No bootable disk on start up

[TWardy]

This came up on my friends laptop? What is wrong? What must he do?

Thanks guys

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Without any further information first thing is to check into the bios & see whether the hard drive is set as 'bootable'.

 

[gregrocker]

Check in BIOS setup that the HD is still detected and that it is set first to boot.

If so run HD maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan.

 

[TWardy]

What does this mean? I have a compaq presario that keeps showing this. I put another HDD in and it is saying the same thing. Does it mean the old HDD was buggered and I need to do something to the new one to sort out boot order or anything? or is this not a HDD issue. I have two broken compaq presarios here. One with no screen working and one saying no bootable disk drive. Help. I must be able to get one going? Thanks

 

[gregrocker]

Are you trying to install Win7 on the new HD? Boot the installation DVD and not the HD to try install as shown here: Clean Install Windows 7

If your computer has more than one HD then make sure the one you wish to boot is set first to boot, or unplug the other especially during install.

Not sure why you would expect a new HD to boot or give any more than a message that it cannot boot until it has Win7 installed upon it?

 

[FliGi7]

A little background on this before we end up spinning our wheels in focusing on the drive itself...

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/225837-reasons-screen-not-working-after-knock.html

 

[alphanumeric]

What does this mean? I have a compaq presario that keeps showing this. I put another HDD in and it is saying the same thing. Does it mean the old HDD was buggered and I need to do something to the new one to sort out boot order or anything? or is this not a HDD issue. I have two broken compaq presarios here. One with no screen working and one saying no bootable disk drive. Help. I must be able to get one going? Thanks

It means that the BIOS did not detect a bootable device during the POST. It could be that the BIOS boot order, or boot device option is not set correctly. Or if it is set correctly, that the hard drive is not bootable. There could be a hardware fault preventing the device form booting. A motherboard fault or bad data or power cable to the drive.

 

[FliGi7]

It could also be that by your friend standing on his laptop he may have damaged the connection from the hard drive to the motherboard, or a number of other things in there.

 

[TWardy]

The HDD I tried putting in came straight out of another laptop with Win 7 on it

 

[alphanumeric]

Is this the laptop that was damaged by being stepped on?

 

[TWardy]

I took the HDD out of broken screen laptop and put it into the No bootable device laptop.

 

[alphanumeric]

Does that laptop give the same error message when its original hard drive is installed?
Did you check the BIOS boot options to be sure its set to boot from the hard drive?

 

[gregrocker]

You cannot expect a HD to boot in a different machine even it it is correctly set to boot first.

Try installing Win7 on it from a bootable DVD. What happens then? Clean Install Windows 7

 

[TWardy]

So can I clean install Win 7 to H/D from my own working laptop. I have a HDD docking station on the way. Once win 7 on HDD put back into his laptop and check BIOS to oto from HDD. Thanks guys, hope I'm not too frustrating

 

[alphanumeric]

So can I clean install Win 7 to H/D from my own working laptop. I have a HDD docking station on the way. Once win 7 on HDD put back into his laptop and check BIOS to oto from HDD. Thanks guys, hope I'm not too frustrating

No, why do that? Install it on the laptop its going to be running on so you install the correct drivers.

 

[TWardy]

I'm sure I tried that the first time I started all this. It either came back no bootable device again or it stopped on a black screen with a moving cursor.

 

[gregrocker]

Reset the BIOS to defaults: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

If you get No Bootable Device error then it is not booting DVD correctly. Set DVD drive first to boot in BIOS setup, or trigger DVD drive at boot using one-time BIOS Boot Menu key.

Where did you get WIn7 DVD?

 

[TWardy]

It is the same disk I used on my own laptop

 

[alphanumeric]

Does that laptop give the same error message when its original hard drive is installed?
Did you check the BIOS boot options to be sure its set to boot from the hard drive?
Does the hard drive show up (is it detected) in the BIOS?
Does the DVD drive show up in the BIOS?