Dell Latitude (Skylake) incompatible with popular SSDs?

Computer: Dell Latitude (Model E5470)

Problem: Remove mechanical hard drive. Install third-party SSD. Computer will not boot Windows (whether a clone or fresh install) nor will it boot Linux from the SSD.

Drives tested:

• Samsung 850 EVO
• Intel 540s
• Crucial MX200

Detail: I have a Dell E5470, under warranty, and I believe this model is fundamentally broken. This problem may affect all Skylake models. If so, Dell should fix/replace for all customers - otherwise I can see customers going to small claims court or someone starting a class action lawsuit.

I have tried multiple SSDs from different manufacturers with the same result. The BIOS will not always see the SSD. The boot menu will not always see the SSD. When attempting to boot from the SSD you get an error "No Boot Device". However the Dell Diagnositic Test will see the hard drive.

You can boot a USB installer for Windows or Linux and actually install an OS to the hard drive, so the computer does see the SSD at some point. During the Windows installation process when it restarts, it somtimes (not always) will succeed. That is, the SSD can boot from a warm boot as part of the installation process. However as soon as you turn off the laptop, the drive will fail to boot. That is, cold booting the SSD will fail.

Dell support have been unable to resolve. Machine was seen by an on-site technician, they replaced the motherboard and witnessed the no boot device problem (the mechanical drive was also failing to boot for some reason). They helped request a return to factory depot. On return, the mechanical drive was working, but the same problem. Tried support again and just ended a 1hr 15min call with Dell asking me to read the manual, check BIOS settings, check hard drive specifications and contact the hard drive manufacturers. Support are saying that as long as their mechanical drive, as shipped, can boot then there is nothing wrong with the laptop. If third party SSDs do not work, then that is a problem with the manufacturers of those drives. Dell Support do not believe that the Latitude E5470 (perhaps the entire range) could be defective.

Long story short. If you have a Dell Latitude and have had similar problems, please post your SSD model and links to any relevant information. If you are from Dell and are reading this, please escalate and try to fix asap. Currently my E5470 is not fit for purpose and I hope that Dell is not knowingly selling a defective machine which does not work with third-party SSDs.

 

no issues with my E5470


with 2.5" 2TB Samsung 850 Pro (Windows)
or m.2 2242 MTS400 512GB Transcend in the WWAN slot (Ubuntu 16.04)

both purchased from 3rd party, installed without Dell support. OSes installed separately on each drive (aka each drive has it's own boot partition with corresponding EFI/grub bootloaders)


in the E5470 thread, some people were having issues getting WWAN slot to act as bootable drive


in BIOS, did you set legacy mode or UEFI mode? BIOS version?

 

Thanks, I might try the 850 Pro.

I have installed OS with both legacy (Linux and Win 7) and UEFI (Linux and Win 10).

Bios is 1.06.03.

 

if the other ssds don't work for you, doubt the 850 pro would work

Something wrong with the machine physically or config

 

I have two older SSDs which do work:

• Crucial M500
• Samsung 830 Pro

It is the newer ones that don't.

 

in the BIOS, can you manually find+add the efi bootloaders in the boot options?

 

No problem with a relatively new-model Sandisk X400 in mine; same generation of Marvell controller as the Crucial MX200, so am rather suprised that one would fail.

Did they actually replace your motherboard when you did the depot return? If they didn't, my suspicion would be that you've got a bad motherboard. If all those drives are via the 2.5" bay, have you tried a M.2

It could be a current draw issue -- we had a WHOLE bunch of problems with Seagate 600 and Corsair Neutron GTX (both LAMD controller based SSDs) having machines (both laptops and servers) not start consistently as a result, and I've found the Seagate 600s unreliable in external USB cases (likely for the same reason.) OTOH, I can't see how you'd have those issues with all of those models.

Unfortunately, since this is not Dell supported hardware you're installing, you're kind of on your own.

 

Returned to depot and they shipped it back today. They said they replaced the hard drive and the cable. I did not turn on the machine but instead took out the hard drive and cloned it onto another drive.

The first thing I noticed was that the SATA connector was much thicker and more snug than the previous one. To the point it's a little difficult to separate the connector from the hard drive. A big difference from the previous cabling.

The second thing is that the Bios has been updated to 1.7.3 (which was only just released on the 7th July) whereas I had been running the previous version 1.06.03. I also went to bios settings and took photos of every single page. Did not change anything in the bios.

Good news is that the Intel 540s and 850 Evo now bootsup from a cold start. Seems to work every time, which is a great relief. I returned the MX200 so can't test that.

So either there was a bug in the Bios which caused problems with the SSD and that has been fixed (what version Bios are you running with your X400?) or the problem was a hardware one with cabling being the culprit - although if that were the case I shouldn't have been able to install an OS in the first place. Maybe there is a power issue, but the newer SSDs are more efficient than the old drives which did work.

 

We have multiple E5470s deployed, they're all on modern Samsung, Crucial or Sandisk SSDs (mix of Evos, MX200s and Ultra IIs), never had an issue with any of them. You may have a problem with yours, but to say that the model is fundamentally broken and that the problem may be for all Skylake models is unfounded.

 

If you read the update in the previous post then it appears that the problem is fixed by either a changed SSD connector (most likely IMO) or the BIOS update. A poor, but not completely bad, connector can create problems.

John