Reboot and Select errors on Windows 7 custom built PC

[Zangor17]

Hi, I built myself a computer some time ago and recently i have randomly been getting a black screen asking me to "reboot and select proper boot device" I looked into this problem and have done most of the quick fixes but it still shows up. The screen goes away if i press enter on my keyboard and windows 7 boots up as normal and runs fine but having to deal with the screen sometimes gets a little annoying.

I noticed this started happening after i did a de fragmentation if my hard drive since it was 13% fragmented. I have already tested the hdd with Seatools and it passed so i don't think its my hard drive. Wondering if the de frag might have messed with my windows install.

To summarize:

I have been getting "Reboot and select proper boot device" errors on startup.

the only thing i did out of the ordinary before this started was a disk de fragmentation

Hitting enter on my keyboard on this screen causes windows to boot normally and everything on the computer runs fine.

I have already checked the connections and the boot order settings in the BIOS and my hard disk shows up in BIOS.

Nothing about the drive seems to indicate a failure and its behaving fairly normally and not making any strange sounds once its running and i have booted into it by hitting enter.

I have scanned the drive with a bootable USB drive monitoring tool and it passed the test

Sometimes the computer boots normally.


Also, just today when I got home from work and booted the computer it flashed an error I have not gotten before telling me the was an error when attempting to read the boot configuration data.


This sounds like i have some sort of file issue with my Windows boot files but I am not an expert with this kind of thing so i have been asking around to try and fix the problem.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Zangor17,

Welcome to SevenForums!

Hi, I built myself a computer some time ago and recently i have randomly been getting a black screen asking me to "reboot and select proper boot device" I looked into this problem and have done most of the quick fixes but it still shows up. The screen goes away if i press enter on my keyboard and windows 7 boots up as normal and runs fine but having to deal with the screen sometimes gets a little annoying.

I noticed this started happening after i did a de fragmentation if my hard drive since it was 13% fragmented. I have already tested the hdd with Seatools and it passed so i don't think its my hard drive. Wondering if the de frag might have messed with my windows install.

Have you tried a Startup Repair from an Installation DVD or USB?

 

[Zangor17]

I have not had the time to do this since I work a pretty physically demanding job on weekdays so I usually just get home and boot up the computer to relax and so far the extra input to get it to boot hasn't been much more than an annoyance. But I will definitely be doing that this weekend once I have the extra time to troubleshoot more effectively and will definitely post more if that works or if I still have the issue.


My biggest concern and why I'm asking around is I want to rule out a component failure. So far this seems to be a software issue not hardware.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Zangor17,

But I will definitely be doing that this weekend once I have the extra time to troubleshoot more effectively and will definitely post more if that works or if I still have the issue.

My biggest concern and why I'm asking around is I want to rule out a component failure. So far this seems to be a software issue not hardware.

OK.

Besides running Startup Repair from an Installation DVD or USB, you could also run CHKDSK [Check Disk] for detecting and repairing any corruptions of the file system, and SFC [System File Checker] for detecting and repairing any corruptions in the protected system files of the OS.

If you need instructions on how to run the above then please let us know!

I hope this helps!

 

[torchwood]

Hi Zangor17,

have a look at Paragraph 5 in this tutorial

Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot


Roy

 

[Zangor17]

Thanks I'll take a look at it. Just got home from work so I'll start doing the scans and commands tomorrow soon as I can.


It's so nice having people here actively helping. I have posted about this same issue over at Tom's Hardware and only one person has replied and they keep insisting that some component in my computer is failing but everywhere else I look for the messages and errors it gives me says other wise or that hardware failure is the last thing causing it.

 

[Zangor17]

Startup repair found no issues to fix. So I went ahead and opened the command prompt and followed the commands in paragraph 5 of tha page Roy linked. The computer definitely had a passable boot. The curser didnt blink repeqtedly, just a few times then Windows booted fine. No idea if its fixed since its only been booted the one time since. I scheduled a CHKDSK and thats running now. Anything i should be mindful of in the report from that when it finishes?

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Zangor17,

I scheduled a CHKDSK and thats running now. Anything i should be mindful of in the report from that when it finishes?

Which CHKDSK [Check Disk] command did you use and did you request it from an elevated command prompt?

 

[Zangor17]

I ran one through windows itself. Right clicking the Drive and going to tools to schedule it before restarting the computer to have it run. If that wasn't it please let me know.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Zangor17,

I ran one through windows itself. Right clicking the Drive and going to tools to schedule it before restarting the computer to have it run. If that wasn't it please let me know.

