Solved Weird 'reboot and select proper boot device' problem!!!

[lordbob24]

HELP!!! 'reboot and select proper boot device' problem!!!

I know that this may sound like a common problem but after searching the forums and on google I can't find anyone with this particular problem. My PC is a custom build that I built a couple of months ago and has been running without problems until now.

Here is the spec of the PC:

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit
Intel i7 980x
Corsair 12 GB 1600 DDR3 RAM
Asus P6 X58 D Premium
2GB ATI Radoen 5970
128GB Crucial SATA 6Gb/s SSD (this is where windows 7 is installed)
2x 1TB Western Digital SATA 6Gb/s
Samsung Blu Ray Drive

If anyone needs a more detailed spec than this let me know.

The Problem:

When I originally built the PC the motherboard only came with 1 6Gb/s SATA cable which I used for the SSD (this is where I installed windows). I then had one of the 1TB drives plugged into the other 6Gb/s SATA port using a standard SATA cable and one 1TB drive plugged into a standard 3Gb/s SATA port. Today I got a hold of a 6Gb/s cable so decided to swap out the standard cable on the 1TB drive to improve it's performance.

However, after swapping this cable out I now get the 'reboot and select proper boot device' error and windows wont boot. All drives appear in the BIOS correctly and I've double and triple checked that the boot sequence is correct. I've even swapped back to the original cable and it still wont work.

I've tried inserting the windows disk and running system repair but windows cannot detect that windows is installed on any of the drives. When I click on 'load driver' I am able to browse through all the connected drives and they are all intact and I can see all of the files stored on all 3 of them. My main drive is listed as C: but windows just wont boot to it, which makes me think that it's a software problem!

When I've run through to Windows 7 installation it lists all the drives as options to install to so I don't think it's a driver issue. Besides, I was able to install to that drive originally without the need for a driver.

Any ideas on how I can get my drive recognised as the boot drive again?

Thanks in advance for any responses!

 

[lordbob24]

This is starting to turn into quite a major problem for me since I use my PC to work on and currently I am unable to do anything! Any advice would be most appreciated!

 

[rap33042]

lordbob24:
Have you tried clearing your BIOS NVRAM?
It's just a thought.... might even be a stupid one...but, when one gets desperate...

 

[lordbob24]

Isn't that a little risky? I mean I know I need to get this sorted ASAP but isn't there a risk that I could completely brick the motherboard? I don't mean to sound like a noob if that isn't the case, that's just the impression that i've gotten from other threads i've read.

I'd rather try to find a solution along the 'Windows Startup Repair' route if possible. Is there no way to fix it through the command prompt when booting from the windows install dvd?

 

[lordbob24]

Ok well I just ignored my own fears of bricking the motherboard and went ahead and updated the BIOS! I noticed that I was running a fairly dated version so thought maybe the new version would have added updates. Unfortunately I've had no such luck since the problem is still there.

Any other ideas? Does windows have a boot.ini file or something that tells the BIOS to boot? Could that file be corrupt or need editing or something?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello lordbob24, welcome to Seven Forums!



First disconnect all Hard Disk Drives (HDD) except the one Windows is installed to, then boot to diskpart to see if the Windows partition is marked as "Active" if it is then do the 3 separated startup repairs out-lined in this tutorial at the link below.

If not use Step Two # 1 to mark it active then do the startup repairs to get Windows booting again.

Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times

click to enlarge
View attachment 116546


​

 

[rap33042]

lordbob24:
When I said to clear the NVRAM that did not mean to update your BIOS.

BIOS updates are always risky for various reasons.

Your BIOS can be cleared by moving a jumper for a few seconds (usually) or resetting defaults within BIOS itself.
On much older MOBO's you had to remove the battery for 30 seconds or so.
Information should be in your User Manual.

I'm sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

[lordbob24]

Sweet!!! That seems to have sorted it and in the process saved me from hours of hassle!

I did exactly as you suggested Bare Foot Kid and after using DiskPart to mark my system drive as 'Active' it appeared in the startup repair list as 'Windows 64-bit Ultimate (recovered)' or something close to that. Once windows startup repair was able to recognise the installation it was able to repair it and did take 3 system restarts to get there. But I'm now all up and running again, albeit 7 hours later! Officially the longest it's ever taken me to swap out a cable in a PC!

rapp33042, thanks for the info and it was totally my fault for assuming that clearing the NVRAM was risky when in fact flashing the BIOS is far more so! Anyway it's done no harm!

