Cant locate SSD in bios

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
M

mudwub

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2014
77
0
18,630
I recently put some new parts in my current computer. These parts consisted of a new CPU, a new got, a new motherboard, a new PSU and an SSD. The parts that I left in there from my previous build were my sticks of memory and my old terabyte hard drive. Not an ssd. I also installed windows 8.1 on my new SSD.

Everything has been going great up until about 30 mins ago.

I was playing a game when everything just completely locked up. I thought maybe the game crashed until I had to forcefully reset my computer.

Upon booting up I was greeted with a message that something or another failed and what I would like to do about it.

Here's where I got confused. I could either do a memory diagnpstic, which I did and there were no errors, or boot from windows 7...which was formatted off my old drive when I installed windows 8.1.

I thought I would click enter and see what happened but it would just bring me back to the same screen. It then said I could try and put the os disc back in to attempt to repair it. I did that but was unsuccessful in mending my computer.

I ended up formatting both drives and reinstalling windows 8.1. I was able to install to my SSD through the windows installation disc but could not make the SSD the boot priority in the bios because it was nowhere to be found.

The only options were the disc drive and my old terabyte hard drive. I feel like that had something to do with it but thought I'd ask you guys and see if anyone else has experienced this?

CPU: i7-4770
Mobo: Asus z87-a
GPU: zotac gtx970
PSU: ultra x4 1050w
Ssd: crucial 255gb
RAM: 16gb ddr3
OS: windows 8.1 64-bit
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,414
7,632
176,790
Did you clone the old drive to the SSD? Are you using the old drive for storage and did you delete the old partition and then format the drive before you began using it for storage. What's likely happening is for some reason the installation on the SSD isn't working, which often happens if the OS from the old drive gets cloned onto the new SSD, and the boot partition on the old drive is still present, having not been deleted, so the BIOS is trying to boot from that drive instead of the SSD.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,414
7,632
176,790
As further clarification, when you began using the old drive as storage, even if you formatted the partition that windows was installed on, there was likely still ANOTHER partition present called the master boot record or MBR, or a GPT, depending on how windows was installed on that drive. If all the old partitions on that drive were not deleted and a new partition created and then formatted, the BIOS will still think that drive has an OS installed on it.

If for any reason the drive designated as the boot drive fails to boot, the BIOS will then search for other boot records or go to the next boot device in the list and try to boot from that. In a case where the old boot record was not deleted, it will try unsuccessfully to boot from it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mudwub

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2014
77
0
18,630


So what would be the correct way to reinstall the OS? I am currently on the computer now and now the terabyte hard drive is not showing up when i got to the my computer folder. It still shows up in the BIOS but it is not listed as a storage device, just the SSD.

And it is a MX100 Crucial SSD

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mudwub

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2014
77
0
18,630
I am not sure what you mean by cloning the old drive to the SSD, but I do not think that I did that. I do plan on using it for storage alongside the SSD. When i first installed windows i formatted the terabyte hard drive. There was a system reserve folder that i left untouched, was not sure if i should delete it or not.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
06yfz450ridr

06yfz450ridr

Honorable
Nov 28, 2012
2,610
5
13,460


fresh install would be best,didnt see if you actually cloned it from the old disk but you shouldnt have any issues because of that if it was working already.



but is there any bios update? its odd that the drives are dropping out.

any firmware updates on the ssd either?


ahci set for the satas?


your terabyte drive may just randomly have not gotten a drive letter somehow go into disk management and make sure the drive is showing up if it is and there is no letter just right click and hit properties and add a drive letter, happens to me when using my external usb sata tool
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mudwub

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2014
77
0
18,630
I was able to locate the terabyte drive, although there appears to be 70gb missing from the space, not sure if that is normal or not. I am not sure what caused it to crash the way it did and then try and boot from an operating system that should no longer be there. When I go into the BIOS and click SATA devices, or w/e the name of the button is, it shows the crucial drive in the p1 slot and the terabyte drive in the p3 slot. For some reason, it does not show the ssd in the boot priority list though. Could I have done something wrong during the OS install that caused this?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,414
7,632
176,790


Absolutely not true. Any time a major hardware change is made, motherboard, cpu or boot drive, a clean install is highly recommended. Leftover hardware registry entries can cause a multitude of issues and problems. When you clone a copy of the OS to a new drive, sometimes the old hardware is not removed and the new hardware is just added to the mix. That's not recommended procedure. Sometimes it's ok, sometimes it results in a bag of crap.

