Inaccessible boot device - tried all obvious solutions

[millmeister]

I wonder if anyone can help. I have a Dell XPS 630i desktop running Win 10. One day I stopped getting any kind of connection to the screen. I pulled out one of the two graphics cards and this seemed to work.

Except... whenever I reboot, I get the 'Inaccessible boot device' error. I have tried both a reset and a clean install. These both work fine until it comes to rebooting for the first time and I get the blue screen of death.

The BIOS does not enable me to change the hard drive from AHCI to IDE. And I have tried tried booting into safe mode via the Advance Options to no avail.

Any ideas appreciated, thank you.

 

[Colif]

boot from installer
on screen after language choices, choose repair this pc, not install
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose command prompt
type chkdsk /f and press enter. Might take a while. http://www.toppctech.com/inaccessible-boot-device-error-fixed/

 

[millmeister]

boot from installer
on screen after language choices, choose repair this pc, not install
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose command prompt
type chkdsk /f and press enter. Might take a while. http://www.toppctech.com/inaccessible-boot-device-error-fixed/

Colif many thanks - will try this when I get home. Just a couple of other things that may or may not be important.

1. There is a RAID configuration - see attached image for current set up. Could this be impacting on the boot process? https://imgur.com/a/IgFJr

2. I didn't re-format the drive before doing the clean install of Win 10. Not sure if that would have made a difference.

Anyway, will try chkdsk /f for now and report back.

 

[Colif]

I don't think it would have been smart to swap hdd from ahci to ide anyway. You want RAID if anything, but I don't know RAID that well so that might be wrong.

what motherboard do you have?

did you install the raid drivers when installing win 10? See the bottom of this page: https://www.ramcity.com.au/blog/how-to-install-windows-10-on-raid-0-1-sm951-950-pr/143377

 

[millmeister]

The motherboard is an Nvidia nForce 650i SLI.

I didn't install the RAID drivers when installing Win10 - I just deleted the two existing partitions and installed windows on the new one.

 

[Rogue Leader]

It looks to me like your RAID array may be starting to fail. Having a striped RAID array of 2 older drives is asking for trouble, if 1 drive fails all of your data is gone. It locks you changing AHCI and IDE because its externally set to RAID. Your RAID array should work even without the Windows RAID drivers install.

If you have no good data on them now consider breaking the array, set the drives to AHCI and install Win 10 to one of them. I think you're playing with fire trying to get this to work.

 

[millmeister]

It looks to me like your RAID array may be starting to fail. Having a striped RAID array of 2 older drives is asking for trouble, if 1 drive fails all of your data is gone. It locks you changing AHCI and IDE because its externally set to RAID. Your RAID array should work even without the Windows RAID drivers install.

If you have no good data on them now consider breaking the array, set the drives to AHCI and install Win 10 to one of them. I think you're playing with fire trying to get this to work.

Thanks Rogue Leader for your input. I couldn't find any option in the BIOS to set the drives to AHCI. Are there any other options if AHCI is not supported?

 

[Rogue Leader]

It looks to me like your RAID array may be starting to fail. Having a striped RAID array of 2 older drives is asking for trouble, if 1 drive fails all of your data is gone. It locks you changing AHCI and IDE because its externally set to RAID. Your RAID array should work even without the Windows RAID drivers install.

If you have no good data on them now consider breaking the array, set the drives to AHCI and install Win 10 to one of them. I think you're playing with fire trying to get this to work.

Thanks Rogue Leader for your input. I couldn't find any option in the BIOS to set the drives to AHCI. Are there any other options if AHCI is not supported?

Yeah you an't do that until you break the RAID array. You need to go into the RAID settings (the blue screen you posted) and hit D to delete the array. Then reboot into the BIOS and you should be able to select AHCI for both drives, and the reinstall windows on 1 of the drives.

 

[millmeister]

It looks to me like your RAID array may be starting to fail. Having a striped RAID array of 2 older drives is asking for trouble, if 1 drive fails all of your data is gone. It locks you changing AHCI and IDE because its externally set to RAID. Your RAID array should work even without the Windows RAID drivers install.

If you have no good data on them now consider breaking the array, set the drives to AHCI and install Win 10 to one of them. I think you're playing with fire trying to get this to work.

Thanks Rogue Leader for your input. I couldn't find any option in the BIOS to set the drives to AHCI. Are there any other options if AHCI is not supported?

Yeah you an't do that until you break the RAID array. You need to go into the RAID settings (the blue screen you posted) and hit D to delete the array. Then reboot into the BIOS and you should be able to select AHCI for both drives, and the reinstall windows on 1 of the drives.

Great, many thanks. I will let you know how I get on. Currently away from my desk unfortunately.

 

[Colif]

one thought, if the array is starting to fail, and it might be one of the drives causing it to happen, I would run drive tests on both drives once the array is broken to test which one is the best choice for win 10 - no point installing it just to get same problems again.

What brand are drives? Seagate & WD have their own testing software but HD Tune Trial or Crystal DIsk Mark have enough tests to help you work out which is the better choice.

Probably need to use another PC to test them in.

 

[Rogue Leader]

one thought, if the array is starting to fail, and it might be one of the drives causing it to happen, I would run drive tests on both drives once the array is broken to test which one is the best choice for win 10 - no point installing it just to get same problems again.

What brand are drives? Seagate & WD have their own testing software but HD Tune Trial or Crystal DIsk Mark have enough tests to help you work out which is the better choice.

Probably need to use another PC to test them in.

Yeah this sounds like a good idea. It is likely one of those drives is failing.

 

[millmeister]

Thanks both for your input. I've run a SMART test on both drives using the Western Digital Lifeguard utility and they both passed. However, I did this before breaking the array - not sure if that would have made a difference?

Anyway, will reinsert both drives, break the array and update the BIOS and let you know how I get on.

 

[Colif]

the smart score of an array may hide the true performance of individual drives so test them once the array is broken

 

[millmeister]

Okay, so I broke the array and did another SMART test on both drives which they both passed. I've only put one of the drives back for the time being.

I think I need a bit more help though. I'm getting the 'No boot device found' error. Am I overlooking a setting in the BIOS? Here is a screen shot: http://imgur.com/a/kQW82 In the RAID config, I have disabled RAID for all drives.

 

[millmeister]

Scrap the above - I seem to be able to boot into a fresh install of Win10 okay now. Will see how it goes from here.

 

[millmeister]

All seems to be working fine now. Booting into Windows 10 without a hitch. Massive thanks to Colif and Rogue Leader. I would have been lost without your time and expertise.