Boot Device Not Found

[Tankk]

So my mom opened her laptop this morning to this message. 

Boot Device Not Found

Please install an operating system on your hard disk.

Hard Disk (3FO)

F2 System Dignostics

For more information, please visit: www.hp.com/go/techcenter/startup

So I ran memory and hard disk diagnostics and they both pass. Kinda stuck at what to do next

[CherylG]

I think it may still turn out to be hard drive failure even though it passed. However, I would try a System Recovery to see if it works.Step by step guide here:

http://hp.dezide.com/ts/start.jsp?guide=HPSystemRecovery.net&as=true&SFS=sdoc§ion=ccweb

[Tankk]

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, when I did as the instructions asked, pressing "F11" did nothing. I got the same "Boot Device Not Found" message. So probably a hard drive failure. Once I'm able to get a new hard drive, how do I go about reinstalling Windows 10?

[CherylG]

The article has a shortcoming I forgot to mention. Usually it is neccesary to start tapping the Esc key as soon as you power on. That will stop the laptop from trying to boot from the hard drive and will open a menu where F11 System Recovery is an option. Not sure why HP doesn't have that step in the document. Some laptops may work with just F11 but most do not.

[El_Heisenberg]

So "Boot Device Not Found, Please install an operating system on your hard disk" from my own experience simply means that the computer cannot access the start-up files from the hard drive/disk to start Windows, therefore, the system suggests that you must install a new copy of Windows. Another way would be to boot (start Windows) from a startup floppy diskette, only this isn't the year 2000 and no one probably has floppy drives attached to computers anymore. Therefore, the easiest solution would be to use a Windows 10 installation copy DVD and choosing the "Boot from CD" option in your BIOS configuration (check bootup onscreen prompt and press relevant key) and then saving changes and restarting the PC, then finally pressing any button when prompted to "Boot from CD". If you do not have a DVD/CD drive, you can easily make a bootable USB drive by following this link;

https://support.microsoft.com/en-za/help/4026852/windows-create-a-recovery-drive

Hope this solvesyour problem. If you like my response, please  press the Kudos (thumbs up) button on the left corner of the screen.