Which one of the options below did you use?

[1] Read-only mode.
[2] Automatically fix file system errors.
[3] Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

I hope this helps!

 

[Zangor17]

It let me pick 2 and 3 so i told it to do both. That seemed like the best thing to do.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Zangor17,

It let me pick 2 and 3 so i told it to do both. That seemed like the best thing to do.

 

[Zangor17]

CHKDSK finished. It found 0kb in bad sectors. If there is a way to view the results i can get a better look but that was what I noticed right away. Computer rebooted and its another good boot right into the OS. I giess i have to wait and see how it behaves for a while.

 

[SnakeFist]

I wonder if it's a loose sata or power cable. Have you tried checking them? Push them in and see if that helps any. Won't hurt to look and see. Just a thought.

 

[torchwood]

Hi

By any chance are you Dual booting, linux??

W7 hates being in 2nd place.

if not run/post the results from this tutorial, provides loads of info

Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions


Roy

 

[Zangor17]

No I'm not dual booting. I only have one drive and it only runs windows 7. After a couple passable boots the blinking cursor leading into a "reboot and select proper boot device" message reappeared. I went ahead and checked all the connections inside and everything seems to be properly connected SATA cable isn't loose power cable is fine.


I haven't had a BSOD for a while now, at least several months, sometimes i get them when the computer is under a lot of load but since this started i sure haven't had one. I went ahead and got the results form the tutorial anyway.


At this point I have few ideas as to whats causing the boot troubles, I am just glad for the moment it doesn't stop me from being able to use the computer. It might well be something failing but if it is I don't believe its the hard drive since any scans and checks I have done have not turned up any bad sectors or issues. The drive sounds great too. pretty silent with the most noise being starting up, but i think that's fairly normal.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Zangor17,

To run SFC [System File Checker], please follow my instructions below!

SFC [System File Checker]

SFC [System File Checker] is a Windows utility program for detecting and repairing any corruptions in the protected system files of the Windows OS. If any files are missing or corrupted, they are replaced with a cached copy that is located in a compressed folder at %WinDir%\System32\dllcache. The %WinDir% placeholder represents the Windows OS folder C:\Windows. SFC MUST be run from an elevated command prompt:

• Click Start.
• In the search box type cmd.
• Right-click the cmd icon from the search results under Programs and select Run as administrator.
• The elevated command prompt window will now open.

Copy sfc /scannow [yes there is a space there] and Paste it [you need to use the mouse right-click and paste for this as CTRL+V doesn’t work] into the elevated command prompt window and press Enter. When the scan has completed re-boot.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT close the elevated command prompt window until the verification is 100% complete.

IMPORTANT: It might ask for the Win 7 installation DVD to enable SFC to make more than minor repairs. Some files saved on your computer might get deleted during this process.

The scan results will be shown after this process is finished. If any errors are reported, then run it again two or three more times, re-booting in between. For some reason, this can make a difference. I think it has to do with the settings.ini file sometimes showing false positives! If after that, you get a message saying Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them, then post the CBS.log in C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. I am sure that someone here will be able to look at the log file and give you an answer or advice.

This tutorial [Published by Brink] will show you how to upload the file => Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in SevenForums.

I hope this helps!

 

[Zangor17]

wil do that when i get home from work. Its late and I'm gonna get some sleep. I will give an update asap.

 

[Paul Black]

wil do that when i get home from work. Its late and I'm gonna get some sleep. I will give an update asap.

 

[Zangor17]

I ran the SFC scan when i got home and it returned with no errors (no integrity malfunctions or something is what it said)
far as I can tell it didn't generate a report since it found no errors and therefore didn't attempt to fix anything.


So I'm back to square one with the boot errors. It's still not preventing me from using the computer but it is worrying. I'm not ruling out component failure since the computer is kinda dated and I planned on doing a new build next year when tax returns rolled around. But the fact that nothing else other than the errors is happening doesn't point to any components failing.


I've done any kind of free scans I know of to at least check the hard drive and nothing has come up with any bad sectors or physical failure. I have also seen mention of soem stuff on the motherboard possibly being faulty or needing new batteries. But I'm no expert on that stuff so without any clues to go on I'm stumped.


Looks like doing that command prompt to fix the boot records at least cleared one of the error screens i had seen. I'd imagine these weird boots might have screwed with that file after a while. If you have any other recommendations I'd be glad to take them, at this point my hope is the computer doesn't take a turn for the worse and makes it until I can build a new one or if need be buy one.