Boot Device Not Found (3FO) After Restalling Windows 8 from Recovery Disks

[TechLobster123]

Question: Are the recovery disks literally an image file? If so, is it possible to connect the laptop harddrive to my desktop (using a 2.5" external bay) and (after combining the DVDs into a single image) plop it onto a formatted drive? I am sure this wouldn't work, and I'd have to buy the bay, but I am willing to try whatever...

Thoughts?

[FlashRam1714]

Hello @TechLobster123,

You're right it shouldn't be this difficult to install the OS onto a HDD. 

Before purchasing any more accessories you can try restoring the BIOS which will cause the motherboard to research the hardware inside the computer.

HP Notebook PCs - Restoring the BIOS

Hard drives should be interchangeable so installing the OS when it is inserted on one computer and then inserting it into this shouldn't cause any issues.

Post back with the results. 

[TechLobster123]

So I downloaded and made the BIOS recovery USB as per the instructions on the linked page. Inserted it into the laptop, held Windows + B and powered it on. The linked page says I should see an HP BIOS restore program, but I just get a blank screen with the caps lock light flashing on and off in 1s intervals.

[TechLobster123]

Ok, just to make absolutely sure I didn't goof something up, I put back in the original failing/failed HDD and it booted fine to W10 user login screen.

It logs in but as soon as W10 desktop appears it slows to a complete crawl and is unusable. But maybe I can clone what I can and somehow can be used to get one of my new drives up and running.

I am very confused over this entire thing...

[TechLobster123]

Cautious optimism: using the failed drive to boot into the HP tools (F2 after the detected SMART HDD failure) I was able to finally get into the BIOS management and after creating the BIOS image file (instead of the bootable USB).

I've updated BIOS from F.21 to latest F.25A. After untold hours this is my first bit of success, I'll try putting back in the new HDD or SSD tomorrow.

[TechLobster123]

Well I'm still lost.

I put back in the new 1TB HDD and still no drive was listed in the places to install. Went into command prompt using the Wondows 8 iso (Repair > advanced > command prompt). I ran dispart and LIST DISK says that there is no fixed disks to show

After that, I downloaded a Linux distribution (Zorin 9) and it successfully installed onto the drive, but I couldn't get it to load after it finished installing (I believe it had to do with display issues) and since I'd prefer to use Windows I didn't feel like trouble shooting the Linux install. But the fact that it installed to the HDD fine was a promising sign that I should be able to get Windows going.

So I again booted Parted Magic, wrote 0's to entire 1Tb (took forever). And rebooted Windows 8 .ISO disk. This time the drive showed up as unalotted space in the "where would you like to install windows" page. However, when I clicked that and next it hung up for 5-10 minutes and nothing happened (blue active circle went back to cursor). So I clicked unalotted space and when I clicked new partition, the drive disappeared again and is once again not detected in diskpart.

Long story short I'm no closer to a solution then when I started.

[TechLobster123]

I am finally reinstalling windows 8.1 from the Microsoft .iso. I was starting to wonder if I got a DOA HDD, so I returned it to Best Buy and grabbed a WD one instead of the Seagate I had. Popped it in, and Windows installer had no problems.

So the SSD wasn't working because it was an unsupported size (thank you @flashram1714) and the first 1Tb HDD was just DOA I think.

If everything goes right with the install my next post should be from my up and running ENVY. Fingers crossed!

[TechLobster123 · Accepted solution]

FINALLY SUCCESS!

After much frustration and more restarts, partitions, reinstalls, and trips to Best Buy than I care to remember I am finally typing this from my working stable ENVY in Windows 8.1. Currently downloading Windows 10 and installing all updates but everything looks stable.

To make a long story short:

- Make sure to read the product manual VERY carefully 

I would have never guessed that this system would only support a 160 or 180Gb SSD. If I had of known this I likely would never had any serious issue.

- Instead of ordering the HP Recovery disks just download the Windows 8 ISO file 

I am not the first person to have issues with these disks (search this forum for numerous complaints), so unless you desparately want the included HP tools and bloat, just get a clean file from Microsoft (FREE!). There is no reason why it shouldn't work and I wish I would have went with my gut here and saved a few bucks.

- Be persistant if you can't find the issue

I was told by numerous people that the machine was bricked. By then I was obsessed with making it work since no one could tell me why it wouldn't.

Thanks for reading! And if you are having a similar error, good luck.

[FlashRam1714]

Hello @TechLobster123,

Thank you for all of the useful information!

It looks like it was a pretty busy weekend. I'm glad you got the operating system installed and the computer working.

Have a great day!