New SSD drive, now have to press F1 to start Windows

MG312 · 10 Oct 2017

Hi,

I know this isn't really a Windows 7 issue, and I will gladly post elsewhere if you feel that would be best.

I have a Dell GX620 which until today was running off a 40Gb hard drive - hard to believe I know! As it was very full I added a 240Gb SSD drive today. The installation went smoothly, the hard drive cloned onto the SSD using the supplied software.

I restarted, checked the hard drive installation was ok which it was. I rebooted and went into the BIOS to see if I could change the boot priority but couldn't see the new SSD listed as a boot option.

New SSD drive, now have to press F1 to start Windows-boot-sequence.jpg

It appears in the list of drives though, although the pc still booted from the hard drive. It appears here as Sata-2.

New SSD drive, now have to press F1 to start Windows-drives-bios.jpg

I disconnected the hard drive from the motherboard and upon rebooting Windows started up ok, so clearly the SSD has boot options, but I don't know how to add it to the list of boot sequence options.

New SSD drive, now have to press F1 to start Windows-sata-drive-2.jpg

So, I'd be happy to leave the old hard drive disconnected except that every time the pc restarts I have to press F1, and this is the issue I am hoping someone can help with.

New SSD drive, now have to press F1 to start Windows-boot-message.jpg

Any ideas?

ICIT2LOL · 10 Oct 2017

Hello MG might be too simple mate but just plug the new drive into the port the old drive was in and infact why not just take the old drive altogether.

Now the new drive is it brand new or just a spare you had lying around??

Having said that please follow this it will make life so much easier to help you out
Now before we can help we do need to know what is in your machine so please do this System Info - See Your System Specs
or either enter the specs of your system in your forum profile the specs will appear when we click on that little box bottom left of the post screen it is for me the preferable option as it is easy. As you may appreciate it is very hard when you don’t know what one is working with for example a diesel or petrol engine.
(pretyped to save time)

Mellon Head · 10 Oct 2017

The system might be looking to boot from the zero drive. It looks like it is finding SATA-2 where the SSD is plugged in, it's just not treating it like a boot device.

I would plug the SSD into the SATA-0 port and see what happens.

ICIT2LOL · 10 Oct 2017

I would plug the SSD into the SATA-0 port and see what happens.

Yep that is what I was thinking when I said to use old drive port MH mate only tou put it a bit more succinctly than me LOL!! I had a similar situation with the machine my son gave me it wanting port 0 or nothing.

MG312 · 11 Oct 2017

Thanks both, I'll try that tomorrow when next at work.

I hear what you say about listing the specs. I'll try to do this if I have to ask any more questions. I have 6 machines at work all running windows 7, and they're all different specs, so adding them into my profile is a non-starter.

ICIT2LOL · 11 Oct 2017

Yep well even a model number for any set machine would be better than nothing it doesn't to be really indepth stuff though it is good.

MG312 · 12 Oct 2017

Thanks to all who contributed.

With your pointers I have solved the problem. When I was in BIOS the first time I had changed all four SATA port settings to ON in an attempt to persuade BIOS to find the new SSD and use it to boot. Once I turned all SATA ports to OFF with the exception of the port the SSD is plugged into, the problem is solved, and now a restart boots straight into Windows without having to press F1.

And what a difference the SSD has made! The old hard drive was almost completely full and was taking nearly 5 minutes to boot. Now it takes 50 seconds, and everything runs more smoothly.

Once again thanks.

ICIT2LOL · 12 Oct 2017

Well done sometimes it is the simpler fixes that are all that is needed.