PC won't boot with 3F0 disk error

linxit · ‎05-31-2020

Yesterday I found my PC simply not working, and when I rebooted it I got the 3F0 hard disk error - Boot Device Not Found.

I ran the system diagnostics and both the short and long disk tests passed OK. I also downloaded the HP Diagnostics utility and booted that from USB, and it also passed all those tests.

I've tried disabling UEFI and enabling Legacy boot, still getting the same error.

I've tried booting it from a Linux Live USB and mounting the drive, but it refused to mount as it found metadata on the filesystem which is written when the system is hibernated rather than powered off.

Is there anything else I can try to get it to boot?

WAWood · ‎05-31-2020

@linxit

First off, if your PC came with Win10 preloaded, it was installed in UEFI mode -- and changing it to legacy mode accomplishes nothing.

Second, the best case might simply be that the boot files got corrupted and rebuilding them gets your PC booting again.

If your PC can not boot into Windows, a way around that is to follow the instructions below to create boot media from Macrium Reflect (MR) that can be used to rewrite/repair the boot media on your PC:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR) from this link on a working PC: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
2) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD

That will create MR bootable media. Then, you can boot your PC into WinPE using that media.

Have patience, as that can take a while to start and bring up the screen.

Once the screen is there, select the option to Fix Windows boot problems. It will then search for the OSs installed and list them, Select the one you want to repair and click Next.

It will now do the repairs, listing the things it has done.

When finished, select the option to Restart the PC.

If this worked, the boot repair succeeded and you will have your PC back.

***If my post helped, click the thumbs-up symbol to say thanks***

***Please mark Accept As Solution if my post solved your problem***

I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP

linxit · ‎06-01-2020

Thanks for the suggestion, but Macrium was unable to detect the hard disk. All it could find was the USB disk it was installed on and the CDROM drive.

So I seem to be stuck - Windows can't boot, but the BIOS Diagnostics say there's nothing wrong with the disk. My Linux Live CD can see the disk but can't mount it, although at least I'll be able to reformat it if I decide to give up!

There's a recovery partition on the disk, but I can't get to that either - selecting it from the options menu just returns me to the Boot Device Not Found screen.