Help!!! PC wont boot after installing an SSD with fresh Windows 10 install!!

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Queenland

Queenland

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Hello,

First of all, Merry Christmas everybody! This is my first post here.
I just purchased a SSD drive and would like to add it to my desktop as a boot device, and would like to check with you guys if I'm going to do it correctly.

My current configuration is:

Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3P (which contains 2 GSATAS, 6 SATAs and 2 eSATAS)
HDD 1 Tb with Windows 7 x64 (and full of personal data) connected on GSATA port with 6 Gb/s SATA cable
2 IDE DVD-RW drives
PCH Sata Control Mode: IDE
GSATA Ctrl Mode: IDE
eSata Ctrl Mode: IDE

What I plan to do, after doing some research, is:

1.Disconnect the HDD
2.Connect the SSD on the GSATA port and 6Gb/s cable
3.Change only GSATA Ctrl Mode to AHCI (and leave the other two settings intact to IDE)
4.Change boot sequence to DVDRW drive first, temporarily
5.Install Windows 10 on the SSD and configure it
6.Connect the HDD to one of the 6 SATA ports with a 3 Gb/s cable
7.Change boot order to SSD first
8.Hope to boot from SSD and access the HDD personal data (as D drive) correctly

These steps are the safest way to do it?
I would like to add that I only have ONE 6Gb/s cable. That's why I will need to put the HDD on one of the normal SATA ports, and also because I think its best to not change to HDD control mode to not mess with the data stored on it.

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

 
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ArtPog

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First of all some comments re SATA data cables...

Based upon our rather extensive experience using hundreds of SATA data cables in a myriad of PC systems over the years, we have never found an iota of difference between SATA I, SATA II, or SATA III data cables in terms of data transmission speed or superior "construction", etc., etc. As far as we're concerned it makes absolutely no difference in one's PC system whether one uses a SATA data cable rated at 3 Gbps or one rated at 6 Gbps. (The older models have disappeared from the market AFAIK).

What, of course, can make a difference is the motherboard's SATA data connector (port) to which the drive is connected. And, even there, differences in data transmission speed may be virtually non-existent in real-life settings.

As to your plan as you outlined it...

I really think you should connect the SSD to the motherboard's first SATA data connector (usually designated SATA 0 or SATA 1), NOT to a GSATA port. I see no reason not to connect your boot drive to an Intel-based SATA connector (port) and not a third-party connector such as the GSATA port.

As a matter of fact I see no reason not to connect your secondary HDD to an available SATA port and not to a GSATA port.

And your SATA data controller modes should all be set to AHCI and not IDE.

When you fresh-install the Win 10 OS onto the SSD it would be a good idea (although it's not absolutely critical) to have that disk as the SOLE drive installed at the time. After you've worked with the SSD and determined that it boots & functions problem-free, then install the remaining secondary HDD(s).
 
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Queenland

Queenland

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Hello ArtPog,



Thank you very much for your advice on the SATA cables.
I was planning to put the SSD to one of the two GSATA ports because the MOBO manual says that they are 6Gb/s (and the other 6 SATA ports are 3 Gb/s). If I understood your advice correctly, it would be better to connect the SSD to SATA 0 (3Gb/s) than GSATA 6 (6 Gb/s) ?
Also, if I move my HDD from GSATA to SATA and change its control mode to AHCI (when it becomes a secondary drive) there will be a risk of corrupting its data contents ? Sorry if the question sounds dumb, but I really prefer to ask before doing something wrong...
And yes, I was already plannig to configure the SSD with the HDD temporaily disconected ;)
 
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ArtPog

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No, you would be correct to connect your SSD + your HDD to the GSATA 6 Gb/s port. I was mistaken in thinking that the GSATA port was designated as a 3 Gb/s port since it was a third-party non-Intel device. But since (as you have indicated) it is designated as a 6 Gb/s port, you are certainly correct to connect the SSD (and the HDD) to those GSATA ports. (Frankly, truth to tell, there probably won't be any "real-life" significant speed difference whether the drives are connected to the 6 Gb/s or 3 Gb/s ports, but you might as well utilize the 6 Gb/s ones since they're available).

