I booted from a USB drive containing Windows installation media and installed Windows onto an SSD. After the installation appeared to finish, the computer restarted and became stuck returning directly to BIOS. Changing the boot priority does not help, and the BIOS settings seem to reset themselves. The same behavior occurs with two different SSDs. I also recreated the installation USB and tried installing again, but now the computer will not boot from either the USB drive or either SSD.
1 Answer
The installation media could be corrupted, so recreate the USB using a freshly downloaded Windows ISO and a tool such as Rufus. However, because the BIOS settings are resetting and the system refuses to boot from multiple drives, this may also point to a hardware or firmware issue rather than both SSDs failing. Check that the USB and SSD are detected in BIOS, verify the system is using the correct UEFI/Legacy mode, remove the USB after installation when prompted, and consider replacing the CMOS battery or clearing CMOS if settings will not persist.
I already recreated the USB and tried installing again. It boots from the USB initially, installs Windows to the SSD, and then returns to BIOS afterward. The same thing happens with another SSD, and neither the USB nor either SSD will boot now.