Adding A SSD Drive To A New XPS 8900 - Let The Games Begin

Question

I recently purchased a new XPS 8900 from Costco. I purchased a Intel 535 SSD 240GB and wanted to use it as the boot drive and I was going to format and use the 1TB that came with the PC as a storage device. I originally cloned the OEM drive to the new SSD drive. This didn't work so great - slow boot times - about 35 seconds.

I did a clean install of Windows 10 and tweaked the UEFI settings. Computer was booted without the OEM drive hooked up at this point. Boot time now is about 26 seconds. A little more than 18 seconds of that is playing with the BIOS/UEFI. None of the changes to the BIOS seemed to make any change. I was going to live with this, but I have 2 Win 10 laptops that are booting in 8 seconds and 11 seconds. I had pretty much everything loaded programs wise.

I next booted with the OEM drive hooked up and the SSD boot drive. I was going to format the OEM drive and on boot up I'm met with ePSA screen with Error Code 2000-0723 - Hard Drive - Drive error detected.. (which apparently isn't a code Dell recognizes?) Hitting Continue I'm at the desktop. I already had the Intel SSD Toolbox installed and had optimized the SSD drive. I did a quick diagnostic scan on the SSD drive and it reported no problems.

Restarted the PC and hit F12 to do the Dell Diagnostics testing. I now see a 2000-0142 error code. It indicates there is a hard drive failure with the new SSD drive. I reboot past the error message and do the Intel's Full Diagnostic Scan. Intel reports no issues. Hmm? I turn off the PC and disconnect the SSD and boot to the OEM drive. I get the same ePSA screen that popped up previously, hit Continue and I'm at the desktop. Reboot and run Dell's testing, the hard drive now passes and it passes all the other tests. I turned off the computer, removed the AC power cord, CMOS battery, and held the power button. Put it back together and clear the log files. I'm met with the same ePSA error code 2000-0723 screen.

I have another SSD - SanDisk 240GB. I disconnect the OEM drive and hook up Intel and the SanDisk. I cloned the Intel to the SanDisk and boot only to the SanDisk. Same ePSA screen pops up, but now Dell diagnostics passes all the tests. I run the Intel Driver Update Utility, which shows no updates. Device Manager shows all devices operational.

If you've made it this far, I appreciate it. :-)

Questions -

Dell sees something it doesn't like with the Intel SSD, but Intel says it's working fine. I could return it, but I'm thinking there's nothing wrong with the hard drive. I'm not sure what to do next.

How do you get rid of the ePSA warning? This pops up regardless of which hard drive boots.

Is there a different BIOS/UEFI that's available? I've pretty much exhausted the changes and 18 seconds seems like a looong time.

Thanks!

Tom76 · Accepted Answer

SSSANTI - Good News !!!! error code 2000-0723 is gone thanks to a dell bios update version 2.1.3. Check the support page for the download file.

A word of caution - update did not got as smooth as I would have thought. I ran the BIOS exe file and let it do its thing - when it finished updating, the computer went to restart itself and it seemed like it was caught in a loop - it would power on and then shout down before the splash screen. It did this several times - I almost unplugged the machine. Finally it booted to the splash screen and then finished booting up to windows - everything was fine. I rebooted a couple of times and even did a cold boot to make sure there were no problems and everything seems to be OK.

Disconnected a hard drive to test, re-booted and no error comes up - FINALLY

FYI - It seems like it boots a little faster.

Hope this bios update solves your problem as well.

osprey4 · Answer

Hi scgms1,

Since you're getting that ePSA code with the OEM drive, I'd pursue the issue with Dell. Assuming there's no problem with the drive and the issue is caused by something else, they should be able to figure out what the problem is. I would try the online form.

As for diagnosing the problems with the SSDs, I'm not a fan of performing diagnostics under Windows. So I would boot to a flash drive and run a utility from that. Intel probably has a DOS-based tool you can use.

scgms1 · Answer

I got the replacement HDD. It had the same error code. I just got off the phone with tech support, which was a little more than an hour. We're trying different things, when all of a sudden he says they're working on a BIOS update...He said it should be 1-2 business days. I mentioned, while we're working on the update can we speed it up? Last BIOS time for this HDD was 25.6 seconds. Wow Hopefully it gets fixed. :emotion-1:

osprey4 · Answer

Please post back when you learn more. This is the current flagship desktop and I'm sure they're keen to resolve things.

sssanti · Answer

I have a similar problem. I get error 2000-0723 but if I continue the computer starts normally

Tom76 · Answer

Hi SSSANTI - I get the same error - hit continue and all is fine.

See my reply (1/8/2016) posted to the following thread for a description of what happened in my case - still hoping somebody has an answer.

en.community.dell.com/.../19666827

sssanti · Answer

Thanks for your post. I also had one more drive that was removed. I will test adding that drive to see if the error message goes away.

Yesterday I spent more than 2 hours with Dell support. They say that Error Code 2000-0723 is not valid. They don't seem to know what to do. They are escalating the issue and they told me that they will get back to me by email. This was the conclusion after reinstalling windows and checking all hardware.

