Reboot and Select proper Boot device error

[JLawrence85]

Please help me with this, this has been a ridiculously annoying week with this previously perfect PC. I started another thread recently because my computer was shutting down randomly and then eventually would just freeze in BIOS or safe mode. I replaced the hard drive which didn't solve it. I now today just finished installed a new MOBO and CPU and am getting this unrelenting error:

"Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot Device and press a key."

I've gone through ever thread on the topic I could find. The ones involving diskpart don't help me, I tried, and my drives aren't partitioned anyway. I tried rearranging boot priority. I ran Windows start-up repair 5 times. I would normally assume I installed a wire wrong or something but it recognizes both of my hard drives as well as my DVD drive. If I put my Windows installation disk in I can get to that no problem. I considered reinstalling Windows but I don't see how that would help as this isn't a Windows problem. I have no idea what to do, I just want this computer nightmare to end.

Cooler Master HAF 932 case
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 3.4 GHz
MoBo: ASUS M4N98TD EVO AM3
RAM: 8GB DDR3 G.Skill
GPU: GeForce GTX 460
PSU: Corsair HX750w modular
HDD: a 750gb Seagate SATA and a 500gb Seagate SATA (brand new)
OS: Windows 7 64-bit

 

[Z1NONLY]

I would try booting directly to the drive with the OS.

Or power down the rig, disconnect everything other than the keyboard, mouse and OS drive.

If it still gives the error, there may be a problem with the boot sector on the OS drive. If you can't boot directly to the OS drive and windows repair doesn't work either, a complete reformat and re installation of the OS (and the boot sector) may be in order.

If you have another rig, you could test it in that, and if it doesn't work, temporarily install the OS drive in the working rig (but don't boot to it) and save all your important files before formatting.

 

[JLawrence85]

I would try booting directly to the drive with the OS.

Or power down the rig, disconnect everything other than the keyboard, mouse and OS drive.

If it still gives the error, there may be a problem with the boot sector on the OS drive. If you can't boot directly to the OS drive and windows repair doesn't work either, a complete reformat and re installation of the OS (and the boot sector) may be in order.

If you have another rig, you could test it in that, and if it doesn't work, temporarily install the OS drive in the working rig (but don't boot to it) and save all your important files before formatting.

Tried the direct boot. Tried disconnecting everything. I'll do a reinstall and see if that helps.

 

[JKatwyopc]

Try leaving your Windows 7 install disk in the CD/DVD drive. Then set your CD/DVD drive as the first boot device in BIOS and the HDD as the second boot device and disable ALL other devices from the boot order. When you boot it will tell you to "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD....". DON'T press any key and let it boot from the HDD. I'll bet it works everytime.

I have seen this happen on my computer a couple of times after I update the BIOS. Before the BIOS update it will boot fine from the HDD but after BIOS update I have to leave the windows 7 install disk in the CD/DVD drive to get it to boot. It's annoying and ridiculous but it works. I also have an ASUS MOBO.

 

[JLawrence85]

I did a reinstall of windows and it immediately booted up and worked fine and has consistently worked fine since. Wanted to update this problem in case anyone has it in the future.

 

[JLawrence85]

Best answer selected by jlawrence85.

 

[tomb94]

I amhaving the exact same problem on a new build PC, haven't even got as far as installing the OS yet,

 

[KayGirard]

I bought a second hard drive from an add on facebook,, when i plugged it in, it created a raid format, since it has done that , everything i have tried brings me back to the same screen "Select proper boot method or insert media with boot" , you name it I have tried it... I tried my original hard drive by itself as it was before, tried both together, tried switching cables around and unplugging and replugging, i tried different cables, i went in the bios and tried every which way to boot either from hdd, cd-rom or even by usb. nothing works, i cannot boot off anything,,, i put my windows cd in my laptop and it works fine and i can start the set up but when i put it in my desktop i still come up to the same problem, i cant open my computer at all anymore... anyone have a solution to this ? anything stupid i didnt try ?? oh and i have reset the bios to default settings and i have removed the motherboard battery to clear the bios, still no change. both hard drives and cd drives are detected in the bios , thats as far as i can go though ....

 

[ftjeans]

I did a reinstall of windows and it immediately booted up and worked fine and has consistently worked fine since. Wanted to update this problem in case anyone has it in the future.

Hi

Could you please please tell me if all your files were saved after the reinstall ?Desperate for this

 

[Dawn Thames]

I have this exact same problem. My problem is it will not fix with repair, disc, nor will it allow me to reinstall windows? Do I need to get a new hardrive?

 

[DannyNissim]

Hi,
I have similar issue w/ DELL Vostro 470. I get this error after some Windows updates.
the only remedy I found is to fix file system errors by running check disk.
(point sys drive -> properties -> tools -> "Check-now". (check all option box)
in my case, I suspect the hard drive (1TB) messing the file-system when creating the restore point.
note - full disk checking takes about 2 hours for 500GB data.
Regards,
Danny

 

[Philngood]

I know this is three year late, but hopefully it will help someone that had the same issue as yourself. Very frequently and usually undetected by the mass majority, the cmos battery remembers small errors and continues to cause you grief. My advice would be to power down your device, remove cmos battery and hold the power button down long enough to remove any remaining power in capacitors and system. Plug only the keyboard harddrive and device you are installing os from into your computer. Then restart and select boot device from the bios option ( key depends on your motherboard manufacturer). It should bring up the boot selection list at this point. If not, you will have to reconfigure your bios settings. Hope it helps!!

