eXtension

Reboot and Select proper Boot device

Asked September 23, 2016, 7:49 PM EDT

Hello, I am new to building computers but I have the common sense for instructions. However, at the end of this long and expensive road, I can't install my OP because no matter what I do, no matter what fix I do, it always says Reboot and Select proper Boot device. Please help, what am I doing wrong?

Columbia County Pennsylvania

1 Response

It sounds like your computer is trying to boot from your hard drive, but it doesn't have an operating system on it yet. Your computer's motherboard has a settings section called a BIOS or UEFI that tells it what device (hard drive, optical drive, USB, etc) to try booting from and in which order.

What you need to do is tell it to try booting from your operating system media (either an optical disk or a USB drive typically) before attempting to boot from your hard drive.

In other words, you need to change the boot order from something like this:

  1. Hard Drive
  2. Optical Drive
  3. USB Drive
To this:
  1. Optical Drive
  2. USB Drive
  3. Hard Drive
You will need to look up your motherboard's instruction manual to learn how to enter the BIOS/UEFI because every manufacturer is slightly different.

Once your operating system is installed, you can change the order back to boot from the hard drive first. This step isn't necessary, but it can help your computer to boot faster.