My HP Pavilion 500 shows Boot Device Not Found. Suspect windows update as the problem.

[VickyT1]

I suspect that a windows update is the problem. Turning the Pavilion on and off remotely is not reliable.

[WAWood]

@VickyT1 

This issue is often due to a failing drive.

So, let's check that first, because if it is failing, it would need to be replaced and there is no point then in doing anything else until we confirm that.

If your PC is new enough to support UEFI, you can use these steps to test the HDD (Hard Disk Drive): http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00439024

If not, to check the HDD you have to follow these steps:
1) Press Esc key repeatedly, several times a second, while rebooting the laptop. Do NOT hold the key down, just press it over and over.
2) Eventually, you will see an HP Startup Menu
3) Press the Function key for testing the hard drive (usually F2) and let it run.

If the drive checks out OK, then report that and I can provide you options for reinstalling Windows on your PC.

Please note that if your model has an SSD instead of an HDD, these diagnostics might not work properly.

[VickyT1]

Thanks for your response. After many sole attempts last week I finally opening a ticket with Support. I had already run the F2 tests. They both tested fine. It took 48 minutes to test the memory.

We went through the F2 and F10 attempts and the tech finally decided that I needed to re-install Windows. I downloaded Windows but it would not install. It indicated that there was no place to load it to. This caused the technician to decide that my hard drive was bad. I told him it was a SSD and usually does not fail. He said I was likely sold a mechanical hard drive and that was the end of my ticket.

I have since removed the side panel and it does not contain a hard drive. Instead there is a large fan and heat since located on the mother board which I am sure is the SSD.

Can you think of anything else I can do? If not, do you think it makes sense for me to take it to a computer store? It is only two years old.

In any case, thanks for you initial reply. It is very frustrating to the end user when this happens and your message provides a great deal of relief. Vic

[WAWood]

@VickyT1 

SSDs come in two very different forms. 

The oldest is SATA and it has the same shape and connectors as a laptop hard drive.  Inside the case, you would see two cables going to it -- a data cable and a larger power cable.

The newest is NVMe and it fits into a socket on the motherboard and it attached with a very small screw.  It has no cables.  It looks very much like a memory stick because that's basically what it is -- memory configured to work like a disk drive. They do not have fans and only the newest motherboards include heatsinks for the NVMe sticks.  The large fan would be for the CPU, not the SSD.

I am surprised any Tech would insist that your PC had an HDD without first opening the case to confirm what was inside.  That makes no sense to me.  The HP diagnostics are not reliable with SSDs so the test might pass, or even might not run, and the SSD could still be bad.  I've had several fail on me over the years, so they are not fail-proof.

You can do this yourself by attaching the SSD to a working PC, downloading the diagnostics utility from the SSD manufacturer and running it.  That will tell you if it is an issue.

Since the PC is probably out of warranty, it would do no harm to take it to a computer store and get an estimate for them to check out the SSD to determine if it has failed.