"reboot and select proper boot device"

Hello. My computer picked up a new personality quirk night before last, and maybe you guys can help shed some light on how to overcome it. I actually posted this problem in "hardware" yesterday, but upon reading the other issues posted there, I guess it really should've been posted here. I apologize for the duplicate thread. Background information. Dell XPS, System 7, no issues lately, no programs installed over the past few weeks. The last project I performed was recording an LP into the hard drive and saving the tracks as mp3s, something I've done without incident many times. I think I was looking at Facebook when suddenly all the windows began closing. Some gave prompts as to whether I wanted to save my work. I assumed Windows had another critical update, so I saved everything, and watched the computer shut down. I then left to do other things. The next morning, I was greeted with the "reboot and select proper boot device" black screen, and can't seem to get beyond it. I hear something powering up when I turn it on (as I always do), so no change there. I can get into set-up. I ran the F12 diagnosis, but it said everything was fine - it seemed able to access the hard drive just fine. The boot priority in F2 is listed as: 1. Hard Disk: WDC WD1… 2. CD/DVD: HL-DT-ST D… 3. USB Floppy 4. Network 5. USB Hard Disk 6. USB CD/DVD (Not sure you need that, but I figure wouldn't hurt to say.) We did have a modest thunderstorm in the area that night, but I do have a surge protector, and any usual signs of a power surge were absent. (Clocks reset in the house, etc.) I should point out that I did a backup of all my files to a "Book" on July 1st, so if a complete reset is needed, I'm OK with that. I'd rather not, since there are some files I've added/changed since, but it shouldn't be too big of a pain to replace those. Looking forward to hearing your suggestions - thanks! R

See if you can do a Startup Repair.

If you don't have a Windows 7 DVD you can download the iso image from Digital River and burn one to use.

Thanks for the suggestion! I gave that a go, but it couldn't find any issues. It can still access the hard drive OK (I glanced at the directory, and it looks like everything's there), but still won't boot. R

Try booting into safe mode….
Here's how:

1 Hold down the power on button on your computer for 30 seconds
2 Now wait for 1 minute.
3 Next Power up your computer in the normal way (just briefly press the power on button for a second) and then immediately start tapping the F8 key regularly once per second.
4 You should arrive at a menu and if it does then select last known good configuration and press the Enter key
5 Report back on exactly what happens
Regards
paws