Why won't BIOS find the correct boot media?

[martynmoore]

My Win10 PC often goes through the BIOS boot-up and then tells me: "Reboot and Select Proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key".

If I Ctrl+Alt+Del it reboots fine. If I check BIOS settings and Save, it boots OK about five times then fails again. I have four HDDs for video content storage and a Samsung SSD with OS and apps.

I've updated the BIOS and fitted a new battery.

Any ideas?

 

[steaky360]

I have noticed my machine does that occasionally if I have to carry out a hard reset. I found that it boots ok from a cold boot however.

 

[Frank100]

Hi,

Some BIOSs alter the boot order if an item is removed temporarily. In this case it might be that it is intermittently not detecting one of your items and this is resulting in the boot order changing. It's a possible reason but by no means the likely reason. There isn't much to go on but this is a starter for ten.

Something you could try is swap in new data leads (if you have any spares) and/or just make sure they are securely fitted at both ends. I'd also be tempted to remove from the boot order any of the other disks as 3rd, 4th, 5th boot options (if they are in there further down the list).

Give that a try and maybe attach some photos of your BIOS screens showing which devices it is detecting and which devices are in your boot order. Also if you can tell us whether it is set to UEFI or legacy boot mode and which disk is the OS one.

Frank100

 

[martynmoore]

Thanks Frank.

I have removed all other discs from the boot device list, leaving only the Samsung SSD with Win10 on it. I'll try your data leads idea and try to get photos of the BIOS screens at the next boot. Not sure about the UEFI/legacy question. Will try to find out.

To be honest, it's not a major problem. It always boots cleanly after I Ctrl+Alt+Del. The machine has changed a bit since I bought it from PCS. It's a bit like Trigger's broom in Only Fools and Horses - 17 new heads and 14 new handles but still the same broom. Only the case and motherboard/processor are original.

 

[martynmoore]

I removed all other drives from the list of boot devices and turned off 'quick boot'. It has booted cleanly every time since.