"No Bootable Device" problem Acer Extensa 2540

I have had an Acer Extensa 2540 since early 2019, with Windows 10 as the operating system, and a couple of times in the past I have had a "No Bootable Device" message show up on screen when trying to start up the laptop. However, pressing down the power button and restarting it usually fixed the issue. But since early afternoon yesterday, this message has returned, following the laptop screen freezing and the computer then crashing, but this time it will not restart when trying to in the usual way, and after the Acer logo appears, it then shows the "No Bootable Device" message on screen and gets stuck there. I had installed some Windows Updates the night before the problem began, so I am wondering if that might be the reason for the issue.

I tried the option I had read about of pressing F2 and accessing the boot menu to select changing the boot mode from UEFI to Legacy, but this did not work, so I returned it to UEFI again. Then I tried creating a USB with Windows 10 on it, to see if I could boot via this instead, and selected the boot menu option to have this USB be the one to boot from. This did not work in terms of getting me to be able to log back into my files again, although it did at least enable me to access more Windows options for troubleshooting. Initially it suggested a new installation of Windows 10 but I was concerned I would lose my old files so I did not select this. However, other options have not worked either, such as repair attempts, and when I tried the option to remove the latest Windows updates, it said it was unable to do this.

I don't know what to do next and am very concerned about losing all my files. I have most of them backed up, but not all of my work from the last few weeks unfortunately. Before this happened I had actually been thinking about getting a new Acer laptop anyway, so I am less concerned about the hardware and more about losing the latest documents I had been writing. I have an application deadline in 6 weeks so I can't afford to lose this work. My city is also in lockdown for at least the next 2 weeks and so all the computer repair shops are closed at the moment. Can anyone here suggest anything that might help me fix the problem and get back into my files again? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Accepted answers

billsey

Yes, it's been cleaned of the partitions. There are some utilities that can sometimes recover deleted partitions as long as the data itself is still there. Depending on what data you have lost it might be worth purchasing software like that, after a trial run shows that the partitions are recoverable. If the data isn't that important then the best bet is to just reinstall the OS and any Acer specific drivers and chalk it all up to a learning experience...

All comments

StevenGen

waterfall said:

I have had an Acer Extensa 2540 since early 2019, with Windows 10 as the operating system, and a couple of times in the past I have had a "No Bootable Device" message show up on screen when trying to start up the laptop. However, pressing down the power button and restarting it usually fixed the issue. But since early afternoon yesterday, this message has returned, following the laptop screen freezing and the computer then crashing, but this time it will not restart when trying to in the usual way, and after the Acer logo appears, it then shows the "No Bootable Device" message on screen and gets stuck there. I had installed some Windows Updates the night before the problem began, so I am wondering if that might be the reason for the issue.

I tried the option I had read about of pressing F2 and accessing the boot menu to select changing the boot mode from UEFI to Legacy, but this did not work, so I returned it to UEFI again. Then I tried creating a USB with Windows 10 on it, to see if I could boot via this instead, and selected the boot menu option to have this USB be the one to boot from. This did not work in terms of getting me to be able to log back into my files again, although it did at least enable me to access more Windows options for troubleshooting. Initially it suggested a new installation of Windows 10 but I was concerned I would lose my old files so I did not select this. However, other options have not worked either, such as repair attempts, and when I tried the option to remove the latest Windows updates, it said it was unable to do this.

I don't know what to do next and am very concerned about losing all my files. I have most of them backed up, but not all of my work from the last few weeks unfortunately. Before this happened I had actually been thinking about getting a new Acer laptop anyway, so I am less concerned about the hardware and more about losing the latest documents I had been writing. I have an application deadline in 6 weeks so I can't afford to lose this work. My city is also in lockdown for at least the next 2 weeks and so all the computer repair shops are closed at the moment. Can anyone here suggest anything that might help me fix the problem and get back into my files again? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Its your MBR. Have a look here Fix the MBR – Guide for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 (neosmart.net) that is “Fix the MBR – Guide for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10” and go down the page to “Fix the MBR in Windows 10”

Just to explain to you briefly what MBR is, it stands for “Master boot record” which is a boot sector (a region of your boot hard disk drive) that holds information about the partitions of your hard drive and acts as a loader for the operating system you’re running.

