5 Ways to Fix Boot Device Not Found in HP Computer

Boot Device Not Found error occurs to my HP laptop

“I have an HP laptop and unfortunately I cannot start it up normally. It shows “Boot Device Not Found Please install an operating system on your hard disk (3F0) and I don’t know why and what it is. I have no idea about this error and I think I need to help what should I do when the boot device is not found HP laptop?”

The error “boot device not found” in HP is a common error that many HP users have met. It always occurs during the process of booting a computer. It may occur with different error messages, such as:

▶ “No boot device - insert boot disk and press any key.”
▶ “Boot Device Not Found. Please install an operating system in your hard disk.”
▶ “No Boot Device Found. Press any key to reboot the machine.”
▶ “No boot device is available.”

Once you get those error messages, you cannot boot your operating system successfully. Well, what if you got a “boot device not found” error when you boot your HP laptop or desktop? Fortunately, this post will offer you why it happens and how to solve it in Windows 11/10/8/7.

Why is my PC saying boot device not found?

"Boot Device Not Found HP" or "No Boot Device Is Detected" means the OS can’t find the bootable hard disk or the boot sector of the hard drive. To fix the boot device not found error in HP laptop or desktop, you need to know what may cause it. And here we conclude 4 possible reasons:

✎ The hard drive you boot from is an unbootable disk or device.
✎ The bootable hard drive is corrupted or died somehow.
✎ MBR or boot sector is damaged on the bootable hard drive.
✎Virus attack.

How to fix the "Boot Device Not Found" error in HP

Knowing the causes of the boot device not found in HP, you can take specific measures to fix it.

• Method 1. Change boot order
• Method 2. Perform a hard reset
• Method 3. Restore BIOS default settings
• Method 4. Check hard drive

▶ Method 1. Change boot order

First, you need to make sure that the hard drive you boot from is the right disk. If you set to boot from an unbootable device by mistake, it cannot boot successfully from the unbootable device and will give you the error message: “Boot Device Not Found.

Please install an operating system to your hard disk”. Change the boot order in BIOS and let it boot from the bootable device. If it is the boot device, and you got this error, you can do the following methods.

▶ Method 2. Perform a hard reset

When you meet the problem that no boot device is detected, you can try to perform a hard reset. A hard or forced reset erases all information in the computer memory and might restore functionality. Resetting your computer forces the system to clear and reestablish the software connections between the BIOS and the hardware. To perform a hard reset, you should do the following steps:

Step 1. Turn off the computer. Remove the computer from any port replicator or docking station.

Step 2. Disconnect all external devices from your computer, unplug the AC adapter from the computer.

Step 3. Remove the battery from the battery compartment.

Step 4. Press and hold down the Power button for about 15 seconds to drain any residual electrical charge from the capacitors that protect the memory.

Step 5. Insert the battery, and plug the AC adapter back into the computer, but do not connect any of the peripheral devices such as USB storage devices, external displays, printers, etc.

Step 6. Turn on the computer. If a start menu opens, select Start Windows Normally with arrow keys and press Enter.

If resetting the hard drive hasn’t solved your problem, you can move to the next method.

▶ Method 3. Restore BIOS default settings

To restore the BIOS default settings may fix the error “boot device not found” in HP. You can do the following steps:

Step 1. Turn off the computer and wait at least five seconds.

Step 2. Restart the computer and repeatedly press the F10 key to enter the BIOS setup menu.

Step 3. On the BIOS setup screen, press F9 to select and load the BIOS Setup Default settings.

Step 4. Press F10 to Save and Exit.

Step 5. Select Yes, then press Enter when asked Exit Saving Changes?

Step 6. Follow the prompt to restart the computer.

If the computer restart normally, you are done. If it still pops up the error message “boot device not found”, proceed to the next method.

▶ Method 4. Check hard drive

If the method above cannot solve your problem, you should consider checking your hard drive. To test a hard drive, here we highly recommend you AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, which can help you to check partition and fix errors, or check the disk.

Here you should connect your boot drive to another Windows PC which installed AOMEI Partition Assistant. Or you can create a bootable USB with AOMEI Partition Assistant to boot your computer successfully.

Please download the freeware to see how to fix boot device not found in Windows 10 and 11.

Step 1. Get into the AOMEI Partition Assistant program, select your boot hard drive. Here you can right-click the boot partition, select Check Partition. 

It will pop up a window where you can choose the way to check partition and fix errors.

Step 2. Or you can right-click the boot hard drive, select Surface Test.

It will run the test after you click Start.

Finally, if there is any problem on your hard drive, fix it and the boot device is not found HP problem may be solved.

▶ Method 5. Rebuild MBR

MBR is an important section on the hard drive for the proceed of booting the PC. If it has errors or is damaged, the boot device not found will happen. AOMEI Partition Assistant can help you fix MBR.

Step 1. To fix MBR, here you need to right-click the hard drive, select Rebuild MBR. 

Step 2. In the pop-up window, set the type of MBR for the current OS, click OK to start rebuilding MBR.

After that, you'll need to reboot your HP.

Final words

There are 5 different methods for solving boot device not found in HP that running Windows 11/10/8/7. AOMEI Partition Assistant is a great disk manager that can help you check the hard drive and fix errors. It is worth having. Its free edition offers you the most basic features. If you need more advanced features, such as converting disk from MBR to GPT without losing data, recovering lost data, etc., you can upgrade to the Professional Version.