Changing the topic of this thread to focus on Windows 10 boot loader dramas.
Windows refused to install onto the XP941, claiming it was not bootable. It did not show up in the BIOS boot devices, so I hacked the BIOS to add in the drivers/modules and now the XP941 shows up in the boot device list.
Windows still refused to install with the same error.
Installed Windows 10 onto the 850 and then cloned both partition over to the XP941.
Used EasyBCD 2.4 to add in an option to boot from the XP941.
Doesn't work: selecting the XP941 boot from the Win10 boot loader results, after a timeout, with a generic 'please insert valid boot disk' type message.
So the question I have for the experts:
I am not sure what I need to do to check if the XP941 has all that is necessary to boot. Can anyone help with this?
I am working on the assumption/hope, that if this issue is fixed, then it may be possible to boot directly to the XP941 and remove the 850 dependency.
Thanks for your help
=================================================
I needed to upgrade from my old OCZ Revo X2 100GB as it simply wasn't enough space. I already had a 850 PRO 256GB secondary drive in the machine, but as removing the X2 would free up a PCI-E slot, I thought about getting an M.2 PCI-E adapter.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, a friend recommended I get a Samsung XP941 M.2 SSD and some kind of PCI-E adapter card, as Q77 _should_ support booting from it as a PCI-E boot (rather than NVME).
Tried this, failed. BIOS doesn't detect the XP941 however Win10 installer does see it, but get the well known "can't install onto this disk as it's not bootable" blah blah.
Booting into an EFI shell, the XP941 does not show up when running a map list.
The BIOS (board is an ASROCK Q77M VPRO) does not appear to have the UEFI LEgacy/OpROM boot stuff. If you disable CSM, you don't get _any_ boot options, nor can you boot to anything.
So at this point of dickery, I decided not to persue the UEFI option (which would have been the cleanest). So I installed Windows on the 850PRO with the intention of cloning it back to the XP941 and using some kind of boot manager to get Win to boot from it.
Clonezilla laughed at me. Complained about mismatch GPT/MBR stuff, even though both drives were set to MBR (doubt checked and even zapped the XP941 to be sure).
Tried some random tool called ToDo Backup, but only in partition clone mode as the "system clone" function requires monies/registration, so f that for now. This did clone the partitions and I used EasyBCD 2.4 to add in another boot option for the XP941. Looked good, but no, will it boot? Will it ****. Get some error that the main boot file is not accessible/available/missing (\Windows\system32\winload.exe).
So I am at a bit of a loss here, this is new territory for me since the old boot.ini editing days.
Could really do with a silver bullet for either getting Win10 to install/boot directly to the XP941, or fixing the boot loader so that it can either load the bootloader from the 850PRO and load Win10 from the XP941, OR PREFERABLY, run the/a boot loader on a USB stick to boot win10 from the XP941. That's the 2nd best option for me.
So just to clarify, my REACHING HIGH YO TARGETS are:
1) Install/boot win10 from XP941 - JUST LIKE HOW ANY NORMAL HUMAN BEING WOULD WANT IN 2020
2) Boot from USB FLASH but load win10 from XP941
3) Boot from 850PRO but load win10 from XP941
** WILL HAPPILY PROVIDE BEER/COOKIE TOKENS TO ANYONE THAT HELPS ME REACH GOAL #1 **
Machine spec is as follows, AND YES IT IS DATED:
* Asrock Q77M VPRO motherboard
* Intel i7 2600k
* 4x4GB DDR3 DIMMIOS
* Samsung XP941 256GB M.2 PCI-E SSD
* Samsung 850 PRO 256GB SATA SSD
* ASUS STRIX GTX960 video card
* M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496 sound card
Note: I do not want to change motherboard or CPU. I need PCI support for my sound card (and it's replacement, RME 9632). That pretty much discounts any later chipset AFAIK.
Windows refused to install onto the XP941, claiming it was not bootable. It did not show up in the BIOS boot devices, so I hacked the BIOS to add in the drivers/modules and now the XP941 shows up in the boot device list.
Windows still refused to install with the same error.
Installed Windows 10 onto the 850 and then cloned both partition over to the XP941.
Used EasyBCD 2.4 to add in an option to boot from the XP941.
Doesn't work: selecting the XP941 boot from the Win10 boot loader results, after a timeout, with a generic 'please insert valid boot disk' type message.
So the question I have for the experts:
I am not sure what I need to do to check if the XP941 has all that is necessary to boot. Can anyone help with this?
I am working on the assumption/hope, that if this issue is fixed, then it may be possible to boot directly to the XP941 and remove the 850 dependency.
Thanks for your help
=================================================
I needed to upgrade from my old OCZ Revo X2 100GB as it simply wasn't enough space. I already had a 850 PRO 256GB secondary drive in the machine, but as removing the X2 would free up a PCI-E slot, I thought about getting an M.2 PCI-E adapter.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, a friend recommended I get a Samsung XP941 M.2 SSD and some kind of PCI-E adapter card, as Q77 _should_ support booting from it as a PCI-E boot (rather than NVME).
Tried this, failed. BIOS doesn't detect the XP941 however Win10 installer does see it, but get the well known "can't install onto this disk as it's not bootable" blah blah.
Booting into an EFI shell, the XP941 does not show up when running a map list.
The BIOS (board is an ASROCK Q77M VPRO) does not appear to have the UEFI LEgacy/OpROM boot stuff. If you disable CSM, you don't get _any_ boot options, nor can you boot to anything.
So at this point of dickery, I decided not to persue the UEFI option (which would have been the cleanest). So I installed Windows on the 850PRO with the intention of cloning it back to the XP941 and using some kind of boot manager to get Win to boot from it.
Clonezilla laughed at me. Complained about mismatch GPT/MBR stuff, even though both drives were set to MBR (doubt checked and even zapped the XP941 to be sure).
Tried some random tool called ToDo Backup, but only in partition clone mode as the "system clone" function requires monies/registration, so f that for now. This did clone the partitions and I used EasyBCD 2.4 to add in another boot option for the XP941. Looked good, but no, will it boot? Will it ****. Get some error that the main boot file is not accessible/available/missing (\Windows\system32\winload.exe).
So I am at a bit of a loss here, this is new territory for me since the old boot.ini editing days.
Could really do with a silver bullet for either getting Win10 to install/boot directly to the XP941, or fixing the boot loader so that it can either load the bootloader from the 850PRO and load Win10 from the XP941, OR PREFERABLY, run the/a boot loader on a USB stick to boot win10 from the XP941. That's the 2nd best option for me.
So just to clarify, my REACHING HIGH YO TARGETS are:
1) Install/boot win10 from XP941 - JUST LIKE HOW ANY NORMAL HUMAN BEING WOULD WANT IN 2020
2) Boot from USB FLASH but load win10 from XP941
3) Boot from 850PRO but load win10 from XP941
** WILL HAPPILY PROVIDE BEER/COOKIE TOKENS TO ANYONE THAT HELPS ME REACH GOAL #1 **
Machine spec is as follows, AND YES IT IS DATED:
* Asrock Q77M VPRO motherboard
* Intel i7 2600k
* 4x4GB DDR3 DIMMIOS
* Samsung XP941 256GB M.2 PCI-E SSD
* Samsung 850 PRO 256GB SATA SSD
* ASUS STRIX GTX960 video card
* M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496 sound card
Note: I do not want to change motherboard or CPU. I need PCI support for my sound card (and it's replacement, RME 9632). That pretty much discounts any later chipset AFAIK.
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