[Help] L501x only boot sometimes with SSD and HDD

Hi!

I would appreciate your help with my problem because I do not already know what to do.

Recently I bought one Crucial M4 128 GB and a hdd caddy in order to replace the DVD drive.

I've installed Windows 7 with an original DVD on SSD withouth any drive connected to the laptop but and external USB DVD drive for installing Windows. The BIOS is the latest (A8) and the SATA mode on BIOS is set to AHCI.

After that I installed all drivers and it worked like a charm, booting Windows 7 in 25 s more o less.

The problem was when I connected the HDD attached in the HDD caddy in the place where it was the DVD drive. The BIOS detects both devices, the Crucial M4 and the Samsung HM500JJ but Windows 7 only starts about 10 % of times, but when it starts, it works perfectly.

Most of times I got a black screen just before Windows 7 starts to boot. If I disconnect the HDD, Windows starts perfectly, but with the HDD connected only a few times it starts.

I've done all combinations that I could think, for example, installing Windows with both devices connected, load latest Intel SATA drivers before installing, try to fix the boot with "repair Windows", BCDEdit and EasyBCD, and so on, but nothing worked.

I think that the problem is something related to hardware because the black screen is before Windows starts doing anything. And I also think that the Crucial M4 and the HDD works good.

Reading in internet I discovered people who it happened the same, but no solutions.

Does anyone could, please, help me?

Thank you!

 

Maybe something to do with your boot order? Make sure the internal HDD is first?

 

First, thank you for your answer.

The SSD is first on boot order...

Any other idea?

Thanks!

 

Flash to latest bios if possible
Reload stock bios settings
Try changing from ASCI to ATA or other way around?

 

The BIOS is already the lastest available and I think Dell is not going to update it any more.

I do prefer to use AHCI instead of ATA for taking advantage of speed of the SSD. Any way, the problem persists changing to ATA or AHCI.

Thank you.

 

Hi!

I've just tried to set the HDD as first boot device and the SSD as second (Windows is installed on SSD), and always that I booted up the computer it said to me "No OS found". What I mean is that with HDD on first boot order, it always boots but without OS.

Could anyone help me to find why with the SSD as first boot device it does boot only some times? I say again that without the HDD connected, the SSD always boots perfectly and with both devices connected but with HDD as first boot device and SSD as second too.

Thank you!

 

Is the hdd still the original one with the OS? Have you tried another HDD in the bay?

 

The HDD is the original, but I've removed all the partitions and I've formated it. Now the HDD is empty.

I have not any other 2.5" HDD to try...

Thank you!

 

Hi again!

I have tried everything that I could imagine or I could read... Does anyone have any other idea? It is very frustrating to have to start the laptop 10 or 15 until it starts properly...

Thank you in advance!

 

does it at least boot to the point where you can do a F12 Boot selection option ?

if so for the short term you can manually select the SSD drive to boot.

As far as the issue at hand, it seems to be a hardware or BIOS issue.

Does the old hard disk drive still show up as a system boot device in Control Panel > Admin Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management option ?

 

Hi!

Yes, it boots just until before Windows starts to boot, so I could manually select the SSD drive to boot. But although I select manually the SSD to boot, it boots only sometimes, like normal booting.

The old hard disk is not "system boot" in Disk Management...

I do think that it is some kind of hardware compatibility... but I don't know what more to do...

Thank you for your answering!

 

May be related to the 1464/1564/1764's BIOS issues when having an SSD + HDD. Dell and BIOSes is a bad combination.. From what I see Dell shares bios code between different laptops and if I'm not mistaken these were produced around the same time as the L501x.

If you shoot a message to @DellCares over at Twitter they might look into it. They're looking at the xx64's problem but there's no telling if they're willing to fix it just yet.

~Aeny

 

Thanks for your answer. I am going to investigate it.

I will also try to use an "unlocked" bios in order to check it.

Thanks!

 

I have the same problem. Dell xps 501x, samsung 840 pro ssd with Win7 and seagate 750 gb for D partition. Seagate is located in hdd bay (caddy) replcing cdrom. Instaled with ahci enabled, after reboot computer sometimes is booting, most of time not. It is always booting in sata mode enabled in bios.
Any solutions for this problem, how manage ahci mode?
THx.

 

I just switched drives. SSD to cd bay and HDD in to computer, and everything is working. Ahci mode enabled, booting every time.

 

Keep main hard disk at same location and put SSD in place of CD/DVD RW. This works very well. Don't forget to set SSD as your boot drive.