My XPS 8900 came with the 2TB HD plus a 32GB SDD as a cache. I don't know if this is related to the error message, but after I added my 250GB SSD and changed the SATA controller to AHCI in the BIOS setup, I get Status:Incompatible Usage:Unknown in the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Manage Tab for a the Liteon 32GB SATA SDD and It seems that the 32 SDD is not being used as a cache.

I wonder if users getting Error Code 2000-0723 also have the 2TB HD with the 32GB SSD cache.

Tom76 · Answer

SSSANTI - I have the 2TB HDD but I do not have the 32GB SDD. I have a  Samsung 850 EVO SDD installed in the M.2 slot and A Western Digital 1TB drive installed on sata port 3. The only reason I have the second hard drive installed because if I try and remove it and/or the 2TB drive I get the same exact error you are getting - 2000-0723 'hard drive or optical drive not found.'

willem.w · Answer

I just purchased a XPS 8900 with i7 6700 and 1TB HDD and will be adding an SSD. I'm considering the use of the M.2 slot for the SSD now that it is available on this platform. I've read on one forum that the XPS 8900 M.2 slot is wired as a PCIe Gen3 x1, however when I called Dell sales support (and a long hold) they told me it's a x4. A third source told me it was a x1, but that's all the SSD would require.

So I'd like to get the "plumbing" question clarified for the M.2 slot. Is it a x1 or x4 PCIe supporting the M.2 slot?

Like others, I plan to use the SSD as my boot drive and for apps. I will use the HDD for data. It would be great to get recommendations on whether to use the M.2 slot for the SSD (I'm considering the Samsung SM951 256GB or possibly the 512GB), or whether it's better to use the an adapter card in the x4 PCIe slot with the M.2 SSD installed in the adapter. I think one of these 2 options will provide the highest performance.

Thanks for help on these 2 questions.

scgms1 · Answer

Well to sum this up. I ended up returning the PC to Costco. I was replacing a Dell XPS 8300 that lived 4 years in a fairly dirty environment. It hasn't died yet, but...

I wanted to make this work, For what you get with the XPS 8900, it's not a bad price for an i7-6700. Just the Intel processor runs $350. I just got tired of dealing with this and burned enough time trying to get it to work. Dell said they had an updated BIOS and I was willing to give that a shot, but as of 1/15/2016 it was still the same version that was tried. I'm not sure if an update on the BIOS would correct this error, but my feelings are it would.

I had some components here and ordered what I needed to build my own PC. Granted it'll run a little bit more than the $800 I paid for this, but I'm expecting what I expected the 8900 to be. Too bad.

Thanks for the replies!

sssanti · Answer

When adding the hard disk I removed, the error goes away. It seems like a bug. One should be able to add drives and then remove them without getting this error. Still no responde from Dell

scgms1 · Answer

Hi ssanti,

That's odd that you had no response from Dell. I'm not pleased with how this turned out, but I can say Dell was good at communicating. Possibly when Dell gets my PC back from Costco they'll get to the bottom of what was wrong. There were multiple explanations of what might be causing a 2000-0723, but for the most part they were scratching their heads as it seems that's not a documented Diagnostic Trouble Code. (DTC) My DTC was there regardless of what hard drive was installed - HDD or SSD

For me, it was more than the DTC, it was also the abnormally long times spent in the BIOS. With an i7-6700 and a SSD it should boot rapidly. Sure it's faster than my old XPS 8300 with a HDD, but c'mon now. Sigh

Tom76 · Answer

sssanti - same here - remove a hard drive or ssd and 2000-0723 error pops up - replace the drive, error goes away - Dell wants to replace my motherboard - don't think that's the issue - I think the bios/firmware needs to be updated.

One other thing, if during the boot process I hit the f12 key (One Time Boot Menu) and select my regular boot drive to boot from, it will boot up with no error message. This is what makes me think it is a bios problem and nothing else.

scgms1 - sorry to hear things didn't work out - understand the frustration - good luck on your PC build.

sssanti · Answer

I had another technical support call with level 2 that confirmed that there are no hardware issues. Since the 2000-0723 error is before windows loads, they don't think it is software related. The issue is now escalated to level 3 and I am waiting for a response.

Tom76 - Are you also trying to get this resolved with Dell technical support? Please post if you find a solution to this error.

Tom76 · Answer

sssanti - I have been working with someone from basic hardware warranty support - they want to replace the motherboard and see if that corrects the problem. If it doesn't, then they will push it on up to the "product group"

The only reason I am working with them is they were following up on another minor issue (that got resolved) and so I told them what was going on with this situation.

I had originally sent an e-mail to dell technical support describing the problem on 1/3/2016 - received a computer generated reply same day saying I would receive an e-mail from a technical support agent the next business day - never heard from anybody.

As I said before, I don't think it is a hardware issue and think the UEFI (BIOS) firmware needs to be updated. For now, I am holding off on replacing the motherboard.

I will definitely let you know if this gets straightened out.

Please let me know if you hear anything else or if dell comes up with a solution for you.

Thanks !

Storage, Drives & Media

Adding A SSD Drive To A New XPS 8900 - Let The Games Begin

Was this post helpful?