Thanks for all your help guys! You're awesome!

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Good to see you have it running and thanks for the update.

 

[RockfordQC]

First disconnect all Hard Disk Drives (HDD) except the one Windows is installed to, then boot to diskpart to see if the Windows partition is marked as "Active"

Hoorah!! You, sir, are my hero! After months of googling to get a working fix on this, I finally got my search straight and got here. I learnt to use Diskpart in two minutes and managed to mark it as Active, which lead me to be able to find it in the windows Repair tool.

Next thing I knew, everything worked!

Thanks to OP for the beautifully detailled thread, very useful!

 

[cchriscollins]

Fixed!

I was about to return my SSD and motherboard. My computer booted fine but when it came out of sleep would often crash and give me the "Reboot and Select Boot Device..." error. I check everything I knew. I know a lot more now with your help. Thank you.

The System reserve - can I just delete this partition now?

 

[phxloza623]

Need some pointers

I get the same error but the problem is its not reading any drive - I had the cables checked and they work - my drives were checked as well and it has all my info & files. I don't have a backup recovery cd so I don't know what to do - please help

 

[33mhz]

Hello lordbob24, welcome to Seven Forums!

First disconnect all Hard Disk Drives (HDD) except the one Windows is installed to, then boot to diskpart to see if the Windows partition is marked as "Active" if it is then do the 3 separated startup repairs out-lined in this tutorial at the link below....

I just created an account on this site for the sole purpose of saying THANK YOU!! I found this post via google after experiencing this error and your recommendation/walkthrough worked!

What I thought was going to be a whole day of troubleshooting (and re-install) has now been solved in 5 minutes thanks to the help/info you posted.

 

[mackattack11]

Can anyone put this fix in lamens terms. I am not a computer technician. I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[Dbronx]

Like the fellow before, I just registered so I could say "Thank You".

My dilemma was exactly the same issue described in the opening post and the clear instructions here did the trick!

 

[sherke]

Our PC had begun having random problems with booting up, and then went to the error message of this thread. After checking all the cables, I came upon Bare Foot Kid's advice. Fortunately, the first thread I read discussed the need to have only one Active drive, as it turned out that one of my data drives was also marked 'active' and I had to change it to 'inactive'. I also had to use our other PC to make a system repair disc as the University-distributed copy lacked the System Repair features. Nevertheless, by following the various hyperlinks, I did manage, fairly painlessly, to repair the PC and have it reboot normally again. I think that only a couple of things were fixed, but one of the issues was a missing or corrupted boot manager file.

So, many thanks for the helpful advice!

 

[moifa]

Thanks.

I just want to thanks barefoot for your solution. My PC is not up and running less than 30mins.

Thanks!!!!!

 

[Drewphish01]

I have this problem with my asus u45jc. I had a friend take out my old 320gb hdd and installed a 250gb Samsung pro ssd. I then installed windows 7 and then utility cd and everything was good. I used it for few days and no problem. Today I opened my computer and got this message. What am I suppose to do? The only thing I have with me is the asus installation cd and the utility cd. I don't have the old hdd anymore. Also I don't much on my laptop so I don't mind reinstalling it but someone say this doesn't work? Someone here mentioned they fixed this in 5 minutes but can someone explain to a non computer person how to fix this fast? Someone also asked this but no one answered.

 

[Drewphish01]

Hello lordbob24, welcome to Seven Forums!



First disconnect all Hard Disk Drives (HDD) except the one Windows is installed to, then boot to diskpart to see if the Windows partition is marked as "Active" if it is then do the 3 separated startup repairs out-lined in this tutorial at the link below.

If not use Step Two # 1 to mark it active then do the startup repairs to get Windows booting again.

Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times

click to enlarge
View attachment 116546


​

Can you explain this? Few ppl mentioned it worked for them but I don't understand it.

 

[Drewphish01]

I'm confused what you mean disconnect all hard drives. You mean take it out physically? The instruction sound confusing to a computer newbie like me.