Question Motherboard stays stuck in BIOS menu and cannot find boot device. What to do ?

Feb 19, 2020
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This is my first post here, i might missing some details. When i was doing things on my PC, my computer just suddenly froze, my cursor still can move around but cannot open or run any programs. After waiting for a short time i restart by PC then it put me to BIOS setting and i got stuck there. I tried methods like replug the HDD and SSD but nothing helps, i notice on my motherboard (it's a Gigabyte B360M Aorus Gaming 3) in the corner has 4 LED lights and the light stucks on the bottom right of those 4. I cannot find what cause to problem and what to do next.
 
That light is for "boot" errors.

If you disconnect ALL of the drives, both HDD and SSD, while the power is off, then power on and press delete to enter the BIOS, are you able to THEN get in and out of the BIOS without it getting "stuck" or does it still get stuck with no drives connected at all?

Have you tried doing a hard reset of the BIOS settings, as follows?


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes, press the power button on the case for 30 seconds. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

 
Feb 19, 2020
20
0
10
That light is for "boot" errors.

If you disconnect ALL of the drives, both HDD and SSD, while the power is off, then power on and press delete to enter the BIOS, are you able to THEN get in and out of the BIOS without it getting "stuck" or does it still get stuck with no drives connected at all?

Have you tried doing a hard reset of the BIOS settings, as follows?


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes, press the power button on the case for 30 seconds. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.
I haven't tried to disconnect both SSD and HDD and boot the pc yet. I will try to do a hard BIOS reset after that. Thank you
 
When you try the hard reset, you will want ONLY the drive that has the operating system installed on it attached. The other drive should be disconnected, and it's probably a good idea that the other drive REMAINS disconnected until the problem is resolved.

I'm assuming you have Windows installed on the SSD. Did you have Windows installed on the HDD in the past, before you got the SSD?

Do you have the MOST recent BIOS version for your motherboard installed?
 
Feb 19, 2020
20
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When you try the hard reset, you will want ONLY the drive that has the operating system installed on it attached. The other drive should be disconnected, and it's probably a good idea that the other drive REMAINS disconnected until the problem is resolved.

I'm assuming you have Windows installed on the SSD. Did you have Windows installed on the HDD in the past, before you got the SSD?

Do you have the MOST recent BIOS version for your motherboard installed?
I have the Windows installed on my SSD, the last time i check the BIOS version of my motherboard was a year ago.
 
Was Windows EVER installed, at any time, on any system in the past, on the HDD?

What is actually ON the HDD now? The reason I ask is because it is especially common for people to format their hard drive C: partition when they get a new SSD and put Windows on it, thinking that takes care of the hard drive. It doesn't. Formatting the C: partition does nothing to eliminate the EFI or boot partitions that tell the system about the Windows configuration so the BIOS knows how to correctly boot the machine and if you have two installed drives that both have boot partitions on them, it can confuse the hell out of the windows boot manager.

I don't think that's the case here, specifically, although it might still be AN issue on this system if so, because that would probably not cause anything to "stick" in the BIOS, but if it's true it's a good idea to completely eliminate those partitions from that secondary drive to eliminate that problem going forward. Even if that problem ISN'T the specific issue you are having currently, it is good to know about and correct it anyhow and sometimes it IS the problem.

I have a suspicion though that your problem is something else.

Are you overclocking anything?

Try the hard reset with ONLY the SSD connected, and see what happens.

If that doesn't solve the issue, try disconnecting that too and then go into the BIOS and see if it still gets stuck.
 
Feb 19, 2020
20
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Was Windows EVER installed, at any time, on any system in the past, on the HDD?

What is actually ON the HDD now? The reason I ask is because it is especially common for people to format their hard drive C: partition when they get a new SSD and put Windows on it, thinking that takes care of the hard drive. It doesn't. Formatting the C: partition does nothing to eliminate the EFI or boot partitions that tell the system about the Windows configuration so the BIOS knows how to correctly boot the machine and if you have two installed drives that both have boot partitions on them, it can confuse the hell out of the windows boot manager.

