Boot Device Not Found Error (3FO)

[RandomUserN]

Hello,

I have this less-than-one-year-old laptop (this guy: http://icecat.us/us/p/hp/l0n16ea/laptops-0889296492238-15-r208nl-26524145.html) and I am experiencing the infamous Boot Device Not Found Error.

I'm not sure whether this is relevant, but the problem arose some weeks after the upgrade to Windows 10 (when bought, laptop had Windows 8.1, probably an update from Windows 7).

Also, I noticed that basic operation during boot phase take a while. For instance, when I press F10, it takes about 1-2 minutes to bring up the BIOS setup screen.

There is a number of similar questions on this forum, but proposed solutions either are not applicable to my case or simply don't work. Here is what I've tried so far, with no success:

• hard reset
• reseating the hard drive
• automatic tools under recovery manager (that tool you access by pressing F11 during boot)***
• chkdsk and alike from the command prompt (to which I have access from the recovery manager tool)****

Note that, although the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics tool failed the hard drive test, apparently I can access my files in the hard disk from a Linux Live CD/USB (I managed to access them during a previous attempt, not sure whether this is reproducible).

I cannot test the hard drive on other PCs (as I have no other laptop to which I can plug the maybe-faulty drive), not I can try to plug another, non-faulty hard disk in for checking (as I don't have one).

Any suggestion?

I was given no installation CD/DVD (I guess I was supposed to use the recovery partition). In case I need a fresh installation, how can I recover my serial number?

*** the hard drive is not accessible, I cannot access recovery manager simply by pressing F11, I had to use an USB recovery medium

**** chkdsk and alike produce this error message: "cannot open volume for direct access"

[CherylG]

Since the notebook is less than a year old you are still under warranty. Fill out the form on this page to get your contact number to call.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/contact-hp/product/HP-15-r200-Notebook-PC-series/7486447/model/7835230

Btw, your> Specs page <says the laptop shipped with Windows 8.1

[RandomUserN]

Thank you for your quick answer.

Warranty is indeed an option, but I wondered whether there were alternative ways, so that I can fix the problem myself.

You're right, I meant "Windows 8.1". I edited my original post. Thanks!

[CherylG · Accepted solution]

It sounds very much like your hard drive has failed/is failing. Warranty would provide a new replacement- and probably send Recovery Media free since you didn't make yours.

You can make a Windows 10 usb or dvd using the free download from MS. No license key is needed since it has been activated once on the machine.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10/

Read the guide here on reinstalling a previously activated Windows 10:

http://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/

[RandomUserN]

Got it, thank you very much!