Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device

flight sim guy

Honorable
Jul 20, 2012
9
0
10,510
Not sure if this is the correct place, but here goes.

So, last week one of the workstations gave this error after a restart. The person using the PC had been using a thumb drive and went to remove it and it wouldn't eject so they shut down the computer so they could safely remove it (yeah, don't ask me on that ). When they restarted the PC they got either this error or "OS Missing", I don't remember which. I did scan the thumb drive with BitDefender and it's clean.

I tried repairing from the Windows install disk and at first it said that it was the wrong disc for the OS, even though it was the correct disc. However, after I put the HDD in another PC (to make sure all docs had been backed up) and then put it back in the problem PC it allowed me to launch the System Repair menu. From here I tried the top option which was System Repair and when that didn't work I used the CMD Prompt to run:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd
exit

This didn't resolve the issue either, so I reinstalled the OS (after fighting the whole "OS can't be installed because this drive is a GPT format", which is strange because it hasn't changed since I built the PC and installed the OS). After spending most of yesterday updating, reinstalling, etc., I restarted it this morning for an update and it's back saying to Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device.

I've tried turning the UEFI on and off, checked the HDD with Crystal Disk Info, unplugged everything but mouse, keyboard, HDD, and optical drive and even pulled the CMOS battery and drained power form the PC before trying again. I've also re-seated the RAM. I am currently reinstalling the OS but I'm afraid it will just repeat. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
FSG
 
Solution
I would image the drive after you're done, if you have a server with room for one. It might save time if the problem occurs again or you replace the drive.

flight sim guy

Honorable
Jul 20, 2012
9
0
10,510
Thanks for the ideas, guys. I've already reinstalled Windows again, but if the problem repeats I will just get a new HDD and use it. If it was a personal PC I would try more things, but since it's at work the downtime isn't good. Luckily the person using it has been out of office but they'll be back tomorrow.

If I do have to get a new drive I will probably run some more tests on this one just for the experience.

Thanks again,
FSG