HP Pavilion x360 Boot Device Not Found 3F0 on 2022-01-01 and there is no legacy support to disable

[ERKnutson]

To start 2022, my laptop suddenly said it experienced an error and had to restart but upon restart a black screen background with "Boot Device Not Found" and "Hard Disk - 3F0". The disk checks passed. There is no legacy support to disable as an attempted fix. I tried disabling secure boot but that did not fix the problem. If I press F11 nothing happens so I cannot explore or try any recovery. The new year might be coincidence but not necessarily. I have not done anything unusual with the computer and run it in S Mode, so a clean usage by me. The warranty expired in December of 2021. This feels like a bug, not hardware. How to fix?

[WAWood]

@ERKnutson 

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.

[ERKnutson]

The Hard Drive/SSD Tests check passes, both the Quick Check and the Extensive Check. The pressing Esc multiple times showed an F11 option and I tried pressing F11 because it did not work for me in a slightly different context but it did not work here either with no result. Thanks for helping!

[ERKnutson]

The laptop is just barely past one year warranty. It was a lower end laptop as I began the change from Apple back to Windows, and I intended to get a higher end laptop later and hand this one down to family. A failure after one year that seems like software in some sense is concerning. I will need to fix this or else walk away.

[ERKnutson]

The hard drive checks pass. I created a bootable memory stick. The Windows install comes up fine using that (and I get a cursor if I plug in a mouse). The install does not work and the diagnostics do not work. I am out of things to try other than taking the laptop apart and that looks rather difficult and unlikely to offer a solution. This looks like the end of the road going from Apple to HP Windows. A laptop failing a couple weeks after one year warranty is a bad experience.

[ERKnutson · Accepted solution]

In conclusion, I think the problem is defective hardware and I am not going to attempt opening the laptop or pursuing repairs. I ordered a Lenovo to continue my step by step family migration from Apple to Windows.