Boot Issues

[ManuelHernandez186]

Hi,
I recently installed a new NVMe m.2 drive in addition to my original sata drive and cloned the original drive to the new one. It all seemed to work fine although my laptop would boot into the old drive by default and to use the new drive I had to manually select it in bios. Once I was booted in with the new drive I figured I could wipe the old one and then my laptop would boot from the new drive. I restarted my laptop but it failed to boot leaving me in bios unable to boot on either drive.

I got a screen similar to this one when trying to boot with the new drive, I don't remember the exact error code.
I managed to boot with a fresh window's installation using a usb drive and all my stuff is still on the other drive.
How do I boot with the new drive or at least get all my stuff back onto my current drive?
I used Macrium Reflect to clone the drive btw not sure if that helps.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Martinr36]

Can you please post your full spec from your orders page, so we can see exactly what we're dealing with

 

[ManuelHernandez186]

sure
Chassis & Display
Cosmos Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 144Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10870H (2.2GHz, 5.0GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 - 4.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 120W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Cosmos Series Integrated 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.2 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
15" COSMOS SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 2 to 4 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland

 

[SpyderTracks]

What NVME drive did you put in it?

It sounds like the clone wasn't successful, you may need to use a windows media usb to do a startup repair, sounds like the boot sector may be corrupt.

Download Windows 10

Just boot off that and do a startup repair (method 1)

How to repair and restore Windows 10

Here's how to repair and restore Windows 10 in a few easy steps.

www.laptopmag.com

 

[ManuelHernandez186]

I put in a Samsung 970 evo plus, I did attempt a startup repair before, i'll give it another go.

 

[ManuelHernandez186]

Met with this when trying start-up repair

 

[SpyderTracks]

Met with this when trying start-up repair View attachment 32931

That's booting from USB media?

Have you tried disconnecting the SATA SSD before trying to boot?

 

[ManuelHernandez186]

Its booting from the new installation of windows I'm currently on which I installed off usb last night.
I haven't tried disconnecting the sata ssd, you mean physically taking it out right?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I haven't tried disconnecting the sata ssd, you mean physically taking it out right?

Yeah, that's right.

The error above was relating to putting the log file on D:\windows instead of C:\windows. It wouldn't be able to boot if the windows drive was labelled as D:, I wonder if there's a conflict somewhere on the boot sectors of both SSD's.

Easy test, I doubt it will solve

That's booting from USB media?

I meant run a windows repair from USB boot media. You won't be able to boot from the drive itself, you have to run startup repair from USB media.

 

[ManuelHernandez186]

I ran the windows repair from the usb boot but same error message appears with E: (the usb) instead of D:
Should I take out the sata and see what happens?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I ran the windows repair from the usb boot but same error message appears with E: (the usb) instead of D:
Should I take out the sata and see what happens?

Yes, give it a try running repair with just the nvme

 

[ManuelHernandez186]

I don’t even know if I can take this out, the screws don’t seem at all accesible

 

[SpyderTracks]

Its booting from the new installation of windows I'm currently on which I installed off usb last night.

So just need to be clear, as I'm not fully understanding, when I previously asked if you were running start up recovery off windows bootable media, you responded you'd booted from the windows installation on the SATA SSD.

How are you booting the external media?

 

[Martinr36]

I don’t even know if I can take this out, the screws don’t seem at all accesible

Remove the nvme drive, then you'll be able to access the screw that retains the drive caddy

 

[ManuelHernandez186]

So just need to be clear, as I'm not fully understanding, when I previously asked if you were running start up recovery off windows bootable media, you responded you'd booted from the windows installation on the SATA SSD.

How are you booting the external media?

Not sure if this will answer the question but when I restarted my laptop after wiping the c: drive I could not boot at all but only get into bios. So I took an empty usb and installed windows onto it from another pc, I then plugged the usb in and booted from that so I could install a fresh windows installation. I’m currently running on this windows installation which is on my sata drive, I have nothing on it except edge etc. that comes with windows.

 

[ManuelHernandez186]

Remove the nvme drive, then you'll be able to access the screw that retains the drive caddy

Ok, will I lose the data on the NVMe if I take it out because that now has all my stuff on it and the sata just has a windows installation.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ok, will I lose the data on the NVMe if I take it out because that now has all my stuff on it and the sata just has a windows installation.

You won't lose any data by just removing a drive, it's persistent memory, doesn't need to be attached to retain data

 

[SpyderTracks]

Not sure if this will answer the question but when I restarted my laptop after wiping the c: drive I could not boot at all but only get into bios. So I took an empty usb and installed windows onto it from another pc, I then plugged the usb in and booted from that so I could install a fresh windows installation. I’m currently running on this windows installation which is on my sata drive, I have nothing on it except edge etc. that comes with windows.

I do t think you're booting off the USB, I think you're running startup repair from the windows installation on the drive which won't work.

You just need to create a Windows installer usb from here:

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10then do you know how toboot from a usb?

 

[ManuelHernandez186]

I’m pretty sure I did boot from the usb I downloaded the install off here onto the usb from another pc

and selected the usb boot in bios and ran startup . After this didn’t work I downloaded windows and booted up with that.

 

[Martinr36]

Ok once you've downloaded the version of Windows you want follow these instructions

Download a new copy of Windows using the Media Creation Tool (Second option on linked page) to an 8GB (min) USB.
Boot that USB and choose a Custom Install.
Delete all UEFI partitions on the system drive (EFI System, Recovery, MSR Reserved, Primary).
Select the unallocated space that results and click the Next button. The installer will create the correct partitions and install Windows.
Run Windows Update repeatedly, even across reboots, until no more updates are found.
You may need/want to download and install the latest graphics driver from the Nvidia/AMD website (they change so regularly the latest version isn't always in the Windows libraries).

This is also worth a watch