Intermittent 'Boot device not found' message

[cnfcomps]

Hi,

I am troubleshooting an intermittent boot problem with an HP 14s-dq1508sa (P/N: 1E0R1EA) laptop. Sometimes, an error appears at start-up:

Boot device not found.

Install an operating system on your hard disk

Hard disk (3FO)

F2 system diagnostic

After restarting the laptop it boots up normally. This first started to happen when the laptop was under warranty, and was repaired. The same problem is occuring again and the laptop is now out of warranty. To try and solve it I have:

- Run diagnostics on the SSD (everything passes OK).

- Carried out a clean installation of Windows 11.

- Updated the BIOS to the latest available version (now F.34).

- Reset BIOS settings to factory defaults.

- Replaced the SSD with a Samsung model and then a WD model.

The fustrating thing is after doing all these things, the laptop appears to work completely fine, but after a period of time (typically a week or two), the message re-appears. Following a restart the laptop works normally again until the next time it appears.

Does anyone have any ideas what else I could try? Thanks for reading and for any suggestions anyone can give.

[Nal_NR]

Hi @cnfcomps,

Welcome to the HP Support Community. 

I'd be happy to help you! 

Excellent description and a great diagnosis. It is greatly appreciated.           

This looks like a hardware issue. 

If you have performed all the steps from this document and still having issues, I recommend you contact phone support. 

For that to happen, we will give you additional instructions/information via Private Message.

Please check your inbox on the forums page for the private message.

Please mark this post as “Accepted Solution” if the issue is resolved and if you feel this reply was helpful click “Yes”.

[cnfcomps]

Thanks for your advice but as the laptop was already repaired by HP during the warranty period I am not confident that an out of warranty repair would permanently resolve the problem.

I will wait and see if anybody else has any suggestions.