Unique Windows 11 Problem

ringel05 · Sep 17, 2024

Background:

I have my Win 11 Gamer, been running Win 11 Pro on it for a couple of years now.

ASUS Prime X470-Pro mobo
NVMe 1 Tb (don't remember the make)
Crucial 2.5 SSD 500 Gb.

When I first built this machine five or so years ago I used a very old mid tower case that I had used maybe ten years before. Fast forward to a few days ago.

Bought a brand new midi case and moved all my guts over to the new case. When I plugged it in, no OS........ Tried a Media Installer (flash drive) but it told me my machine didn't have Secure Boot set up. Went into BIOs, Secure Boot was engaged, turned it off, rebooted back into BIOs and turned it back on. No luck.
Just out of desperation I eventually RAIDed the two drives in BIOs and all of a sudden it boots up fine. The problem seems to be the bootloader was somehow moved over to the secondary drive which is were all my Steam Games are kept.

After all that I've decided I want to do a complete reinstall, fresh and clean. Tried and the reset failed, just said it ran into a problem.

Now what?

Ghot · Sep 17, 2024

ringel05 said:
Tried and the reset failed, just said it ran into a problem.

You need to "disconnect" all other drives when installing Windows.
TPM should be enabled. Secure boot should be enabled.
AHCI should be enabled, (assuming you don't have a hybrid Windows drive).

Double check all your connections, (since you just moved to a new case).

ringel05 · Sep 17, 2024

Ghot said:
You need to "disconnect" all other drives when installing Windows.
TPM should be enabled. Secure boot should be enabled.

Double check all your connections, (since you just moved to a new case).

Already done, a couple of times. I disconnect the secondary drive and it will not let me load Win 11............... Period..........

Ghot · Sep 17, 2024

ringel05 said:
Already done, a couple of times. I disconnect the secondary drive and it will not let me load Win 11............... Period..........

Please post a screenshot of Disk Management. It sounds like the EFI partition is on the "other" drive.
That's not good.

To post a screenshot on this forum...

1. Take the screenshot, (or camera pic), edit it as desired, save to your desktop as .png or .jpg (max. size = 2MB)
2. Left click in your post, where you want to place the screenshot.
3. Click the Attach Files button at lower left, browse to your pic and click Insert.
4. After clicking Insert, I usually choose the Thumbnail (smaller) option, or there is a Full Image (larger) option.

If the "new" PrtSc key function is not to your liking... here is how to set it back to it's classic function...

Enable or Disable Use Print Screen Key to Open Screen Snipping in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off to use the Print Screen key to open screen snipping for your account in Windows 11. The Snipping Tool app includes a built-in screen recorder and allows you to quickly take and annotate screenshots, photos and other images with your pen, touch...

www.elevenforum.com

ringel05 · Sep 17, 2024

Oh and I'm sure it would let me load it on my slower 500Gb SSD but I want it on my NVMe. Maybe I need a new NVMe. Uummmmm.

Ghot · Sep 17, 2024

ringel05 said:
Oh and I'm sure it would let me load it on my slower 500Gb SSD but I want it on my NVMe. Maybe I need a new NVMe. Uummmmm.

Please post a screen shot of Disk Management
Stretch the Disk Management window, so we can read all the things in the RED boxes...

ringel05 · Sep 17, 2024

Ghot said:
Please post a screen shot of Disk Management
Stretch it out so we can read the things in the RED boxes...

View attachment 109008

Took the screenshot but can't find it.......

Rollback_Jockey · Sep 17, 2024

Did you load the RAID drivers during boot?

Ghot · Sep 17, 2024

ringel05 said:
Took the screenshot but can't find it.......

Follow the screenshot directions in post #4

Maybe someone viewing this topic will explain how to take a screen shot the "new" way.
Windows 11 changed how the PrtSc key works. :/

I included the tutorial (in post #4), on how to change it back to the old way.

ringel05 · Sep 17, 2024

Ghot said:
Follow the screenshot directions in post #4

Honestly I may be able to build desktops but most of this is Greek to me and honestly too much trouble. I'm not trying to "save" my setup, I want the easiest route that is available. By the way, I could care less about what's on my computer. I only use it for games and they can be re downloaded. So if I can somehow wipe my drives and start over (using a very simple GUI) then great. If not I buy a new NVMe and load Win 11 brand new. Which one?

Ghot · Sep 17, 2024

ringel05 said:
Honestly I may be able to build desktops but most of this is Greek to me and honestly too much trouble. I'm not trying to "save" my setup, I want the easiest route that is available. By the way, I could care less about what's on my computer. I only use it for games and they can be re downloaded. So if I can somehow wipe my drives and start over (using a very simple GUI) then great. If not I buy a new NVMe and load Win 11 brand new. Which one?

Then just disconnect all other drives, except the Windows drive, and do a clean install of Windows...

Clean Install Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you step by step on how to clean install Windows 11 at boot on your PC with or without an Internet connection and setup with a local account or Microsoft account. Windows 11 has all the power and security of Windows 10 with a redesigned and refreshed look. It also comes...

www.elevenforum.com

In the BIOS....
TPM should be enabled. Secure boot should be enabled.
AHCI should be enabled, (assuming you don't have a hybrid Windows drive).

ringel05 · Sep 17, 2024

Ghot said:
Then just disconnect all other drives, except the Windows drive, and do a clean install of Windows...

Clean Install Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you step by step on how to clean install Windows 11 at boot on your PC with or without an Internet connection and setup with a local account or Microsoft account. Windows 11 has all the power and security of Windows 10 with a redesigned and refreshed look. It also comes...

www.elevenforum.com

TPM should be enabled. Secure boot should be enabled.
AHCI should be enabled, (assuming you don't have a hybrid Windows drive).

Okay, new NVMe it is........ Thanks.

Ghot · Sep 17, 2024

ringel05 said:
Okay, new NVMe it is........ Thanks.

If the NVMe needs a special driver... I dunno anything about that.
I don't use NVMe drives. I won't use them until they don't need a special driver.

It seems "some" NVMe drives need a special driver, but someone else will have to comment on that.

NOTE: It really helps, if we had a screenshot of your Disk Management. ^^

There might be a quick and easy solution, but we can't see your Disk Management, so it's hard to tell.

ringel05 · Sep 17, 2024

Ghot said:
If the NVMe needs a special driver... I dunno anything about that.
I don't use NVMe drives. I won't use them until they don't need a special driver.

It seems "some" NVMe drives need a special driver, but someone else will have to comment on that.

NOTE: It really helps, if we had a screenshot of your Disk Management. ^^

There might be a quick and easy solution, but we can't see your Disk Management, so it's hard to tell.

I know you're really trying to help and I do appreciate it. Unfortunately this isn't the only computer I've managed to screw up in the last couple of weeks......... The other is an older Mac Mini, Intel chip that I have basically destroyed by wiping the drive and loading a Linux distro on it in then trying to restore it back to High Sierra....... Now it will not load any OS at all no matter what I do. So if my extreme frustration level is showing through I apologize and again thank you for your help.
However at this point I said the heck with it, removed the NVMe and it is currently 55% done with the reset on the 500Gb SSD. I guess at some point in time I can add a new 1 or 2 TB NVMe and clone the 500Gb SSD.

ringel05 · Sep 17, 2024

BTW, it's doing it's final setup now. I'm happy.

ringel05 · Sep 18, 2024

It's working perfectly, I reinserted the NVMe and formatted it. I'll use the larger drive as storage now.
Oh and the EFI was in the smaller, secondary drive.