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Lost my boot drive again

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468 views 10 replies 3 participants last post by  dannys22 
#1 ·
Just as I thought things were running good, I found out that the BIOS lost the boot drive after a complete shutdown. So I thought the CMOS battery was bad, installed new battery. Booted with Win 10 disk, performed BOOTREC/FIXMBR, said it was successful, then BOOTREC/fixboot, said Access Denied, then BOOTREC/RebuildBcd, asked to add installation, I answered Yes, it replied The requested system device can not be found.
Exited, reboot into BIOS, still doesn't show Boot device.
I did a system backup (I think) using EASEUS, so I could try a restore, but does anyone other ideas?
Also what else could be my problem?
Thanks again for the help.
Danny
 
#2 ·
The BIOS must be able to see the boot drive before anything else will be able to.

Check both ends of the cable between the drive and motherboard and then cable between the PSU and the drive. Note that once in a great while, these cables go bad and need to be replaced.

If that's all good and the drive can still not be seen in the BIOS, I'm afraid it sounds like the drive has failed (they all do) and needs to be replaced.
 
#5 ·
The Bios may have reset itself to default values when you changed the battery.

Since the Bios sees the NVMe drive you should be able to set is as the first boot device, if you can't or it doesn't work try setting Windows Boot Manager as first.
 
#6 ·
Allen... Thanks for the reply.
The problem is the BIOS sees the drive, BUT it doesn't see it as the Windows Boot Manager drive. When I select 1st boot it's only shows the drive without the boot manager. I had this happen before and I did the BOOTREC commands and it worked. This time nothing Strange to me, is the date and time in BIOS didn't change when I replaced he CMOS battery. and all other settings appear to the same.
See my same problem "Missing Boot manager" dated 5-5-21.
Thanks again
Danny
 
#7 ·
I think what has happened is if you boot the clone with the source drive still connected windows uses the boot files on the source drive and when you disconnect that source drive it can't find the boot up files.

So I think you should make a new clone by connecting the SSD inside the case, then boot up windows on it. Then as soon as the cloning finishes shutdown completely by holding down a Shift key when you click on Shutdown.
Then physically disconnect the source drive and see if it boots with the NVMe, if not go into the Bios and set it as first boot device or set windows boot manager first, whichever works.
 
#8 ·
I think what has happened is if you boot the clone with the source drive still connected windows uses the boot files on the source drive and when you disconnect that source drive it can't find the boot up files.

So I think you should make a new clone by connecting the SSD inside the case, then boot up windows on it. Then as soon as the cloning finishes shutdown completely by holding down a Shift key when you click on Shutdown.
Then physically disconnect the source drive and see if it boots with the NVMe, if not go into the Bios and set it as first boot device or set windows boot manager first, whichever works.
Allan.... Thanks for the reply and help.
The system only has 1 M.2 slot. I had clone the original WD 500gb M.2 SSD to a WD 1tb NVMe SSD using an Sabrent USB Enclosure and EASEUS TODO Backup Software Clone feature. After that I removed the M.2 drive and installed the NVMe SSD drive and was able to boot from it, but since then I've lost the Windows Boot Manager, once before and was able to get it back by performing a BOOTREC/fixmbr. This last time shutting off the system to put my case cover back on, I've lost the Windows Boot Manager again and can't seem to recover it. It happened after shutting down the system completely. It was working fine if only performing a reboot. I've done system backups and I guess I'm just going to have to wipe the disk and start over installing Win 10 Pro64 and restore the backup afterwards.
Thanks again for the help.
Danny
 
#9 ·
You would have to do the cloning with the drive in the Sabrent device then.
After you make the clone it's very important you don't let it boot with both drives connected.

A clean install of 10 using the Media Creation Tool to make a bootable USB stick would be a good option.
 
#10 ·
New question...... I ran some system check by Acronis when I did another system backup yesterday in preparation of reinstalling windows 10 pro 64. In the disk information text file I got this;
Could not obtain Boot Entries Enumerator, UEFI is not enabled Could not obtain Boot Order, UEFI is not enabled
So I'm prepared to wipe the disk and installed a fresh win 10 pro 64 installation. In the BIOS there is Storage Boot Option Control with the options for Legacy only, UEFI only, or disabled.
Which should I choose?
THANKS for the help
Danny
 
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