Solved! Help asap please.Reboot and install proper boot device. SATA not present in bios

[kartikeybist200210]

I need help asap! My 8 month old pc showed the error 'reboot and install proper boot device '. I went to the bios setting and it shows SATA not present. I unplugged and plugged the cables of SATA and of the same on hard drive. I even reset the CMOS, but it still doesn't detect the hard drive. Help would be appreciated. The mother board is MSi h310 pro bhi plus with a SSD drive. what do I do?

 

[AlHuneke]

I would start by connecting the SSD to another computer to see if you can access the files. You can buy an SSD to USB adapter for $20 or so from Amazon. Be sure you look carefully at drive compatibility. It's likely you have an M.2 drive. There are different keying slots on the connector for these drives so make sure you get a compatible adapter. Before plugging in the disk, open Disk Manager and see how many disks there are on the test computer (the primary HDD will show multiple partitions and CD drive(s) or other HDD will show as Disk 1, 2, etc. You may need to mess with the View option but the default should be OK. Shut down the PC and plug in the USB adapter. Disk Manager should show another disk number. Itshould appear similarly to Disk 0, but the number of partitions may vary. If the drive shows up, run a disk checker to exercise the drive fully. If the drive doesn't show up, you have your answer (SSD is bad or the adapter doesn't work which is unlikely). That's how I would start. Make sure you use ESD precautions when you are inside the laptop and handling parts. It's possible to zap something otherwise. Let us know what happens. I don't have a "quick" fix as that would just be throwing darts.

 

[kartikeybist200210]

Thank you.
Could you please explain the last bit, from 'Make sure......zap something otherwise.
And could this be a software problem as this started after I made a few changes in MSCONFIG and restarting it.

 

[AlHuneke]

I can't see how any config changes were prevent the drive from showing up in the BIOS since that happens before any files are read. Are you sure the BIOS used to show a drive or actually indicates no drive is present? My latest laptop doesn't even indicate anything regarding drives (first BIOS--actually it's a UEFI) that I've seen do that.

There are lots of articles about ESD protection on the web. Here's an example: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/920-electrostatic-discharge-prevent-esd. Unfortunately, few people (including repair shops or especially youtube how to's) pay attention. I come from a high-tech electronics background where ESD precautions were stressed. I've seen xrays of chips that were damaged by static discharge. If you "zap" something you likely won't feel it but the chip will. ESD damage is rare but how many forum articles have you seen that start with "I opened my laptop and now it doesn't work....")

 

[kartikeybist200210]

I'm not from a technical background and only have a basic info about such things so I won't be using a zapper of any kind. It's too complicated for me .
Though I'm not sure if it was detected earlier but it should've been detecting it I guess because it used to load properly and no matter what I set the boot priority too it doesn't boot up.
Also a correction, I have a HDD not an SSD and it's 8 years old.

 

[AlHuneke]

Sorry for the language barriers. When I referred to "zap" i mean electricity from your body like when you walk across a rug and get a shock when you touch a door knob. This same thing can happen to electronics and cause damage.

If the PC is 8 years old and uses a HDD, it may have stopped working. If you have another PC and a USB adapter cable, you can remove the drive and test it. You can also try powering on the machine with your ear next to the HDD. You should be able to hear it start spinning up. If you then hear a series of clicking noises, the drive is bad. You may not hear what I describe but the drive could still be broken.

 

[kartikeybist200210]

Sorry for the language barriers. When I referred to "zap" i mean electricity from your body like when you walk across a rug and get a shock when you touch a door knob. This same thing can happen to electronics and cause damage.

If the PC is 8 years old and uses a HDD, it may have stopped working. If you have another PC and a USB adapter cable, you can remove the drive and test it. You can also try powering on the machine with your ear next to the HDD. You should be able to hear it start spinning up. If you then hear a series of clicking noises, the drive is bad. You may not hear what I describe but the drive could still be broken.

Thank you very much man. I really appreciate you helping me. Ok thanks for the heads up. By the way the PC is completely new all the things except for the HDD. I used the same HDD on the new PC also.
I'll get it checked. And if it doesn't work, is there any way to recover the data?

 

[hang-the-9]

Thank you very much man. I really appreciate you helping me. Ok thanks for the heads up. By the way the PC is completely new all the things except for the HDD. I used the same HDD on the new PC also.
I'll get it checked. And if it doesn't work, is there any way to recover the data?

Re-using an old drive on a system is not a good idea, nor is messing with msconfig settings if you don't know exactly what you are doing. You can remove the drive from the system and use an external USB enclosure to copy the files, if the drive is still good. Get an SSD for the system and install Windows clan on that, buy a second drive for backups or use cloud storage for backup of your files.

 

[kartikeybist200210]

Re-using an old drive on a system is not a good idea, nor is messing with msconfig settings if you don't know exactly what you are doing. You can remove the drive from the system and use an external USB enclosure to copy the files, if the drive is still good. Get an SSD for the system and install Windows clan on that, buy a second drive for backups or use cloud storage for backup of your files.

Ok I'll see to it. Thanks man

 

[kartikeybist200210]

Thank you man for helping me. Turns out the HDD is dead . I bought a new SSD. Thanks once again

Sorry for the language barriers. When I referred to "zap" i mean electricity from your body like when you walk across a rug and get a shock when you touch a door knob. This same thing can happen to electronics and cause damage.

If the PC is 8 years old and uses a HDD, it may have stopped working. If you have another PC and a USB adapter cable, you can remove the drive and test it. You can also try powering on the machine with your ear next to the HDD. You should be able to hear it start spinning up. If you then hear a series of clicking noises, the drive is bad. You may not hear what I describe but the drive could still be broken.