[Fixed] Boot Device Not Found Error in Windows 10/8/7

Updated by

Roxanne 

Written by

Jean 

Updated on May 21, 2024

Boot device not found error can occur unexpectedly when you start your laptop running Windows 10 or Windows 7. But, you can fix the boot device not found 3F0 error by following a set of methods below.

What Does Boot Device Not Found Mean

What is a boot device not found? A bootable device is not detected issue is one of the most common problems that occurs suddenly and unexpectedly and leaves people at a loss. This error code comes along with the message "Boot Device Not Found. Please install an operating system on your hard disk 3f0." What does the boot device not found mean? Simply speaking, your computer needs a boot device to start up properly. There should be one. But there are no bootable devices found on Dell or no bootable device on Acer.

When the problem occurs, you may see any of the following error messages on the screen:

• 'Boot device not found please install an operating system on your hard disk'
• 'No boot device found - insert boot disk and press any key'
• 'Boot device not found - hard disk (3f0)'
• 'No boot device is available

What Is the Cause of Boot Device Not Found

Boot device not found error occurs when the hard disk does not support the system boot process. As it indicates, Windows OS can't find a bootable device to boot from. Usually, it can be an internal hard drive, external USB drive, optical CD/DVD ROM drive, and network adapter.

Once the error shows up on your computer screen, the computer can on longer startup normally. Hence, you should take prompt measures right now to figure out what causes the bootable drive missing. Here in the following, you may use it as a reference.

• The wrong boot order in the BIOS
• Hard disk connection problem
• System files or boot files unknowingly damaged
• Master Boot Record (MBR) or boot sector is damaged on the bootable disk
• Other outside attacks, such as third-party system-protected applications, viruses, malware, etc.

If you are interested in the same topic in the notebook, click the link below:

[FIXED]No Bootable Image Found, Notebook Will Be Shutdown

When you receive the error message "No bootable image found, notebook will be shutdown", it means that you can't use your computer. EaseUS provides 6 effective fixes through professional technical advice and experimentation.

Top 5 Fixes for Boot Device Not Found Windows 10/8/7

With those factors in mind, you're suggested to start out fixing boot device not found error by following the recommended solutions below. We offer both video and text tutorials for you. 

1. Hard Reset Your Computer

A hard reset can re-establish the connection between BIOS and the hardware, which may fix the boot device not found 3F0 error.

• Turn off your computer. Remove the computer from any docking station, and then unplug the AC adapter from the computer.
• Now, press the power button for 15 seconds to drain the remaining power.
• Press the power button to start the system. Once the "Startup" menu appears, use the arrow keys to select "Start Windows normally", and press Enter.

2. Reset Hard Drive to Fix No Boot Device Found Issue

Resetting the hard drive may fix the boot device not found error if the error occurs because of some loose connections.

• Press the Power button for a few seconds to turn off the computer.
• Unplug the power cord. Now, disconnect and reconnect the hard drive.
• Reassemble the computer and restart it to see if it works seamlessly.

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3. Restore BIOS Default Settings and Modify PC Boot Order

To exclude the possibility that your computer is wrongly set to boot from an unbootable disk or device, you need to check the BIOS settings. Here, we take the hp computer as an example. To restore BIOS settings and make Windows OS detects the bootable hard disk, do as follows.

• Press the Power button and press the F10 key repeatedly to enter the BIOS setup menu. (depending on different manufacturers, instead of F10, it's maybe ESC, F1, F2, F8...)
• On the BIOS Setup screen, press F9 to select and load the BIOS Setup Default settings.
• Press F10 to Save and Exit.
• Use the arrow keys to select Yes, then press Enter when asked Exit Saving Changes.
• Follow the prompts to restart your computer.

If resetting the boot order solves the problem, good luck to you. If not, the issue can be a little tricky. Pay some effort with the workaround of how to use Bootrec.exe in the Windows RE to troubleshoot startup issues. If this method doesn't work for Windows 10 boot device not found issue, don't despair, try the next solution. 

4. Check Bad Sectors on the Bootable Hard Disk

Bad sectors are defective clusters of storage in hard drives that may develop due to physical damage. If there are bad sectors, the hard drive won't respond to read or write requests. So you need to detect and fix bad sectors to fix the boot drive not found error. 

EaseUS Partition Master, a professional partition and disk management tool, can help you do a surface test for bootable disk easily and quickly. Since you can't boot up the system on your current computer, you have to create a WinPE bootable disk at first and then boot your computer from the bootable disk to check and repair bad sectors.

Now, boot from the WinPE disk and Check and Fix the Bootable Hard Disk. 

Step 1. Open EaseUS Partition Master. Right-click the disk that you want to check, and then click "Surface Test".

Step 2. The operation will be immediately performed and all bad sectors will be marked as red.

Bad sectors can be divided into two categories: logical bad sectors and physical bad sectors. The former can be fixed by CHKDSK /F or SFC command lines, whereas if there are too many physical bad sectors on your hard disk that result in boot device not found issue, you may need to consider replacing it with a new disk.

5. Fix and Rebuild Damaged MBR

The Master Boot Record (MBR) is the information in the first sector of any hard disk or diskette that identifies how and where an operating system is located to be boot (loaded) into the computer's main storage or random access memory. So, boot device not found error can typically happen when MBR went wrong. MBR damage may be due to malware attack, disk failure, or MBR overwrite.  In this case, you can try to rebuild MBR to solve the problem.

Step 1. Create a WinPE bootable disk

• Launch EaseUS Partition Master, and click "Bootable Media" on the toolbar. Select "Create bootable media".
• Click "Next" to finish the process.

Step 2. Boot EaseUS Partition Master Bootable USB

• Connect the bootable USB or CD/DVD to your PC. 
• Press F2 or Del when you restart the computer to enter the BIOS screen. Set and boot your computer from "Removable Devices" or "CD-ROM Drive". And then EaseUS Partition Master will run automatically.

Step 3. Rebuild MBR

• Click "Toolkit" and choose "Rebuild MBR".

• Select the disk and the type of MBR. Then, click "Rebuild".

• After that, you can see "MBR has been successfully rebuilt on Disk X".

If none of the above methods resolves the boot device not found error in Windows 10, you can contact our technical support team to troubleshoot. 

Conclusion

The Windows 10 boot device not found error can turn your computer system into a malfunctioned machine. When you encounter this problem, don't need to fret; try out the efficient solutions in this guide to fix hard disk error code 3F0. If you can't do it by yourself, ask our expert for help.

Do you get any ideas from this article? If you do, don't hesitate to share it with your friends.

Boot Device Not Found FAQs

Read more about how to fix boot device not found on Windows 10.

1. How do I fix boot device not found?

To fix boot device not found in Windows 10, this page covers five approaches in all. You can try:

• Hard reset your computer and hard drive.
• Reconnect your hard drive.
• Restore BIOS default settings.
• Check and fix bad sectors.
• Check and rebuild MBR.

If these plans don't solve the problem, you can contact EaseUS's technical support team via [email protected] for help.

2. What causes boot device not found?

The possible causes of hard drive 3f0 error consist of:

• Incorrect boot sequence in the BIOS
• Master Boot Record (MBR) or boot sector is damaged
• The hard drive connection issue
• Malware attack
• Corrupt hard drive partitions
• Damaged hard drive

3. What do I do if my HP laptop says boot device not found?

As we mentioned in the above part, there are a few ways to solve the HP laptop boot device not found problem.

• Perform a hard reset
• Restore BIOS default settings
• Test the hard drive using HP PC Hardware Diagnostics
• Reset the hard drive
• Reinstall Windows on the hard disk