Windows 10: Getting Inaccessible Boot Device

So I have a HP laptop running Windows 10, 1 day last week system will not post. Tried repair, system rollback, advanced setting, checked BIOS setting. Noticed BIOS was out of date, Loaded the update to a flash drive and updated BIOS.

Pulled the hard drive and replaced it (thinking it might be hardware related).

Was asked to install Windows 7 instead of 10. Do all the updates, restart several times- No issues.

Using external Hard Drive reader, Copied files onto the new image.

Only after coping the files, do I start to get the "Inaccessible boot device" during posting. But the posting has changed from the legacy Win 7 startup to the UEFI Win 10 posting, That's when I get the message.

So either the hard drive controller on the motherboard is going back or some kind of virus or malware was transferred onto the new hard drive.

Has anyone heard or seen a virus or malware that acts like this?

Thank you.

:)

 

Keep getting INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE

I am going to recommend you downgrade to Windows 10 1703.

Step 1: download Windows 10 1703 from the following link:

https://tb.rg-adguard.net/index.php?sid=74a7cf5...

Choose the following:

- Windows Final

- Windows 10, version 1703

- Windows 10 Pro + Home

- English

- x64 (64 bit) x32 (32 bit)

Step 2: create a bootable copy

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wik...

Step 3: perform a custom install

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki...

There are some compatibility issues with Windows 10 version 1709 and certain hardware or software. There is no explanation why a lot of these problems are happening in Windows 10 1709, but the release is significantly flawed. Software and Hardware that once
worked in previous versions, just suddenly stops working in Windows 10 1709 after an upgrade and sometimes loses functionality or stability.

You can then use your Windows 10 Education key to upgrade to Windows 10 Education 1703.

 

Keep getting INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE

It appears to me that C contains it's own boot files (should be marked System, Active, Boot) so that means if you have a UEFI BIOS it is not being utilized properly during install.

Enter BIOS setup to look for settings for UEFI, CSM, Legacy BIOS, Secure Boot, and Boot Priority order. Report back all choices for each.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/comprehensive-lis...

The modern UEFI BIOS needs to be set to UEFI, no CSM, Windows Boot Manager first, then boot the media as a UEFI device, delete all partitions down to Unallocated Space to clear formatting, click Next to autoformat needed partitions and begin.

All other hard drives should be unplugged during install. Also no other hard drives should have Active flag showing on its partitions.

Since you have three Recovery partitions it means it's been upgraded several times and may be overdue to have the disk wiped during reinstall. So I would do the install over but this time follow these illustrated steps in this link which compile the best possible
Clean Install of Windows which will stay that way as long as you stick with the tools and methods given, has zero reported problems, and is better than any amount of money could buy:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki....

This time, however, at first screen after booting media, press the Shift + F10 key to open a Command Prompt and wipe the disk with Diskpart CLEAN command:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk...

If that is not the issue then see the tutorials I gave that deal most directly with this issue.

The problem could be caused by a Windows Update. Did it begin immediately after the reinstall before Updates were installed? See here for how to shut off Updates or block certain updates once you suspect they are causing problems:

https://www.howtogeek.com/224471/how-to-prevent...

Test the hard drive with Seatools bootable Long Test:
http://blog.nowherelan.com/2013/04/04/boot-seat...

Follow this with a full Disk Check:
https://www.groovypost.com/howto/check-hard-dri...

 

I think your problem nothing to do with malware infection.

Windows 7 32-bit does not support booting from UEFI firmware mode.

Windows 64-bit support booting from UEFI as long as the HDD where Windows 7 installed is partition as GPT disk.

Windows 7 64-bit does not support Secure Boot and should be disabled from UEFI setup utility.

 

System build was in Legacy, BIOS confirms this. UEFI is disabled, Secure boot is also disabled.

 

Please boot your computer with Windows 10 Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below commands into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

Following commands will repair Master Boot Record (MBR), Boot Sector and BCD Store.


Code: Bootrec /FixMbr Bootrec /FixBoot Bootrec /RebuildBcd[/quote] Reboot your computer to check is the issue resolved.