Question Fresh install Windows 10 not working on SSD

Tom9125

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I recently bought a Samsung 970 Pro 1TB SSD for my PC as I haven't had the money or need for any upgrades since I originally built it. To do a clean install of Windows 10 onto the SSD, I've disconnected my two other drives and adjusted my BIOS in multiple different ways as suggested in different forums I've stumbled upon. This includes having CSM Enabled and Disabled, Secure boot enable and disabled, boot into UEFI and other OS, with differing setups of all those settings.
When I run the Windows installer from a USB, the install will seemingly work onto the SSD, but when my system reboots, the installation manager will start again, not moving to the final installation point. But when booting into the BIOS, the SSD will not show as a bootable drive, and the only visible boot option is the USB.

I'd really appreciate any advice as this is the first time I've had enough disposable income to get a function PC since I built it and don't want the slow boot of OS and games to deter me from using it.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
what motherboard do you have? Does it have an option called Boot Override. Try using it to boot USB and not have any bootable devices in boot order. It is also possible the nvme only shows in storage as not all boards will show it in boot order.

this is a common problem with a easy solution in most cases.

ssd won't show as its only got windows half installed on it. Its broken, it doesn't have any users that you can use, so you can't logon to it
 
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Tom9125

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Apr 25, 2020
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what motherboard do you have? Does it have an option called Boot Override. Try using it to boot USB and not have any bootable devices in boot order. It is also possible the nvme only shows in storage as not all boards will show it in boot order.

this is a common problem with a easy solution in most cases.

ssd won't show as its only got windows half installed on it. Its broken, it doesn't have any users that you can use, so you can't logon to it
I have a GIGABYTE Z390 Gaming X

And thanks, been only finding threads with generic solutions, so hopefully this'll sort me out
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
it should be on the save & exit screen of the bios.

put usb in at boot
go into bios
clear the boot order or at least, don't have USB in here.
go to save & exit screen
choose Boot over ride
pick USB. It will boot from USB 1 time and then go back to hopefully the NVME next boot.
 

Tom9125

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it should be on the save & exit screen of the bios.

put usb in at boot
go into bios
clear the boot order or at least, don't have USB in here.
go to save & exit screen
choose Boot over ride
pick USB. It will boot from USB 1 time and then go back to hopefully the NVME next boot.
Awesome! I'll give that a try and hopefully it works
 

Tom9125

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it should be on the save & exit screen of the bios.

put usb in at boot
go into bios
clear the boot order or at least, don't have USB in here.
go to save & exit screen
choose Boot over ride
pick USB. It will boot from USB 1 time and then go back to hopefully the NVME next boot.
So that's done more than previously, however I've been sat on a blank screen for a couple of minutes now after the NVME booted. Usually it refuses to boot from the NVME and forces me into the installation manager again. Is this expected and something will happen shortly or is that still not working?
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
it should be running the user setup routine, has it done anything apart from blank screen?

If not, Its getting closer but that doesn't seem right. I wonder what a restart would do.

might want to update BIOS on motherboard.

Did you make a new installer for windows 10? if not, On another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB
 

Tom9125

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it should be running the user setup routine, has it done anything apart from blank screen?

If not, Its getting closer but that doesn't seem right. I wonder what a restart would do.

might want to update BIOS on motherboard.

Did you make a new installer for windows 10? if not, On another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB
It stayed on the blank screen so I attempted a restart and now my PC takes a few attempts to even boot at all.

I'll attempt a BIOS update tomorrow and hopefully that fixes it.

But yeah, I've got a Windows installer that I created on a USB today from my laptop.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
We going to have to start again but curious why its going to blank screen. I was hoping bios had secure erase but i guess using boot override to use USB works. Initial part of a clean install removes windows anyway - this is just for future reference https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/how-to-do-a-clean-installation-of-windows-10.3170366/

What are the parts in the PC? try removing anything extra when you install, no extra external drives, no printers, nothing unessential. Bare minimum.

DO you have BIOS version F9 or higher? https://www.gigabyte.com/au/Motherboard/Z390-GAMING-X-rev-10/support#support-dl-bios

Do you only have one monitor attached? just wondering if windows was displaying progress on another screen.
 

Tom9125

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We going to have to start again but curious why its going to blank screen. I was hoping bios had secure erase but i guess using boot override to use USB works. Initial part of a clean install removes windows anyway - this is just for future reference https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/how-to-do-a-clean-installation-of-windows-10.3170366/

What are the parts in the PC? try removing anything extra when you install, no extra external drives, no printers, nothing unessential. Bare minimum.

DO you have BIOS version F9 or higher? https://www.gigabyte.com/au/Motherboard/Z390-GAMING-X-rev-10/support#support-dl-bios

Do you only have one monitor attached? just wondering if windows was displaying progress on another screen.
Yeah boot override seems to do more than what I was doing earlier, so at least that is some form of progress.

I've made sure to have nothing extra, unplugged everything except mouse and keyboard and taken out extra internal hard drives.

I currently have BIOS F9 installed.

