What does reboot and select proper mean? Checking the hard drive and its power supply
When problems arise with the bootloader, various types of errors appear. This article discusses the error “ Reboot and Select proper Boot device", due to the fact that boot record cannot be found on drives that are connected to the PC. Why does this problem occur and what to do about it? We'll figure out.
Explanation of the phrase Reboot and Select proper Boot device?
This can roughly be translated as: “Reboot or use a proper boot device.” Unfortunately, pressing some keys on the keyboard will not give positive result, but the OS will not boot. There are several reasons why this problem occurs:- The memory drive connection is bad, you need to check the wires;
- Incorrectly set parameters (namely the priority of installed devices).
These are not all the reasons, perhaps there is something else.
Getting rid of the reboot and select proper boot error
If you are sure that HDD is working and connected to the computer, and on it stands working system, then you need to configure the BIOS first. and check where the hard drive is located (should be in first place). There should be no flash drives or CD/DVD drives in the first place. And all because the Bios firmware tries to boot from those devices that should be connected (if flash drives or a DVD drive are a priority), if this is not the case, an error will occur when loading the OS. Don't forget to save your BIOS settings.
If changing the settings in the BIOS did not help, then try booting from the disk with the operating system, using Boot Menu. Usually you can go there by pressing a key Esc while the PC is booting. Most likely, you have a completely different key. It is better to look at the information in the passport for the motherboard.
Once you get to the selection boot devices, find the item there « Hard Drive» or something similar, switch to it and click Enter.
In the future, in order not to enter the Boot Menu every time, you need to set the device boot priority in the BIOS.
Computer hardware problems
If damaged hard drive there is a high probability that a reboot and select error will appear. It is possible that the connected cable is poorly connected, but this happens very rarely. In this case, you will have to correct the physical malfunction yourself, if you have experience, or contact specialists in Computer service. Even if they can’t help there, then all that remains is to buy a new hard drive.
Fixing a damaged Windows bootloader
The occurrence of problems may be associated with damage to the bootloader, which is very common cause. An explanation for this could be long-term use of the hard drive, frequent emergency shutdown of the computer, or frequent reboots while performing some operations. Viruses can also be involved in this, that is, they simply damage the integrity of operating system.
This can be solved very simply. You will need boot disk or a flash drive, preferably with the operating system that is installed on your computer. You must boot from this disk or flash drive.
A window will appear asking you to start Windows installation, but this is not necessary. Need to find the inscription "System Restore" and click on it.
If this is Windows 7, then the following window will open:
Here you need to select the item "Startup Recovery". Everything necessary will be done automatically, and the system should boot as usual.
If all else fails, then the only option is to reinstall the system.
Other articles on bootloader recovery:
What can I do to prevent the problem from occurring in the future?
It is recommended to turn off the computer through the Start menu, rather than using the power button on the PC itself. If the battery that supports the BIOS runs out, it must be replaced immediately, otherwise you will not boot. The battery lasts, of course, for many years, but over time it runs out, if this happens, then all BIOS parameters will be reset.
If this is a laptop with a hard drive, and not solid state drive(), you should handle the device very carefully. Since the hard drive has moving parts, any shaking or shock can have a negative impact on the drive. This practically does not apply to SSDs, but I still do not recommend causing damage to the desktop.Hardware reasons are still a rare cause of the Reboot and Select proper Boot device error, but software phenomena are the most common. All this can be eliminated by restoring the bootloader, or the right choice boot devices in BIOS. Better watch out set parameters BIOS, and also do not install just anything on your PC. Must be installed good antivirus, which will help solve most problems.
That's all, I hope this article will help you, if anything is not clear, comments are always open to you.
Sometimes when you try to turn on the computer, the following text appears: Reboot and select proper boot device or Insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key. Nothing happens and the operating system does not load.
Now we will tell you what to do in such a situation.
1. Remove all removable storage media
In many cases, an incredibly simple method helps. Turn off your computer (regardless of whether it is a laptop or a PC, hold down the power button) and remove all flash drives, external hard disks, if there is something in the drive, remove that too.
After this, turn on your device again. Everything should work, and if not, move on.
By the way, if this method really worked, look for the problem in your removable media. Try putting it in another computer and see if it causes the same problems. If it does, it’s better to simply format it - this way you will at least try to bring the drive back to life.
After that, put the bootable media first in the queue. This is done in the BIOS (we talked about this above).
