System BootOrder Not Found on HP: What It Means and How to Fix It

“System BootOrder not found” is a message seen mainly on HP laptops and desktops. It usually appears on a black screen during startup, often with a line about initializing defaults and pressing a key to continue. Sometimes the computer then boots normally; sometimes it drops to Boot Device Not Found or loops back to the same message. It tends to show up after a BIOS reset (a CMOS reset, a drained CMOS battery, or a BIOS update) or when the firmware can’t see the internal drive. In most cases the data on the drive is untouched.

What “system bootorder not found” means

UEFI firmware stores a list of boot entries, and the order to try them in, in its own non-volatile memory. On a Windows PC, the important entry is Windows Boot Manager, which points at a boot loader file on the drive’s EFI system partition.

The message means that list is missing or empty. The firmware has no saved boot order, so it falls back to defaults. That happens for a few reasons:

• The BIOS settings were reset. A CMOS reset, a dead or weak CMOS battery, a BIOS update or a “load defaults” can clear the stored boot entries. If the message returns every time the PC has been fully unplugged, a worn CMOS battery is a reasonable suspect (this is more common on older machines).
• The drive wasn’t detected. If the internal SSD or hard drive doesn’t answer at power-on, the firmware drops boot entries that point to it.
• Boot mode changed. Switching between UEFI and Legacy (CSM) can leave the firmware with no valid entries for the current mode.
• The EFI boot files are damaged, so the firmware can’t rebuild an entry automatically.

How to fix system bootorder not found

Work through these in order. The first steps only change settings, not your files. Menu names below are typical of recent HP firmware; yours may be laid out a little differently.

1. Hard reset with everything disconnected

Shut down, unplug the charger and every USB device, dock and card. Hold the power button for about 15 seconds. Reconnect only the charger and power on. If the message appears, press a key as prompted and see if Windows loads. If it does, go straight to step 4 to make the fix stick.

2. Confirm the drive is detected

Tap Esc at power-on to open the HP Startup Menu, then press F10 for BIOS Setup. Look on the main or system information page for your hard drive or SSD.

• Drive listed: good, the hardware is responding.
• Drive missing: the boot order is a symptom, not the cause. Skip to “If the drive isn’t detected.”

You can also press F2 from the Startup Menu to open HP PC Hardware Diagnostics and run the storage test.

3. Re-enable UEFI and restore boot options

In BIOS Setup, look under Advanced → Boot Options (or System Configuration → Boot Options on older models):

• Make sure UEFI Boot is enabled and Legacy Support is disabled for a laptop that shipped with Windows 10 or 11.
• Check the UEFI Boot Order list. If OS Boot Manager or Windows Boot Manager appears, move it to the top.
• If you’re not sure what was changed, many HP BIOS versions have Main → Apply Factory Defaults and Exit, which restores HP’s standard boot configuration.

Save changes and restart.

4. Re-add Windows Boot Manager

If Windows Boot Manager is missing from the list, you can often start Windows manually: press Esc, then F9 for the Boot Device Options menu. Many HP models offer Boot From EFI File, where you can browse the EFI partition to EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi and select it.

Once Windows is running, open Command Prompt as administrator and recreate the firmware entry:

bcdboot C:\Windows /f UEFI

This writes fresh boot files to the EFI partition and adds Windows Boot Manager back to the firmware’s boot list. It doesn’t change your documents.

If Windows won’t start that way, boot from a Windows installation USB, choose Repair your computer → Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Repair, and if that fails, run the same bcdboot command from Command Prompt there. In the recovery environment the Windows partition may have a different letter, so check with dir C:\, dir D:\ and so on until you find the one containing the Windows folder.

5. Deal with a recurring reset

If the message comes back after every full power-off, the BIOS isn’t holding its settings. The CMOS (RTC) battery is replaceable on many HP models, though on some it sits under other components. HP’s service manual for your model shows where it is. A BIOS update from HP’s support site can also help if the firmware itself is misbehaving.

Protect your files before any reset or reinstall

If none of that works, you’ll see advice to use HP Cloud Recovery, the recovery partition, or a clean Windows install. All of those can wipe the drive. Get your files first:

• Remove the drive and read it on another computer with a USB-to-NVMe or USB-to-SATA adapter. See how to get files off a dead laptop.
• BitLocker or device encryption is common on newer HP laptops. You’ll need the recovery key to read the drive elsewhere: find your BitLocker recovery key.
• Never initialize or format the drive when another PC offers to.

If the drive isn’t detected

When the BIOS doesn’t list the drive, or HP’s storage test fails, no boot setting will fix it. Stop and power down if:

• The drive is missing from BIOS or shows up only intermittently.
• The diagnostics report a hard drive or SSD failure.
• A hard drive clicks or grinds.
• The laptop was recently dropped or exposed to liquid.

Repeated restarts put extra wear on a failing drive. For more on what an undetected drive means, see hard drive not showing up in BIOS. If the laptop won’t power on at all, that’s a different problem covered in HP laptop won’t turn on.

The bottom line

“System BootOrder not found” means the HP firmware lost its list of boot entries, usually after a BIOS reset or because the drive wasn’t detected. Hard reset, confirm the drive appears in BIOS, enable UEFI, put Windows Boot Manager first, and rebuild the entry with bcdboot if it’s missing. If the message keeps returning after power-off, look at the CMOS battery. If the drive itself is missing, treat it as a hardware problem and protect the data first.

If the drive won’t show up or won’t read, our laptop data recovery service can help. ClearQuote recovers single devices for one flat $1,200 price with free prepaid shipping, and you pay nothing unless we recover your data.