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Im at my wits end with trying to do a fresh install on an M18X R1, i have a stand alone Windows 7 CD . and it just will not load up its stuck on the loading screen for what seems an eternity ( the loading screen being it attempting to boot from the media ). I have changed it from RAID to AHCI as i don't want to use RAID. I have tried a USB flash and also a CD.
I have removed the CMOS battery drained all power etc, and STILL it is taking forever.
Is there a way to FORCE a flash bios from a USB stick ?
I can only see an executable on Dells website, and there is no OS installed.
Yes, you can do a blind flash, but I doubt that is going to do anything for you. Why are you disabling RAID in the BIOS? This is the default and the ideal setting to use. Unless you are trying to use some of the mainstream fluffy stuff like Samsung Magician, you're better off leaving it set to RAID even if you do not use RAID.
Anyhow, it's not likely your BIOS needing to be updated, but it definitely could be wrong BIOS settings causing all of your problems. If it used to be set to RAID, you cannot just flip it over to AHCI and install Windows. There are more settings that need to be changed for the switch from RAID to AHCI.
If you had more than one drive in RAID, turn RAID back on in the BIOS, F10 to save and exit, then use Ctrl+I at POST to enter the Intel Option ROM utility and break the old RAID membership. If you did not do that, your BIOS is trying to read/write to disks that are not configured properly. Once you have done that, then you can set the BIOS to AHCI for whatever reason you want to do that. In the BIOS make sure the items on the boot menu are set correctly.
Run diskpart, select the disk you want Windows on, then run the clean command. Then run convert mbr command (or convert gpt command, depending on your preference). Exit diskpart and then try installed Windows.
Hi Mr. Fox i thought Raid requires 2 hard drives, and one is rendered un accessable as it cache's against the first drive? i do actually use Samsung Magician - Rapid Mode.
I think i have found the problem ! the sata connector from the hard drive to the motherboard may be faulity ? as it works intermittently, and then posts - no bootable device found sometimes.
So problem is - Works intermittently , and then displays no boot device found ?.
Hard drive is a New 500GB Samsung SSD which was working perfect up until 2 days ago, also tested in my R2 and works fine.
Thank you for your help.
UPDATE - The hard drive is now not being detected by the bios - it is posting "PXE - "M0F" Check Cable Connection".
Do you have any ideas where i could purchase a cable from? they appear to be gold dust !
Did you do the Ctrl+I at POST and reset all drives to non-RAID? If not, do that. The BIOS will never detect your drives properly and they will work correctly if you just disconnected one or more drives without breaking the RAID membership. The BIOS is looking for missing parts and doesn't like the "wrong drive" being attached to the RAID membership.
If the drive came out of another computer (not new) and was set up as GPT and your BIOS is set for non-UEFI booting, this can also cause weirdness. You need to run diskpart, select the disk, run the clean command and the the convert mbr command.
The problem is not very likely to be your SATA cable. They don't wear out. Unless it got damaged when installing the drive I doubt this is your problem.
You can leave the BIOS set to RAID with only one drive installed. RAID is AHCI on steroids. AHCI offers nothing over RAID. RAID includes AHCI functionality, but AHCI doesn't support RAID. RAPID will work with RAID enabled, but Samsung Magician will complain and lie to you and say that your PC performance will suffer unless you enable RAID. This is a limitation of Samsung Magician that does not affect anything important. Magician is making the assumption that you are using ATA mode because it was not build with RAID support in mind. Mainstream consumer PCs do not have a RAID mode and Magician is made for consumers, not enthusiasts with robust computers with features like RAID. I use Magician with RAID and ignore all of its status message lies.
Hi Mr Fox, well i did replace the 250GB SSD for a 500GB, i have checked and re-checked the cable left CMOS out for 8 hours and shorted it to drain power... still nothing in the Bios, i really think this is a problem with the Sata cable... how do i do a blind flash, and is it safe?
I should also add i ran the dell diagnostic nothing appeared... and the drive was detected randomly... it was also fully formatted and wiped using dedicated software. I managed to get it to stay on long enough to install windows and since then it wont detect the drive again now.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