After downloading a list will open available tools. Among them is the familiar Dr.Web CureIt utility, which does an excellent job of finding and treating any virus threats without installation.
Rice. No. 2. Dr.Web CureIt in LiveUSB
4. If all else fails
This means the problem is in the hardware. It may lie in the failure of the BIOS battery, a malfunction of the power supply, and a number of other reasons.
It is best to take your laptop or PC to a repair shop where professionals will take care of it. It will be especially good if the warranty is still valid.
The error “Reboot and Select proper Boot device” when turning on the computer indicates an inability to find the boot record on the connected media. There may be several reasons for this, as well as remedies for the problem.
Translation of the phrase “Reboot and select proper boot device”
The error text literally translates as: “Reboot and select a working boot device.” You will not be able to ignore the message; the operating system will not start. What caused the error? There may be several reasons for this:
How to resolve the error
First of all, you need to make sure that the PC has a hard drive and the operating system is installed on it. It is quite possible that the BIOS is set to a mode in which connected media (USB, CD\DVD) are loaded first, but the computer simply does not find the OS loader on these devices. This can be corrected by temporarily removing all third-party media. Then you need to restart the computer using the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination.
If this does not work, then you must manually select the device on which the operating system was installed. This can be done through the selection menu bootable media. It is easy to access it by pressing the F9 key at the time of diagnosis motherboard(a second after pressing the power button on the system unit).
On some motherboards, you can enter the boot device selection menu via F11 or F12. This information is indicated at the time the manufacturer's logo is displayed.
In the menu that appears, you must select the “Hard Drive” item, which indicates the hard drive, and then press the Enter key. If you need to boot from a CD or flash drive, then these items are selected accordingly.
So that every time you start the computer you do not have to perform this procedure, you need to set the priority for selecting devices from which Windows will boot. This is done in the BIOS settings. You can enter it by pressing the Del key while diagnosing the motherboard. There you will need to find the “Boot Device” item and assign the hard drive as priority.
Hardware problem
An error when starting a PC can be caused by physical damage Winchester. In rare cases, signal transmission through the loop is simply disrupted. If you cannot fix these faults yourself or you do not have the experience to do so, you should seek help from specialists. However, the ability to boot from CD\DVD and USB devices remains.
Windows bootloader corruption
Boot record corruption in Windows environment happens for the following reasons:
All this can be eliminated by the only method - restoring the boot record using installation disk Windows. To solve the problem you need to boot from required media(via the F9 menu) and select “System Restore”.
Here you need to select “System Restore”
In the window that appears, select “Startup Repair” and follow the OS prompts.
Select “Startup Repair” If after selecting Startup Repair an error occurs or the system indicates that it cannot be found copy of Windows on the hard drive, the problem cannot be fixed. Reinstallation of Windows will be required.
How to deal with the problem: video hint
How to prevent it from happening again
You can prevent the “Reboot and Select proper Boot device” error by not using the “emergency shutdown” unnecessarily. You will also need to replace the battery promptly BIOS power supply. If her voltage drops to a critical level, BIOS settings will be reset to factory state.
There are situations when a personal computer does not turn on in the usual way: after booting up, the operating system familiar to an advanced user does not appear on its screen. Windows table. Instead, on a black background there is only one message in a dull light gray color “Reboot and select proper boot device...” (aka Reboot and select proper boot device). It becomes clear: a problem has arisen that can and even needs to be solved urgently. However, before you start fixing the error, it is advisable to make sure that you understand exactly what you will be doing and why.
What is BIOS and boot devices
It is known that the computer is running central processor, who performs program code, located in volatile memory. Regenerated memory stores programs and data only when power is applied to it, namely when the computer is turned on. Part of the volatile memory address space is occupied by the persistent B.I.O.S. ( Basic System Input/Output Device (I/O) that stores data and the firmware it contains even when the computer is turned off.
The computer runs an operating system (for example, Windows), which is a kind of intermediary between custom applications and BIOS (if Windows does not work with certain devices directly, bypassing the BIOS). Since the volume permanent memory The BIOS is very limited; when you turn on the computer, only the small program contained there is launched. It is responsible for loading the operating system from a permanent storage device, the volume of which is capable of supporting its storage and operation.
The BIOS specifies the priority of boot devices from which the operating system is loaded into RAM. Such devices may include:
- hard drives (HDD, SSD);
- storage media connected via USB interface;
- network cards (for running the operating system via a computer network);
- devices for reading (writing) optical disks(CD, DVD).
