Pavilion 23 all-in-one. Unable to resolve a boot failures

[Terndn]

It started with a PXE issue. i got the message on start up, all of a sudden

Checking  Media Presence

Media  Present

Start PXE over IPv4

And then nothing. The message just stay here on the screen and won't proceed with anything. Restart would bring it up again in 3 cases out of 5. Googled it up.

I disabled secure boot, enabled legacy boot, checked boot order, disabled network boot completely and everything become ok for a while.

Anti virus scans showed nothing, but overall performance become a bit pure.

Anyway. After a while, got the following message:

no boot disk has been detected or the disk has failed

I performed the hard drive tests via HP diagnostics, but everything was marked as PASSED and no error occurred.

I then reseted the BIOS setting to default and restarted my PC.

Then have tried the "refresh your PC" option but halfway through got another error about invalid secure boot signature or something. 

BIOS->Disable Secure boot/Enable legacy boot and upon restart i got the PXE error telling me that No Boot Filename Received. Disabling my adapter in boot order would bring the "No boot disk has been detected" error, predictably. 

So, currently, i am unable neither to reset Win 8 or to boot at all.

I can't recall whether i got a Win8 disc with my PC or not. At least i can't find one 🙂

And i don't have a recovery disc either.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Dunidar]

Hello Terndn,

Welcome to the HP Forums, I hope you enjoy your experience! To help you get the most out of the HP Forums I would like to direct your attention to the HP Forums Guide First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More.

I can see that you are having issues getting your HP Pavilion 23 AiO computer to boot up. Just so you know the PEX is the option to boot from a network source, in fact you disabled it at one point according to your post. I believe from what I have read your hard drive has failed and your computer's BIOS is seeking a bootable device. Since you reset your BIOS after you disabled network boot it was reset and probably re-enabled again. As your computer cannot find a disc in the Optical drive or a hard drive to boot from it is looking on the network.

The issue you are describing appears to be a physical issue and I think it would be best if you contact HP Technical Support for repair options.

I would like to thank you for posting on the HP Forums. Have a great day!

[Terndn]

Thank you for your reply!
There is a situation update of sorts.

Right after PC power on i hit ESC to access the options, then go to run UEFI application->file browser -> HDD-> <EFI> -> <BOOT> -> BOOTX64.EFI, and this made it possible to resume the "PC refresh" i was trying to perform lately.

 The Windows got itself refreshed successfully and everything seemed to work fine, BUT as soon as i go for restart it brings me back to the same no boot disk has been detected or the disk has failed. 

 And yet, going through the same procedure of ESC on start up->run UEFI application->file browser <...> ->BOOTX64.EFI would make for a successful boot and the Windows running OK.

 At least It seems like the HDD isn't dead completely, but for some reason the system is unable to boot from it directly anyway. Is there any chance to bypass it? Does the aforementioned change anything for me regarding further actions, or should i go for suggested repair option regardless?

__

 I will sum up the whole issue right from the start with all the steps i took:

1.Got the message of PC trying to boot via PXE on the start up for no clear reason. It would continue to pop up randomly on the other start ups, leading to force-restarts to get past it.

2. disabled secure boot, enabled legacy boot, checked boot order, disabled network boot completely and everything became OK for a while.  No malware detected either though i can't say if anti-virus was making its job perfectly.

3. Few days later got the message that no boot disk has been detected or the disk has failed.

4. Performed HDD diagnostics, but everything was marked as PASSED and no error occurred.

5. Got BIOS reseted to defaults which, upon restart, gave me the acces to Windows troubleshoot where i chose the "Refresh your PC without losing your files" option.

6. Halfway through the refreshing process the error about invalid secure boot signature appeared.

7. Made secure boot disabled again, legacy boot enabled, then restart.

8. With secure boot disabled PC made an attempt to boot via PXE with "No Boot Filename Received" error.

9. Made network adapter disabled again in the boot order in BIOS. Restarted  PC and got "no boot disk has been detected or the disk has failed" error. Seemed like PC has run out of options to boot from. And so did i:)

10. Later: ESC on start up-> run UEFI application->file browser -> HDD-> <EFI> -> <BOOT> -> BOOTX64.EFI and halted windows refresh resumes. Although with two freezes in the process.

11. Windows refreshed successfully, all seems to work fine, but upon restart there is another "no boot disk has been detected or the disk has failed".

12. Yet , going through  the "run UEFI application -> BOOTX64.EFI" again would make it through up to working Windows.

P.s. I just recalled that the first attempt of my PC to boot via PXE occurred after i installed a game from a DVD. The game was deleted shortly after, but the troubles persisted. Hardly any connection here so just to make a whole picture complete.

Thank you for your time and help!

[Dunidar]

Hello again Terndn,

Thank you for the update on your issue. I would recommend that you tap the F11 key while your computer starts up and run the hardware diagnostics tests on your hard drive. I suspect that you hard drive may be on the way out and is starting to exhibit issues as a result. I know you have already run diagnostics on your hard drive and if you have run this test you do not have to repeat, but if you ran a different test I would recommend you run this one to be sure.

Regardless of the results of the test I think it would be best if you contact HP Technical Support for repair options. Having the tests done will speed up the call and reduce the amount of time it takes to resolve your issue.

I would like to thank you for posting on the HP Forums. Have a great day!

[Terndn]

Thank you for your help!

[straycat1042]

I currently have 2 Hp Pavilion 23 AIO pc's in my shop.

One is a repeat.it was having these no boot issues. now both of them are here for the same reason.

I stumbled upon the reason for the boot failure last time it was here, and "repaired" both of them this time very quickly as it was the same issue. 

And having this issue on 2 of the same computers tells me that it is a systemic problem, but the kind that the usual diagnostics just won't address.

Funny, that it turns out to be a time honored issue that still happens to crop up even these days.

The contacts on the connection to the SATA drive are oxidyzing. either on the drive side or the connector side. especially in the power connection. You can sometimes hear the drive making multiple attempts to spin up, only to find it does not have enough current to do so.

OK, enough background, anyone care to hear the solution???

After removing the back cover, loosen the screw on the cage that holds the SATA hard drive.

then slide the cage over to disconnect the drive from the connector, then slide it back.

repeat this process about 10- 20 times

reboot and see if it will boot normally.

if not repeat a few more times.

as you disconnect and reconnect the drive you are sliding the metal connectors against each other and this will rub off the oxidation enough to make good contact with the drive.

Unfortunately, it looks like the same thing will happen in a few months. This must just be an unfortunate combination of the choice of metals used or an issue with heating and cooling cycles.

I repaired both today in about 30 minutes. just an old mechanical problem. I know we all hated those nasty molex power connectors on drives, but they did keep their contact much better then the new sata drive power connectors.

Hope this helps some -

- StrayCat1042

[CoscoTech]

You were spot on with this one. 

In my case it was the sata power connection on the mobo side.  

The drive was also continuously trying to power up and failing. 

I disconnected and reconnected a few times and voila my drive powered up smoothly and came back to life. 

Thanks you for reducing hours of wasted time I will never get back.

[Scruggs392]

StrayCat1042

I am having the exact issue that you described, however I have made several attemps to perform the fix that you posted with no luck at all, has the oxidyzing always been at the hard drive end? Or could it be on the motherboard side?