Sudden "Reboot and select proper Boot Device" error - SSD not recognized by Windows - Aspire TC-885

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Answers

  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    @Tweety39

    I do not about other people. Since there are so many questions asked and limited Accepted Answers, I generally will skip those threads marked "Solved" and then go on to those unanswered, particularly those got no response yet. 

    So, it is generally unwise to attach a question to a thread already marked Solved.
  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    TYPO:
    First sentence should be: I do not know about other people.
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,101 Trailblazer
    I'm partial to the Samsung, but either should work fine. Yes, you will have to reinstall Windows, but since the activation key is stored in the BIOS you don't need to do more than connect to the internet and then activate. You could install from the recovery drive, but that will actually likely entail more time than a fresh install, since it would have to go through several rounds of updates. The recovery drive will, however, likely have the Acer specific utilities and such (commonly called 'bloatware') that were installed when you made the recovery.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Tweety39
    Tweety39 Member Posts: 25 Troubleshooter
    Hi ttttt. Thank you for taking time to make a comment!
    I am pretty new to this forum and I didn't really understand how it worked. :(
    Now I realize that it is unwise to attach question to the thread marked Solved (I didn't even notice that the thread is labeled "solved" when I click "yes" to "Does this answer the question?")
    I am glad that this thread caught your eye despite the "solved" status.  
  • Tweety39
    Tweety39 Member Posts: 25 Troubleshooter
    Hi again billsey. Thank you again for answering my question.
    Regarding SSD, I haven't decided yet, but I am glad to know that either should work fine.

    About reinstallation of Windows, I don't need bloatware so it should be quicker to create a new installation disk from the Microsoft website. I was just worried about the drivers. 
    Thank you again for the advice. I really appreciate it.
  • Tweety39
    Tweety39 Member Posts: 25 Troubleshooter
    I really want to reply to this topic to say "I did it!" but I just could not find any time to do anything yet. I just want billsey and tttt, who kindly answered my question, to know that I am still on it and I will post the result.

    The only thing I tried so far was "bootrec /fixmbr" and "bootrec /fixboot".
    Both returned the message "The request failed due to a fatal device hardware error."
    It is obvious that the SSD is corrupted and there is not way to fix it.

    I haven't purchased a new SSD yet, but I think I will go for Samsung.
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,101 Trailblazer
    Yes, it sounds like it's pinned down. You just need to take that ne$t step.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Tweety39
    Tweety39 Member Posts: 25 Troubleshooter
    Hi. I finally bought a new SSD and now I ran into another problem. The screw doesn't come off.
    I started a new topic. I hope somebody can help me. 
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,101 Trailblazer
    You just have to use a fairly good screwdriver to remove it. IIRC a JIS cross bit #1 fits perfectly, a philips #1 less so, but it shouldn't be too tight.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Tweety39
    Tweety39 Member Posts: 25 Troubleshooter
    Thank you very much for your reply billsey. <3  As I replied in the other post, the problem was solved. I bet you were right. I think the screw driver was not right.

    Now I finally installed Windows on the new SSD and it is working fine!
    I am very happy! And I appreciated all the help I got from this community, especially from billsey.

    I can tell the new SSD (Samsung 980 Series - 500GB PCIe Gen3. X4 NVMe 1.4) is much faster than the pre-installed Kingston.
    The next thing I will do is to make a partition on C drive for Windows OS (100GB is enough?)

    It was quite an experience for me but I learned a lot.
    If someone finds this topic with the keyword "SATAFIRM S11", I would say from my personal experience, replacing SSD is a good solution.
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,101 Trailblazer
    Are you planning on putting a second OS on in dual boot mode? If not, leave the C: partition full sized. Windows by default will install a really small EFI partitions and usually two more slightly larger ones, then use the whole rest of the drive as C:.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Tweety39
    Tweety39 Member Posts: 25 Troubleshooter
    Thank you for your comment, billsey. I am glad that you still check this post!  =)
    About making another partition on the SSD, I am not installing a second OS. I just thought it was a good idea to separate OS and data.
    I was going to shrink C drive for OS and the make the rest for the data I frequently access, then use the 1TB HDD that comes with the PC for photos, music and videos.
    In that way, if something bad happens to the C drive and the OS is needed to be re-installed, the data on the newly created D drive may be saved. 
    However I didn't put much thought about it. With my very limited knowledge, I simply thoght it was a good idea. Could you explain the downside of making another partition on C drive?
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,101 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    The biggest downside doesn't show up immediately. Over time people tend to fill their system drive up, with apps, data and updates. A typical issue with a system that has, say, a 60GB partition for system and a 440GB partition for data is two or three years later the 60GB is 90% full and the 440GB is 10% full. If they had been one partition instead there would still be lots of room. It's less of a factor with SSDs, but a very full partition is a lot slower than a mostly empty partition. You have a nice big drive for data, why not use it for data (and perhaps backups of your system drive) and leave the system partition as empty as sensible.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Tweety39
    Tweety39 Member Posts: 25 Troubleshooter
    Thanks billsey! It totally makes sense.
    The old SSD was only 128GB so I tried to install rarely used applications on HDD, and also set up the way that system folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads.... etc.) were automatically stored in HDD, yet the 128GB started to fill up over 2 years. 500GB seems to be a lot, but maybe not that much after years.
    The only thing I was glad to do was that I separated system folders to the HDD. When the SSD died, I didn't lose much data. That is why I tried to make an extra partition on the new SSD.
    Probably I will set up a backup system drive or subscribe a cloud backup service instead of making a partition to reduce a risk of losing data.
    Again, thank you billsey!  <3
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,101 Trailblazer
    Also, you will find that most cases when a SSD fails, it fails and all partitions are bad. With HDDs it was possible to have a head crash that only affected one area of the drive, so the rest sometimes was recoverable.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Tweety39
    Tweety39 Member Posts: 25 Troubleshooter
    edited September 2021
    You are absolutely right, billsey. HDD tends to fail gradually (at least in my experience)  so I was surprised that my entire SSD failed abruptly without any warning. It was my very first SSD and I really didn't know how it behaved.
    You convinced me to leave the C: drive as it is. Thank you again!  <3
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,101 Trailblazer
    Your betcha, happy to have helped. :)
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.

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