The SATA controller mode involving the SATA ports to which the SSD and the HDD are connected should be AHCI enabled. This should be accomplished in the BIOS prior to the installation of the OS onto the SSD.
 
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Queenland

Queenland

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I see.
Switching the control mode of the HDD (after it becomes a secondary drive) from IDE to AHCI would have any negative side effect to its contents, or its acessibility?
 
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ArtPog

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It shouldn't since the HDD is not a bootable drive containing an OS. (I'm right about that I hope!). But to be on the safe side, you can temporarily disconnect the HDD from its motherboard SATA connector before making the change in the BIOS setting.

BTW, if you have another HDD "hanging around" - possibly as a USB external drive or even a "raw' drive that could be temporarily installed internally in your system you could always feel free to first clone the contents of the HDD containing data to another drive for safety's sake. We ALWAYS make a practice of doing this when working on user's systems when we're about to make major changes in the system's configuration, hardware changes, and the like. We do it as a matter of practice so that we *always* have a "fallback" position in case things go awry. Consider such for the future.
 
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Queenland

Queenland

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I don't have a spare HDD but I have a backup of most of the files stored there. But it is distributed on various media types, and not 100% up-to-date. Anyway, I will try to follow your guidelines. Thank you very much for your time!
 
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Queenland

Queenland

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I changed all SATA control modes to AHCI, disconected the HDD, connected the SSD to the GSATA 6Gb/s port, installed Windows 10 on it, but when I try to boot, POST shows:

Serial ATA AHCI BIOS, Version iSrc 1.20E
Copyright (c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation
** This version supports only Hard Disk and CDROM drives **
Please wait. This will take few seconds.

Controller Bus#00, Device#1F, Function#02: 06 Ports
No device found
AHCI BIOS not installed

Gigabyte Technology Corp. PCI Express to SATAII HOST Controller ROM v1.07.06
Copyright(C) 2005-2009. Gigabyte Technology Corp. (http://www.gigabyte.com)
Detecting drives: Done; No drives found.

Loading Operating System...

Then it tries too boot from the SSD and shows

"Recovery - PC wasnt initiated properly - error code 0xc0000001
Press Enter to retry
Press F8 for Initialization Options!"

But none of the options work.
Now when I try to boot from the Windows 10 DVD, it keeps looping!

What should I do? Help please!

Udate: I changed PCH ctrl mode and eSata ctrl mode back to IDE (leaving only GSATA to AHCI) and the POST errors (this version...,no device found, etc) disappeared. But the BSOD remains,
I even tried a bootable disc of Minitool partition manager to try to delete the SSD partition, but I can't access it. Really don't know what to do next!!!
 
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Queenland

Queenland

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Thank you, I will wait for your thoughts! The SSD is not showing on the Standard CMOS list :-/
 
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ArtPog

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Try this...
1. Disconnect all the drives from the system and boot to your motherboard's BIOS.

2. There's a PCH SATA Control Mode (Intel P55 Chipset) setting in the BIOS Integrated Peripherals section. That setting should be set to AHCI.

3. The GSATA Controller modes should also be set to AHCI.

Try the above and see if all's well.
 
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Queenland

Queenland

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Anothr question... "Boot to your motherboard bios" mean "hit Del and enter setup" or "turn on the computer with no drives and it Will boot to the bios"? I'm asking
because I'm not familiar with booting to bios.
 
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ArtPog

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Yes, you can boot to the BIOS without drives being installed in the PC. I'm pretty sure the Del key works for Gigabyte boards. (Some motherboards require another key to press, e.g., a particular F key or the Esc key or another key for booting directly into the BIOS). As you power-up the PC just keep tapping the Del key.
 
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Queenland

Queenland

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I must disconnect the SSD too (then reconnect after confirming the bios settings of course)? The computer has two IDE optical drives, they shoud be disconnect as well?
 
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Queenland

Queenland

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I just disconnected all drives (including the SSD and optical ones), made sure AHCI was set on all 3 settings, reconnected only the SSD, but it still does not show on the Standard CMOS Features :(
 
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ArtPog

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The optical drives should be able to perform as IDE devices.

