0
I recently purchased a new Samsung 840 EVO with a few other components, to rebuild a machine that has been on the verge of extinction. With the SSD purchase, I also purchased a new motherboard from Gigabyte. I am still running my optical drive from a external USB port, and loaded that in UFEI mode because of the GPT partition on the SSD.
Windows Server 2008 (not R2) goes through the general install process just fine, but when it hits the first reboot stage it comes back as if nothing has been installed and wants to start the process over, however, there is only the one partition still and it looks like data has been written to it, but when it tries to boot from the SSD it's not detecting an OS.
I have tried the Shift-F10 trick but that doesn't really do anything. I've loaded the command prompt from the repair windows options, to try and run diskpart from there to clean the disk, but I keep getting an error saying no disk selected, tried selecting disk 0, still nothing.
My wife is asking me to just return the SSD and just get a regular SATA drive to replace it, however, I have the feeling like this may just keep happening as this is the first UEFI/DualBIOS mobo I've owned.
I'm extremely stumped, and could really use an answer soon, as I will have to return for a HDD this weekend.
Glaze
Posted 2013-12-10T17:55:08.167
Reputation: 1
I assume you have disabled
Secure Boot. ConsideringWindows Server 2008does not support it. There is no reason you should be having a problem, there is nothing "special" about a SSD compared to a traditional mechanical HDD. There only two major steps you should take, upgrade the firmware on the device, and make sure TRIM support is enabled. You could always just use MBR and legacy mode, depending on the size of the hdd, might be worth a shot. – Ramhound – 2013-12-10T17:57:40.687which Server edition do you use? Only x64 Versions of Server 2008 support GPT boot. – magicandre1981 – 2013-12-10T18:19:34.220
@Ramhound I'll have to check on the secure boot and the TRIM support when I get back to the computer. Also, I was going to try MBR and legacy mode but i can't get the GPT removed through diskpart, but i still have a few things to try. The drive itself is only 120GB. Also, I've read that using clean through diskpart on a SSD can shorten the lifespan of the drive, and being that I just bought it this last weekend, I don't want to be doing that too much. – Glaze – 2013-12-10T18:27:56.390
@magicandre1981 I normally use Server 2008 Standard Ed. x64. – Glaze – 2013-12-10T18:28:48.377
@Glaze - A single diskpart operation WILL NOT shorten the lifespan of the SSD. Each cell has the ability to be wrttien hundreds of thousands of times. – Ramhound – 2013-12-10T18:54:19.047
@Ramhound I looked at the BIOS and all I could find was a security option with system or setup, but no actual Secure Boot option. The system setup requires password for booting system and bios, the setup just for starting bios. Could not find any TRIM support options either. I am Using a GA-970A-UD3P Motherboard from Gigabyte. I am truly stumped on this one. Maybe I got a bad drive to begin with? I got the disk to finally clean and erase the GPT partition but my install would not allow me to install in MBR either. – Glaze – 2013-12-11T13:04:05.807
@Glaze - Depending when the motherboard was released it might not have
Secure Boot. You didn't indicate the product that was only something to confirm was disabled. – Ramhound – 2013-12-11T13:12:51.357@Ramhound here are the specs for the motherboard. I have to assume it's a newer board, since it has options for windows 8.
– Glaze – 2013-12-11T14:36:49.940Also I did not see any BIOS or firmware updates for the motherboard that I can tell, and the SSD only came with software for data migration and Magician software. – Glaze – 2013-12-11T14:46:09.177
TRIMsupport should be added in the OS, not the firmware setup (BIOS) – Milind R – 2014-02-01T18:47:48.617