Problem description: My PC refuses to boot to my SSD with Windows. This is a new PC that I just built. It gives the error "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key". I have to go into the BIOs and manually select the drive as a "boot override" option. I have to do this each time it's powered on.
When I installed Windows all three of my drives were connected.
Attempted fixes: I've tried every possible drive boot combination. I've read the manually thoroughly. I've Googled to exhaustion. There are an ass-ton of results that claim to help with this issue, but they all seem to boil down to setting your boot options correctly, which I've done. I've also tried to boot without any USB devices plugged in aside from my keyboard and mouse
There are 2 sections in my BIOS related to boot order-
Boot Option Priorities (manual description)-
These items specify the boot device priority sequence from the available devices. The number of device items that appears on the screen depends on the number of devices installed in the system.
This section gives me two options- one of which is my SSD and the other is a platter drive I have in there. It only gives those two options. Thing is, I have 2 platters and one SSD in there as well as an optical so I can't understand why this section is only showing the two. Either way, my SSD is first on that list, and yet the PC still won't boot to Windows off of it.
Boot Override (manual description)-
These item displays the available devices. The number of device items that appear on the screen depends on the number of devices installed in the system. Click an item to start booting from the selected device.
This section lets me manually select a device to boot from. This is the only way I can get my system to boot to the correct drive. It shows all available boot options, even my USB ports if something is plugged in.
There's also sub-sections for HDD order and an optical "BBS", I believe. I'm not sure how these even come into play but I've also listed the correct order I want them to boot in those sections as well.
The boot section is 3.8 on page 3-51 if anyone is interested in looking at it-
Recent changes: I've just finished building this system. The only thing that concerns me is the fact that during the Windows installation for each of the two platter and the SSD they said "primary" next to them after I hit "format" on each one. Each of the three also have MBRs. I don't know if this has anything to do with it.
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Operating system: 64-bit Windows 8.1 Home
System specs:
- Mobo- Asus X-99 Deluxe
- CPU- Intel Core i7-5930K
- Video card- EVGA GeForce GTX770
- RAM- 4x4 gig GSKILL F4-2400C15Q-16GRB
- PSU- CORSAIR CSM Series CS750M 750W
- SSD- Samsung 840 Pro, MZ-7PD256BW
- HDD- Western Digital 2 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache OEM Desktop Hard Drive, Black, WD2003FZEX
- HDD- About a year and a half-old WD 1TB drive, not sure the model number.
6 Answers
Some BIOSes arrange the boot devices into categories. So in the boot order, you can select hard drive, optical drive, USB drive, etc. But in each of those categories, you have to select WHICH hard drive, optical drive, or USB drive is the "master", which may not be on the same screen.
1For anyone who hasn't found a fix yet: I was having a similar problem. Installed a new SSD and BIOS recognized it from the boot menu and allowed me to start it from there manually, but would give me the "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key" message when I tried to just turn on the computer. My fix was to switch the new SSD over into the P0 port that the old HDD was in. Now the computer starts properly using the new SSD and the old HDD is still usable as a backup storage device in a different port.
Here's what eventually solved my issue, as posted by someone on another forum-
Unplug the 2 platter Hdd's leaving only the SSD powered
Go into BIOS and reset to default settings, and see if she boots up.
If/when she boots up follow this to "repair" the MBR so it's on the SSD: Tech Spot
Once done plug the platter HDD in 1 at a time, ie plug in 1 then boot PC make sure it boots fine, if everything's sweet turn off, then plug in 2nd and so forth.
I have this problem with SSD + HDD. Sadly the laptop too has this config, as the PC and both use Win 10.
Every time, when I get this message I have to access my hard discs: - unplug the SSD and unplug the HDD. - plug only the SSD ( it will have the same message) - enter in BIOS and select "Windows boot manager" Save and exit. - start computer, stop - pug the HDD.
I wish I know why I need to do it, both on Win 10 Personal and Professional 64 bit are this issues! - but this steps will solve it.
I tried everything above. I know it was a BIOS issue, but only when I was about to give up for the night it worked. I was trying only with my SSD pluged in because I knew it was the BIOS trying to find it. I even moved its SATA port to all 6 of them 1 at a time.
I changed the BIOS settings from IDE to AHCI mode,plugged all my HHD's and drives back in and it fired right up.
I hope this helps someone. I went at it for hours.
Consider just opening up your pc and cleaning it first. I know I know, this has the same energy as "restart your pc" but this is something that worked for me. My pc was working fine for a year straight but then suddenly I got this error and mind you I made no recently changes to any software or hardware. I opened up the bios settings and they were all the same as they ever had been so I thought maybe some wire went a bit loose? But if that were the case the ssd would not show up in the boot menu but nonetheless I opened it up and my goodness it was a literal dust palace. I cleaned it up and booted it up again(same settings) and it worked perfectly. All in all If none of the troubleshoot options have worked for you so far then simply consider cleaning your pc and getting rid of all the dust