The latter are used as devices from which the PC is booted. Most often - for the purpose of installing an operating system, less often - to access any data on a hard drive in cases where it has become impossible to load the operating system from a familiar medium.
What does the Reboot and select proper boot device message mean?
The BIOS diagnostic message translated sounds like “Reboot and select correct device to download" and prompts the user to restart the personal computer. After that, it recommends selecting the correct boot device or inserting storage media into the already selected device from which you can boot. When everything is done, press a key.
The hard drive itself is faulty.
How to solve a problem
When trying to solve a problem, move from the easiest method to the most time-consuming.
Reboot with disconnection of devices connected via USB
This is the easiest way to solve an error that occurred during the computer boot process. It can work in cases where, for some reason, USB-connected storage devices are specified as the first and second boot devices in the BIOS, or optical drive, as a result of which the BIOS does not reach the third boot device, which is the hard drive with the operating system installed.
Recovery normal loading Windows from the hard drive in this case it is enough to remove all connected to USB devices and CD (DVD) discs from optical drives. At the same time, however, it is still advisable to adjust the order of boot devices in the BIOS.
Via BIOS
If the simplest method indicated above did not help (and there was little hope for it), it is advisable to run a program that allows you to change BIOS installation, and make sure that the internal hard drive with installed Operating System is on the list visible disks. To implement this bold plan, you need to run the BIOS Setup program immediately after turning on the machine.
To start the BIOS setup utilities, you need to press the hot key to launch the BIOS Setup Utilities (in this particular case, the Delete key) during the computer startup at the time of initial initialization, when a message similar to what can be seen in the picture below appears on the screen.
However, there are also PC models where other buttons are used as a hotkey to launch the program for changing BIOS settings. These buttons are F1, F2, F10, Esc. Sometimes these can even be key combinations - Ctrl+Alt, Ctrl+Alt+Esc, Ctrl+Alt+Ins, etc.
You can find out the key (or combination of keys) used for the required program on your computer by determining the BIOS version, information about which is displayed on the screen in the very first line that appears when the PC starts.
To almost certainly run the program that allows you to change BIOS settings, you should do the following:
- Decide which key (key combination) is called BIOS menu setup on your computer.
- Press the computer power button.
- At intervals of approximately half a second, briefly press the required button or combination of buttons until the BIOS Setup starts. This operation can take up to ten seconds. If we shorten this interval and press more often, the keyboard buffer may overflow, which is absolutely not what we want. And if you press less often - the fact of pressing desired key may mysteriously escape your computer's initialization program.
Even if you were unable to determine exactly which key (key combination) launches BIOS Setup on your computer, you can simply repeat the proposed algorithm sequentially for all the above buttons and their combinations and thus select the desired option.
Entering BIOS on different devices: video instructions
Where exactly you can make sure that a bootable hard drive with an installed operating system is visible to the BIOS depends on the developer and version BIOS programs Setup your computer.
If the BIOS Setup does not enable the function of displaying a logo on the screen instead of standard diagnostic messages during the computer boot process, information about those found in the system hard drives should be shown on the monitor. Thus, sometimes you can verify that the hard drive is visible to programs even without running the BIOS Setup program.
In order to check the visibility of a disk from the BIOS, you need to run the BIOS Setup program and find in it a list of all those installed in the system (by system we mean your computer) hard drives. The list of hard drives found in the system is displayed on the first page, immediately after launching BIOS Setup.
Examples of hard drives found in the system: gallery
No hard drives were found in the system. Here the disks are four consecutive lines marked with blue triangles. One disk is visible in the system - SAMSUNG SP2004C (Third Channel Device 0) Here the disks are also marked with blue triangles. One hard drive found in the system - SAMSUNG HD160J (Third Channel Device 0) One found IDE drive Primary Master, model WDC WD2000JB. IDE Secondary Master (CDU5211) is an optical drive
A list of all hard drives found in the system cannot always be found in the Main tab of the BIOS Setup program. To see it, sometimes you need to go to the Advanced tab.
In this tab, press the Enter key when the IDE Configuration (or SATA Configuration) link is highlighted, and you will be able to see a list of hard drives.
If the hard drive is not visible from BIOS Setup
If the hard drive is not visible from BIOS Setup, this may indicate either a lack of good contacts in the interface and (or) hard drive power cables (good, if this is the case), or a malfunction of the computer power supply (which is worse), or a failure of the hard drive (and this is already very bad).
