Question Samsung 970 EVO 500gb m2 nvme not bootable (was working)

[dim94]

I have a Samsung 970 EVO 500gb that I had windows on and was working fine for about 4 years now on a MSI Z270 motherboard. Today I tried to start my PC only to see it booting straight to BIOS.
In the bios the SSD isn't showing up. So I started troubleshooting:

• I moved the Samsung SSD to a PCI slot (I have a nvme to PCI converter and I had another SSD mounted there) and still not found in boot
• I installed windows to the other SSD (that is now in the nvme slot of the motherboard) and booted just fine
• I browsed to the Samsung SSD with windows explorer and all the files are there still allowing me to read/write
• I ran a full scan with Samsung Magician showing no errors

What could be the cause of this? No changes where made to the PC. How can I boot again from the Samsung SSD?

PS. To install windows on the other SSD I had to delete some system partitions to allow me to proceed with the installation (other SSD was MBR).

Thanks for taking the time reading this. Any help is much appreciated.

 

[helpstar]

remove the other SSDs/Hdds
boot with a USB flash drive which has the windows install disk on it
try repairing windows with it

 

[kerberos_20]

remove the other SSDs/Hdds
boot with a USB flash drive which has the windows install disk on it
try repairing windows with it

if bios doesnt see it, but in windows its all fine...reinstalling windows wont help with drive not booting

In the bios the SSD isn't showing up

storage section or boot section?

 

[dim94]

remove the other SSDs/Hdds
boot with a USB flash drive which has the windows install disk on it
try repairing windows with it

I did that and there was no installations I could choose to repair. (Troubleshoot -> Advanced Options -> Startup Repair)

storage section or boot section?

It does not appear in any section.

 

[kerberos_20]

It does not appear in any section.

try updating bios

 

[dim94]

try updating bios

Ok bios update made the SSD show up in bios. But now it tells me to select a proper boot device. I suspect it’s because the SSD is in the PCI converter now. I am going to try and put it back on the m2 slot.

 

[dim94]

Nope that’s not the case. I get the same message. I will try to repair windows again.

 

[dim94]

Nope. Can’t repair windows. I get the same error no OS found. Any ideas?

 

[kerberos_20]

can you boot from other drive into windows (while both drives connected) and show screenshot from disk management window ?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Nope. Can’t repair windows. I get the same error no OS found. Any ideas?

Probably a critical SMART parameter was tripped and SSD got locked up.
Replace the drive.

You said, you installed windows on another drive.
Can you check 970 evo with samsung magician?
(make a screenshot, upload to imgur.com and post link here)

 

[dim94]

https://imgur.com/a/wmU6VLz

C is the other SSD. DAD is the Samsung 970

Probably a critical SMART parameter was tripped and SSD got locked up.
Replace the drive.

You said, you installed windows on another drive.
Can you check 970 evo with samsung magician?
(make a screenshot, upload to imgur.com and post link here)

As I said on the first post I did do a scan with magician. I will do one again and post results (Takes about 10 minutes).

 

[dim94]

Also heres more proof before BIOS update:

https://imgur.com/a/eA7W4Ck

And after the BIOS update:

https://imgur.com/a/KSSHaoa

 

[SkyNetRising]

C is the other SSD. DAD is the Samsung 970
As I said on the first post I did do a scan with magician. I will do one again and post results (Takes about 10 minutes).

Your Disk Management screenshot doesn't show E: drive.

No need to scan with Samsung Magician, just check drive health in drive Dashboard screen.
If it shows health Critical - then the drive has failed.

Spoiler

 

[dim94]

Probably a critical SMART parameter was tripped and SSD got locked up.
Replace the drive.

You said, you installed windows on another drive.
Can you check 970 evo with samsung magician?
(make a screenshot, upload to imgur.com and post link here)

https://imgur.com/a/spP4dO0

 

[dim94]

Your Disk Management screenshot doesn't show E: drive.

No need to scan with Samsung Magician, just check drive health in drive Dashboard screen.
If it shows health Critical - then the drive has failed.

You are right. Heres the correct one

https://imgur.com/a/jLrYexZ

 

[SkyNetRising]

You are right. Heres the correct one

Disk 3 is not bootable BTW.
But it doesn't show as read only either. Seems fine.

 

[dim94]

Disk 3 is not bootable BTW.
But it doesn't show as read only either. Seems fine.

Yes. It might had to do with when I deleted the system partitions to install windows on the other SSD. Shouldn't the windows repair fix it tho?

Also heres the dashboard on the magician:

https://imgur.com/a/iTPZGGx

 

[SkyNetRising]

If you want to make 500GB drive bootable, then execute following from elevated command prompt:
(if you get any errors, then stop immediately and show screenshot with command output)

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk 3​

(select 500GB disk)​

list partition​

select partition 3​

(select 540MB recovery partition, we will delete it, to make a new bootloader)​

delete partition override​

create partition efi​

format fs=fat32 quick​

assign letter=H​

exit​

bcdboot E:\windows /s H: /f UEFI​

​

Last message should be Boot files created successfully.
Boot into BIOS and set first boot device to Windows Boot Manager on 500GB drive.

 

[dim94]

If you want to make 500GB drive bootable, then execute following from elevated command prompt:
(if you get any errors, then stop immediately and show screenshot with command output)

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk 3​

(select 500GB disk)​

list partition​

select partition 3​

(select 540MB recovery partition, we will delete it, to make a new bootloader)​

delete partition override​

create partition efi​

format fs=fat32 quick​

assign letter=H​

exit​

bcdboot E:\windows /s H: /f UEFI​

​

Last message should be Boot files created successfully.
Boot into BIOS and set first boot device to Windows Boot Manager on 500GB drive.

Will the format command delete the data on the drive or is it just the partition?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Will the format command delete the data on the drive or is it just the partition?

When you create a partition, newly created partition gets selected.
Format command formats selected partition.

 

[dim94]

If you want to make 500GB drive bootable, then execute following from elevated command prompt:
(if you get any errors, then stop immediately and show screenshot with command output)

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk 3​

(select 500GB disk)​

list partition​

select partition 3​

(select 540MB recovery partition, we will delete it, to make a new bootloader)​

delete partition override​

create partition efi​

format fs=fat32 quick​

assign letter=H​

exit​

bcdboot E:\windows /s H: /f UEFI​

​

Last message should be Boot files created successfully.
Boot into BIOS and set first boot device to Windows Boot Manager on 500GB drive.

It booted right up. Thanks. So what was the root cause of this? Randomly needing to do a BIOS update to get an old SSD working again? The BIOS update is from 2018 even. Doesn't make sense. Thanks everyone for your time.

 

[SkyNetRising]

It booted right up. Thanks. So what was the root cause of this?

Your 500GB drive was not bootable before.
You had bootloader on another drive.

It's possible BIOS battery expired and boot settings got reset.
Or you performed BIOS update before the issue happened and that reset bios settings.