Solved Boot failure: "Reboot and Select proper Boot device...

renaldafeen

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Win 7 Pro 64-bit SP1 system (ASUS P9X79 PRO LGA 2011, Crucial SSDs) began failing to boot
after a system lockup while using Chrome. System was current with all MS updates. No
response to Alt-Ctrl-Del or front panel reset switch. Required a power-down.

Upon booting up after the preceding lockup, normal BIOS initialization was followed by the message: "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key" and the system refused to boot into Windows.

Ultimately, I used Paragon to restore a relatively recent disk image backup and things were essentially back to normal. During a restart a few days later, following AVG update, the above boot failure occurred again. This time image restore did not fix the problem. The SSD was recognized by the BIOS and Paragon, but could not be made bootable. The above message appeared whenever the system attempted to use it to boot up.

Previously created Windows Recovery CD turned out not to be bootable (yes, should've tested it after I created it!) and booting up with the original Windows install disc to repair the system produces a message that complains that the version on the disc is not compatible with the installation.

Replaced the 120GB OS SSD with a new unit and restored the above image. Again, things were essentially back to normal, so at that point it looked like a bad SSD.

After several weeks (today), Windows Update failed. "Creating System Restore" point failed to complete, so I canceled (gracefully) and exited WU. I rebooted after deleting a number of Restore Points created the day before (these were RPs created by a series of Native Instrument update installs).

On restart, the system failed to boot with the same message from above ("Reboot and Select ...").

Tried restoring the image again, but the boot sequence went directly to Startup Repair, which failed to repair the problem, ultimately stating that ntoskernel.exe is corrupted (IIRC this can mean anything from an actually corrupted file to a missing MBR to bad media).

During the most recent attempt, Startup Repair exited, the system rebooted, and I'm now getting the "Reboot and Select..." message again.

UEFI boot sequence is Optical Drive, "UEFI" (Windows Boot Manager) and "P1: ...", that last of which is actually one of my data drives, and shouldn't have any boot sector, etc. Not sure why it's in the list as option #3 (I didn't do the original build).

So I'm wondering what the options are here, specifically, to identify what could be wrong. I'd prefer to find a way to get my disk image back and ideally fix the problem permanently. But if it sounds like a drive controller or mobo issue, then I'll probably have to start looking at a new system. The 3-year-old ASUS mobo would be $450-ish to replace and at this point that's more than I'd like to spend on a repair (as opposed to a new system).
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel
Motherboard
Asus
Hard Drives
Crucial, WD
Antivirus
AVG
Browser
Chrome, Firefox
Welcome.

Make the Windows boot manager the first in the boot list.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Built
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64, Windows 8.1 Pro x64, Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1,
CPU
INTEL i9-7920X LGA 2066
Motherboard
Gigabyte X299-WU8 F3
Memory
64 GB (4 X 16 GB) G-Skill V Series DDR4 3200 Quad Channel
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GTX 1060 SC 3 GB
Sound Card
Realtek Onboard ALC1220
Monitor(s) Displays
2 x Samsung S27E310
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
Samsung 2 x 970 EVO Plus 500 GB NVMe
1 x 6TB WD 6003FZBX SATA
1 x 6TB WD 60EFRX SATA
12 x 3TB WD 30EFRX SATA
PSU
Seasonic X-1050
Case
Thermaltake Armor+
Cooling
Corsair H80i V2 Liquid AOI Cooler
Keyboard
Logitech G510s
Mouse
Logitech MX Master 2S
Internet Speed
200 Mb/s
Antivirus
ESET NOD32 13.1
Browser
EDGE (Dev, Canary, Beta), Chrome
Other Info
ASUS RT-AC68U router
Malwarebytes 4.0.4
Thank you. I've tried that. Same result.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel
Motherboard
Asus
Hard Drives
Crucial, WD
Antivirus
AVG
Browser
Chrome, Firefox
Other suggestions have been things like completely formatting the new OS drive before restoring the image. But this has now happened with two different SSDs, so it's not clear how that would help. I'm willing to give it a try if that's reasonable, however.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel
Motherboard
Asus
Hard Drives
Crucial, WD
Antivirus
AVG
Browser
Chrome, Firefox

