HELP!! Windows 7 on SSD failed to boot, goes into UEFI BIOS.

[2ndIdentity]

Hi all,

I have just recently installed Windows 7 on the Plextor M6 Pro 128GB SSD. Everything went fine for the first few boots, and Windows will not boot up after that. The computer automatically goes into UEFI BIOS as if there is no Windows installed on any of the hard disks.

I removed the SSD and inserted it into the external enclosure and hook it up to my laptop via USB. Windows (on my laptop) did not show any removable media under My Computer. Upon firing up Disk Management, the following screenshot (Screen1.jpg) can be seen.

I humbly seek for advices of anyone out there who might be able to help me regarding this issue. I have previously successfully installed Windows 7 on all my older PC/Laptops. But this is the first time I have installed it on an SSD. My previous installation on HDD works well without issue (used it for 6 months before I reinstalled it onto the SSD). I ran into this issue twice within the same day (I reformatted and reinstalled Windows after my first encouter).

I will post whatever details required to solve the above issue. Also, any explanation and information regarding the issue as well as how to prevent it from coming back would be very useful.

Many thanks in advance!!

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

In all cases ensure LEGACY BOOT is enabled if that option exists in BIOS.

1) First ensure PROTECTED BOOT is DISABLED -- this doesn't mean turning off UEFI.
2) Ensure the SSD is formatted to GPT and NOT MBR
3) Ensure your W7 install media will handle UEFI boot and install.

If you Don't want to use UEFI boot

1) Disable UEFI in BIOS.
2) Format SSD as MBR
3) Install W7 - default mode will be non UEFI.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[2ndIdentity]

Hi there

In all cases ensure LEGACY BOOT is enabled if that option exists in BIOS.

1) First ensure PROTECTED BOOT is DISABLED -- this doesn't mean turning off UEFI.
2) Ensure the SSD is formatted to GPT and NOT MBR
3) Ensure your W7 install media will handle UEFI boot and install.

If you Don't want to use UEFI boot

1) Disable UEFI in BIOS.
2) Format SSD as MBR
3) Install W7 - default mode will be non UEFI.

Cheers
jimbo

Hi, thanks for the advice. Does this mean, if I enable Legacy Boot, I will be able to boot into Windows without having to go through a clean installation?

 

[theog]

Are you booting the Windows 7 x64 DVD in Legacy or UEFI mode?

 

[2ndIdentity]

Are you booting the Windows 7 x64 DVD in Legacy or UEFI mode?

View attachment 331394

Hi, I believed I most likely installed the Windows in Legacy mode.

On a side note, I am wondering does this only happen when using SSD? As I have managed to boot with no problem when I installed using the exactly same method on a HDD.

 

[gregrocker]

Yes you did install in Legacy mode judging by your screenshot which shows a System Active Reserved partition which can only be issued on an Legacy install to an MBR formatted disk. I'm not sure how you were able to do this if Legacy wasn't enabled in BIOS unless the settings changed somehow.

There may be other BIOS settings besides turning off Secure Boot, enabling some level of Legacy or Compatibility (CSM) and then booting as a non-UEFI device. If you'll post back pictures of the settings choices for UEFI, CSM, Legacy and BIOS Boot order we can help steer you.

You can also read the Manual for your mobo on it's Support Downloads webpage to see if it explains what settings are needed for a Legacy install of Win7. Sometimes for example it's necessary to Reset to Defaults, or a specialized version of Defaults, e.g. Reset To WIndows 8 Defaults, Reset to Legacy OS defaults.

It may not be necessary to reinstall, but if you do be sure to first unplug all other drives and during the booted install use the Drive Options to delete all partitions to create and format new as you wish.

 

[2ndIdentity]

Hi there, I will be able to post some snaps from the BIOS when I get home from work.

If you are referring to Disk 0, yes it is installed in Legacy because it holds the Windows for my laptop which runs on Legacy BIOS. The Disk 1 however is the SSD which I unplugged from the PC (which gave me issues) and slapped it onto a USB enclosure to be hooked onto the laptop where this screenshot is taken from.

The reason I believe I have installed the Windows in Legacy mode on the SSD is due to:
1. I have not prepare the USB drive to boot in UEFI mode (yes, I installed the Windows through a thumb drive);
2. I have not format the SSD to FAT32, GPT;
3. While I still managed to boot from the SSD I looked at the Disk Management and it looked similar to the above with the System Reserved partition and no EFI partition.

