New Windows install on new SSD. System only boots when option 1 (in BIOS) is Windows Boot Manager, not the SSD itself

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whaling

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It's pretty much all in the title. I installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 Pro on an 850 EVO 250GB while no other drives were connected. Now I have to have Boot Option #1 in my BIOS set to 'Windows Boot Manager'. If I set it to the SSD I get presented on boot with text that reads 'Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key'.

Why is this? Is it actually a problem? I've never had 'Windows Boot Manager' as an option in my BIOS before and I'm not sure how it's going to affect the boot process (slow it down, etc). It seems odd that it would be necessary when the OS is right there on the SSD anyway.

Build:
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77M-D3H-MVP
CPU: i5 3330
GPU: MSI GTX 770
SSD: 850 EVO 250GB
HDD: WD Black 2TB
RAM: 2x4GB Corsair XMS3
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Essential
OS: Windows 7 Pro
 
Now I have to have Boot Option #1 in my BIOS set to 'Windows Boot Manager' - Then you have remanants of another OS somewhere eg system reserve partition on another drive.

Just plug the SSD in and no other drive and see if it boots OK.

Make sure your SSD is in sata port 0 or 1.
 

whaling

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I got the same error. I have it plugged into the PM Sata port which is one of only 2 Sata 3 ports so I assume that makes it Port 0. There is a system partition on the SSD (according to Disk Management), however it has 100MB free of 100MB.
 

whaling

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Yeah it's definitely port 0/1. SSD is Boot Priority 1. The other two options are Windows Boot Manager or a DVD drive. I've set Priority 2 and 3 to 'Disabled' though. I've tried IDE and AHCI and neither works. I still get the same error.
 

whaling

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Before doing that I thought I'd have a look at the drive partitions since I remember the Windows install disk making 3 and as I mentioned before there's only 2 in Disk Management.

Using DiskPart I can see 3 Partitions: Partition 1 is named 'System' and takes up 100MB, Partition 2 is named 'Reserved' and is 128MB and Partition 3 is named 'Primary' and is 232GB. Is it possible that marking Partition 3 as Active would fix the problem?

Edit: I've tried the BIOS reset now (I assume it's reset, since I removed the battery for a minute. The boot priority settings remain unchanged)

I was also unable to set the partition to active. I got this error: 'The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk. The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks'.
 

whaling

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Okay so it turns out that because I installed Windows 7 using a UEFI CD drive it made my SSD use GPT instead of MBR. Even though my Motherboard is UEFI it wasn't booting to a GPT disk. I'm now reinstalling Windows after converting the SSD to MBR since GPT seems a little redundant on a 250GB SSD with no partitions.
 
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