No bootable device When I try to do a clean install of windows 10

Rednax

I'm trying to fix my grandfathers laptop which says: "No bootable device" on startup. When I try to do a clean install of windows 10 on it the drive doesn't show up in the select drive step. So the next thing I did was check diskpart but in diskpart the drive also doesn't show up. After that I rebooted the laptop and went into the BIOS where the drive is listed. But when I go to the boot menu the drive isn't there. One other thing to note when I clicked load driver (in the install location menu), and then I clicked browse I saw the USB drive and another drive named boot with a windows install on it.
I have tried for a couple of hours but I can't seem to find the issue, any help or suggestions are appreciated.

(Thread was edited to add model name to the title)

JackE

OK. It's likely the Intel VMD controller causing the issue. It's NOT one of Intel's better ideas for marginally speeding up the boot drive.

You have two  choices.

(1) Try an ALT+F10 cold boot factory reset to reset the machine to a factory fresh out of the box condition from a hidden recovery partition on the boot drive (if it's still intact). Shut the machine off. Turn it on and immediately press and hold the ALT key while tapping F10 key. Follow directions on the reset menu that should appear.

---Or---

(2)  Enable and save the F12 boot option setting in the BIOS MAIN tab. Then shut the machine off. Insert the Win10 installation USB stick. Turn it back on and immediately start tapping the F12 key to boot from the stick. If it still doesn't recognize the Kingston, then you can either disable the VMD controller and try again. Or search the Kingston site for firmware that'll allow it to work with the VMD controller. If it was mine, I'd disable the troublesome Intel controller.

JackE

Please post a phone photo of BIOS MAIN tab if possible.

Rednax

Picture of main menu.

JackE

Now press Ctrl+S in the BIOS MAIN tab. Do any hidden options now appear?

Rednax

Yes it does.

JackE

OK. It's likely the Intel VMD controller causing the issue. It's NOT one of Intel's better ideas for marginally speeding up the boot drive.

You have two  choices.

(1) Try an ALT+F10 cold boot factory reset to reset the machine to a factory fresh out of the box condition from a hidden recovery partition on the boot drive (if it's still intact). Shut the machine off. Turn it on and immediately press and hold the ALT key while tapping F10 key. Follow directions on the reset menu that should appear.

---Or---

(2)  Enable and save the F12 boot option setting in the BIOS MAIN tab. Then shut the machine off. Insert the Win10 installation USB stick. Turn it back on and immediately start tapping the F12 key to boot from the stick. If it still doesn't recognize the Kingston, then you can either disable the VMD controller and try again. Or search the Kingston site for firmware that'll allow it to work with the VMD controller. If it was mine, I'd disable the troublesome Intel controller.

Rednax

JackE said:

OK. It's likely the Intel VMD controller causing the issue. It's NOT one of Intel's better ideas for marginally speeding up the boot drive.

You have two  choices.

(1) Try an ALT+F10 cold boot factory reset to reset the machine to a factory fresh out of the box condition from a hidden recovery partition on the boot drive (if it's still intact). Shut the machine off. Turn it on and immediately press and hold the ALT key while tapping F10 key. Follow directions on the reset menu that should appear.

---Or---

(2)  Enable and save the F12 boot option setting in the BIOS MAIN tab. Then shut the machine off. Insert the Win10 installation USB stick. Turn it back on and immediately start tapping the F12 key to boot from the stick. If it still doesn't recognize the Kingston, then you can either disable the VMD controller and try again. Or search the Kingston site for firmware that'll allow it to work with the VMD controller. If it was mine, I'd disable the troublesome Intel controller.

Thank you so much. The drive now shows up in the windows installer after disabling the VMD controller. 

Rednax

JackE said:

OK. It's likely the Intel VMD controller causing the issue. It's NOT one of Intel's better ideas for marginally speeding up the boot drive.

You have two  choices.

(1) Try an ALT+F10 cold boot factory reset to reset the machine to a factory fresh out of the box condition from a hidden recovery partition on the boot drive (if it's still intact). Shut the machine off. Turn it on and immediately press and hold the ALT key while tapping F10 key. Follow directions on the reset menu that should appear.

---Or---

(2)  Enable and save the F12 boot option setting in the BIOS MAIN tab. Then shut the machine off. Insert the Win10 installation USB stick. Turn it back on and immediately start tapping the F12 key to boot from the stick. If it still doesn't recognize the Kingston, then you can either disable the VMD controller and try again. Or search the Kingston site for firmware that'll allow it to work with the VMD controller. If it was mine, I'd disable the troublesome Intel controller.

Okay so I think that it isn't solved completely just yet. When I tried this this morning I didn't have much time and I thought I would just be able to install windows. But now it seems that the drive still doesn't show up in the boot menu in the BIOS. The drive however does show up in the windows installer but when I start installing it bluescreens after it starts preparing the files. I get 2 different stopcodes: SYSTEM SERVICE EXCEPTION and MEMORY MANAGEMENT. 

JackE

The drive won't show up in the boot menu because it's not yet bootable. Something corrupted the boot system on the drive before. And the error message suggests a RAM module might've been involved. The mainboard appears to have a single 16GB sodimm installed. This probably would've been special order or done after purchase since this model usually has 4GB or 8GB from the factory. Do you know which?

Rednax

JackE said:

The drive won't show up in the boot menu because it's not yet bootable. Something corrupted the boot system on the drive before. And the error message suggests a RAM module might've been involved. The mainboard appears to have a single 16GB sodimm installed. This probably would've been special order or done after purchase since this model usually has 4GB or 8GB from the factory. Do you know which?

So I opened the laptop and I noticed that there is only 1 8GB module.

Rednax

Rednax said:

JackE said:

The drive won't show up in the boot menu because it's not yet bootable. Something corrupted the boot system on the drive before. And the error message suggests a RAM module might've been involved. The mainboard appears to have a single 16GB sodimm installed. This probably would've been special order or done after purchase since this model usually has 4GB or 8GB from the factory. Do you know which?

So I opened the laptop and I noticed that there is only 1 8GB module.

EDIT: Nvm, there have got to be 2 8GB RAM modules because if I take out the one you can see on the picture it still has 8..GB in the BIOS and I can still do the same things as before.

JackE

OK.Looks one factory installed 8GB replaceable module and one 8GB un-replaceable module soldered to the mainboard for 16GB total. Try re-seating the module a few times by pushing out gently on the silver color release clips. The module pops up at an angle and can be pulled out from the mainboard spring-wired connector. Rub the gold contacts gently with a soft cloth to clean them up a bit. Then insert at an angle into the wired connector and push it back down. The clips will snap back and  hold it down . Do it a few time to help clean the spring wire contacts. Then try to install Win10 again.

 

Rednax

I reinstalled the module but it didn't seem to fix it. The furthest I saw the windows installer get was 23% into the preparing file step. The blue screen stopcode I get depends on at which percentage it bluescreens. Here are pictures of the blue screens I have been getting.

JackE

Let it keep going and restarting. It's trying to correct errors. It's at 80% installed level now.

Rednax

JackE said:

Let it keep going and restarting. It's trying to correct errors. It's at 80% installed level now.

Its all different error messages from different crashes I tried to install it multiple times. I just keep getting these 4 errors. Not in any particular order

headlocal

@Rednaxkrunker Did you fix it? I have the same issue.