I don't think that's the case here, specifically, although it might still be AN issue on this system if so, because that would probably not cause anything to "stick" in the BIOS, but if it's true it's a good idea to completely eliminate those partitions from that secondary drive to eliminate that problem going forward. Even if that problem ISN'T the specific issue you are having currently, it is good to know about and correct it anyhow and sometimes it IS the problem.

I have a suspicion though that your problem is something else.

Are you overclocking anything?

Try the hard reset with ONLY the SSD connected, and see what happens.

If that doesn't solve the issue, try disconnecting that too and then go into the BIOS and see if it still gets stuck.
Window never been installed on my HDD, on my HDD are just documents, games and other things. I'm not overclocking anything at the moment where the problem starts.
 
Feb 19, 2020
20
0
10
Was Windows EVER installed, at any time, on any system in the past, on the HDD?

What is actually ON the HDD now? The reason I ask is because it is especially common for people to format their hard drive C: partition when they get a new SSD and put Windows on it, thinking that takes care of the hard drive. It doesn't. Formatting the C: partition does nothing to eliminate the EFI or boot partitions that tell the system about the Windows configuration so the BIOS knows how to correctly boot the machine and if you have two installed drives that both have boot partitions on them, it can confuse the hell out of the windows boot manager.

I don't think that's the case here, specifically, although it might still be AN issue on this system if so, because that would probably not cause anything to "stick" in the BIOS, but if it's true it's a good idea to completely eliminate those partitions from that secondary drive to eliminate that problem going forward. Even if that problem ISN'T the specific issue you are having currently, it is good to know about and correct it anyhow and sometimes it IS the problem.

I have a suspicion though that your problem is something else.

Are you overclocking anything?

Try the hard reset with ONLY the SSD connected, and see what happens.

If that doesn't solve the issue, try disconnecting that too and then go into the BIOS and see if it still gets stuck.
i have reset the CMOS battery and boot it on only with the SSD card but still i couldn't get out of the BIOS loop. The LED light still there when i boot it. I tried the second time without the SSD connected but didn't work also
 
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Feb 19, 2020
20
0
10
Was Windows EVER installed, at any time, on any system in the past, on the HDD?

What is actually ON the HDD now? The reason I ask is because it is especially common for people to format their hard drive C: partition when they get a new SSD and put Windows on it, thinking that takes care of the hard drive. It doesn't. Formatting the C: partition does nothing to eliminate the EFI or boot partitions that tell the system about the Windows configuration so the BIOS knows how to correctly boot the machine and if you have two installed drives that both have boot partitions on them, it can confuse the hell out of the windows boot manager.

I don't think that's the case here, specifically, although it might still be AN issue on this system if so, because that would probably not cause anything to "stick" in the BIOS, but if it's true it's a good idea to completely eliminate those partitions from that secondary drive to eliminate that problem going forward. Even if that problem ISN'T the specific issue you are having currently, it is good to know about and correct it anyhow and sometimes it IS the problem.

I have a suspicion though that your problem is something else.

Are you overclocking anything?

Try the hard reset with ONLY the SSD connected, and see what happens.

If that doesn't solve the issue, try disconnecting that too and then go into the BIOS and see if it still gets stuck.
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i have reset the CMOS battery and boot it on only with the SSD card but still i couldn't get out of the BIOS loop. The LED light still there when i boot it. I tried the second time without the SSD connected but didn't work also
In the Boot Sequence section it only shows Window Boot Manager and when i click on it it said No Bootable Device Found. When i hard reset the CMOS i changed nothing and only select Load Optimized Defaults and Save&Reset.
 
Windows boot manager IS what should be selected to boot from on Windows 10 machines. It can't do that if the drive that contains windows isn't present. Reconnect the SSD, select Windows boot manager as the first boot device, save settings, exit BIOS and see if it will boot. If not, you may have to reinstall Windows as it sounds like it has been corrupted.
 