I'm not entirely clear on the precise nature of what's happening at this point-in-time. Are you now unable to boot to a SSD that contains a viable OS?
And are there existing problems with any connected secondary drives?
 
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Queenland

Queenland

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At the moment I have 2 optical IDE drives (both working ok) and the SSD conected. Minutes ago I managed to delete the problematic windows 10 partition from the SSD using a third-party bootable tool, but the windows 10 dvd keeps booting in loop. Tried a windows 8 dvd but the result is the same (dvd boot loop). It seems that they can't recognize the unpartitioned space :-/
 
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ArtPog

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Just so I've got the problem clear in my mind. With your SSD installed in the system (as the only drive installed at the time) you're unable to install the Win 10 OS onto that disk. That's the nub of the problem, right?

I don't think you've ever indicated the make/model of the SSD - what is it? And can we assume it's MBR partitioned (or would be via a OS install?). No indication the SSD could possibly be defective, right? And you've tried installing an OS when the SSD is connected to either a GSATA or other SATA port?

Think it might be useful to create a new OS installation DVD from the MS website I indicated?

Think there might be some benefit (as a troubleshooting device) to attempt installing an OS onto another drive - perhaps one of your HDDs?
 
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Queenland

Queenland

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> Just so I've got the problem clear in my mind. With your SSD installed in the system (as the only drive installed at the time) you're unable to install the Win 10 OS onto that disk. That's the nub of the problem, right?

Right!

> I don't think you've ever indicated the make/model of the SSD - what is it?

Sandisk SSD Plus 120 Gb (it's only for windows/boot)

> And can we assume it's MBR partitioned (or would be via a OS install?)

I was trying to do it via OS install

> No indication the SSD could possibly be defective, right?

No, it's brand new

> And you've tried installing an OS when the SSD is connected to either a GSATA or other SATA port?

Tried GSATA3_6 and SATAII_0, both with the same result. At the moment it is conected back to GSATA3_6.

> Think it might be useful to create a new OS installation DVD from the MS website I indicated?

I don't know, I tried my Windows 8 & 7 DVDs with the same result...

> Think there might be some benefit (as a troubleshooting device) to attempt installing an OS onto another drive - perhaps one of your HDDs?

My currently disconnected HDD has Windows 7 on it... You mean putting it back, booting with it and analyzing the SSD from the HDD Windows 7?
 
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ArtPog

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SanDisk has a diagnostic tool ("SSD Dashboard") you should download & run - just to check out the SSD.

I assume that HDD you mention contains a bootable version of Win 7. Will it boot & function problem-free when connected to the same SATA port the SSD was connected to?

If it does, and the SSD's health checks out OK, just as a test, could you clone the contents of the Win 7 HDD to the SSD? That's assuming, of course, that the total contents of the HDD are less than the 111 GB of available disk-space on the SSD. So I guess that might not be the case. If it could be done it would be instructive to see if the SSD could boot & function OK. (I'm assuming you have some familiarity with disk-cloning ("data migration") programs.
 
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Queenland

Queenland

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Happy New Year ArtPog!

>SanDisk has a diagnostic tool ("SSD Dashboard") you should download & run - just to check out the SSD.

Will it run from a drive that's not the SSD itself?

> I assume that HDD you mention contains a bootable version of Win 7. Will it boot & function problem-free when connected to the same SATA port the SSD was connected to?

It was running OK before, so I hope so!

> If it does, and the SSD's health checks out OK, just as a test, could you clone the contents of the Win 7 HDD to the SSD?

No, the HDD has 1TB of stuff on it...

BTW - I downloaded a new ISO of Windows from Microsoft, burned it, but unfortunately the symptom is the same: The installation DVD reboots itself after about 3-4 minutes, while still showing only the windows logo :(
 
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ArtPog

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>SanDisk has a diagnostic tool ("SSD Dashboard") you should download & run - just to check out the SSD.

"Will it run from a drive that's not the SSD itself?" YES, THE SSD CAN BE CONNECTED AS A SECONDARY DRIVE.

Don't know if I previously recommended this but why don't you try installing the Win 10 OS from a USB flash drive (Windows Media Tool) containing the Win 10 setup files?


 
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