SSD Not Detected in BIOS (Windows 8.1 Installation)

[Altair44]

Hi All,
I recently bought a Fujitsu AH544(i3 4000m, 4GB ram) laptop. Also bought a Samsung EVO 850 120gb SSD to replace the stock HDD. But sadly when I go to windows 8.1 installation screen, it says something like "Windows cannot be installed in this hdd as This computer cannot boot the hard drive. Try enabling hard drive in BIOS".

I searched on web and tried to enable/disable those ahci or secure boot stuff. Sadly I cannot find any such option in BIOS.

I also tried enabling/ disabling whatever option is there. there is option to enable or disable the HDD. But none helped. Tried to search for a BIOS update using the update software provided, it saying pc is up-to-date.

In BIOS the HDD shows as Disk 0 without a name and even if I set boot priority to the SSD, it cant find it.(Does not show up in boot devices list)

Used the same SSD in friend's old dell laptop. It works flawlessly without any change in any kind of settings. Just installed and worked.

So now I have a SSD which I cant use 🙁

please help me on this.......

 

[navalweaponsofficer]

Did you check and see if the SSD has a firmware update available?

 

[Altair44]

Did you check and see if the SSD has a firmware update available?

I have no idea on what a firmware update is and how to do it and what it have to do with not detecting in BIOS.

 

[navalweaponsofficer]

You would need to plug the SSD into another computer and download Samsung's SSD firmware updater software. Samsung's software will check the model number , serial number and firmware version of the SSD and check if an update is needed.

 

[Altair44]

You would need to plug the SSD into another computer and download Samsung's SSD firmware updater software. Samsung's software will check the model number , serial number and firmware version of the SSD and check if an update is needed.

There is no Firmware update available for Samsung 850 EVO.

 

[Altair44]

when I was trying to solve this, suddenly in 1 attempt the bios recognized the ssd. but then after restart, same problem... cannot detect. What maybe the problem here?

 

[Altair44]

It seems, Samsung 850 EVO is not supported in Fujitsu LifeBook AH544. So if anyone buying that, please wait. How in the world i landed in that combination...idk. Anyways, I was checking in some italian websites, 4-5 people had the same issue with the Motherboard in AH544 + 850 EVO.
I have bought another SSD (Transcend). Lets see what happens. I will Update this thread once i try out the second SSD. So till that time if someone trying to make a similar combination, please wait

Hope this helps someone to save few bucks...

 

[ArtPog]

It's really hard to believe that your Fujitsu laptop doesn't support the Samsung 850 EVO. There's certainly nothing exotic about that SSD that I'm aware of that would prevent the laptop from detecting its presence and working with it. I'm not familiar with that laptop; AFAIK it's not marketed here in the U. S., so of course I don't have any first-hand knowledge of its capabilities (or lack of!). But I'm uncomfortable with the notion that the machine doesn't support that specific SSD.

Have you been in touch with Fujitsu's tech support? Perhaps they can shed some light on this problem.

I was going to suggest trying to clone the contents of your HDD to the Samsung SSD using Samsung's Data Migration program that was bundled with the SSD, but I note the SSD has a disk-space capacity of only 120 GB so it probably would not be able to contain the contents of your HDD, right? Too bad because it might be worth a try. (I'm assuming, of course, that your installed HDD boots & functions without any problems).

I take it you were attempting to fresh-install the OS onto the SSD. How were you going about it?

 

[Altair44]

It's really hard to believe that your Fujitsu laptop doesn't support the Samsung 850 EVO. There's certainly nothing exotic about that SSD that I'm aware of that would prevent the laptop from detecting its presence and working with it. I'm not familiar with that laptop; AFAIK it's not marketed here in the U. S., so of course I don't have any first-hand knowledge of its capabilities (or lack of!). But I'm uncomfortable with the notion that the machine doesn't support that specific SSD.

Have you been in touch with Fujitsu's tech support? Perhaps they can shed some light on this problem.

I was going to suggest trying to clone the contents of your HDD to the Samsung SSD using Samsung's Data Migration program that was bundled with the SSD, but I note the SSD has a disk-space capacity of only 120 GB so it probably would not be able to contain the contents of your HDD, right? Too bad because it might be worth a try. (I'm assuming, of course, that your installed HDD boots & functions without any problems).

I take it you were attempting to fresh-install the OS onto the SSD. How were you going about it?

I will tell you the steps i did (Sadly now one of my friends bought the SSD from me and now i dont have it. On his 3 year old lappy its working perfect and he cant be more happier. It was like a new life into his sloww lappy);

1- I was trying to do a clean install. So there was no need to use Samsung Magician.
2- I was using a USB stick to install windows created via rufus (Also tried with from a DVD, same problem)
3- Removed HDD and inserted the SSD in same slot.
4- Went to bios, the ssd is not listed anywhere. Just shows Drive - 0 No name(Same as when there is nothing connected to SATA slot).
5- Anyways, i tried to install windows 8.1. At the install screen it gives the message "Windows cannot be installed...This PC does not recognize the drive so it cant boot from it"(Similar message. Forgot the exact one)
6- But the installer detects it as a drive with 111 GB free. Went into CMD (Shift + f10). Then DISKPART. It was listed there also as free drive with free space. But as the BIOS cannot detect it, windows was not giving any option to install OS.
7- I was very irritated after trying so many times. Then i removed the HDD, Disk Drive and USB stick(OS installer). Installed SSD and booted. Suddenly the BIOS recognized it. But again restarted....gone... Not listed anymore. Tried doing the same thing again, didnt work.
8- So i went into google frenzy and searched on the model of the motherboard with the SSD name. Stumbled across this Italian Forum. People there had same problem (I am not italian so translated it).
9- Finally i got fed up and used the Stock HDD, it works fine.

About Fujitsu Support: I am from India and Fujitsu Support here is not that great (Heard from owners). Anyways, i doubt they will tell anything useful. Mostly it will be like, "Sorry we dont support non-fujitsu products" OR "Replace your hard drive" or some blah blah non-sense.
Problem is the laptop works fine as it is, so i cannot even complaint....

Anyways i got message that the Transcend will be delivered today. After office i will go home and try. This SSD is lot slower than the Samsung...lets see.

Note: The Fujitsu Bios looks pretty lame. Most of the things there cannot be changed by user.

 

[ArtPog]

Really puzzling. Well I guess that's water over the dam as they say. Hope you have better luck with the Transcend. Good luck.

 

[Altair44]

Good News. The Transcend SSD works perfectly.
So till any new firmware update for Samsung 850 EVO or BIOS update for Fujitsu AH544, they are a bad combination.
If anyone planned this combo please go for another SSD and save yourself some trouble.

Now i am really in love with Transcend. Bought like four products from them and all of them works perfectly for years(Not a single problem). This SSD is added to the list now and i am sure it be fine for years to come
Transcend FTW. Really Reliable.

Thanks Everyone who tried to help me.