Question PC will boot from removable USB, but not from internal HDD or CD ? (SOLVED)

[xWinterSolstice]

[Moderator edit: Moving post from Systems to Open Source. More applicable.]

This is a computer I got from an estate sale a few months ago. It's an old Acer Aspire, I think it's from 2014. Motherboard is factory, processor is Intel Pentium J2900 with integrated graphics. Hard drive is 1TB HDD, make and model unknown, running Lubuntu 22.04. I disconnected the HDD and plugged in a 32GB SSD and a removable USB that I made into a live disk. Using the computer to facilitate the installation, I installed Ubuntu 22.04 on the SSD via the USB drive with the intention of using it in another system. After the installation to the SSD was complete, I removed it and reconnected the bootable HDD running Lubuntu 22.04. But then it wouldn't boot. I then tried booting from CD, and it wouldn't boot from CD either. I then tried booting from USB drive, and it booted into Ubuntu. I browsed to my drives, and I can access both the HDD and the CDD from within Ubuntu, so I know they are both powered and detected by the system. I can access data on both of them through Ubuntu.

So why now can I neither boot from the HDD or the CDD? To my knowledge, I could not have made any changes to those drives while installing Ubuntu 22.04 to my SSD, because neither the HDD nor the CDD were even connected during the installation. Any insight as to what my problem could possibly be would be much appreciated, as this is the only system I have for the next couple of weeks.

Note: Specs in the signature line are irrelevant to this post.

 

[Cyberat_88]

Bios recorded the changes on post, but why not stop with error then ?
I think Acer is F12 to boot from alternative drives. But you want to go back into the bios boot menu and make sure the HDD shows up there.
Other than that do a Detect SATA if possible ? Put USB drive boot below HDD & CD ?

 

[xWinterSolstice]

Bios recorded the changes on post, but why not stop with error then ?
I think Acer is F12 to boot from alternative drives. But you want to go back into the bios boot menu and make sure the HDD shows up there.
Other than that do a Detect SATA if possible ? Put USB drive boot below HDD & CD ?

Both HDD and CD were visible in BIOS, and also visible in the F12 boot menu, but whenever o would try to boot with either one, it would just go to a black screen. No error messages, nothing. I've resolved it though, I ended up wiping the HDD and reinstalling Lubuntu. I'm guessing somehow the boot sector became corrupt, I really don't know. The disk was MBR, but I've since converted it to GPT. After the reinstall, it's booting properly now. I still don't know what the problem with the CD was, but frankly I don't care that much, this is a temporary system anyway. Thanks for the reply, I'll delete this post or mark it as solved since I took care of it.

 

[xWinterSolstice]

Bios recorded the changes on post, but why not stop with error then ?
I think Acer is F12 to boot from alternative drives. But you want to go back into the bios boot menu and make sure the HDD shows up there.
Other than that do a Detect SATA if possible ? Put USB drive boot below HDD & CD ?

Idk if you deleted the reply, because I don't see it anymore, but I got an email notification where you said GPT was for drives greater than or equal to 4TB. You're right, but my understanding of it is that with modern motherboards, UEFI, and operating systems, there is no downside to using GPT on a drive smaller than 4TB and actually makes it easier to repair if something get corrupted. I've had the worst luck with my boot sector getting corrupted with MBR, it's happened to me 3 times, so now I just always use GPT.