Issue installing Windows 7 on SSD in optical drive bay Dell M5110

I have a dell M5110 with a normal hard disk of 500GB. In order to speed up the machine I want to fit a 128 SSD (Pretec SATM128G-CMM) on which I want to do a clean Windows 7 install. As I want to have sufficient capacity to store all my files I want to install them both at the same time.
Unfortunately I'm unable to get Windows 7 to boot correctly from the SSD. Ay help would be very much appreciated.

1/ Using an adapter I installed the SSD in the optical drive bay.
(FYI: Replacing the 500GB disc by the SSD and fitting the 500GB disk in the optical drive bay is feasible, but requires surprisingly much effort)
2/ I downloaded Windows 7 ISO via the Microsoft service center => SW_DVD5_Win_Pro_7_64Bit_English_Full_MLF_X15

3/ As I have no optical station anymore; I "installed" the iso file on a USB key using the "Windows 7 USB DVD Download tool"
4/ I plugged the USB key in a USB 2.0 slot and started the install (language select > new install > select SSD > start install)
5/ Everything goes well until computer tries to reboot again after "completing installation";
Then I get an error "Windows Boot manager";

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware of software change might be the cause. If you want to fix the problem: ...
File: \windows\system32\winload.exe
status: 0xc000000e
info; the selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt."

I rebooted and switched to the previous windows install (on the 500GB disc) and everything - including the SSD - are working properly . So it does not appear to be a hardware problem (although I could be mistaken).


I tried the following already:

• Run windows repair feature via USB (see "report" below*) = unsuccessful
• Format and re-install = same issue
• Changed SATA operation from AHCI to ATA and re-installed = same issue
• Created a new USB KEY (as per step 2 above) and tried to install again (with AHCI) = same issue again.

Does anybody know what causes this issue is and how to fix it?


* When using startup repair he shows following error;
SturpRepairOffline
Problem Even Name: SrartupRepairOffline
Problem signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385

Problem signature 03: unknown

Problem signature 04:1614 //0807//538 //403 // ... (results appears to differ each time)
Problem signature 05: ExternalMedia
Problem signature 06: 1

Problem signature 07: MissingOsLoader

OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Most options to convert optical drive port to HDD are for DATA drive only.

Check your Dell manual.

I didn't find anything in the manual, but as I was out of ideas I followed your suggestion.
It took a while to get the HD out (I had to remove the keyboard, motherboard, display, hinges, memory modules & optical bay just to get to the HD ), but it works.

So thanks for the help

You are welcome.

Other tips to get and keep a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7