Constant "Boot device not found" and "ran into a problem and needs to restart"

Thanks, Wylders — absolutely agree on the backup recommendation. Given the combination of symptoms (cold‑boot failures, normal restart, and now a blue screen during regular use), backing up the drive is the safest first step.

Once that’s done, we can narrow down the root cause. On these HP Spectre models, this behaviour usually comes from either:

• the SSD taking too long to initialize when cold, or
• a firmware timing issue that HP has corrected in some BIOS updates.

AquaHeartGirl​ :

If you can share the “Device Configurations” BIOS page, I can check whether your model exposes any storage‑related options. Otherwise, checking for a BIOS update and planning for an SSD replacement are the two most reliable next steps.

Thanks for the update — and the blue screen you got while editing a Word document actually fits the same pattern as your boot issue. When a system shows:

• “Boot device not found” on the first cold boot
• A normal boot after a restart
• And now a blue screen during normal use

…it usually points to the same root cause: the SSD is becoming unstable and sometimes fails to initialize or respond in time.

Your earlier BIOS screenshot already confirmed that your model doesn’t include any Fast Boot or Quick Boot option, so you’re not missing anything there.

What you’re seeing is very typical of an SSD that’s starting to age:

• cold starts fail because the drive doesn’t initialize fast enough
• once warmed up, it works normally
• but under load (like Word autosaving), it can still momentarily drop out and trigger a blue screen

At this point, the safest next steps are:

1. Back up your files (OneDrive, USB drive, anything you prefer)
2. Consider replacing the SSD — this is the most common and reliable fix for this exact behaviour
3. If you can share the “Device Configurations” BIOS page, I can check whether your model exposes any storage‑timing options, but many Spectre models simply don’t

You’re absolutely not doing anything wrong — your system is just showing classic signs of storage failure, and you caught it early enough to avoid data loss.

Thanks for the screenshot — that confirms it: on this HP Spectre generation, there is no Fast Boot / Quick Boot option in the BIOS. Your Boot Options page is exactly as expected for this model.

The only relevant setting here is:

• POST HotKey Delay → this controls how long the firmware waits before booting, but it doesn’t affect SSD initialization.

Since the BIOS doesn’t expose any fast‑boot‑related toggle, the behaviour you’re seeing (first cold boot failing, second boot working) is more likely due to:

• the SSD taking longer to initialize when cold, or
• a firmware/UEFI timing issue that only appears on the first boot.

If you can also share the System Configuration → Device Configurations page, I can check whether your model exposes any storage‑related timing options there.