How to Fix 'No Bootable Device Found' (BIOS Check)

What "No Bootable Device" Actually Means

This error appears before Windows even starts loading — it comes straight from the motherboard firmware (BIOS/UEFI), which is telling you it scanned every storage device and boot entry it knows about and found nothing it can boot from. That's a narrower problem than it sounds. It doesn't necessarily mean your drive is dead; it usually means the firmware's boot configuration, boot order, or bootloader reference is broken, missing, or pointing at the wrong disk.

Step 1: Verify the Drive Is Physically Detected

1. Restart the PC and press the BIOS/UEFI setup key repeatedly during boot — commonly Del or F2 on most motherboards, F10 on HP, F1/Esc on Lenovo.
2. Go to the main or Boot screen and look for a section listing storage devices (often called Storage Configuration, SATA Configuration, or just showing drive model names on the main page).
3. Confirm your system drive shows up by its model name (e.g. "Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB"). If it's missing entirely, the problem is physical: a loose SATA/power cable, an NVMe drive not fully seated in its M.2 slot, or a dead drive.

If the drive doesn't appear at all, power off, reseat the drive and its cables (for SATA, try a different cable and a different SATA port), and check again. For NVMe drives, remove and reseat the drive in the M.2 slot and make sure the retention screw is holding it flat against the board.

Step 2: Check the Boot Order

If the drive is detected but the system still won't boot from it, the boot priority list is likely wrong.

1. In the BIOS/UEFI, navigate to Boot or Boot Order.
2. Confirm your Windows drive is listed first, above any USB drives, network boot (PXE) entries, or optical drives.
3. If the drive isn't listed as a boot option at all even though it's detected under Storage Configuration, this usually means Windows Boot Manager isn't registered — skip to Step 4.
4. Save changes (usually F10) and exit.

Step 3: Check UEFI/Legacy (CSM) Mode and SATA Mode

Windows installed in UEFI mode with a GPT disk will not boot if the firmware is switched to Legacy/CSM mode, and vice versa. If someone (or a BIOS update reset) changed this setting, you'll get exactly this error.

• Find the Boot Mode or CSM (Compatibility Support Module) setting, usually under Boot or Advanced.
• Modern Windows 10/11 installs are almost always UEFI — make sure CSM is disabled and Secure Boot mode matches how it was originally installed.
• Also check the SATA Operation Mode (sometimes under Storage Configuration) is still set to AHCI and hasn't been switched to RAID or IDE — this alone will make Windows fail to find its boot drive since the storage controller driver won't load.

Step 4: Repair the Boot Configuration From Recovery Media

If the drive is detected, boot mode matches, but Windows still won't boot, the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) store or EFI System Partition is likely damaged. You'll need a Windows installation USB.

1. Boot from the Windows 10/11 installation USB (you may need to select it manually from a one-time boot menu, often F12 or Esc at startup).
2. On the setup screen, click Next, then Repair your computer in the bottom-left corner.
3. Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt.
4. Run the following commands one at a time:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd

/scanos should find your Windows installation. If /rebuildbcd reports 0 installations found even though Windows is clearly on the disk, the EFI partition itself may be corrupted or missing its entries. In that case, rebuild it manually:

diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
list partition
select partition 1
format fs=fat32 quick
assign letter=S
exit
bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

Step 5: Rule Out a Failing Drive

If none of the above works and the drive keeps disappearing or reappearing across reboots, suspect drive failure. Boot from a Linux live USB (Ubuntu works fine for this) and run sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda (or /dev/nvme0 for NVMe) after installing smartmontools — a high Reallocated Sector Count or failing SMART overall status confirms the drive itself is the problem and needs replacing.