Lenovo boot loop + Hard Disk saying: Not Installed

[Mylenovomademesad]

Basically, I got the blue screen of death and now I can’t get past a boot menu, when I check the BIOS information it says that my hard disk is not installed. It’s a lenovo ideapad slim 1 and it’s been like this a few days, I’ve tried following some youtube videos messing with the BIOS settings but nothing has changed.

Weirdly enough this morning a windows update came on, my computer crashed a few times during the update but when it updated it presumed totally normal function and everything worked for about 30 mins until i got the blue screen again and got stuck back in the loop. Unfortunately idk if I can mimic the update thing as it was automatic so I seem to be locked out again

[veeg]

Hello

Let me get you some help.

@Malnutrition

[veeg]

Hello

Let me get you some help.

@Malnutrition

[Mylenovomademesad]

Hello

Let me get you some help.

@Malnutrition

that would be great

[Mylenovomademesad]

Hello

Let me get you some help.

@Malnutrition

that would be great

[Malnutrition]

[ul]
[li]Static-drain reset Unplug charger - hold Power 15 s - plug in - power on Clears any “frozen” power rail to the SSD/eMMC.[/li][li]Load BIOS defaults Novo button - BIOS Setup → press F9 (Load Defaults) - F10 (Save & Exit) A stray setting can hide a drive[/li][li]Toggle storage mode Back in BIOS > Configuration tab. If you see VMD/RST or RAID, switch to AHCI; if you see Legacy switch to UEFI (or vice-versa) - Save & reboot On several IdeaPads the SSD only appears when Intel VMD is disabled[/li][li]Check if drive shows up BIOS “Information” page or F12 one-time boot list If it appears here the hardware is alive; Windows just needs repairing.[/li][li]If after those three steps BIOS still says “Not installed,” let me know.[/li][/ul]

[Malnutrition]

[ul]
[li]Static-drain reset Unplug charger - hold Power 15 s - plug in - power on Clears any “frozen” power rail to the SSD/eMMC.[/li][li]Load BIOS defaults Novo button - BIOS Setup → press F9 (Load Defaults) - F10 (Save & Exit) A stray setting can hide a drive[/li][li]Toggle storage mode Back in BIOS > Configuration tab. If you see VMD/RST or RAID, switch to AHCI; if you see Legacy switch to UEFI (or vice-versa) - Save & reboot On several IdeaPads the SSD only appears when Intel VMD is disabled[/li][li]Check if drive shows up BIOS “Information” page or F12 one-time boot list If it appears here the hardware is alive; Windows just needs repairing.[/li][li]If after those three steps BIOS still says “Not installed,” let me know.[/li][/ul]

[Mylenovomademesad]

Thank you so much for the comprehensive reply!

Toggle storage mode Back in BIOS > Configuration tab. If you see VMD/RST or RAID, switch to AHCI; if you see Legacy switch to UEFI (or vice-versa) - Save & reboot On several IdeaPads the SSD only appears when Intel VMD is disabled

I’ve seen this method appear in other BIOS settings on youtube tutorials but I have no such option in my BIOS to storage mode or VMD or raid or legacy or UEFI. My laptop is an ideapad slim 1 and the bios settings don’t seem to include those options.

Check if drive shows up BIOS “Information” page or F12 one-time boot list If it appears here the hardware is alive; Windows just needs repairing.

On the information page in my BIOS, nothing called drive seems to be there. I assume the hardware has to be alive right because for 30 minutes randomly it all started working (following an automatic update) but then crashed again. The laptop is only 6 months old too

[Mylenovomademesad]

Thank you so much for the comprehensive reply!

Toggle storage mode Back in BIOS > Configuration tab. If you see VMD/RST or RAID, switch to AHCI; if you see Legacy switch to UEFI (or vice-versa) - Save & reboot On several IdeaPads the SSD only appears when Intel VMD is disabled

I’ve seen this method appear in other BIOS settings on youtube tutorials but I have no such option in my BIOS to storage mode or VMD or raid or legacy or UEFI. My laptop is an ideapad slim 1 and the bios settings don’t seem to include those options.

Check if drive shows up BIOS “Information” page or F12 one-time boot list If it appears here the hardware is alive; Windows just needs repairing.

On the information page in my BIOS, nothing called drive seems to be there. I assume the hardware has to be alive right because for 30 minutes randomly it all started working (following an automatic update) but then crashed again. The laptop is only 6 months old too

[Malnutrition]

Full “static-drain” reset
[ul]
[li]Unplug AC + remove any USB, hold the power button 15 s, then reconnect AC and power-on.[/li][li]If the eMMC/NVMe shows up afterward (BIOS now lists a drive), it was just a stuck power rail and you can skip to Step 3.[/li][/ul]
Run Lenovo’s built-in diagnostics (works even when no OS boots)
[ul]
[li]Tap F10 or, on some Slim 1 variants, Fn + F2 the instant you power on → “Lenovo Diagnostics”.[/li]

• [li]Choose Storage Test → Quick Test.[/li][li]If the test fails or the tool can’t even detect a disk, the hardware itself is bad .[/li][li]If it passes, the controller can still “see” the device and a software repair is worth trying.[/li][/ul]

Boot from a USB stick to double-check visibility
[ul]
[li]Make a Windows-10/11 setup USB with Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool or a small Linux live USB (Rufus + Ubuntu works).[/li][li]Enter the Boot Menu (F12 at power-on).[/li][li]If the installer/live Linux detects the internal drive (diskpart - list disk in Windows setup or lsblk in Linux):[/li]

• [li]It’s almost surely a corrupt file system/bootloader. Run “Repair your computer - Startup Repair” from the Windows USB or back up and do a clean reinstall.[/li][/ul]
  [li]If the installer cannot see any internal drive at all, then let me know.[/li]

