Boot device not detected

[Rexxy]

My Pavilion laptop just won't boot up. I've done all the troubleshooting steps from the HP website and windows stop code website but no progress.  I initially see the HP logo;

• sometimes I see "preparing automatic repair" which does absolutely nothing (several of the options are greyed out)
• sometimes I get a blue screen and a stop code message from windows "inaccessible boot device"
• sometimes I just get a black screen with the message :boot device not detected" or something similar

It's just over 2 years old and mostly just sits on my desk and has a pretty easy life.  There have been a couple of updates last few days.

Any suggestions?

[WAWood]

@Rexxy 

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 hard drive: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00439024

If not, to check the drive 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.

[Rexxy]

Thanks WAWood, appreciate the effort you have gone to. I've been away for work for 3 days and back onto this now. Alas I haven't got far.

I tried the F10 method to bring up the BIOS menu but that didn't work.. So I tried opton 2 with ESC and that brought up the startup menu.

F1 System Information

F2 System Diagnostics

F9 Boot device options

F10 BIOS setup

F11 System recovery

None of them are "test hard drive".  I looked through each of them checking what menu options were available.  Couldn't see test hard drive anywhere.  I looked at the BIOS setup menu and there was no Primary Hard Disk Self Test screen.

I clicked F2 anyway just to see what happens and the screen went blank and nothing happened.

Hope you can guide me further down this rabbit warren.  I've got a USB stick with a recovery Windows 10 file on it ready to go but understand your point about checking the hard drive first.

Cheers

[Rexxy]

Forgot to mention what the BIOS menu had on it (I tried the F10 option again when rebooting and it worked, but it was the same menu I had already see via the ESC option).

Main

Security

System Configuration

Exit

I notice that the link you sent me to try the Primary Hard Disk Self Test also has Diagnostics which is where the Primary Hard Disk Self Test option sits. I do not have Diagnostics in the menu.

[Rexxy]

I just kept reading more on that link you gave me and booted up with F2 and found the UEFI menu which included Hard Drive Check. I'm sure this is not good. Message says:

Testing Drive 1

SMART Check : WARNING (1: NOT AVAILABLE)

Short DST: NOT AVAILABLE (1: NOT AVAILABLE)

[WAWood]

@Rexxy 

According to the HP specs on your model laptop, it came with a 2TB standard laptop SATA drive -- so I fail to understand why the HP diagnostics won't run on that, since they have no issues working on standard SATA drives.

All I can suggest is replacing the drive and trying the diagnostics (F2) again to try and test the new drive.