Notebook 15-bs Will Not Boot to Windows 2

[JoulesM]

{22-11-24 @ 10:30 EDT}

HP Notebook - 15-bs

Windows 10 22H2

My HP will not boot to Windows Sign-in Screen

The HP went to Sleep after not being used for a while. The PC would not awaken. In the past, the PC functioned properly with 22H2 installed.

A.) Results from Diagnostics {F2}

HP Hardware Diagnostics UEFI (v1.24.0.0)

Passed: quick memory test

Message: quick HDD test

NO hard drive installed--check the connection of data & power cables

B.) I cannot enter Safe Mode {F11} from a Command Prompt: 

Microsoft Windows (v10.0.19041.1)

"x:\windows\system32> bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal"

I receive error messages: 

"The boot configuration data store could not be opened."

"The requested system device cannot be found."

Any ideas of the problem or suggestions would be appreciated.

[tk_srq]

@JoulesM,

Apparently, BCD on your laptop is corrupted. BCD is a critical file that Windows Boot Manager uses to boot Windows. The second error results from the BCD error.

I had the same errors a while ago and rebuilt BCD data via bcdboot command in command prompt. You can try it to resolve your problem. 

BCD resides in efi partition and it's a hidden partition. The first thing you need to do is identify the boot disk. Open the command prompt from F11 and type diskpart at the prompt and type list disk. can you post a screen shot?

[JoulesM]

{22-11-26 @ 09:03 EDT}

@Tk_srq,

What you are saying is that I do not have a problem with my HDD, correct? If so, good news!

Before I proceed with your suggestion, which I greatly appreciate, here are the results of more tests for your review. 

I created a USB for and used HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI For FTP only (Win7/8/8.1/10 32/64-bit) VERSION: 8.8.0.0. Here are the results:

1. Storage: "No storage installed. Please check that the power and data cables are connected properly."
2. System Extensive Test: Refer to the attached file. {No HDD to access?}

After consideration of these latest results, should I attempt to replace the BCD file or is something else indicated?

Thank you.

Attachment: PC3 System Extensive Test (9) 22-11-25.jpg

 

[tk_srq]

@JoulesM,

Your hard drive has at least three partitions, efi, Windows and recovery. You pressed F11 and selected command prompt (CMD) from Advanced options, which was stored in recovery partition. You then tried to open Windows safe mode from CMD but failed with BCD error displayed. BCD data is stored in efi partition.

HP Diagnostics UEFI didn't detect the hard drive. Yet your CMD operation actually accessed the two partitions on the drive. So, I don't know if the drive is bad or not at this time. What you can do is fix the BCD error and let Windows Boot Manager run, which in turn launches Winload.exe from Windows partition to load system files and all drivers. 

If Windows boots successfully, then you can run a diagnostics tool from your hard drive manufacturer's website. If the tool shows no error, then you know HP diagnostics error is a false alarm. 

If Windows still doesn't boot, you may replace the drive with a new one, or if you have another working computer and a SATA to USB adaptor, you can connect the drive to another computer via an adaptor and run a manufacturer's tool. If the drive turns out ok, you can put the drive back in and reinstall Windows 10. If it's bad, you have no choice but get a new drive.

If you still want to fix the BCD error, please run the following command lines in CMD and post a screen shot that includes the lists of partitions and volumes (most likely you hard drive is disk 0 so you don't need to run list disk command). Click Enter after each command line:

diskpart

select disk 0

list partition

list volume

[JoulesM]

{22-11-27 @ 09:26 EDT}

@Tk_srq,

Thanks for your help, it is appreciated. Unfortunately, I cannot detect any disk in my PC3. Here is the information that you requested. I hope that you can diagnose the problem from it.

Attachment: PC 3 Problem diskpart 22-11-27.jpg

 

[tk_srq]

@JoulesM,

Please see the link below that provides possible solutions for diskpart error "there are no fixed disks to show." Fix#2 doesn't apply to you, as you didn't get a VMware error. Fix#3 requires a Win10 installation USB disk from Media Creation Tool. So, you can try #4 and then #1. If neither one works, unfortunately I don't have any more suggestions to give you. 

[content removed]

[JoulesM]

{22-11-28 @ 08:16 EST}

@Tk_srq,

Thanks for the suggestions. By "unfortunately I don't have any more suggestions to give you" you mean that the HDD needs replacement, correct?  Would that really be your last suggestion?

Thank you.

[tk_srq]

Yes, if you don't have any other options, replacing a hard drive would be a last option.

[JoulesM]

{22-12-14 @ 09:02 EST}

@Tk_srq,

Thanks for your help with my HP 15-bs Laptop (PC3) disk problem. I could not detect the HDD even using the HP UEFI Diagnostics USB, which I created, so I decided to replace the HDD.

I replaced my 1-TB HDD with a Crucial MX500, 1-TB SSD ($69) and the results are astonishing. I was able to open Google Chrome including entering my password on the Windows Sign-on Screen from a cold boot in just 36 seconds. I have an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz 2.00 GHz ( Max Turbo Frequency of 3.90 GHz) Processor with Installed RAM of 8.00 GB.