Failure to boot to desired drive

nstermini

Commendable
May 15, 2016
9
0
1,520
I have a Dell Lattitude E6420 running Windows 7, it has an SSD and an HDD. I typically run it such that I boot from the SSD and use the HDD for storage. I recently dismantled my laptop in an effort to re-seat the speaker cables and when I reassembled it, my system is failing to boot to my SSD. I believe the primary contributing factor to be when I accidentally disconnected the button cell battery (it was disconnected for quite a while).

Upon startup, my system will (what I believe) try to boot to the SSD but runs into some kind of error. It freezes on the "Starting Windows" screen and forwards me to the "Windows Error Recovery; Windows failed to start" screen. I am able to access all the usual startup repair systems (BIOS, startup repair, boot with safe mode, etc.).

I am also able to boot to the HDD and view my old desktop and can access all files fine via a legacy boot. I have attempted to adjust the boot sequence in the BIOS to no avail.

How can I adjust my settings so that I successfully boot to my SSD?
 
Solution
I actually figured out the issue. In my BIOS settings, my SATA operation setting was set to RAID. I switched it to AHCI and that solved it, everything's back to normal!

nstermini

Commendable
May 15, 2016
9
0
1,520

Yes I tried switching around the boot order to no avail. I disconnected the SSD and upon startup, I was given the option of starting "Windows 7" or "Windows 7". In selecting the first one (configured to the SSD I believe) I instantly get an error saying hardware is disconnected (duh). In selecting the second one, my system boots to my HDD just fine (not my desired out come).

When I disconnect the HDD, my system freezes briefly on the "Starting Windows" screen, and flashes a generic blue screen, just like it did before. I tried to run chkdsk /F but I get an error because my drive is NTFS and is "write protected"
 

nstermini

Commendable
May 15, 2016
9
0
1,520
I actually figured out the issue. In my BIOS settings, my SATA operation setting was set to RAID. I switched it to AHCI and that solved it, everything's back to normal!
 
Solution