The Master boot record is created when you first install Windows, on the first partition you create. It’s the first 512 bytes of your hard disk.

If the MBR is damaged, you won’t be able to boot into Windows. All Windows versions – Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or 10 – use MBR and, if it’s damaged you won’t be able to boot and you will get errors of: “Error loading operating system” and "No Bootable Device" and many more and similar errors.

billsey

I kind of hate to disagree, but MBR isn't used in GPT disks, the partition table data is stored in the GPT instead (GUID Partition Table). If MBR is used then there is a 2TB partition limit. UEFI systems can boot from either, Legacy can only boot from MBR. I almost wish we could do something to mark all those old videos with 'no longer relevant', so people wouldn't be wasting their time trying to switch to Legacy...

The issue here is likely that the drive is in the process of failing, but as long as it hasn't actually failed the data is likely recoverable. When booted on the install image go to the command prompt and find the files needed using DIR and CD to move around. Typically they are stored in C:\Users\username\Documents or something similar. Copy those files using copy, xcopy or robocopy, to a flash drive (potentially even the one you booted from if they are not too large) and you will be good. Any that error out when trying to copy them are likely toast and will need to be redone.

Let us know if you need any more details on how to recover the data and take advantage of some black Friday deal on a new laptop.

waterfall

Hi, thank you StevenGen and billsey for your responses. I wanted to ask about some further details (I'm not that good with computers so I apologise in advance if any of my questions seem stupid). I have been able to access the command prompt option on the computer through booting via the Windows 10 USB, and would like to take the option billsey suggests to recover my data, but I am having trouble entering a pathway along those lines. What I get when I access the Command Prompt box is this:

Administrator: X:\windows\SYSTEM32\cmd.exe

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19041.572]

X:\Sources>

What do I do next, do I enter C:\Users\[my username]\Documents right after X:\Sources>, or on a separate line? Although, when I press enter it always beings with X:\Sources>. I am not sure what the next step should be. Thanks again for any advice.

billsey

Think of it as where you are standing. X:\Sources is on the X drive (a virtual drive the installer creates in memory) and Sources is a folder on X:. You want to get to C:\Users, so you use the Change Directory command (CD) to get from the X: to C: drives. CD C:\Users should put you in the Users folder on C:. Once you are standing in Users you can use the DIRectory command (DIR) to see what else is in the folder. You should see a folder with your username, another for Public and potentially more of them. Use the CD command again to get into your username folder, then again to get into the Documents folder from there. It's like going down stairs between levels... The USB flash drive is somewhere else, not C: and not X:. It's liable to be D : or E: or maybe even F:. You can find out by trying to read it's directory with "dir D :" (Don't put that space between D and :, I just did because the forum software turns a d : into a

)or "Dir E:". Note that command don't pay attention to capital letters, so dir is the same as DIr is the same as DiR.

Once you are in your documents folder and you know which drive letter matches your flash drive you can make copies of any needed files as simply as "Copy Filename E:", which make a copy of the 'filename' file (such as MyDocument.docx) to the flash drive. If your filename has spaces in it you quote the filename, like 'Copy "My Document with space.docx" e:'.

Let me k now if anything else needs some hints...

waterfall

Hi billsey, thanks again for your help. I have now managed to get from X: to C: using the CD command as you suggested. However at this point I get stuck again. What appears on screen is

C:\>

But I don't know how to remove the > to get it to C:\ alone (backspace key doesn't erase it) and any attempt to add anything after C:\> has failed, as a message after any word tried, such as Users, appears saying 'Users' is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

Then C:\> appears again on a separate line.

As I said, I am not good at all at these aspects of computing, so the answers to these problems may seem very clear to others, but I feel totally lost. Can you explain how I get through this step?

I have also been looking up Windows 10 issues and wondering if going for the Install option via the Windows 10 USB I created might be an option after all? Is there a way to do this without losing your existing files? I read something which suggests an option appears at some point saying they can be saved to a windows.old file (or something along those lines) and accessed again once Windows has been reinstalled. But I am not certain and wouldn't want to proceed without being sure the installation wouldn't wipe them out instead.

I was already planning to get a new laptop even before this happened, so if I did get Windows to work again on this one, it would only need to be temporary, so I can save my work before I order a new one I can then transfer it to. But if need be I would settle for just being able to retrieve my old files if they are still able to be salvaged. What would be the best route, all things considered?