However, what bothers me is why does this issue only happen when I used SSD because I installed the Windows in Legacy mode on the HDD on the same machine and this issue does not happen. Could it be that my SSD is faulty? That the motherboard can boot into Legacy mode without issues but the SSD somehow corrupts the partition table as it is now Unallocated Space as shown above.

 

[gregrocker]

Since there's nothing on the SSD now there is nothing for us to see. It apparently needs to be initialized as an MBR disk then you can try install again.

But it's possible it just isn't being read from the enclosure on that PC so if you want to try to repair it because you know it wasn't wiped or deleted, put it back in its PC, check BIOS settings and run a few Startup Repairs from disk.

If that fails boot Partition Wizard CD to post back a picture taken of its drive map showing every listing which is what we'd need to see to spot a problem.

 

[2ndIdentity]

Hi all, I have decided to reinstall the Windows, this time by doing the following:

1. In CSM, the settings are (refer attachment IMAG1641.jpg):
   • Launch CSM : Enabled;
   • Boot Device Control : Legacy OPROM only;
   • Boot from Network Devices : Legacy OPROM first;
   • Boot from Storage Devices : Legacy OPROM first;
   • Boot from PCI-E/PCI Expansion Devices : Legacy OPROM first;
2. In Secure Boot, the settings are (refer attachment IMAG1642.jpg):
   • Secure Boot State : Disabled;
   • Platform Key (PK) State : Unloaded;
   • OS Type : Other OS
3. Finally, I booted from the USB in Legacy by choosing the option without [UEFI] (refer attachment IMAG1643.jpg). I believe after applying the above BIOS settings and restarted, the option with [UEFI] is no longer present. Anyways, I am sure my USB drive is able to install only Legacy Windows as I tried to boot it in UEFI (when Legacy OPROM or UEFI boot is still enabled in BIOS) and nothing happened.

Hopefully, this time I have set everything right and kindly advise what I have missed out.

 

[gregrocker]

What is Toshiba Transmemory in BIOS Boot order? Read the manual if necessary to find out.

Everything else looks good. Remember to delete all partitions during install. If that fails work through Overcoming tutorial linked below.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[2ndIdentity]

Toshiba is the Windows installation USB. I unplugged my HDD, deleted the partitions on the SSD and recreated the partition. Hopefully everything goes well. I will report back on how things are doing. Thanks a lot!!

 

[2ndIdentity]

Alright, the same thing is back to plague me again. My pc crashed into bluescreen and failed to load up. It shows a winload.exe error (refer screen 1) when being restarted. I fired up the windows installation disk and tried the windows startup repair and it failed (refer to screen 2 and 3). I tried the command prompt and found out there are no partition in my ssd, again (refer to screen 4). Is there a way to repair the partition? May it be a corrupted partition table?

 

[theog]

Looks like you have a BAD SSD.

You can try to recover the partitions.
Partition - Recover Deleted Partitions in Windows

 

[gregrocker]

If Partition Wizard Partition Recovery Wizard - Video Help. cannot recover your partitions, which is a simple undelete operation when they've been deleted, Contact the SSD manufacturer's Tech Support to help you test the drive to possibly RMA it. All hardware has a one year replacement and support warranty.

 

[2ndIdentity]

Partition Wizard Partition Recovery Wizard interesting but useless bits of partitions (5-6 "boot" partitions with ~3mb sizes despite the full windows previously installed onto it). Sadly, this SSD is a new one after i RMA the previous one. My guess is the problem lies somewhere outside the SSD but not sure. Guess I will give it a few more tries before I RMA again.

 

[gregrocker]

Try zeroing the drive and then do a UEFI install from disk. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html. Add the command Convert GPT after Clean.

Check for UEFI firmware Update reset to defaults. Adjust BIOS to include UEFI on all relevant settings posted earlier.

Boot disk as a UEFI device.

Report back exactly what happens with verbatim error messages

 

[Geoffff83]

I'm having similar issues. After I install Windows 7 Home Premium x64, my pc does the system reboot but then it does not reboot to Windows and I'm stuck in bios. It's gives me the choice to boot Windows normally or in safe mode, booting to safe mode works but booting normally fails. Any help ASAP would be greatly appreciated.