[Malnutrition]

Full “static-drain” reset
[ul]
[li]Unplug AC + remove any USB, hold the power button 15 s, then reconnect AC and power-on.[/li][li]If the eMMC/NVMe shows up afterward (BIOS now lists a drive), it was just a stuck power rail and you can skip to Step 3.[/li][/ul]
Run Lenovo’s built-in diagnostics (works even when no OS boots)
[ul]
[li]Tap F10 or, on some Slim 1 variants, Fn + F2 the instant you power on → “Lenovo Diagnostics”.[/li]

• [li]Choose Storage Test → Quick Test.[/li][li]If the test fails or the tool can’t even detect a disk, the hardware itself is bad .[/li][li]If it passes, the controller can still “see” the device and a software repair is worth trying.[/li][/ul]

Boot from a USB stick to double-check visibility
[ul]
[li]Make a Windows-10/11 setup USB with Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool or a small Linux live USB (Rufus + Ubuntu works).[/li][li]Enter the Boot Menu (F12 at power-on).[/li][li]If the installer/live Linux detects the internal drive (diskpart - list disk in Windows setup or lsblk in Linux):[/li]

• [li]It’s almost surely a corrupt file system/bootloader. Run “Repair your computer - Startup Repair” from the Windows USB or back up and do a clean reinstall.[/li][/ul]
  [li]If the installer cannot see any internal drive at all, then let me know.[/li]

[Mylenovomademesad]

Full “static-drain” reset
[ul]
[li]Unplug AC + remove any USB, hold the power button 15 s, then reconnect AC and power-on.[/li][li]If the eMMC/NVMe shows up afterward (BIOS now lists a drive), it was just a stuck power rail and you can skip to step 3 [/li][/ul]

Sorry I should clarify I did try all of the things you mentioned including this and a drive did not appear.

>Run Lenovo’s built-in diagnostics (works even when no OS boots)
[ul]
[li]Tap F10 or, on some Slim 1 variants, Fn + F2 the instant you power on → “Lenovo Diagnostics”.[/li]

• [li]Choose Storage Test → Quick Test.[/li][li]If the test fails or the tool can’t even detect a disk, the hardware itself is bad .[/li][li]If it passes, the controller can still “see” the device and a software repair is worth trying[/li][/ul]

This is the other that doesnt seem to work on my laptop that i’ve seen on tutorials. F10 doesn’t take me to the diagnostics screen and fn+f2 just takes me to the bios. Weirdly enough when I just did the fn+f2 and it took me to the bios, it actually said my hard drive was there but then when I tried to boot I just got a bluescreen. I have no idea how to access lenovos built in diagnostics as all the shortcuts ive tested online don’t seem to do it, is there any other shortcuts it could be?

Boot from a USB stick to double-check visibility
[ul]
[li]Make a Windows-10/11 setup USB with Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool or a small Linux live USB (Rufus + Ubuntu works).[/li][li]Enter the Boot Menu (F12 at power-on).[/li][li]If the installer/live Linux detects the internal drive (diskpart - list disk in Windows setup or lsblk in Linux):[/li]

• [li]It’s almost surely a corrupt file system/bootloader. Run “Repair your computer - Startup Repair” from the Windows USB or back up and do a clean reinstall.[/li][/ul]

Okay I will try this now and get back to you in a seperate comment! Just to clarify if I run “Repair your computer - startup repair” does that wipe all my data?

Thanks again so much for taking all the time to help out, really appreciate it

[Mylenovomademesad]

Full “static-drain” reset
[ul]
[li]Unplug AC + remove any USB, hold the power button 15 s, then reconnect AC and power-on.[/li][li]If the eMMC/NVMe shows up afterward (BIOS now lists a drive), it was just a stuck power rail and you can skip to step 3 [/li][/ul]

Sorry I should clarify I did try all of the things you mentioned including this and a drive did not appear.

>Run Lenovo’s built-in diagnostics (works even when no OS boots)
[ul]
[li]Tap F10 or, on some Slim 1 variants, Fn + F2 the instant you power on → “Lenovo Diagnostics”.[/li]

• [li]Choose Storage Test → Quick Test.[/li][li]If the test fails or the tool can’t even detect a disk, the hardware itself is bad .[/li][li]If it passes, the controller can still “see” the device and a software repair is worth trying[/li][/ul]

This is the other that doesnt seem to work on my laptop that i’ve seen on tutorials. F10 doesn’t take me to the diagnostics screen and fn+f2 just takes me to the bios. Weirdly enough when I just did the fn+f2 and it took me to the bios, it actually said my hard drive was there but then when I tried to boot I just got a bluescreen. I have no idea how to access lenovos built in diagnostics as all the shortcuts ive tested online don’t seem to do it, is there any other shortcuts it could be?

Boot from a USB stick to double-check visibility
[ul]
[li]Make a Windows-10/11 setup USB with Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool or a small Linux live USB (Rufus + Ubuntu works).[/li][li]Enter the Boot Menu (F12 at power-on).[/li][li]If the installer/live Linux detects the internal drive (diskpart - list disk in Windows setup or lsblk in Linux):[/li]

• [li]It’s almost surely a corrupt file system/bootloader. Run “Repair your computer - Startup Repair” from the Windows USB or back up and do a clean reinstall.[/li][/ul]

Okay I will try this now and get back to you in a seperate comment! Just to clarify if I run “Repair your computer - startup repair” does that wipe all my data?

Thanks again so much for taking all the time to help out, really appreciate it

[Malnutrition]

Just to clarify if I run “Repair your computer - startup repair” does that wipe all my data?

No Startup Repair - Microsoft Support

[Malnutrition]

Just to clarify if I run “Repair your computer - startup repair” does that wipe all my data?

No Startup Repair - Microsoft Support