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom assembled by me :}
OS
Win-7-Pro64bit 7-H-Prem-64bit
CPU
i7-5930K 2nd i9-9940x both water blocked VRM's too
Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH X99 2nd ASUS x299 Apex
Memory
Trident-z 3200C14 2nd Trident-z 3600C16
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA 1080ti ftw3 2nd Titan Xp both water blocked
Sound Card
Built-in Realtek
Monitor(s) Displays
1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24" 144Hz
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080 144Hz
Hard Drives
2-Samsung M.2 Evo & Evo Plus
2-Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD's/ 3-2.5 W.D. Black 1tb-&3-1tb/3-3.5 WD Black 1tb hdd's
PSU
EVGA SuperNOVA 1000-P2 2nd 1200-P2
Case
2-Corsair Obsidian Series 450D Black ATX Mid Tower
Cooling
Custom water loops
Keyboard
Logitech G710+/ 2nd Logitech G910
Mouse
2-RedDragon M901 Perdition 16400 dpi Gaming mouse = wired
Internet Speed
Comcast Ping 19ms 89.31mbps download speed 6.12mbps upload
Antivirus
Malwarebytes Pro/ Superantispyware Pro
Browser
FireFox & Pale moon
Other Info
2nd ASUS X299 Apex/Intel i9-9940x with Custom water loop/7H-Prem-x64/Corsair 450D case/Ram Trident-z 3600C16 4x8gb / Samsung970Evo plus 500gb SSD/Dual ssd EZ swap evo/PSU EVGA SuperNova 1200w-P2 80+Platinum/GPU Titan Xp /8-ML-140 on push-pull on 2-280GTX rads
Well, I'm not getting that error, but it could be getting masked. I'll give this a look and see if it applies to my system.

Thanks!!
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel
Motherboard
Asus
Hard Drives
Crucial, WD
Antivirus
AVG
Browser
Chrome, Firefox
Hi
Yea it's not the ultimate cause of your shutdowns but could be why it's not booting
Bios setting should be verified since you do have a asus board :)
That update caused a lot of havoc :)
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom assembled by me :}
OS
Win-7-Pro64bit 7-H-Prem-64bit
CPU
i7-5930K 2nd i9-9940x both water blocked VRM's too
Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH X99 2nd ASUS x299 Apex
Memory
Trident-z 3200C14 2nd Trident-z 3600C16
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA 1080ti ftw3 2nd Titan Xp both water blocked
Sound Card
Built-in Realtek
Monitor(s) Displays
1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24" 144Hz
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080 144Hz
Hard Drives
2-Samsung M.2 Evo & Evo Plus
2-Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD's/ 3-2.5 W.D. Black 1tb-&3-1tb/3-3.5 WD Black 1tb hdd's
PSU
EVGA SuperNOVA 1000-P2 2nd 1200-P2
Case
2-Corsair Obsidian Series 450D Black ATX Mid Tower
Cooling
Custom water loops
Keyboard
Logitech G710+/ 2nd Logitech G910
Mouse
2-RedDragon M901 Perdition 16400 dpi Gaming mouse = wired
Internet Speed
Comcast Ping 19ms 89.31mbps download speed 6.12mbps upload
Antivirus
Malwarebytes Pro/ Superantispyware Pro
Browser
FireFox & Pale moon
Other Info
2nd ASUS X299 Apex/Intel i9-9940x with Custom water loop/7H-Prem-x64/Corsair 450D case/Ram Trident-z 3600C16 4x8gb / Samsung970Evo plus 500gb SSD/Dual ssd EZ swap evo/PSU EVGA SuperNova 1200w-P2 80+Platinum/GPU Titan Xp /8-ML-140 on push-pull on 2-280GTX rads
Didn't fix the problem, but instead of the earlier error message, it did get me back into the Startup Repair app, which quickly determined that it was unable to fix the problem. Still says "MissingOsLoader" in the details.