The simplest thing to do in this situation is:
- Turn off the computer from the power supply.
- Turn off and turn on the old interface and hard drive power cables several times.
- Turn on the computer and again try to see the hard drive with the installed operating system from the BIOS menu.
If this doesn't help, you can do the following:
- Purchase new, known-to-be-good interface and power SATA cables (if HDD/SSD with SATA interface), or an IDE cable (if the HDD is connected via the IDE interface).
- Connect the hard drive with the installed OS using known-good cables.
- Turn on the computer and try again to find the disk through the BIOS.
If nothing helps now, this indicates a malfunction of either the power supply or the hard drive itself.
In this case, you can take a known-good hard drive somewhere, at least temporarily, and try to see it from the BIOS. If it is not visible either, this most likely indicates the need to replace (repair) the computer power supply.
But if a known good hard drive is visible from the BIOS, this is the most difficult case. This means that your disk has failed, and this is fraught with irretrievable loss all information stored on it.
If the disk from the BIOS is visible
The hard drive with the operating system installed from the BIOS is visible. In this case, it is advisable to specify it as the first or only boot device, and then try to restart the computer. If the error persists, the Windows bootloader (MBR) is probably corrupted. The case of a damaged bootloader is discussed in more detail below.
You can usually specify a hard drive with the operating system installed as the first or only boot device using the tab BOOT programs BIOS Setup Utilities. The pictures below show examples of menu items various programs, which specifies the order of boot devices.
In the figure below we see the AMI BIOS Setup program tab, intended for boot configuration. Select the menu item of interest using the up and down arrows, and move to it by pressing Enter keys(“Enter”) Going to point Hard Disk Drives, we see a list of drives found by the program on the computer.
We are interested in the Boot Device Priority item.
In the screenshot below we see the BIOS Setup page developed by AMI, designed to indicate boot priority and select boot devices. 1st Boot Device is translated as “First Boot Device”, 2nd Boot Device is translated as “Second Boot Device”, etc.
As can be seen from the hint on the right side of the picture, to select the boot device number, use the up and down arrow keys; to select a particular device from among those found in the system, you must enter “+” or “-”. To save the changes made and reboot, press the F10 key. If the changes made for one reason or another are not worth saving, you should press the Esc key.
In the above list of devices, the first boot device is already highlighted, so in this particular case you should press the “-” key until square brackets opposite 1st Boot Device it will not be written SCSI:#0300 ID00 LU (and this is the only hard drive). Next, press the down arrow to configure the second boot device, and press the “-” key until the word “None” is displayed in square brackets next to 2nd Boot Device. Then repeat selecting None for the remaining boot devices - the third, fourth, fifth and sixth.
In the screenshot below we see a tab in the BIOS Setup Utility program, developed by Phoenix, designed to select boot devices and assign a boot order.
As can be seen from the tooltip specific to this menu item, located on the right side of the program window, the developer has provided several keys that will be convenient to use for viewing or crashing devices. Here are these keys with their purpose:
- Enter – adds the selected device group to the boot process or removes it from it;
- Ctrl+Enter - adds everything;
- “+” or “-” - moves devices down or up;
- n - can change removable devices between Hard Disk or Removable Disk;
- d - removes a device that does not exist.
The following photo shows how to set the order of devices from which a personal computer should try to boot in Award Software's CMOS Setup Utility program.
First Boot Device should be understood as “First boot device”, Second - second, Third - third.
You can select a particular device using the arrow keys, and then press Enter to specify exactly the device that is required. In our case, you should select Hard Disk.
If, by manipulating the BIOS settings, you managed to restore normal loading of the operating system, it would be useful to take measures to ensure that it remains this way.
If the BIOS settings became incorrect (before you corrected them), there must be some objective reason for the failure. It could also be a person (for example, a child) who completely accidentally reconfigured the BIOS. It could also be a battery that powers the memory for BIOS settings - CMOS. And as stated in the film “The Matrix”, people are, in essence, batteries... But that’s not what we’re talking about here now.
If, after turning off the computer's power (or unplugging the battery in the laptop), the system startup error resumes, you should check the battery powering the motherboard for functionality (in most cases there is only one there, and it cannot be confused with anything else). It looks something like the one shown in the photo below.
In order to check the battery for functionality, it must be carefully removed from the corresponding compartment, and then measure the voltage that it is still capable of using a device called a multimeter, as shown in the following photo.