And I have two monitors currently running.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
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Tom9125

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maybe try with only 1 monitor attached, it shouldn't make any difference but maybe

what gpu do you have?
i found another person with same motherboard and same problem, blank screen trying to install win 10 on nvme - https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/windows-wont-install-after-nvme-installation.257634/

you might need to ask on Gigabyte forums as I can't find anything about a solution - https://forum.gigabyte.us/board/41/z390?page=4
I'll give one monitor a try but didn't think it'd change anything which is why I haven't given it a go yet.

I have an Nvidia 1660 super which I'm outputting from, but guess I could give integrated graphics a go to see if it's just acting up until I reinstall drivers.

And thanks for the help! I'll make sure to put something on the gigabyte forums, but you've been a massive help!

Going to leave the thread open incase anyone else may have a solution.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
it would be odd if its using integrated graphics at that stage since it works perfectly fine on GPU until the restart. I thought about suggesting it but as I said, unusual - Just as unlikely is the option its showing it on DP when you use HDMI cables.

If it wasn't showing the bios on the monitor, I would have suggested IGPU as I have seen it swap bios display to onboard before

i think its a quirk of the motherboard since I did find someone else with same problem but no answers.
 

Tom9125

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it would be odd if its using integrated graphics at that stage since it works perfectly fine on GPU until the restart. I thought about suggesting it but as I said, unusual - Just as unlikely is the option its showing it on DP when you use HDMI cables.

If it wasn't showing the bios on the monitor, I would have suggested IGPU as I have seen it swap bios display to onboard before

i think its a quirk of the motherboard since I did find someone else with same problem but no answers.
Ah okay, that makes sense, guess I'm just trying to think of anything I could try to get it working.

But that's fair enough, hopefully there's a fix and I'll make sure to get on the gigabyte forums asap.
 

Tom9125

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I've updated the BIOS which caused my PC to restart constantly when trying to boot, when it does finally boot it now crashes pretty quickly, but doesn't blue screen, simply freezes and stays unresponsive. I've reverted the BIOS back to the previous one, but the problem is still persisting. I've taken my PC apart, made sure all the cables are seated properly, reseated the RAM and giving the components a clean but I still have the problem, any idea what would cause this?
 

Tom9125

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I tried setting up an older version of the installer but it forced me to use the newest one. And this happens even when trying to boot off my Hard drive OS that I've been using before I got my SSD. The system restarts constantly until it finally manages to boot but then seems to always freeze either whilst trying to load windows or once I've logged in.

Nothing from the gigabyte forum so I may post a follow up soon, but it's now the issue of having a pc that doesn't seem to be stable when it eventually boots.

And I'll give the Ubuntu live thing a try now.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
sounds to me like its hardware
When you tried the old drive, was ssd in pc? if so, remove it and see if it helps. Could be a bad drive if its stopping windows booting
try booting to a USB with no other drives attached. still crashing?

at the blank screen, is the monitor off or just black? some screens you can tell the difference.

I don't know what hardware would cause this

i don't think its ram as we can get to 2nd stage of install. I shouldn't just assume though
Try running memtest86 on each of your ram sticks, one stick at a time, up to 4 passes. Only error count you want is 0, any higher could be cause of the BSOD. Remove/replace ram sticks with errors.
Memtest is created as a bootable USB so that you don’t need windows to run it

what is a full spec list?

tried unplugging any extra hardware while installing? no printers, no external hdd.
 

Tom9125

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sounds to me like its hardware
When you tried the old drive, was ssd in pc? if so, remove it and see if it helps. Could be a bad drive if its stopping windows booting
try booting to a USB with no other drives attached. still crashing?

at the blank screen, is the monitor off or just black? some screens you can tell the difference.

I don't know what hardware would cause this

i don't think its ram as we can get to 2nd stage of install. I shouldn't just assume though
Try running memtest86 on each of your ram sticks, one stick at a time, up to 4 passes. Only error count you want is 0, any higher could be cause of the BSOD. Remove/replace ram sticks with errors.
Memtest is created as a bootable USB so that you don’t need windows to run it

what is a full spec list?

tried unplugging any extra hardware while installing? no printers, no external hdd.
[/Q

Yeah, the SSD was in when the old hard drives were attached, I've taken the SSD out and have the same problem.

I've tried all hard drives disconnected and my pc is in a constant loop now of turning on and off with no output, about 2 seconds of running and 2 seconds off before trying again itself.

The screen was just black as my monitors are fairly obvious if they're displaying black or are off.

I've tried testing my ram and all of the sticks are good.

My specs are:

Intel i7 8700k
Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X
Asus 1660 super
Corsair vengeance Pro 32gb (2x16gb)
Western digital green power 2TB (backup drive)
Seagate Barracuda 6TB (Boot drive)
Samsung 970 Pro 1TB (removed but preferred boot)
Corsair RM750 modular power supply
 
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Viorala

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I'd try to look at from the Samsung perspective. I did check the Gigabyte support list and your Samsung drive (PCIe version) is on it so they are compatible. I'd start googling Samsung + issue and maybe contact Samsung support. Gigabyte's support takes like a week, and it's really hard to break into their forums although that might just be me. If Samsung support can't help they will straight up tell you to return it.

Here's one I found that seems a bit helpful for getting Windows installed on nvme, just with a little display issue at the end. Colif suggested some of it already but there's some extra steps: