HP Envy won't start "Boot Device not found...."

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MarcusLondon Posts 2 Registration date Tuesday December 29, 2015 Status Member Last seen December 29, 2015 - Dec 29, 2015 at 06:06 AM
BrianGreen Posts 1005 Registration date Saturday January 17, 2015 Status Moderator Last seen September 30, 2021 - Jan 1, 2016 at 09:14 AM
Hi, can anyone out there help, please? I have an HP Envy Touchsmart 15 Notebook, which my two teenage children use, primarily for games, YouTube etc. For no apparent reason, its now showing a black screen with the following messages:

Boot Device Not Found
Please install an operating system on your hard disk.
Hard disk (3FO)
F2 System diagnostics

It should be still under guarantee but I'm hopeful there may be a simple fix that will avoid having to re-install software etc. NB Recently upgraded to Windows 10.

Thanks in anticipation!
Related:

2 responses

BrianGreen Posts 1005 Registration date Saturday January 17, 2015 Status Moderator Last seen September 30, 2021 149
Dec 29, 2015 at 07:34 AM
Hi Marcuslondon,

In my experience, this usuallyhappens if one of three things have happened ...

- there has been some corruption of the hard drive - either by physical damage or malware activity;
- the hard drive has been reformatted;
- the hard drive has become dislodged from its mountings and the connectoion between the hard drive and motherboard has been interrupted.

There are more causes, but try checling these first.

To check the drive is still connected, try following the instructions on page 44 of this site:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03733656

Make sure you power down and remove the battery and power cord first.

To check if the hard drive has been formatted you will beed a third party cd like a Linux live cd (downloadable fron the internet) and see if any files exist on the hard drive. Linux is way different to windows so it might take some time to become accustomed to it. Alternatively try "Parted Magic" live cd/dvd. This also has a file explorer function.

You could skip the above check if you have an installation disk for your machine. The machine should have come with one, or you would have needed to burn it from the (usually hidden) partition when it was working. If you boot from that cd then you could also try to repair the installation (follow the instructions that appear when it boots from the cd/dvd)

The virus option would require you to remove the hard drive and put it into another working machine as a secondary drive and check for viruses using the host machine. This is a rare occurrence - virusses usually dont destroy the operating system to this extent, but it is a possibility.

Please let me know how you get on.

I really appreciate thank you messages as a payment for solving issues   :o)
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MarcusLondon Posts 2 Registration date Tuesday December 29, 2015 Status Member Last seen December 29, 2015
Dec 29, 2015 at 09:36 AM
Hi Brian,
Thanks for your prompt reply. Laptop doesn't come with an installation CD, probably because there isn't a CD drive! I've managed, using the F keys, to get to the BIOS menu and system config and there's no visible evidence that a HDD even exists and I can't hear it, so I suspect the drive has died. I've learned that the machine came with a three-yr warranty, so the easiest option may be to take it back to the vendor (an upmarket UK department store). I suspect they'll swap it for a brand new model, rather than send it to HP for repair. If so, I get a brand new machine and just have to re-load the anti-virus and games software etc. there are no document files to worry about. That will save me a lot of grief and this is the holiday season, FFS!
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BrianGreen Posts 1005 Registration date Saturday January 17, 2015 Status Moderator Last seen September 30, 2021 149
Dec 29, 2015 at 10:53 AM
If its the store that Im thinking of they will take it and send it for repair. Then if it doesnt come back in about 48 days they will replace it.

Hope it all goes well for you. Please let us know how you get on.
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MarcusLondon > BrianGreen Posts 1005 Registration date Saturday January 17, 2015 Status Moderator Last seen September 30, 2021
Jan 1, 2016 at 06:34 AM
We took the laptop back to the store: it will be sent for repair on 4th January and should be back within ten working days. We shall see. In the meantime, my wife spotted a Lenovo model around 30% of the price of the Envy, so she bought it! Children happy and when the Envy comes back my wife will swap the Lenovo for the old Dell she's currently using.
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BrianGreen Posts 1005 Registration date Saturday January 17, 2015 Status Moderator Last seen September 30, 2021 149
Jan 1, 2016 at 09:14 AM
I hope everything works out well. Please mark this trhead as solved if you think it is.
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