Questions on SSD problem

bobkn · May 1, 2024

csun said:
Would be best to contact Dell Customer Support if nothing more to put the issue on record.

Possible anamoly, but I received excellent, courteous support on a couple of issues - though not as complicated as yours.

The OP already has. (Post #2 in this thread.)

My last interaction with Dell support was exactly 2 years ago, with regard to a monitor. The support provided was poor. Dell support is outsourced. If you have questions that don't appear on their scripts, the support people may have a hard time even understanding your issues, much less offering help.

If you want an RMA, they'll speed you through that.

I'm glad to hear that others have been helped.

TraderGary · May 1, 2024

bobkn said:
The OP already has. (Post #2 in this thread.)

My last interaction with Dell support was exactly 2 years ago, with regard to a monitor. The support provided was poor. Dell support is outsourced. If you have questions that don't appear on their scripts, the support people may have a hard time even understanding your issues, much less offering help.

If you want an RMA, they'll speed you through that.

I'm glad to hear that others have been helped.

I've had Dell Support for the past 25 years on a number of computers and devices. It's always been excellent. But I always pay extra to get extended Premium Support that includes accidental damage. Premium Support gets you excellent "local" support. It also gets you on-site support where they come to your site, be it home or business. Once, I even had Dell Support ship me a replacement PC Fed Ex overnight and I had it the very next day!

When you buy a new Dell Product you only get support for the first year. Thereafter, you get what you pay for. I always opt for Premium Support for the length of time I will own the PC.

Mike C555 · May 1, 2024

Bob, you said it; I got the distict impression that the tech on the help line was following a script and was not able or willing to deviate from it. What really bothered me was their lack of concern that had I followed their advice to reinstall WIndows, as they kept suggesting, I would lose my data. I normally don't go for the extended warranty stuff, but maybe it is a good idea with something as complex as a modern PC.
I'm going to read over the various installation options carefully. My old system is still working (my current source of communication), so I'm not in a great rush to get the new one up & running at full speed. I much appreciate the advice.

Mike C555 · May 1, 2024

Here's a related question to booting up the XPS8960 via usb; it appears that the timing of when you turn on the power and when/how fast (?) you hit the F2/F12 key is critical in getting the usb to show up as an option in BIOS set up. I thought maybe it was just me, but a little googling and sure enough, others with similar Dell machines have had this experience. I found this:

"How do you boot from a usb on a Dell XPS 8900 desktop?
I changed the boot mode to legacy then clicked on USB Storage Device. The Windows screen comes up but then I get your PC ran into a problem and will restart. What other settings do I have to change in f2 to get this to work? I've done this before but don't recall ever have this many problems. Can someone explain the correct sequence for booting from a usb in an xps 8900."

One person responded:

"When I have a bootable USB flash drive plugged in, power on, and hit F12 (repeatedly about 2 times per second) I only sometimes see some of my flash drives in the resulting BIOS screen. Some flash drives are never seen. Even flash drives that boot fine in older laptops that I have, aren't seen by my XPS-8940 BIOS. But not all of them. Some flash drives do work most of the time. I can only guess that it's some kind of timing/compatibility problem. I'm hoping there is still some setting in the BIOS (or some other trick) that will allow all (or most) of my bootable flash drives to be recognized."

It took me a dozen tries (at least) of reboot, BIOS, before I finally had the bootable usb show up in the boot choices. Anyone here experience this?

bobkn · May 2, 2024

TraderGary said:
I've had Dell Support for the past 25 years on a number of computers and devices. It's always been excellent. But I always pay extra to get extended Premium Support that includes accidental damage. Premium Support gets you excellent "local" support. It also gets you on-site support where they come to your site, be it home or business. Once, I even had Dell Support ship me a replacement PC Fed Ex overnight and I had it the very next day!

When you buy a new Dell Product you only get support for the first year. Thereafter, you get what you pay for. I always opt for Premium Support for the length of time I will own the PC.

I have no experience with Dell Premium Support.

I also haven't bought a Dell PC since 1995.

My recent experience was with a somewhat esoteric monitor. One thing I wanted was the drivers for it. Dell support had no idea what I was asking for. I eventually found and downloaded them myself.

