No bootable device error - can bypass easily

smiddy911

Reputable
Oct 8, 2014
5
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4,510
I am receiving the following message after a cold boot

No bootable device - - insert boot disk and press any key

Once I tested the HD and found there to be no issues, I did a full system recovery. I am still receiving this message upon bootup. To bypass, all I have to do is hit escape to enter the bios during boot, and exit right back out...Loads windows normally.. so issues. Any idea as to why this is occuring, or how I can make it stop??

I also replaced CMOS Battery - still receiving same error after cold boot.

HP G60-519WM
Intel Celeron CPU 900 @ 2.20 GHz 2.19GHz
3.00 GB RAM
Windows 7 Home 64-bit

Update 1: I just tried updating the chipset and BIOS but no change. This is so strange. Windows operates perfectly once it boots.. but the only way to get Windows to load is to pause startup at BIOS splash screen, enter BIOS, and exit out.
 

smiddy911

Reputable
Oct 8, 2014
5
0
4,510


I tried creating and running a repair disk. It says "Windows found problems with your computer's startup options. Do you want to apply repairs and restart your computer?" After I click "repair and restart", it instantly pops up an error message saying "Failed to save startup options."

Any ideas?

 

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
First, double check that the correct drive is listed in the bios as the startup device since you reset it.

If that isn't the issue, I would back up my data and then either do a system recovery from the recovery partition or a repair installation like THIS with no extra drives attached, only the boot drive and optical drive. A repair install will save all data and programs but requires that you reinstall windows updates.

If you don't have a full install disk, you can download an image at no cost from Digital River (the authorized MS distributor) HERE and make a install DVD from the ISO image. Make sure to get the same image as what is running on your machine so that your key will work to activate it when done.
 

smiddy911

Reputable
Oct 8, 2014
5
0
4,510


Thanks for the quick response!

I am actually fresh off of a system recovery from the recovery partition. Finished doing my second recovery in less than 24 hours about 45 minutes ago. Again, once I'm in windows, I can restart as often as I like, with no issues. But once I shutdown, and power back up, I receive the "No bootable device" error, and then must go to bios and exit in order for windows to load.

Considering this, do you think its worth a shot to do a fresh install of windows as opposed to the recovery?
 

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
No, one recovery is enough to know that it likely won't help to do another type of reinstallation.

Is there a bios update available for your machine, or is it the latest that was issued that you use? Also go over your bios settings to insure that they are correct and that they stay that way over time.
 

smiddy911

Reputable
Oct 8, 2014
5
0
4,510


Yes, it appears this most recent BIOS update (2010 release) is the most up-to-date I could find. Everything is BIOS seems to stay set over time. I hate to give this machine back to the user as is (having to enter and exit BIOS).. do you know a may to force machine to boot straight into advanced boot options (or boot manager), and have them select Windows 7 operating system upon each boot. It appears if I alter the boot in any way, (bios, advanced boot options, system recov,).. the operating system will load once I exit out.

Does this make sense?... This is very frustrating.
 

smiddy911

Reputable
Oct 8, 2014
5
0
4,510


Yes, listed as follows..

C: Healthy (System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)
RECOVERY Healthy (Primary Partition)
SYSTEM Healthy (Primary Partition)


OOOHH.. WAIT.... is that my problem?!?!?

I notice on my personal laptop here... SYSTEM is actually marked as "Active"
 

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
Your SRP (100mb) should be marked as the active partition, which then allows the bootloader to boot from the OS partition. That is why it will work once you get to it, but it doesn't cold boot properly. No idea how it originally occurred, but you should be able to change it using diskpart commands.

In an elevated command prompt (right click run as admin):
diskpart
list disk
select disk n (where n is the drive with the SRP)
list partition
select partition m (where m is the SRP)
active

This will mark the SRP as the active partition and unmark the other. HERE is a guide to diskpart syntax if you want to learn more about it. Be very careful to select the correct drives and partitions when using diskpart.
 

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
He's checked that but the problem is the bios only starts the process by identifying the drive (and not the partition on the drive) but the bootloader in the SRP is not marked as the active partition so it cannot boot the OS partition properly. It's an error that I see occasionally but not often and is usually simple to fix. Of course a clean reinstallation fixes it if all partitions are deleted prior to the install, but this is an OEM machine with a recovery partition and an install from that often will not fix the problem in my experience.