Boot issues Alienware 17

Need to figure out why this machine won't boot when I remove the HDD, even though the OS is installed on the PCIE SSD. :\

 

Maybe the boot sector is installed on your HDD. Normal behavior for Win Crap X... Never install Os with all disks mounted in your machine.

 

I was moving around a bunch of SSD's/HDD's from one machine to another today--running some tests.. While doing that I accidentally deleted the 17R3's partition of 500MB drive (F: which Dell had something installed there from factory, possibly OS recovery. I was attempting to format an SSD I had connected via USB, but formatted that F: drive accidentally.. Too much multitasking. I fear now, said drive (F: contained even the boot sector.

After taking out the HDD, to put in my SSD machine couldn't find a boot device at all despite PCIE being in there.. I'm confused; how do I recover from this now?

 

Give F*** in the Os recovery from Dell... Download Win X from M$ and do a clean install. Always do that. Drivers/software/Bloatware can be downloaded from Dell.

 

Agree, and I already did that, clean OS install form MS 4 days ago on the PCIE. But I should have removed the HDD when I did that so it only sees the PCIE. I hate this PCIE difficulty when re-doing the OS.. Can't boot to USB anymore you can only install from windows if you want PCIE as your main OS. Why did they complicate this so much? I'm furious, too much time lost lol. Miss being able to boot to USB and do clean install.

Now I can't even replace HDD until a new OS install to PCIE, in hopes that I will be able to remove HDD and swap in SSD after without boot issues. Feeling like a dog chasing my own tail.

 

Hmmm, I booted from USB and installed to PCIE.
Your BCD (Boot Configuration Data) must be on the spinner drive.
Like you said reinstall windows with only the drive you intend to put Windows on in the machine. Then add it after the OS is installed.
Windows has been silly like this for a while. Several times I have ran in to this silliness.

 

The problem is how do I remove the HDD and boot without it?? It won't boot, keeps looking for a boot device. Google isn't very helpful.

Can't just unplug the HDD after booting while the machine is on lol, and then re-install the OS on the PCIE SSD.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/nbr-windows-10-clean-installation-guide.781178/

 

Thank-you, but I did that exact process 4 days ago.. What I did NOT do at that time however was shut the machine off completely, then unplug the HDD before continuing to proceed with the fresh OS install.. That step should be in there!! LOL

This is HOPELESS!!! I removed the HDD, booted to USB to install OS.. When I get to the "Where do you want to install Windows" screen, there are no hard drives showing, the PCIe isn't even detected! WHY?! How can I complete the install to the PCIe and make sure the boot sector is installed on PCIe NOT the HDD while doing so?!

It gives me an option to load driver in windows setup.... Going to download the PCIe driver if I can find the correct one, put it on a separate USB, and see if I am able to load the driver from the additional USB. Hope that does the trick; otherwise I have no choice but to plug the HDD back in. Whoever designed all these extra steps as a necessity is a fool IMHO.

I give up. Downloaded all 17R3 drivers from Dell's website and saved them to another USB.

In windows setup, I go to load driver>browse>USB>17R3 Drivers folder shows up but noting in the folder even though I saved every single driver in there. Take USB out and verify on another machine that the drivers are in fact saved in "17R3 drivers" folder, and they are. Why they don't show up under windows setup I have no clue. Obligated to install with the HDD. If anyone has brighter ideas/solutions please share.

Only thing I can think of is cloning the HDD to SSD atatched to machine VIA USB, but I feel that too may turn out as "time well wasted". Starving. Spent all day on this. WHY did dellianware make this process this complicated? I miss the simple days.

 

Have you tried this guide ? http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...up-your-samsung-950-pro-m-2-ssd-17-r3.787205/

 

Yes, I was stuck on it even as you offered your help to check it.. Post #81:


Diskpart
List Disk
Select Disk 0-my disk 0 is the only one showing up and that is the USB plugged into the laptop only.. NOTHING else.
Clean
Convert GPT
Exit

 

this is a new machine from dell?

 

Indeed. Brand new. Came with OS installed on PCIe 500gb, with 1TB HDD. Removing this HDD makes nothing work no matter how you spin it. Just won't boot.

 

Which model PCIe?