 

[tyranomike]

I know this is three year late, but hopefully it will help someone that had the same issue as yourself. Very frequently and usually undetected by the mass majority, the cmos battery remembers small errors and continues to cause you grief. My advice would be to power down your device, remove cmos battery and hold the power button down long enough to remove any remaining power in capacitors and system. Plug only the keyboard harddrive and device you are installing os from into your computer. Then restart and select boot device from the bios option ( key depends on your motherboard manufacturer). It should bring up the boot selection list at this point. If not, you will have to reconfigure your bios settings. Hope it helps!!

Philngood, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Just ran across this forum and your response, and you saved my old machine from the trash heap.

 

[Schustring]

I know this is three year late, but hopefully it will help someone that had the same issue as yourself. Very frequently and usually undetected by the mass majority, the cmos battery remembers small errors and continues to cause you grief. My advice would be to power down your device, remove cmos battery and hold the power button down long enough to remove any remaining power in capacitors and system. Plug only the keyboard harddrive and device you are installing os from into your computer. Then restart and select boot device from the bios option ( key depends on your motherboard manufacturer). It should bring up the boot selection list at this point. If not, you will have to reconfigure your bios settings. Hope it helps!!

Phil you are the man!!! I just got a new core, motherboard, ram and graphics card and had it running great, until I updated the bios... After it rebooted it wouldn't even make it to the bios setup screen without shutting down completely. I was able to switch to the secondary bios chip and run on the old bios but was living in fear of messing that one up as well so I didn't dare try flashing it. After reading your post I pulled the cmos battery, held the power down for 10 seconds, switched back to the primary bios chip hooked everything back up and it fired up perfectly with the updated bios and all. I'm really not one to reply to blog posts but I had to throw you some props!!! Thanks again!

 

[VikasChauhan7]

I know this is three year late, but hopefully it will help someone that had the same issue as yourself. Very frequently and usually undetected by the mass majority, the cmos battery remembers small errors and continues to cause you grief. My advice would be to power down your device, remove cmos battery and hold the power button down long enough to remove any remaining power in capacitors and system. Plug only the keyboard harddrive and device you are installing os from into your computer. Then restart and select boot device from the bios option ( key depends on your motherboard manufacturer). It should bring up the boot selection list at this point. If not, you will have to reconfigure your bios settings. Hope it helps!!

Phil you are the man!!! I just got a new core, motherboard, ram and graphics card and had it running great, until I updated the bios... After it rebooted it wouldn't even make it to the bios setup screen without shutting down completely. I was able to switch to the secondary bios chip and run on the old bios but was living in fear of messing that one up as well so I didn't dare try flashing it. After reading your post I pulled the cmos battery, held the power down for 10 seconds, switched back to the primary bios chip hooked everything back up and it fired up perfectly with the updated bios and all. I'm really not one to reply to blog posts but I had to throw you some props!!! Thanks again!

Thank you man, I had the same issue and I resolved by doing what you wrote.

 

[Chunky punky]

Hey guys I know it's old but I got the same problem and I unplugged my hd and before it boot I press f12 for boot menu then exit it and it fixed
I hope this helps

 

[Wugang]

Try leaving your Windows 7 install disk in the CD/DVD drive. Then set your CD/DVD drive as the first boot device in BIOS and the HDD as the second boot device and disable ALL other devices from the boot order. When you boot it will tell you to "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD....". DON'T press any key and let it boot from the HDD. I'll bet it works everytime.

I have seen this happen on my computer a couple of times after I update the BIOS. Before the BIOS update it will boot fine from the HDD but after BIOS update I have to leave the windows 7 install disk in the CD/DVD drive to get it to boot. It's annoying and ridiculous but it works. I also have an ASUS MOBO.

100% fix.

 

[chongcx]

I know this is three year late, but hopefully it will help someone that had the same issue as yourself. Very frequently and usually undetected by the mass majority, the cmos battery remembers small errors and continues to cause you grief. My advice would be to power down your device, remove cmos battery and hold the power button down long enough to remove any remaining power in capacitors and system. Plug only the keyboard harddrive and device you are installing os from into your computer. Then restart and select boot device from the bios option ( key depends on your motherboard manufacturer). It should bring up the boot selection list at this point. If not, you will have to reconfigure your bios settings. Hope it helps!!

Hey Philngood,

I litterally created an account here on Tomshardware just to say thank you!

I recently bought 2 more sticks of ram. after installing them, i got the same boot error as the author of the thread. I removed all the cables, removed the CMOS battery, and discharged all the electricity in the system. I plugged everything back in, continued with the setup, the computer restarted a couple times, than bingo, back to my windows desktop! I always imagined installing ram was as easy as plugging it in.. but i guess there's a bit more to it than expected. thanks again!

Chris

 

[fosssape]

I've had this happen to me twice. I have a video card that I run off a separate power supply and sometimes I accidentally start the computer before the video card and it creates some kind of issue with power circulation. I have to unplug the two power cords, wait until the card shuts off, restart and Ill get this same error message. I fix it by pressing alt ctrl delete (task manager shortcut) at the error message, which restarts the machine and go into BIOS, load optimized default settings save and reset (It will say nothing was changed, but go with it anyway) and my machine will start up like normal.