If you changed your boot drive to a new piece of hardware you should always do a clean install. Start by attaching the SSD to the system, going into the BIOS and resetting to default values and the allocating the new hardware as the #1 device in the list of boot devices. Then run the Windows installer choosing the custom option. Create a partition on the drive, format it and install. Any other method is asking for problems.

I will absolutely agree that checking for BIOS updates is a good idea as well as checking for any firmware updates for the SSD. If there are any, do those prior to doing the clean install.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,414
7,632
176,790
As far as your 1TB drive, you need to get your system working first or install it in a separate system. Use a partitioning utility like Gparted or use windows disk management to delete ALL partitions on the drive. Then create a new partition using the full space of the drive (Or you can divide it into multiple partitions if you wish.) and then format it. Then use it for file storage or whatever you want.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
06yfz450ridr

06yfz450ridr

Honorable
Nov 28, 2012
2,610
5
13,460


70gb seems about right you wont ever get full space.

so you have the os on your tb drive now then since the ssd isnt being detected in the boot order? can you go to your boot order and see if it gives you an option to pick between the drives?

little confused




 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mudwub

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2014
77
0
18,630
The SSD has been attached. It was working fine for like the past two weeks and then it randomly decided to crash tonight, I was not doing anything differently either.

I also checked for firmware for my SSD and couldnt find any.

So my next step should be to go to my BIOS and reset default settings? Will that make the SSD pop up in the boot order list?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
06yfz450ridr

06yfz450ridr

Honorable
Nov 28, 2012
2,610
5
13,460


never had one issue cloning from say a hdd to a raid or even back to a single drive of a different brand. i even cloned from my old msi to my sabertooth when i switch the board to my sabertooth and to a new hdd at the time without any issues which was actually just to test to see if it would work.

unless you are basically cloning to an almost completely different system you are going to be almost 100% safe, thats what these tools were meant to do

however in this case it says he formatted both drives before installing
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
06yfz450ridr

06yfz450ridr

Honorable
Nov 28, 2012
2,610
5
13,460


ok lets straighten this up which drive has the os? I would say the tb is used for the main os right now and the ssd will just be for games?

do you plan on trying to use the ssd for the os? and then you want to add the 1tb for more storage space?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mudwub

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2014
77
0
18,630
Right now the the OS is on the SSD. When i loaded up the windows disc i was able to see both drives. Im planning on keeping the os and some games on the SSD. The terabyte drive has nothing on it. I am actually able to see both drives when i click the boot menu option, but only the terabyte is still showing up in the boot order option.

Is the windows installer not reliable enough to clear everything off both drives?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,414
7,632
176,790
Oh god damn. I didn't see you had an Ultra PSU. Get rid of that thing and get a decent PSU. That's probably half if not all of your problem I'm surprised the motherboard is allowing you to access the BIOS at all. I'm pretty sure that up until the most recent change to the PSU tier list that all Ultra units were Tier 5 (Replace immediately level) but as of now I can't find a single Ultra PSU anywhere on the list for good or bad. Here however is a review of that PSU and the results are not promising.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/11/24/ultra_x4_850w_1050w_power_supplies_review/8#.VExvDul0xhE
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mudwub

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2014
77
0
18,630


So basically just delete until the option is greyed out and then install windows 8 to the SSD?

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,414
7,632
176,790


Yeah, during the OS install you want to remove ALL partitons during the CUSTOM installation routine. Then create a new partition using all available space. Then select to install on that partition and windows will do the rest including creating the correct boot record partition. You want to make sure AHCI is enabled in the BIOS prior to doing the install.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mudwub

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2014
77
0
18,630


How exactly do I go about getting it on the boot priority list? I can click it from the boot menu but I have no idea how to get it on the priority list.

Once everything is unallocated space, windows makes the partition for me right?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,414
7,632
176,790


For the best PSU at the lowest price, that will be sufficient for your GPU, I'd go with one of these.

Non-modular:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($68.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $68.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-25 23:58 EDT-0400



Modular:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $69.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-26 00:00 EDT-0400
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom