Question Cannot install windows on SSD (infinite loop, SSD not detected)

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Hardware53636

Hardware53636

Nov 17, 2022
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0
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Hi,
I have run into an issue when installing windows, where the the system is not able to boot from the SSD. I found other threads that discuss this issue but so far no one was able to find a reliable solution. I will include links to these threads at the end of my post.

The issue:
I want to install windows 10 on my completely new system (everything fresh our of the box, except the SSD which I already used in my previous system).
At the beginning of the installation everything works without errors and I can install windows on my SSD from a USB drive. Then the installation clients restarts the PC to continue the installation, but instead of booting from the SSD, the PC boots again from the USB which will ask again to install windows (infinite loop).

The issue seems to be that the system is to able to boot from the SSD (which it should be able to at this stage of the installation).

Now I found out that there are slight variations of this problem. When you use UEFI on the bios in combination with GPT on the SSD, the SSD is recognized by the bios but does not appear in the boot list.

In contrast when using CSM on the bios and MBR on the SSD the SSD is listed in the boot list but the systems seems not to be able to actually boot from it.

Things I Have tried:
  • Bios Update
  • every possible boot order
  • change UEFI to legacy and back
  • reformat SSD both as MBR and as GPT
  • fresh widows installation USB
  • plugging the SSD to different ports
From the post from people with the same problems I have a suspicious: a lot of them, including me, seem to use an SSD that was previously used on another system. Additionally the only two people that found solutions to their problems seem to have some type of compatibility issues with the SSD files. Is it possible that after wiping the SSD there is still something left from previous uses and if yes any idea how to completly wipe the SSD?

Here are the posts I was talking about. I basically tried everything that is mentioned there:
Thank you for the help!

System:
  • MSI B550 -A Pro
  • Sandisk ultra 3d SSD sdssdh3-1T02 2.5''
  • AMD RX 5700
  • G.Skill RipJaws V DIMM Kit 16GB, DDR4-3600, CL18-22-22-42
  • Corsair RMx Series 2021 RM750x 750W ATX 2.4
 
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SkyNetRising

SkyNetRising

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Jan 4, 2016
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Hardware53636 said:
any idea how to completly wipe the SSD?
Click to expand...
Diskpart clean.

diskpart-clean-vs-clean-all-3.png
 
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SkyNetRising

SkyNetRising

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Jan 4, 2016
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Hardware53636 said:
Things I Have tried:
change UEFI to legacy and back​
Click to expand...
You can't do this after windows is installed. Windows will boot only in mode, it has been installed.
Hardware53636 said:
reformat SSD both as MBR and as GPT​
Click to expand...
How exactly are you doing that? Because MBR/GPT is not a formatting option. It is partitioning scheme, has to be set before creating partitions.
 
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Hardware53636

Hardware53636

Nov 17, 2022
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helpstar said:
Please post your complete system

Try booting with minimum configuration
Motherboard, GPU, PSU, SSD, one RAM, Monitor, keyboard

try a different HDD/SSD

how did you reformat the SSD? during installation of windows or else?
Click to expand...
I update my complete system.

I don't really have more in my system than that to begin with, but I will remove one RAM and see if that helps.

I used the command prompt and Diskpart. More specifically: clean and convert gpt/mbr. I did that before installing windows.
 
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Hardware53636

Hardware53636

Nov 17, 2022
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SkyNetRising said:
Diskpart clean.

diskpart-clean-vs-clean-all-3.png
Click to expand...

Yes that's what I did. To my understanding for the SSD to function there will always remain some sort of instructions on the SSD that are not removed. I wonder if they got changed for some reason and if it possible to factory reset them. (But again I do not have a good understanding of this, so no idea if that actually makes any sense)

What I mean is: in my last system there was a SSD with Windows installed and the SSD I am using now, where I only installed some games that took up a lot of space. Maybe windows automatically marked this SSD as non-bootable to make sure that when restarting always the other SSD is used for booting windows. And maybe that causes the issues now. But I again this is only speculation.
 
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Hardware53636

Hardware53636

Nov 17, 2022
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0
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SkyNetRising said:
You can't do this after windows is installed. Windows will boot only in mode, it has been installed.

How exactly are you doing that? Because MBR/GPT is not a formatting option. It is partitioning scheme, has to be set before creating partitions.
Click to expand...

