Question "No Boot Device Found" after restarting PC or turning power off at the wall - any guidance ?

[Theocritus]

Question is pretty much what it says on the lid. I'm a bit new to this forum, so I apologise if my threat is structured weirdly, but essentially I've been trying to fix an issue with my PC for the past week wherein I get the "No Boot Device Found" error with my SSD boot drive anytime I try to boot up my PC. I swapped it out for another hard disk, which turned this error into a BSoD. I installed a copy of Windows 10 onto another SSD with a pen drive, which worked like a treat yesterday, until I switched off my PC until this morning, after which I was back to square one.

After hours of trying to figure it out, I mounted my original SSD to my laptop and updated its version of Windows 10, until it could run my laptop by itself, after which I put it into my PC, which once again, worked until I switched it off, and then turned it off at the plug socket. When I rebooted it, the same error had rebounded. Any idea what might be causing it?

Many thanks!

 

[kanewolf]

Question is pretty much what it says on the lid. I'm a bit new to this forum, so I apologise if my threat is structured weirdly, but essentially I've been trying to fix an issue with my PC for the past week wherein I get the "No Boot Device Found" error with my SSD boot drive anytime I try to boot up my PC. I swapped it out for another hard disk, which turned this error into a BSoD. I installed a copy of Windows 10 onto another SSD with a pen drive, which worked like a treat yesterday, until I switched off my PC until this morning, after which I was back to square one. After hours of trying to figure it out, I mounted my original SSD to my laptop and updated its version of Windows 10, until it could run my laptop by itself, after which I put it into my PC, which once again, worked until I switched it off, and then turned it off at the plug socket. When I rebooted it, the same error had rebounded. Any idea what might be causing it?

Many thanks!

If this is an older motherboard, I might guess the BIOS battery is dead. It looses the settings when power is lost.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I agree most likely CMOS BATTERY IS TOAST.

 

[dingo07]

Question is pretty much what it says on the lid. I'm a bit new to this forum, so I apologise if my threat is structured weirdly, but essentially I've been trying to fix an issue with my PC for the past week wherein I get the "No Boot Device Found" error with my SSD boot drive anytime I try to boot up my PC. I swapped it out for another hard disk, which turned this error into a BSoD. I installed a copy of Windows 10 onto another SSD with a pen drive, which worked like a treat yesterday, until I switched off my PC until this morning, after which I was back to square one. After hours of trying to figure it out, I mounted my original SSD to my laptop and updated its version of Windows 10, until it could run my laptop by itself, after which I put it into my PC, which once again, worked until I switched it off, and then turned it off at the plug socket. When I rebooted it, the same error had rebounded. Any idea what might be causing it?

Many thanks!

Just curious if you have any USB devices other than Mouse and Keyboard plugged in?

 

[Theocritus]

Just curious if you have any USB devices other than Mouse and Keyboard plugged in?

No, just my keyboard, mouse, and an ethernet cable. That's about it, really.

 

[Theocritus]

I agree most likely CMOS BATTERY IS TOAST.

How easy are those to replace? Is it as simple as replacing a hard drive - in and out, or is it a more complex procedure that requires replacing other components?
How much do they go for, usually?

 

[Theocritus]

If this is an older motherboard, I might guess the BIOS battery is dead. It looses the settings when power is lost.

Well, the PC boots into BIOS just fine. If I boot up the PC, the monitor will simply go "No Signal" sometimes. It depends, it seems like my PC is very temperamental with when it wants to accept the SSD drive. Funnily enough, when I was reinstalling Windows 10, it would randomly cut to "No Signal" during parts of the installation process - always towards the very end.

Any ideas? I know technology, but I'm honestly more skilled with software than hardware. But I appreciate the feedback, it's giving some great ideas!

 

[dingo07]

Well, the PC boots into BIOS just fine. If I boot up the PC, the monitor will simply go "No Signal" sometimes. It depends, it seems like my PC is very temperamental with when it wants to accept the SSD drive. Funnily enough, when I was reinstalling Windows 10, it would randomly cut to "No Signal" during parts of the installation process - always towards the very end.

Any ideas? I know technology, but I'm honestly more skilled with software than hardware. But I appreciate the feedback, it's giving some great ideas!

"No Signal" can be a number of things...
Bad cable.
Bad connector on either end (monitor side, or motherboard side)
Failure of video driver

How do you get video back after it says No Signal? If you move the cable at the connector (on either end) can you reproduce the issue?

 

[Theocritus]

"No Signal" can be a number of things...
Bad cable.
Bad connector on either end (monitor side, or motherboard side)
Failure of video driver

How do you get video back after it says No Signal? If you move the cable at the connector (on either end) can you reproduce the issue?

I know it's not a bad cable, because the cable has had no issues in the past, and the few times I've successfully reinstalled Windows, it hasn't bugged out once. The only thing that would indicate the failure of a video driver is a few times in the recent past where I've fired up my PC, had it give me "No Signal", restarted my PC, had it work fine, but the graphics driver hasn't loaded, forcing me to go into Device Manager to reboot the driver, restart my PC and then use it properly. If it says "No Signal", there isn't really a way to get it back, I have to reinstall Windows before I can use my PC again. I know it's not an issue with my monitor, because I'm capable of using BIOS and the Windows reinstallation setup generally without issue, but it's only towards the end of the reinstallation process that my screen will briefly show lines across it, before cutting to No Signal.

 

[dingo07]

I know it's not a bad cable, because the cable has had no issues in the past, and the few times I've successfully reinstalled Windows, it hasn't bugged out once. The only thing that would indicate the failure of a video driver is a few times in the recent past where I've fired up my PC, had it give me "No Signal", restarted my PC, had it work fine, but the graphics driver hasn't loaded, forcing me to go into Device Manager to reboot the driver, restart my PC and then use it properly. If it says "No Signal", there isn't really a way to get it back, I have to reinstall Windows before I can use my PC again. I know it's not an issue with my monitor, because I'm capable of using BIOS and the Windows reinstallation setup generally without issue, but it's only towards the end of the reinstallation process that my screen will briefly show lines across it, before cutting to No Signal.

So you're saying that once you get the dreaded "No Signal" you can't even boot into Safe Mode and see the desktop?