Feb 19, 2020
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Windows boot manager IS what should be selected to boot from on Windows 10 machines. It can't do that if the drive that contains windows isn't present. Reconnect the SSD, select Windows boot manager as the first boot device, save settings, exit BIOS and see if it will boot. If not, you may have to reinstall Windows as it sounds like it has been corrupted.
i have reconnect the SSD and did the same thing as you said above, it didn't boot
 
Feb 19, 2020
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Windows boot manager IS what should be selected to boot from on Windows 10 machines. It can't do that if the drive that contains windows isn't present. Reconnect the SSD, select Windows boot manager as the first boot device, save settings, exit BIOS and see if it will boot. If not, you may have to reinstall Windows as it sounds like it has been corrupted.
So i will have to choose to do a Clean installation of Windows to my PC ? Which means i will lose my data ? Can i choose to disconnect the other drives in that case.
 
Yes, you DO disconnect all other drives. You do NOT want ANY drive attached to the motherboard while you are installing Windows EXCEPT for the drive you are installing Windows ON and the drive you are installing Windows FROM.

Yes, any data ON the drive you are installing Windows on will be lost. This is why you should ALWAYS have anything important backed up to AT LEAST one other location at all times so that WHEN, not IF, something happens, because it WILL (It always does, sooner or later), you don't lose anything important.
 
Feb 19, 2020
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Yes, you DO disconnect all other drives. You do NOT want ANY drive attached to the motherboard while you are installing Windows EXCEPT for the drive you are installing Windows ON and the drive you are installing Windows FROM.

Yes, any data ON the drive you are installing Windows on will be lost. This is why you should ALWAYS have anything important backed up to AT LEAST one other location at all times so that WHEN, not IF, something happens, because it WILL (It always does, sooner or later), you don't lose anything important.
at the moment i am reinstalling Windows and at the collecting information part after i select drive to install Windows and click "next". I've been waiting for a while and nothing happens.
 
Feb 19, 2020
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at the moment i am reinstalling Windows and at the collecting information part after i select drive to install Windows and click "next". I've been waiting for a while and nothing happens.
A moment later things start to responding again, i noticed that i have to delete the partitions first but the problem is the Only Drive is unallocated and the option to delete doesn't shows up
 
Feb 19, 2020
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If there are no existing partitions on the drive and nothing is allocated, then Windows wasn't installed on that drive to begin with. Click on the unpartitioned space and then click on install.
i did click on partitioned space and tried to install, a moment later after waiting it response with unable to install the Windows
 
Go into the BIOS. Make sure that CSM is either disabled or set to auto. Make sure the "OS version" is set to Windows 8/10 and not "Other".

Make sure the boot type is set to AHCI.

If that doesn't work, then you may need to create new installation media again OR try creating the installation media on a different flash drive. I'm assuming you are not trying to use a regular external drive to do this. Make sure you have the USB drive inserted in one of the USB ports ON the motherboard, not a hub and not the case front panel.
 
Feb 19, 2020
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Go into the BIOS. Make sure that CSM is either disabled or set to auto. Make sure the "OS version" is set to Windows 8/10 and not "Other".

Make sure the boot type is set to AHCI.

If that doesn't work, then you may need to create new installation media again OR try creating the installation media on a different flash drive. I'm assuming you are not trying to use a regular external drive to do this. Make sure you have the USB drive inserted in one of the USB ports ON the motherboard, not a hub and not the case front panel.
the CSM is always disabled, i have turned it on and off to make sure. From where i can turn the boot type to AHCI ?
 
Feb 19, 2020
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Exactly.

And, that UNpartitioned space should be (mostly) the same size as the whole drive. If the unpartitioned space is only a small part of the drive then you have not bothered to delete all the existing partitions, ALL of them, on that drive, before clicking on the unpartitioned space and then clicking Next.
my mistake, the only drive there is to select is UNpartitioned space and it is same size as the whole size. I click select on the unpartitioned space and next but it said unable to install on that drive. I haven't update the BIOS setting since the time i got the motherboard.