The motherboard identifies a boot device, yet the computer fails to start from it on its own?
The motherboard identifies a boot device, yet the computer fails to start from it on its own?
Hi there. I recently purchased a new SSD and swapped it for the HDD, but now my PC isn't booting from it automatically. The display shows this message when I power on:
"Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller Series v2.66 (05/26/17) PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF : Exiting PXE ROM. No Bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"
I've confirmed the hard drive is properly connected and there are no issues. It's not a problem with the boot device order since in BIOS the SSD appears first to boot from. Please let me know if you need any further information to resolve this. Thank you ahead of time.
The error suggests the BIOS is trying to launch from a PXE setup through the Ethernet connection.
Thank you for the response. The boot screen displays the following details:
Boot Manager
Boot mode: Legacy; Secure boot: OFF; fTPM: OFF
LEGACY BOOT:
Hard drive
Network
UEFI B001:
HDD1 - Windows Boot Manager
Other options: Diagnostics
Enter Setup
>Device Configuration
BIOS Flash Update
Change boot mode setting
Additionally, the PC runs extremely slowly, and the file explorer occasionally crashes.
Change boot configuration to UEFI format. Turn off network booting option.
After setting it to UEFI, the device keeps asking to check media repeatedly without progressing. It's unclear how to disable the boot from network feature.
I can't display images or screenshots directly. However, you can share the BIOS screenshots by uploading them to imgur.com and I'll help with the rest.
This entry in your BIOS implies that HDD1 (Hard Disk Drive 1) which might be your new SSD contains an EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) boot partition.
UEFI B001:
HDD1-Windows Boot Manager
This boot partition is usually hidden from the user (no drive letter) but can be viewed after you've booted into Windows using the Disk Management tool or other drive management programs.
On the Windows 10 computer I'm using right now, this EFI boot partition is a mere 100MB in size, but it forms a critical part of the boot up process.
If your BIOS is set to 'Legacy Mode' only, also known as CSM (Compatibility Support Mode), the computer will ignore this EFI boot partition and the computer will not boot into Windows.
https://superuser.com/questions/1284392/...-boot-mode
If you check through your BIOS, you should find an option to enable UEFI booting in addition to, or instead of Legacy/CSM.
Some BIOS screens allow you to enable both UEFI and Legacy/CSM at the same time. In some cases you can set the order, e.g. Legacy/CSM boot first, UEFI second, or vice versa.
I use these options on older computers with a mix of Windows XP (released before UEFI was invented) and Windows 7/10. If I set the BIOS to UEFI only, I cannot boot into my Windows XP drive. If I set the BIOS to Legacy/CSM only, I won't be able to boot into my Windows 10 drive if it relies on an EFI boot partition. Catch 22. On modern systems, the normal setting is UEFI.
Chances are your old hard disk and new SSD both have a small (hidden) EFI partition, requiring the UEFI boot option to be set in the BIOS, but somehow your boot settings have got scrambled.
We need to stop the BIOS from attempting to boot from a PXE server. It's quite possible network booting is a 'fall-back' option in the BIOS, if it fails to find a bootable disk drive, bootable USB memory stick, bootable optical disk, etc. In other words, the BIOS may have tried to boot from your SSD, failed dismally, worked its way down the list of various options until it found PXE boot, tried that and finally admitted defeat.
The first thing to do is enable UEFI. Make it higher priority than Legacy/CSM. N.B. If you're running Windows 7 or 10, there's a vague chance your drive (HHD or SSD) was setup with UEFI disabled in the BIOS, in which case there won't be a small EFI partition on the disk (I'm pretty sure I have a few of these setups). In this case, Legacy/CSM would have to be enabled.
Second, if you have more than one disk installed, move the SSD up to the top of the list.
Third, you may need to enable Windows Boot Manager for the SSD (assuming this is one of the options allowed).
On one of my computers, I can see two different Windows Boot Manager options in the BIOS. One of them is the EFI partition on my M.2/NVMe drive, the other is the EFI partition on my backup SATA SSD, in case the M.2 drive stops working.
It can all get horribly confusing, so the best thing to do is disconnect all disk drives (HDD, SSD, optical, USB) apart from your main boot drive (new SSD) and play around in the BIOS.
If you've never successfully booted from the SSD, fit the old HDD in its place and see if you can get that to work again.
If you cloned the HDD to the SSD but forgot to disconnect the HDD before restarting from the newly cloned SSD, the boot partition may still be located on the HDD, with the remainder of the OS on the new SSD. When you disconnect the HDD, the computer will no longer be able to boot Windows from the SSD, because the boot partition has disappeared.
I hope this helps.
Thanx very much, big help. Yes bit confusing so I'll go through it step by step tomorrow n take screenshots. The only drive installed is the new SSD and there's no USB connected . The other day I did something with bootmanager and now it pops up while the PC boots. I'll get pics tomorrow anyway. Thanx again , appreciate it. It's annoying not booting properly
Initial display
Uncertain about sharing images. Edit
Apparent to function correctly