Stuck on UEFI BIOS Utility screen help

Question

Hello,

I bought my PC years ago, it’s never had a problem and I had windows 11 installed. Today I decided to upgrade my SSD card for bigger storage. I used the same brand, same markings, simply just bigger storage.

After installing the SSD and turning my pc on i’m greeted by the UEFI BIOS Utility - Advanced screen. I try exiting and restarting multiple times and it brings me back. I’ve changed the OS Type to Other OS, I’ve enabled CSM and changed settings to legacy or uefi only or both, sometimes it’ll show my drivers on screen and no matter which i choose to boot from, nothing works. In fact, it’ll take me to a screen that states “Reboot and Select proper boot device”. I will then just go back to the Utility settings. At the same time, under ez mode; boot menu, it will tell me “the system cannot find any bootable devices” so I can’t actually choose a driver to boot from ? I took out and put my SSD back in and nothing will still work for me. This is a constant cycle. No matter what advice I try to follow online or what I choose to toy around with at this point. What am I supposed to do ? it’s a little frustrating. Is there anyway I can solve this ? Do I just take it to a tech shop so they can do it for me ? Am i just going to have to stick with my original SSD ?? Thanks in advanced for any help.

Answer 1

Hello,

It sounds like your system is not recognizing the new SSD as a bootable device. Here are some steps you can follow to troubleshoot the issue:

Go back into the BIOS and make sure that the boot mode is set correctly. If your original SSD was using UEFI, then you should set it to UEFI and not Legacy/CSM. Also, ensure that Secure Boot is either disabled or properly configured to recognize your new SSD.

While in BIOS, verify that the boot order has your new SSD listed. If it is not listed, the BIOS is not recognizing the device as bootable. You might need to manually add it or move it to the top of the boot priority list.

If you’ve installed a brand new SSD, it might not have a partition table, hence the BIOS can’t find a bootable partition. To address this, you would typically need to initialize the SSD and format it. However, as you expect it to boot into Windows 11, it should already have Windows installed.

Windows Installation: If the SSD is empty or not correctly cloned from your old SSD, it won’t boot. You will need to:

Install Windows 11 from scratch using a bootable USB drive. During the installation process, the new SSD will be formatted and partitioned correctly.

Use cloning software to clone your old SSD to the new one if you haven’t already done so. Ensure that the boot partition is correctly cloned.

With Windows 11, Secure Boot might be a requirement. If it was enabled before and the new drive was not set up with a GPT partition style, you may run into issues. Ensure the SSD is prepared for Secure Boot.

Firmware Update: Check if there is a firmware update for your motherboard or for the SSD itself. Sometimes compatibility issues can be solved with a firmware update.

Best Regards,

Hania Lian

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