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An expert tool for recovering lost partitions

How to Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device

Here you will find out:

  • how to reboot or select proper boot device
  • methods of how to do it
  • when DiskInternals can help you

Are you ready? Let's read!

Reboot or select proper boot device

There are situations when, if the computer boots up, you see the message on the monitor screen: "reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media." This is usually due to the fact that, for some reason, the BIOS cannot find the boot device on which the OS is installed. This error can occur in any version of Windows, and from experience, we can say that it happens more often on Acer, ASUS, Toshiba, and Gigabyte laptops. As a result, you cannot even boot or reboot the system.

This post will help you cope with the problem and possibly prevent the loss of files in the process.

Reasons for the issue

If you receive the error “when booting, reboot or select a proper boot device,” then you must clearly understand why this happened.

Let’s start with the most common reasons:

  • The boot sequence in the BIOS is broken, causing the computer to try to boot from the wrong source.
  • The partition with boot files is set as inactive. This can happen due to viruses, power surges, disk write errors, etc.
  • Damaged master boot record or boot files.
  • The BIOS is unable to detect the boot drive due to a faulty or improperly connected cable, a broken SATA connector, or a dead hard drive.
  • There is always an option as well that the boot disk is not working, especially if it has long expired.

Method 1. Check the Boot Menu

Turn off the computer and then turn it back on to open the BIOS menu.

To do this, use the special keys according to your computer manufacturer, then select the partition in the BIOS menu Boot. Here, you need to make sure that the boot order is correct: first, your computer’s hard drive must be specified. After that, save all the changes and restart your computer - no errors should appear anymore. If you still see the message “reboot and select proper boot device windows 10,” do not give up, there are several more effective methods.

Method 2. If you have UEFI, not BIOS

When you have UEFI installed, the error under investigation may be felt due to the active Legacy mode. Then, it is clear what needs to be done - just turn off this mode and try to restart the computer.

So, turn off your computer and turn it on again to bring up the UEFI menu. To do this, you need to press the function key according to your computer model. This is often the F8 key, but there may be other options, so be careful. Now in the UEFI menu, open the Security section, then you will need the Legacy Support tab. You will find the feature chkdsk / r in the Legacy section - disable it and save these settings. Now restart your computer again - everything should go perfectly.

Method 3. CHKDSK may help

It can also be worthwhile to use the free utility chkdsk. However, be careful to restore the necessary data from the disk or make a disk image before doing so. For these purposes, you need DiskInternals Partition Recovery - this is ideal since the application is universal.

With it, you can:

  • perform deep data recovery;
  • perform fast file recovery;
  • open any files in reading mode;
  • create a disk image.

The application is shareware. That is, you do all the stages of recovery at no cost, including creating a disk image and previewing, and only data export requires license purchase. You don't need to worry about the professional qualities of this utility. Here, scanning occurs on every disk with the possible transformation of any file system. Hence, you can recover any file format of various sizes up to 1 PB. Once you have a backup of your data in a reliable source, immediately start checking the disk with chkdsk.

Boot from the installation disk and open a command prompt with administrative rights. Here, enter one command: chkdsk / r and click Enter. Once the fix is over, restart your computer.

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