The new battery should give out a little more than three volts, if that’s what it says on it, so from the readings of the device in the photo you can see that this particular battery is clearly not capable of anything. Such a battery certainly needs to be replaced with a new one.
Alternative download options
If you need to use your computer “at any cost” and urgently, despite the fact that the operating system does not boot from the hard drive installed in the computer, you can, without even changing the order of boot devices in the BIOS Setup menu, quickly boot from external media information or CD (DVD).
Accordingly, for this you need to have a boot USB flash drive or bootable live CD (DVD). Turning on the computer in this way can allow you to quickly access some important data stored on the hard drive, for example.
You can organize such a download using a call during the download process boot menu by pressing a hotkey. The boot menu allows you to “on the go” select the device from which to boot the computer, and hotkey highly depends on the motherboard manufacturer, as well as the BIOS developer.
Below is a list of hotkey options for calling the Boot Menu.
Laptops:
- Lenovo, Acer, Dell, Toshiba, Fujitsu - F12;
- Asus, Asus AMI, Samsung - Esc;
- HP - Esc, then F9;
- MSI, Sony - F11;
- Asus Phoenix-Award - F8.
Desktops:
- FoxConn, Intel Phoenix-Award - Esc;
- GigaByte, GigaByte Award - F12;
- MSI AMI, AsRock AMI, ECS AMI - F11;
- BioStar Phoenix-Award - F9.
other methods
There is one more good way restore functionality personal computer, which gives the error Reboot and Select proper Boot device or instead of loading the operating system normally Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key.
You can purchase a new hard drive (preferably an SSD), install a new operating system on it and make it the only (first) boot one. However, if this does not help, you will still have to change the power supply after this.
If the Windows bootloader is damaged
The Windows bootloader is called in other words MBR (Main Boot Record). This record most often gets corrupted due to incorrect shutdown of a computer running Windows.
To exclude random incorrect shutdowns computer from the power supply, it is advisable to connect the computer to the network via a UPS (source uninterruptible power supply). The photo below shows several such sources.
The moment you turn on the computer, the self-diagnosis test (POST - Power On Self Test) performed by the BIOS begins. After passing POST, information about BIOS version or the computer model and devices found in it, after which the screen is cleared and an attempt is made to load the operating system.
If the master boot record is damaged, the operating system will not boot, and instead you will see one of the following messages on the screen: Invalid Partition Table, Error Loading Operating System, or Missing Operating System. system).
In addition to incorrect shutdown of the computer, the MBR can be damaged due to hard drive errors, driver errors during Windows operation, or due to virus activity. To recover a damaged MBR, use the console Windows recovery, in which the fixmbr command is executed.
To begin with, to restore the MBR, you will need any distribution kit Windows edition the same version whose bootloader was corrupted. Let's consider the recovery process on Windows example 7 "step by step".
If you refresh your memory of the reasons for the error, you can easily and with a good chance of being correct guess how you should try to eliminate these reasons.
The first reason given was incorrect settings order of boot devices in BIOS. As mentioned in this article, the reason for such settings can be either an expired CMOS battery or someone else's incorrect actions.
Regarding the latter, as a preventive measure, we can recommend correct and effective organization of access control to the computer (for example, setting a password to enter the BIOS Setup). An even more serious measure is to install a lock on the computer case so that the BIOS settings cannot be reset manually.
The CMOS battery life on modern motherboards ranges from 2 to 6 years, so it is advisable to check its condition once every 2 years. However, you should remember that by removing the battery from the motherboard, you are actually simulating its discharge, so when checking it with the device, the BIOS settings will in any case be reset to their original settings, so it is likely that many of them will have to be restored, which sometimes very troublesome.
However, you can determine whether a battery is inoperable by symptoms, and not just by measuring voltage. If after disconnecting the computer from the network (removing the battery from the laptop), the correct information about current date and time, this most likely indicates a low CMOS battery.
To prevent spoilage Windows boot loader First of all, it is advisable to complete it correctly Windows operation, as well as a computer. To prevent accidental shutdowns due to unexpectedly lost power, it is worth powering your desktop computer from an uninterruptible power supply.
In order to avoid situations with loss of contact in the cables, it is necessary to eliminate the transmission of vibration to these cables by correctly attaching them to the load-bearing parts of the case, and also regularly carry out preventive cleaning of the computer from dust.
To increase the service life of the computer power supply, it is advisable to select a power supply with a significant excess of power during the computer assembly process and, of course, from among recognized and proven brands.