Any additional suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel
Motherboard
Asus
Hard Drives
Crucial, WD
Antivirus
AVG
Browser
Chrome, Firefox
FWIW, here's this info from the Startup Repair attempt:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 03: unknown
Problem Signature 04: -1
Problem Signature 05: AutoFailover
Problem Signature 06: 1
Problem Signature 07: MissingOsLoader
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Read our privacy statement online:
Windows 7 Privacy Statement

If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline:
X:\windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt​


Also, I ran through the standard steps to restore the boot record, with the following (odd?) results: none of the partitions on my OS drive could be made ACTIVE.

D:\>BOOTREC /FIXMBR
The operation completed successfully.

D:\>BOOTREC /FIXBOOT
The operation completed successfully.

D:\>BOOTREC /SCANOS
Scanning all disks for Windows installations.

Please wait, since this may take a while...

Successfully scanned Windows installations.
Total identified Windows installations: 0
The operation completed successfully.

D:\>e:

E:\>BOOTREC /REBUILDBCD
Scanning all disks for Windows installations.

Please wait, since this may take a while...

Successfully scanned Windows installations.
Total identified Windows installations: 0
The operation completed successfully.

E:\>DISKPART

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7601
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: MININT-U1ODBAT

DISKPART> LIST DISK

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 223 GB 0 B *
Disk 1 Online 223 GB 0 B *
Disk 2 Online 111 GB 0 B *
Disk 3 Online 465 GB 1024 KB
Disk 4 Online 931 GB 0 B
Disk 5 Online 58 GB 0 B

DISKPART> SELECT DISK 2

Disk 2 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> LIST PARTITION

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 System 100 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Reserved 128 MB 101 MB
Partition 3 Primary 111 GB 229 MB

DISKPART> SELECT PARTITION 3

Partition 3 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> ACTIVE

The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk.
The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks.

DISKPART> SELECT PARTITION 1

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> ACTIVE

The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk.
The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks.

DISKPART> SELECT PARTITION 2

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> ACTIVE

The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk.
The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks.

DISKPART>​
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel
Motherboard
Asus
Hard Drives
Crucial, WD
Antivirus
AVG
Browser
Chrome, Firefox
Did some further reading on this, which might explain some of the above. I wasn't aware that BIOS and UEFI are essentially mutually exclusive. I think the above sequence is intended for BIOS boot using an MBR as opposed to a GPT UEFI partition, which is what I have, at least based on the fact that my OS drive is labeled "Basic GPT Hard Disk" and Partition 0 on that disk is of Type "EFI System Partition". If nothing else, I think this explains why the "ACTIVE" commands, above, failed (these are not MBR partitions).

When I browse this EFI partition (using Paragon), I see an folder named "EFI" in the root, which contains a Boot folder and a Microsoft folder. These, in turn, contain different *.efi files, e.g., bootx64.efi under Boot and bootmgfw.efi, bootmgr.efi and memtest.efi under Microsoft\Boot.

Is it possible that the Microsoft efi files are being accessed at boot time instead of bootx64.efi (or vice versa)? If so, is there a way to resolve that?

thanks again!
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel
Motherboard
Asus
Hard Drives
Crucial, WD
Antivirus
AVG
Browser
Chrome, Firefox
Well, I can't say I identified the cause of the problem, but I was able to resolve it.

I deleted all three partitions on my OS drive (via Paragon, but this can also be done with the Windows Install disk, IIRC) and ran the restore from the backed-up drive image one more time. Worked. Have rebooted twice since and things appear to be once again back to normal... until the next time. Haven't identified the common denominator for a cause yet, but this last one was immediately following a failed Windows Update, which I understand can do bad things to boot managers. Guess we'll see.

Kinda wish I'd have thought of this (it was suggested by a friend) before I replaced my original OS SSD, except for the fact that this new one's write speed is ~50% quicker than the read speed on my original drives. Not exactly a bad thing.

Thanks for the suggestions. I plan to leave the Secure Boot set to "Other OS" in case that update comes into play, since things boot fine as-is.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel
Motherboard
Asus
Hard Drives
Crucial, WD
Antivirus
AVG
Browser
Chrome, Firefox
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