Aspire TC-115 Brand new Acer Aspire desktop won't boot factory installed NVMe drive

All I get when I power on the PC is a message saying "Reboot and Select proper boot device" etc.

The 1TB drive shows up in the "Storage" section of the bios and "Hard Disk" is selected 1st in the "Boot Priority" list.

The machine does not respond to "F12" to enter the boot menu during boot although the "Boot Menu" option is enabled in the bios. "Boot Mode" is UEFI but it is greyed out.

I am not familiar with this bios, is there some other setting that needs to be checked? This should start the OOBE (Out of Box Experience) on the NVMe drive if it's there as it should be.

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

Accepted answers

BigRich

Thanks to you all. It's working now and I have a plausible series of events that was the likely cause.

First to answer Larryodie. The boot menu never came up when it could not see the boot block of the NVMe SSD. It also never came up when I booted the Win 11 install USB because it went right past that and booted the first boot block it saw which was the USB. Now that it's bootable, I can hit Fn F12 and see the Windows boot partition on the NVMe.

The PC came via UPS. There was a middleman company that added memory and while they had the machine they updated the BIOS. The issue is that the system reverted to factory defaults for the SATA mode. It needed to be AHCI and got set to VMD. This still did not show the boot device because there was something that got changed in the boot block when the system attempted to boot in the wrong mode (my speculation since I cannot confirm this).

After changing the SATA mode to AHCI, I was able to see the drive in the Win 11 install menu and install Windows. It is working fine now.

All comments

BigRich

BTW, I tried Fn + F12 but it still does not go to the boot time boot menu.

Larryodie

Try F12 only.

Is this NEW "out of the box" ? If so call ACER warranty people or a local ACER store/where you bought it.

Seems like it's not formatted ?

Maybe you install a bootable USB from https://www.yourwindowsguide.com/2025/07/windows-11-media-creation-tool.html

BigRich

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1352120#Comment_1352120

Yes, I tried F12 only. It made no difference. The system is new out of the box. I called the company that sold it to me and I had to leave a message. They have not yet called me back.

I already made a Win 11 USB from the Microsoft Media Creation Tool (and it booted) but I don't want to start an install if there is a simple solution for this.

I think the boot block of the NVMe is corrupt and just needs to be rewritten but I will wait for the selling company to call me back. It's been about 3 hours so far and my day is blown.

No matter what, I would think the F12 would bring up a menu even if it was empty.

Larryodie

Does F12 or Function F12 bring up the menu when you have the USB is inserted.

Yes, I agree the NVME is corrupt or missing ???

Larryodie

You can go thru the USB boot menu and do a repair diagnose to see the status of your system (I think) . Just boot the USB till the point where it's in a diagnose/troubleshoot menu.

Larryodie

Yes BUT it time consuming and sometimes expensive to swap.

He hasn't said if it's a local store but he has called them.

Hopefully he can avert an exchange .

Gtip

Well if your device is new and it not working then I will suggest you to return your device and ask for new device or refund.

BigRich

Thanks to you all. It's working now and I have a plausible series of events that was the likely cause.

First to answer Larryodie. The boot menu never came up when it could not see the boot block of the NVMe SSD. It also never came up when I booted the Win 11 install USB because it went right past that and booted the first boot block it saw which was the USB. Now that it's bootable, I can hit Fn F12 and see the Windows boot partition on the NVMe.

The PC came via UPS. There was a middleman company that added memory and while they had the machine they updated the BIOS. The issue is that the system reverted to factory defaults for the SATA mode. It needed to be AHCI and got set to VMD. This still did not show the boot device because there was something that got changed in the boot block when the system attempted to boot in the wrong mode (my speculation since I cannot confirm this).

After changing the SATA mode to AHCI, I was able to see the drive in the Win 11 install menu and install Windows. It is working fine now.

Larryodie

I'm glad that it worked out for you. Seems like some kind of refurbished deal with any testing 🤔

BigRich

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1352274#Comment_1352274

No, not refurbished, brand new, but, as you suggest, the company that added features did not properly test it after they updated the BIOS. I'm guessing it was a one time error since they are reputable and dealing through Newegg.

Quick Links

Top Members

Weekly

Puraw 265

Jack22 160

Diya1811 75

RenanVilela 75

GAMING6698 75

Swift Series Intel^® Evo™

Game Pass

Acer Corner

Gaming on Chromebook

Swift Series Intel® Evo™

Game Pass

Acer Corner

Gaming on Chromebook

Swift Series Intel^® Evo™