Mike C555 · May 2, 2024

It just occurred to me that before I reinstall Windows, I should do some health checks on the SSD. If there's really something wrong with it, I might just send the whole machine back to the seller, who will fix it under warantee (and pay for shipping).

TraderGary · May 2, 2024

Mike C555 said:
It just occurred to me that before I reinstall Windows, I should do some health checks on the SSD. If there's really something wrong with it, I might just send the whole machine back to the seller, who will fix it under warantee (and pay for shipping).

On a Dell computer, to run the complete ePSA diagnostics, turn off the system, hold down the "Fn" key on the Keyboard and press the Power button at the same time.

Mike C555 · May 2, 2024

Thanks, Gary. I just noticed my Logitech wireless keyboard doesn't have the Fn keys. nBut I do have a Dell to swap in.

Mike C555 · May 2, 2024

Hi SIW2,
I tried using Windows 11 media creation tool, but as you guessed, it could not see my SSD. So, I figured I had nothing to lose to try the WinnTsetup. I think I was close, but it may be there’s something fundamentally screwed up on the SSD. It’s more probable that I have no idea what I’m doing…

The first screen shot is DiskGenius, and it clearly does see the big SSD and its partitions. The big partition shows as NTFS, which is what WinnTsetup is looking for. But when I try to run setup, I get the error message, “installation drive must be NTFS” See screen shots (it shows as 'Microsoft basic data'). One other thing I should mention is that when I selected the big partition, a window popped up saying the partition was encrypted (BitLocker) and I had to supply the password or key. I had the key written down from yesterday and typed it in, but it didn’t work (I’m going to try again).

Mike C555 · May 2, 2024

I tried to unencrypt again, but putting in the dashes and unencrypted successfully. The result was the same in WinnTsetup, unfortunately…

SIW2 · May 2, 2024

After unbitlockering

1. Format the esp partition on Disk 0 to fat32

Format the windows partition on disk 0 to ntfs

2. Where it says Select Boot Drive in the dropdown select

HD-0:1

It will say EFI PART with a green light.
that is the esp partition on your gpt disk.

Mike C555 · May 3, 2024

Thanks SIW3, getting closer.... After following the above, WinnTsetup did start and appears to have successfully applied the image. It then requests reboot to go into the 'Sysprep' phase (reboot requd). I selected reboot and the first message came up for a couple minutes, then the blue screen saying 'inaccessible boot device'. It restarts itself and then shuts down. I did select HD-0:1 for boot drive, but I still had the usb plugged in with 23V7.iso. Should I have removed it before starting WinnTsetup? Or did I need to change the BIOS boot from option? The last 2 screenshots are WinnTsetup before hitting the Setup button.

SIW2 · May 3, 2024

Winntsetup pics look ok. Something odd with your bios settings, it shouldnt be attempting pxe boot.

johnlgalt · May 3, 2024

At this point, unless it's needed, wouldn't it be better to completely remove PXE boot (disable it completely)?

And while doing that see what the boot settings for the system actually are?

Mike C555 · May 3, 2024

I'm not sure what PXE boot is. Is it shown in the diskgenius screen capture in post #49? Is it the USB I'm booting from (23V7.iso)?
Thanks.

Bree · May 3, 2024

Mike C555 said:
I'm not sure what PXE boot is.

This....

PXE—pronounced as "pixie"—means Preboot eXecution Environment. In short, it's a standard that allows computers with no operating system installed (or detected) to look for a "boot server" and retrieve the needed files to load an OS or an installation disk.

What Is PXE Boot and Does Your Computer Support It?

PXE Boot is a lifesaver if your HDD fails. Here's how to know if your computer can use it.

www.makeuseof.com

SIW2 · May 3, 2024

Check your bios settings.

SIW2 · May 4, 2024

Dell XPS 8960 Gaming PC Review

The new Dell XPS 8960 gaming desktop PC for this year carries over a lot from last year, including the value for money factor of the whole package.

www.tweaktown.com

Mike C555 · May 4, 2024

I tried to disable both PXEs but am still running into the same problem. Can I delete them from a command prompt? Or can I delete them in Diskgenius (I don't see anything 'PXE' in there) . Here is what my BIOS set up shows.