How to fix Windows 10 "The boot configuration data for your PC is missing or contains errors"?

Problem:

• My laptop [Acer Aspire VN7-592G] doesn't have an optical drive, so Windows 8.1 was installed via an external DVD drive; upon finishing the installation, it was not removed as the first boot option in the BIOS and while I believe this is a non-issue, could this be the cause?

Chronology:

1. After installing Windows 8.1, I discovered this laptop's driver support is for Windows 10 only, and after upgrading to Windows 10, everything appeared fine
2. 1st Reboot: Weird Windows 7 logo screen appeared, followed by the BSOD above
   2nd Reboot: Windows 7 logo screen and BSOD
   3rd Reboot: BSOD with error code0xc000000f:

   Your PC needs to be repaired
   
   File:   \boot\bcd
   Status: 0xc000000f
   Info:   The Boot Configuration Data for your PC is missing or contains errors.
   
   You'll need to use the recovery tools on your installation media.
   

3. I created a bootable USB to perform a clean install of Windows 10; everything went fine, reboot was okay, and I used the laptop for 12hrs before turning it off
4. Upon turning it on, the Windows 7 logo and BSOD were back with error 0xc000000f
5. I used the bootable USB to run a quick repair and it booted to Windows 10 successfully

Questions:

1. Is this a hard drive error that can be fixed via Automatic Repair or should I use my warranty?
2. How can I permanently fix this issue so it doesn't occur again?
3. How do I check the health of my laptop's hardware, as Device Manager showed no issue before this error occured?

A few suggestions:

• Don't use your HDD for booting your system, as you can make a bootable USB for loading any OS you want to boot
• Change the boot order, placing USB as first, then boot your system
• In the Windows installer, choose the option to format your old drive before starting the install
  
  

You can use different methods for USB boot:

• For Command Prompt: Create a Bootable USB Flash Drive
• For 3rd party software: Windows USB/DVD Download Tool