HP Envy - Hard Disk (3F0) - Laptop Won't Boot Up - mSATA mSSD acceleration cache? / battery error

[AmPatel71]

Product Name: HP ENVY TouchSmart 15 Notebook PC w/Intel I7 & Nvidia GeForce

Name: HP ENVY 15t-j000 Quad Edition CTO Notebook PC

Product #: C8P47AV

OS (the machine originally came with Windows 8 Pro x64-bit

Upgraded OS (that was running up until now Windows 10 Pro x64-bit

Issue:

The laptop stopped booting up into Windows 10, but I am not sure what the problem is if anyone can help?

The laptop is old and retired per HP, but has been chugging along for me despite the battery not holding charge for more than a few minutes. I had to keep it plugged in whenever it was in use so it would stay powered on while being used.

When the issue happened...:

• The laptop was booted up and running fine and appeared to have locked up because it was not responsive.
  In response, I tried the power button to power it down. Once it was powered down, I pressed the power button again to boot it up, and I got a soft (internal?) beeping sound.
• It said something about the bettery not having charge or something. (From power off, to on again, it always beeps now because of this.)
• I already know the laptop battery was not holding charge, but this message+beeping never happened before.
  There is an internal CR-2032 button cell battery inside the back next to the 24GB mSATA mSSD (for Intel Rapid Storage Technology [IRST] to use for acceleration cache).
  My understanding (from here: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/HP-notebook-SSD-drive-appears-...) is that IRST uses a little over 20GB for acceleration cache by default and
  the part being used as cache is fused to the main drive as a kind of RAID array so it ceases to be a separate identifiable partition.

By pressing Ctrl+I, I saw the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Option ROM menu:

The Intel Rapid Storage Technology Option ROM menu only allows me to highlight/select Option 3 and Option 6 below:

• XX 1. Create RAID Volume
• XX 2. Delete RAID Volume
• --> 3. Reset Disks to Non-RAID
• XX 4. Recovery Volume Options
• XX 5. Acceleration Options
• --> 6. Exit

This is what is displayed in the IRST ROM menu:
--------------------------------------
RAID Volumes:
ID| Name| Level| Strip| Size| Status| Bootable|
0| Data_Volume| RAID0(Stripe)| 128KB| 3.8GB| Normal| Yes|
1| Cache_Volume| RAID0(Cache)| 128KB| 18.6GB| Disabled| No|

Physical Devices:
ID| Device Model| Serial #| Size| Type/Status(Vol ID)|
1| LITEONIT LMS-24L 002322101777| 22.3GB| Cache Disk(0,1)

--------------------------------------

Note: I intentionally typed the 'Serial #' incorrectly above, just to show as an example.

When I boot up, I see a black screen, but at the top, there is a sequence of strange red hieroglyphic symbols across the top of the screen.

If I leave it alone and press nothing, eventually, the computer goes to a Windows Boot Manager screen that shows the following text and then it powers down by itself after some time passes:

--------------------------------------
WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next."
3. Click "Repair your computer."

If you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.

Status: 0xc0000185
Info: A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed.
--------------------------------------

The screen gives the option to OS Selection by hitting ENTER. I did that and was happy to see it say, "Windows 10" as an OS to start. So I clicked Enter to start it, but it errored out again and took me to the OS selection again.

Under Tools, there was an option to try the Windows Memory Diagnostics, which I tried and it errored out again. This time, the File was added and the Info text was updated:

--------------------------------------
Same text as above from WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER, but this at the bottom:

File: \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\memtest.efi
Status: 0xc0000185
Info: The application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors.
--------------------------------------

I may have pressed F8 or F9 or something and got into the Boot Manager menu that gave me an option to Boot from:

• OS boot Manager
• Boot from EFI File
• Notebook Hard Drive

I selected Notebook Hard Drive and got the message:
--------------------------------------
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key
--------------------------------------

Now whenever I try I generally see these 3 error message lines:
--------------------------------------

• Boot Device Not Found
• Please install an operating system on your hard disk.
• Hard Disk (3F0)

--------------------------------------

...and it gives the option to press F2 to go into Diagnostics:
I ran both and they showed passed...

Memory Test - PASSED
Hard Drive Check (Quick) - PASSED

I pressed F10 to enter the BIOS and go into the System Configuration menu to the Boot Options.

I saw that Legacy Support was Enabled (w/Secure Boot Disabled) and changed it to Disabled, and rebooted, but no difference...the 3F0 message above showed up.

• Perhaps the button cell battery is dead. I will replace that first and maybe that will magically fix things.
• Perhaps the hard drive is dead and/or corrupt? Maybe a partition got jacked up somehow?...not sure. If it's dead, why did the hard drive check pass?
• Maybe i'm supposed to see another line for the hard drive in the IRST ROM menu, and it's actually dead and not showing up to be checked?
• I really would like to be able to recover whatever I might be able to if the drive is not dead. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
• I did not see an obvious way to take the drive out, but I might need to do that and get it plugged into some sort of USB adapter or something.
• There is a plastic panel on the bottom that exposes the hard drive, the SSD, and the battery...maybe there is a Youtube video or documentation link someone can recommend?
• It looks to have some weird metal plate holding it in. Don't want to mess with it until I can see how to properly pull it out.

The way I see it....

• Best case, I missed something and there is a way to restore this thing.
• Ok case, maybe I can pull the drive out and access it externally on a working machine to either backup files off of it.
• Bad case, my drive is dead and the SSD is good....I can just get another drive and install Windows and at least use the computer again even if I lost all of my data.
• Worst case, my drive is dead, and the SSD is messed up, and I lost all my files, and potentially other hardware is messed up that will not allow me to use the computer.

I think I had a USB boot stick that allows you to try to image a hard drive or something via USB or network...if anyone has any good tools for this sort of a thing, please let me know.

I appreciate any thoughts, suggestions anyone here might have.

Thank you in advance!

Labels: Windows 10 Pro x64, HP Envy, mSATA mSSD, Hard Disk Drive, No Boot, Low Battery Charge

[banhien]

@AmPatel71 

Please use the following Official Guide to fix

                        HP PCs - Hard disk 3F0 boot device not found error

Regards.