Inaccessible boot device error after cpu upgrade.

Question

I upgraded from a Ryzen 5 2600 to a Ryzen 5 5600x. But now when I start the pc it gives me a bluescreen of death with the message inaccessible_boot_device. I have tried system restore and I have tried the sfc /scannow command but still no results

Answer 1

Hi VireussXD ,

I am Dave, I will help you with this.

Windows 10 and 11 is remarkably adaptable to new hardware and usually on the first reboot, it will just install the necessary drivers for the new hardware.

The one exception is the processor, sometimes Windows cannot adapt to a new processor and in that case, Windows will need to be re-installed.

Are you able to use this method to boot into Safe Mode?

Start your PC, just as Windows attempts to load (spinning dots), press and hold Power Button for 5 - 10 seconds to perform a Hard Shut Down

Do this twice

On the third start Windows will boot into the Recovery Environment and from there you can access System Repair, Safe Mode, Command Prompt... etc.

Go to Troubleshoot - Advanced Option - Startup Settings and click Restart

Upon restart, press 4 to enter Safe Mode

Answer 2

Hi I was having the same problem as the guy above but WinRE was not showing up, I tried the shut down method and it didn't work. Is there another way to do it?

Answer 3

I had a similar (but different) problem going from my Threadripper 2950x on a Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme (which died) to just plugging the boot drive into a Threadripper 3955wx on an Asus Sage Wifi. As far as I'm concerned, it shouldn't have worked at all, but I just had to enter the bios and set the boot device, then Windows 11 detected the new cpu (it reported the new cpu in white text on a black screen, with some verbose information) and started just fine! It's been working fine for more than 8 months. I wish I had some advice for you, aside from going into the bios and verifying that the correct UEFI boot device is selected. It's common for the bios to reset to default settings when installing a new cpu. This can result in CSM being enabled, disabling of the TPM module, and other shenanigans.

Just try making sure that all the Secure Boot options are correct in the bios, and the right device for boot is selected (it has to be UEFI) and save the changes and restart. I really hope that works for you!

Answer 4

I've never seen an issue from any hardware swap including major different CPUs and there really shouldn't be.

I don't see why a CPU anyway would cause an inaccessible drive issue anyway lol. That's kind of a drive & boot device related issue :)

The only way a CPU would affect that is if its not working well or with the BIOS.

"Cause

The INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE bug check frequently occurs because of a boot device failure. During I/O system initialization, the boot device driver might have failed to initialize the boot device (typically a hard disk).

File system initialization might have failed because it did not recognize the data on the boot device. Also, repartitioning the system partition, changing the BIOS configuration, or installing a disk controller might induce this error.

This error can also occur because of incompatible disk hardware. If the error occurred at the initial setup of the system, the system might have been installed on an unsupported disk controller. Some disk controllers require additional drivers to be present when Windows starts."

You can find things to try in the following link that is from.

Its also possible the SSD had an issue from what you did. Some have weird issues.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/bug-check-0x7b--inaccessible-boot-device

Answer 5

I don't know about AMD processors, but Intel processors may allow some ports/slots on the motherboard to be usable but not with a different one.

Such as M.2 slots, so check the manual for the board and make sure the current drive is still available for booting using the new processor.