Question M.2 drive suddenly doesn't boot to windows

[NetMelc]

Hi, I've had my PC running for about 6 months and it always had this minor issue : it never managed to shut down correctly. The screen would turn off, but everything in the system would continue running. I would just hit the reset key on my case and then, I would turn it off completely through the login page "Shut Down" option.

I decided I wanted to fix this for good today, and found that if you press shift while clicking on Shut Down, it would turn off properly. I tried it and it worked; it actually shut down correctly for the first time ever. When I tried restarting it though, I got the error message "Reboot and Select proper Boot Device or insert Boot Media in selected Boot Device and press a key". I was freaked out, so I went to BIOS to look at the boot order and it turns out my M.2 drive that has Windows installed is no longer listed. However, it was still listed in the "System Status" tab, which comforted me into thinking that, at least, my drive wasn't faulty. After a lot of searching, I found the option "Hard Disk Drive BBS Priorities" and realized that my Hard Drive was above my M.2 so I switched those and managed to get the M.2 back in the boot order.

After all of this, still not luck, I can't boot on my M.2 drive and still get the "Reboot and Select proper Boot Device" message. I've looked up everywhere else, found the bootrec /fixmbr command method and that didn't work. Also tried repairing Windows with my installation media USB key. That didn't work either; I can't get Repair to work because it doesn't find any Windows installation. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm about to just try a Windows reinstall on my M.2 but I have some personal files on it that I really would like to recover, so I'm still waiting for a better fix.

If anyone could help, it would be super appreciated, thank you

P.S. : If that has any link with it, I had just changed my 3TB HDD from MBR to GPT, because I couldn't set up a partition bigger than 2TB, leaving some space unused.

Specs :
CPU : Ryzen 3700X
MB : MSi X570 GAMING PLUS
RAM : 16 GB 2x8 3200 MHZ TridentZ RGB
M.2 : 500GB Samsung 970 EVO
HDD : 3TB Seagate Barracuda

 

[rocktalkrock]

Double check your boot options in the BIOS. Is one of the options "Windows Boot Manager"? If yes, try setting that as the first option.

 

[kerberos_20]

so lets go through basics
m2 nvme can boot only from uefi, which is gpt drive with efi partition on it with boot files
bios should detect that as "windows boot manager"
if u have multiple drives, there is a possibility that boot files were located on another drive
bootrec /fixmbr is for mbr partition

as for fixing bootrecord on efi partition
u should disconnect all your drives, only keep m2 drive connected
boot from usb to commandline from windows repair tools
commands:
diskpart
set disk 0
list vol
see if u can see EFI there, its the only FAT32 volume there
sel vol * ( * = volume number for that small ~100MB fat32 volume)
assign letter = x:
exit
cd X :\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\
bootrec /FixBoot

if u fail to see fat32 volume there (thus missing efi partition and its boot files)
then u will need reinstall your windows

 

[NetMelc]

Double check your boot options in the BIOS. Is one of the options "Windows Boot Manager"? If yes, try setting that as the first option.

There is no ”Windows Boot Manager”, only UEFI options.

 

[NetMelc]

diskpart
set disk 0
list vol
see if u can see EFI there, its the only FAT32 volume there
sel vol * ( * = volume number for that small ~100MB fat32 volume)
assign letter = x:
exit
cd X :\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\
bootrec /FixBoot

if u fail to see fat32 volume there (thus missing efi partition and its boot files)
then u will need reinstall your windows

These are all the volumes I see in the command prompt.

https://imgur.com/a/FORNtXX

View: https://imgur.com/a/FORNtXX


This means my EFI got wiped out somehow? And if I have to reinstall windows, how can I recover my data?

 

[NetMelc]

Okay, so after digging a little more, I found this website that explained how to recreate the EFI file that was missing : http://woshub.com/how-to-repair-deleted-efi-partition-in-windows-7/

This is what happened when I tried doing just that :

https://imgur.com/a/4hrl9o8

View: https://imgur.com/a/4hrl9o8


Seems like my M.2 drive was at maximum capacity. There is no more space to create the EFI and MSR partition. I think I’m going to go to a buddy’s place and put my M.2 in his system to remove some junk and then i’ll retry what this website is saying.

 

[kerberos_20]

u need to resize your C partition
so commands from scratch:
diskpart
set disk 0
sel volume 1
shrink desired=100
create partition efi size=100
list volume
here take note of volume number of that 100MB volume
sel volume x (put than number instead of x)
format quick fs=fat32
active
exit
bcdboot c:\windows

reboot

 

[NetMelc]

u need to resize your C partition
so commands from scratch:
diskpart
set disk 0
sel volume 1
shrink desired=100
create partition efi size=100
list volume
here take note of volume number of that 100MB volume
sel volume x (put than number instead of x)
format quick fs=fat32
active
exit
bcdboot c:\windows

reboot

Okay so I tried this and after trying to create the partition it says "MSR and EFI are only supported on GPT disks". So ig my software to chane my HDD from MBR to GOT messed up and used my M.2 as well. Any idea what to do from now?