Thanks again for all your help, I really appreciate it.

billsey

The C:\> is the prompt for a command, it tells you where you are (C:\) and that it's ready for you to type something (>). So the next command to type is "CD Users" or "DIR" to make sure you are in the right place (sometimes when booted into this environment the drive letters will have changed from normal). When you do the DIR command from C:\ you should see something similar to this:

C:\>dir
Volume in drive C is Acer
Volume Serial Number is E819-8EFD

Directory of C:\

11/14/2019 07:23 PM    <DIR>          ESD
12/07/2019 01:14 AM    <DIR>          PerfLogs
11/19/2020 09:20 PM    <DIR>          Program Files
11/11/2020 08:18 PM    <DIR>          Program Files (x86)
11/19/2020 04:03 PM    <DIR>          Users
11/20/2020 10:52 AM    <DIR>          Windows
              6 Dir(s) 190,102,220,800 bytes free

C:\>

waterfall

Thanks again for your advice billsey. I have now been able to get the DIR command to work, but what it shows is the directory for the USB I am temporarily using to boot from, not the usual C drive. This is what appears on screen:

C:\>dir

Volume in drive C is ESD-USB

Volume Serial Number is CC0A-21C4

It then lists the directory details and states there are 5 files within, which would make sense for the USB, but not for the previous C drive which had hundreds of files.

I do understand you said above: "The USB flash drive is somewhere else, not C: and not X:. It's liable to be D : or E: or maybe even F:. You can find out by trying to read it's directory with "dir D :" Is the fact that the USB is showing up under C due to it being the drive I am currently booting Windows 10 from? What steps can I take to try and locate the original C (the one with all my files), is it possible it could still be accessible under a different letter, and what commands would I use to find it?

Thanks again for your help.

billsey

Yep, that happens sometimes. Try doing a DIR of the D : drive (note that I put a space between the D and the :, don't do that yourself, it just deals with the forum software which replaces the D : with a

.

So:, C:\>DIR D :

If that still doesn't work right try the same thing with the E: drive. Eventually we'll either hit the right one or there is no right one, and that tells us something!

waterfall

Thanks again for your advice. Unfortunately I have now tried them all and the only drives which came up were X and C (with C being the USB I am temporarily booting Windows from). So it looks like the SSD has just gone completely

I don't understand what happened as I have had this laptop less than 2 years, and hadn't overloaded or over worked it. I have never had a laptop fail like this before

billsey

OK, we have more steps to go through yet before giving up... Next from the command line enter the command "diskpart" and then from the DISKPART> prompt:

list disk
list vol

Capture that output and post it here. We're looking to see whether the SSD is being recognized at all. It should be listed in the list disk command and will likely have some volumes showing in the list vol command. Note the number of the SSD, it will likely be 0 or 1 and do these commands:

sel disk 0 (or 1)
list part

And capture the results for from that as well. It will show us any hidden partition on the SSD.

waterfall

Hi billsey, thanks again for your suggestions. I entered the commands and was able to locate the SSD this way, it was listed as Disk O. This is what was presented on screen:

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

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

Disk 0 Online 238 GB 238GB

Disk 1 Online 7656 MB 0 B

DISKPART> list vol

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs

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

Volume 0 C ESD-USB FAT32

DISKPART> sel disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list part

There are no partitions on this disk to show.

DISKPART>

The fact that the SSD has the same free space listed as the total size does make me think that the SSD has somehow been overwritten and my old data is lost. Would you say that is most likely at this stage?

billsey

Yes, it's been cleaned of the partitions. There are some utilities that can sometimes recover deleted partitions as long as the data itself is still there. Depending on what data you have lost it might be worth purchasing software like that, after a trial run shows that the partitions are recoverable. If the data isn't that important then the best bet is to just reinstall the OS and any Acer specific drivers and chalk it all up to a learning experience...

waterfall

Thanks for your response billsey. I will have a look for some utitilies like the kind you mentioned. But I wanted to say thanks again for all your replies and advice in this thread: even though it now seems the SSD is most likely lost, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk me through the various steps and options along the way. I feel now that I can accept things having at least tried all the available options. Thanks again.