I installed a Windows update last night, and since then my computer keeps returning to the BIOS instead of starting Windows. I'm not very experienced with troubleshooting this, so I'm worried something went wrong. Saving and exiting BIOS only brings me back to the same screen, and the Boot tab doesn't show any available boot drives. Could the SSD have failed, or is there something else I should check?
2 Answers
Since it eventually booted, the update may have temporarily caused a boot configuration hiccup rather than permanently damaging the SSD. Before doing anything else, back up any important files. Then restart once or twice and confirm that Windows Boot Manager remains the first boot option. If the problem returns, check the SSD’s health and connections and consider using Windows recovery tools to repair the boot records.
If the computer goes back into BIOS every time, first check whether the SSD is detected anywhere under storage or hardware information. If it is detected but there’s no boot option, verify that the Windows Boot Manager entry is selected and that the boot mode hasn’t changed between UEFI and Legacy. If the drive isn’t detected at all, power the system down and check the SSD’s connection. Also disconnect any unnecessary USB drives while testing.
Saving and exiting suddenly worked and Windows started normally, but I’m still not sure what caused it.
That makes sense. I’ll back everything up now in case the drive or boot configuration fails again.