 

Samsung PM951 500GB

Edit: (more info)


Storage
Hard drives
HGST HTS721010A9E630
Manufacturer Hitachi
Product Family Unknown
Series Prefix Standard
Model Capacity For This Specific Drive S70GB
Heads 16
Cylinders 121,601
Tracks 31,008,255
Sectors 1,953,520,065
SATA type SATA-III 6.0Gb/s
Device type Fixed
ATA Standard ATA8-ACS
Serial Number JR10004M1UP1KF
Firmware Version Number JB0OA3P0
LBA Size 48-bit LBA
Power On Count 122 times
Power On Time 7.0 days
Speed 7200 RPM
Features S.M.A.R.T., APM, NCQ
Max. Transfer Mode SATA III 6.0Gb/s
Used Transfer Mode SATA III 6.0Gb/s
Interface SATA
Capacity 931 GB
Real size 1,000,204,886,016 bytes
RAID Type None
S.M.A.R.T
Status Good
Temperature 36 °C
Temperature Range OK (less than 50 °C)
S.M.A.R.T attributes
01
Attribute name Read Error Rate
Real value 0
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 62
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
02
Attribute name Throughput Performance
Real value 0
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
03
Attribute name Spin-Up Time
Real value 2 ms
Current 211
Worst 211
Threshold 33
Raw Value 0000000002
Status Good
04
Attribute name Start/Stop Count
Real value 231
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 00000000E7
Status Good
05
Attribute name Reallocated Sectors Count
Real value 0
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 5
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
07
Attribute name Seek Error Rate
Real value 0
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
08
Attribute name Seek Time Performance
Real value 0
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
09
Attribute name Power-On Hours (POH)
Real value 6d 23h
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 00000000A7
Status Good
0A
Attribute name Spin Retry Count
Real value 0
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
0C
Attribute name Device Power Cycle Count
Real value 122
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 000000007A
Status Good
BF
Attribute name G-sense error rate
Real value 0
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
C0
Attribute name Power-off Retract Count
Real value 32
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000020
Status Good
C1
Attribute name Load/Unload Cycle Count
Real value 2,369
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000941
Status Good
C2
Attribute name Temperature
Real value 35 °C
Current 171
Worst 171
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000150023
Status Good
C4
Attribute name Reallocation Event Count
Real value 0
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
C5
Attribute name Current Pending Sector Count
Real value 0
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
C6
Attribute name Uncorrectable Sector Count
Real value 0
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
C7
Attribute name UltraDMA CRC Error Count
Real value 0
Current 200
Worst 200
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
DF
Attribute name Load/Unload Retry Count
Real value 0
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000000
Status Good
F0
Attribute name Head Flying Hours
Real value 1d 11h
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000023
Status Good
F1
Attribute name Total LBAs Written
Real value 10,094,027,557
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0059A6A325
Status Good
F2
Attribute name Total LBAs Read
Real value 966,623,621
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 00399D8185
Status Good
FE
Attribute name Free Fall Protection
Real value 51
Current 100
Worst 100
Threshold 0
Raw Value 0000000033
Status Good
Partition 0
Partition ID Disk #0, Partition #0
Size 100 MB
Partition 1
Partition ID Disk #0, Partition #1
Disk Letter D:
File System NTFS
Volume Serial Number 683BA36C
Size 930 GB
Used Space 4.63 GB (0%)
Free Space 926 GB (100%)
Partition 2
Partition ID Disk #0, Partition #2
File System NTFS
Volume Serial Number 0CE827A8
Size 449 MB
Used Space 361 MB (80%)
Free Space 88 MB (20%)
NVMe PM951 NVMe SAMSU
Serial Number 2SP9XNH0059677
Firmware Version Number XB7VD7Q0
Interface RAID
Capacity 476 GB
Real size 512,110,190,592 bytes
RAID Type Software RAID
S.M.A.R.T
S.M.A.R.T not supported
Partition 0
Partition ID Disk #1, Partition #0
Disk Letter E:
File System NTFS
Volume Serial Number AE3C2DE2
Size 498 MB
Used Space 13.9 MB (2%)
Free Space 485 MB (98%)
Partition 1
Partition ID Disk #1, Partition #1
Disk Letter C:
File System NTFS
Volume Serial Number CAF85973
Size 476 GB
Used Space 34.6 GB (7%)
Free Space 441 GB (93%)
Partition 2
Partition ID Disk #1, Partition #2
File System NTFS
Volume Serial Number 46AE14CB
Size 449 MB
Used Space 321 MB (71%)
Free Space 128 MB (29%)

 

Thought I would update: Got it all working properly after changing BIOS from RAID to ACHI. This allowed me to see the PCIe and partition the disk, then convert it to GPT. Unplugged HDD, install OS, and all good to go now.