yeah, could be that some BIOSes work partly when CMOS battery is low in charge.
Though, for consumer MoBos (deskop PCs), i've seen that BIOS either works or doesn't work at all (usually corrupted during BIOS update).

How do you design a battery which knows it is partially failed and should be shut down, at least inside of a BIOS where cost and hardware expense matters?

I'd look into ways of phasing out CMOS battery completely. E.g SSDs can retain data without power. So could BIOS.
But i digress.

OP has found their culprit and topic is concluded.