The details are as follows:
  • plug the USB (with Windows Installer on it) into the system
  • start the system and go into bios
  • set bios to UEFI/legacy
  • reboot and let the system boot from the USB
  • before doing anything else open the command prompt and clean and convert the SSD using Diskpart (GPT/MBR)
  • continue with installation including creating Partition as windows is suggesting
  • install windows and wait for the restart
  • problem: system will not boot from SSD
 
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SkyNetRising

SkyNetRising

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Jan 4, 2016
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Hardware53636 said:
The details are as follows:
  • before doing anything else open the command prompt and clean and convert the SSD using Diskpart (GPT/MBR)
  • continue with installation including creating Partition as windows is suggesting
Click to expand...
You do not have to create any partitions or do any formatting after diskpart clean.
Windows install process will do everything as necessary.

If you create partitions manually, it' s possible to create wrong partition configuration. You have to know, what you' re doing then.

Here's the tutorial. Follow it and you should be fine.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/how-to-do-clean-installation-windows-10,36160.html
 
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TerryLaze

TerryLaze

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May 9, 2016
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If you set up your bios to boot from the usb as the first boot device then the bios and windows as well will see the usb as the first available hard drive and will use that as the boot drive....

*mobos differ, some do this some don't

Set up the SSD as the first boot device and use the boot menu to boot from the usb the first time around.
 
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Hardware53636

Hardware53636

Nov 17, 2022
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0
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SkyNetRising said:
You do not have to create any partitions or do any formatting after diskpart clean.
Windows install process will do everything as necessary.

If you create partitions manually, it' s possible to create wrong partition configuration. You have to know, what you' re doing then.

Here's the tutorial. Follow it and you should be fine.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/how-to-do-clean-installation-windows-10,36160.html
Click to expand...
Did it exactly like they say in this tutorial (the difference is that no new partitions are created) but I gives me the same problem. Still doesn't boot from SSD.
 
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Hardware53636

Hardware53636

Nov 17, 2022
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TerryLaze said:
If you set up your bios to boot from the usb as the first boot device then the bios and windows as well will see the usb as the first available hard drive and will use that as the boot drive....

*mobos differ, some do this some don't

Set up the SSD as the first boot device and use the boot menu to boot from the usb the first time around.
Click to expand...

I tested basically every boot order already the issue seems to be that the SSD is not detected as bootable.
 
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SkyNetRising

SkyNetRising

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Jan 4, 2016
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Did you install windows in legacy mode or in UEFI mode?
If you installed in UEFI mode, then you set first boot device to Windows Boot Manager.
Boot entry with storage device name is for legacy boot only (will not work in UEFI mode).

Can you boot from Windows install media in command prompt mode, execute following and show screenshot?
diskpart​
list disk​
select disk 0​
list partition​
list volume​
(upload screenshot to imgur.com and post link)

Also show a photo of boot priority settings from BIOS.
 
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Hardware53636

Hardware53636

Nov 17, 2022
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SkyNetRising said:
Did you install windows in legacy mode or in UEFI mode?
If you installed in UEFI mode, then you set first boot device to Windows Boot Manager.
Boot entry with storage device name is for legacy boot only (will not work in UEFI mode).

Can you boot from Windows install media in command prompt mode, execute following and show screenshot?
diskpart​
list disk​
select disk 0​
list partition​
list volume​
(upload screenshot to imgur.com and post link)

Also show a photo of boot priority settings from BIOS.
Click to expand...
I tried both legacy and UEFI.
That's the thing: the SSD is detected (i.e. name is shown under storage devices but there is nothing named "windows boot manager". Neither in the boot list nor anywhere else.

Here is the result (had issues with imgur, hope this works):
https://ibb.co/Y2GjYHg
ibb.co

PXL-20221118-121635638 hosted at ImgBB

Image PXL-20221118-121635638 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
 
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Hardware53636

Hardware53636

Nov 17, 2022
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Update:
I now bought another SSD and everything works perfectly.
Interestingly the SSD that did not work for windows install works perfectly as a secondary SSD in my system to install games on.
 
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Hardware53636

Hardware53636

Nov 17, 2022
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helpstar said:
disk 1 is the removable USB flash drive, disk 2 should have been cleaned in this example
Click to expand...
Well I mean, I did clean my 1TB SSD and not my 30 gb USB drive...

For anyone having the same problem: My best guess is that there something on the SSD that marks it as a non-bootable device (or something like that) that is not deleted by a disk clean. Neither me nor any of the other people that had the same problem could find a proper solution to this, so your best bet is to buy a new SSD and not waste too much time on it.
 
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