No Hard Drive Found

When I boot up my HP Pavillion I get the error message "No boot device found". But then I reboot and press F12 and go to the Onetime boot menu and I can select the hard drive and it goes to windows. But then when I restart, it happens again. Any ideas?Cmos battery?

 

As in the sticky at the top of this forum:
When asking for support please tell us about your computer!
There are multiple Pavilion models and Operating systems.

 

I have had this experience, when the hard drive moved, nd was not in ful contact- like if it is jarred at some time, putting it down, or,if the caddy has not been used on a refurbishment.
Otherwise, it is possible that the hard drive is getting suspect.
Check it by running CHKDSK /R- START, RUN, AND TYPE IN CHKDSK /R, and restarting, for it to check it, and possibly repair if needed.

 

Thanks, but the drive was toast. I put another smaller drive in and it works well. I just have to get another 1tb drive and locate some restore media for this pc. Thanks!

 

I can't use any of those commands because the drive won't spin up. I have to replace it. But thanks for the reply!

 

It is the most logical answer, but we will always offer ways to test/check, if it is possible- hard luck.......it happens, unfortunately, even on relatively new hard drives.

 

My computer is a Dell inspiron 5348. After some research I found that it shipped with Windows 8. I have later determined that the hard drive crashed. I put in another drive with windows 7 already loaded and the PC boots up now just fine. But I want to put Win-10 on it. And it will not allow me to upgrade from Win-7. So I decided to try to reinstall win-8 (what it had when purchased) but the directions for the re installation of that is crazy! http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/OSISO. Can you understand all of that? I tried and it didn't work. Thanks

 

My computer is a Dell inspiron 5348. After some research I found that it shipped with Windows 8. I have later determined that the hard drive crashed. I put in another drive with windows 7 already loaded and the PC boots up now just fine. But I want to put Win-10 on it. And it will not allow me to upgrade from Win-7. So I decided to try to reinstall win-8 (what it had when purchased) but the directions for the re installation of that, is crazy

 

Unless you are a registered user of assistive technology, the option to upgrade any personal Win 7 or 8 system to Win 10 for free ended in July 2016. You must pay for an upgrade.

 

Well thanks but I'd be happy just getting win-8.1 back on it. That would make it productive again anyway.

 

If it had 8.1 on it when it went south, MS servers should still recognise the COA product key - which they know from that system's Motherboard so as long as that has not been replaced, you can do a full reinstall using the MS Media Creation Tool https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/15088/windows-create-installation-media

 

Your link goes to a place called PlaceHolder instead of the Dell Support site.

 

This tool will download any Windows 7/ 8,8.1, and 10
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/universal_windows_downloader.html

 

That link works just fine for me and takes me directly to the site the OP got.
However, as it does not work for them, my view is very clear - use the Media Creation Tool to do a reinstall of Windows 8.1. It's a very simple process requiring no other software.

 

Link works O.K for me, too Max, mdonah - It is easier to sort out with the media creation tool,and if needed,-I offered the windows downloader as a second method, should Tonyrush not get to the other link and the iso required.

 

Fortunately, if the OP uses a blank USB Pen drive with at least 6gb of free space there is no need to burn an ISO file to a DVD-R.