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11215
December 13th, 2023 20:10
BIOS wont' find SSD
Dell sold my aunt a laughably terrible computer: 8GB ram, 1TB HDD. Needlessly to say it was too slow to use, esp with Windows. We upgraded the RAM. System performance improved. Next she bought a WD SSD. The BIOS/UEFI will not see the disk as an option at boot. I've gone into the one-time boot menu, still doesn't see it. The RAID settings are disabled. I installed windows 10 on the SDD and booted from it on one of my desktops (ASUS MB). The SATA cable and power cable from the Dell MB work with the HDD. The Dell remains able to boot from the HDD. From this I feel safe in inferring that 1) the SDD is good and bootable 2) the MB data and power cables are good. So it has to be a BIOS/UEFI setting? The computer is out of warranty so I'm unable to get help from Dell without paying more. And frankly we're both disinclined to sink more money into this computer at this point. Hoping someone can help.
redxps630
9 Legend
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14.6K Posts
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December 13th, 2023 23:23
did you use legacy bios in another pc to install OS on the ssd?
if your Dell pc is set to boot in UEFI environment, then the ssd containing OS must be installed via UEFI too. you could install OS in another pc then move it to the Dell.
(edited)
edtrob
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December 14th, 2023 02:48
@redxps630 That was the problem, thank you! I almost dismissed it because that desktop's OS is in UEFI mode but I put the WD SSD back in and checked. It was in legacy mode. I totally missed that, so thank you!
Follow up:
Turns out there were myriad problems that I stumbled upon because of @redxps630 's comment.
The first was that I do not understand UEFI as well as I thought I did.
The second was that the SSD was MBR and not GPT.
So I converted the SSD to GPT but when I tried to install Windows on the SSD in my desktop (the Dell was offline and I was trying to isolate the problem) I got an error that Windows could not be installed on a GPT disk. That, it turns out, was because of the legacy support settings on the ASUS MB.
Once I disabled legacy support on my ASUS (to match the Dell), I could not use my USB stick to boot. I use a lot of VMS so I had just taken a Windows iso and used that to make a boot stick. Turns out that method works with legacy support but is not UEFI compatible. And the Dell does not allow legacy support--probably because of the TPM chip?? To make the thumb-drive UEFI compatible I went to Microsoft's website and used the "Create Windows installation media" tool.
That gave me a USB stick that was UEFI compatible and had installation media on it. At that point I put the SSD back into the Dell and booted with the USB stick. Setup.exe did not see the SSD but I used diskpart from the install media to reformat the disk and then was able to install Windows.
To summarize: The SSD was 1TB and so came formatted as MBR instead of GPT. Furthermore, I had been trying to install Windows from a USB stick that was not UEFI compatible. To fix that I used the "Create Windows installation media" tool from Microsoft's website. (I did, at one point, have to use diskpart from the installation media but it is accessible above the Setup.exe program).
The Dell is now up and running with Windows, improved memory and a SSD. So thank you again for the advice! and I hope this helps someone else struggling with UEFI related problems after swapping out a drive.
(edited)
Anbry
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December 14th, 2023 01:18
I have a similar issue but slightly different. I have a 3671 desktop Inspiron that came with a SATA HDD and planned to install a new SSD in the m.2 slot. The issues are after attaching it to the MB, there was no m.2 option in the BIOs boot sequence. The only option was to use "Windows Boot Manager" or the flash drive with windows installed on it. That really confused me.
At that point, I think we had the same issue. The difference is, I set boot sequence to the windows flash drive and installed windows on the SSD. Windows works fine like this. So, if you have the boot from USB / flash drive option in bios, you can try installing windows that way.
The catch or problem I've encountered when doing that (you may too) is I need the SATA HHD that still has windows on it (never formated it) to get past the initial boot screen. I assume this is because there is still no option to boot from the m.2 slot ( have to use "Windows Boot Manager"). At the dual boot screen I can selet the SSD (for me it's port 8 or whatever) or I can still choose to boot windows from the HDD. The Dell is using the SSD fine at that point. The downside if you have to click the drive to load windows from manually on every boot or you have to wait 30 seconds for it to auto load the last used option. Also, you have to use the slow HDD to initially boot to that screen and you can't use the second HDD as storage. Plus is the HDD breaks, no using the SSD.
I'm trying to figure out a way to just boot directly from the m.2 slot. I haven't tried a bios update, but I'm pretty sure that is all current. I know some dells do have a option to boot from m.2. Good luck.
RoHe
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45.2K Posts
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December 14th, 2023 01:38
@edtrob - Always include exact PC model in your posts.
Windows Boot Manager should always be first in the boot sequence in BIOS setup.
If the original HDD is still connected to the motherboard, the PC will always boot from that HDD, not from the new SSD even though it has Windows installed on it.
If that works, reboot and look for the SSD as a boot option on the F12 boot menu. If that works, repeat #1-#6, but this time reconnect the HDD to motherboard at #5. Then reboot and open the F12 menu again to look for the option to boot from the SSD.
If it boots from the SSD, copy all personal files off the HDD and save them on an external USB HDD. When you're sure you've copied everything you want to keep, launch Windows Disk Management (while running from the SSD) and initialize the HDD (ALL FILES DELETED!) so it can be used for storage.
Then reboot normally and see if it boots from the SSD and the HDD is available for storage (probably assigned drive letter D:).
redxps630
9 Legend
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14.6K Posts
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December 14th, 2023 01:50
UEFI can be confusing.
when you have a pc previously booting well with OS on a drive in UEFI, now you introduce a new device and begin to change the previous booting order, a good idea is to first remove the old boot drive, then go inside bios to reset UEFI/BIOS to factory default. after that install new ssd, use usb installation media to do clean OS install. Note that PC will boot from USB first (assuming new ssd is blank) and then after OS install completes it is smart enough on restart to boot from the ssd then (it would not boot from USB again). this is how the UEFI boot path is properly set smoothly.
after that you can delete all old partitions on old hdd and create single new partiton then format to use it as data drive
(edited)
BCBennyCAN
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November 27th, 2024 21:40
So, my take as an IT Tech for 36 years (the last 10 as an IT Diploma College Instructor)
- UEFI mode (clone)
- Would not always see Patriot SSD (on and off)
- Updated Firmware (this can fix some laptops issues with newer SSDs)
- I tried a second Patriot SSD (Same)
- Tried no RAID or Lecacy boot support (Same)
- Tried a different brand and no issues (Sandisk) worker perfect
I will also say Samsung may be expensive, but I have yet to have an issue with any of them.
~BCBennyCAN