9550 2 Minute + boot time and intermittent "Missing Hard Drive" from bios

Hi All

As the title says. I'm on a clean install of Windows 10 15014 insider build, and from end of BIOS until Windows welcome screen is between 2 and 2 and a half minutes. This laptop has the toshiba 512gb NVMe and is set to AHCI in bios. The drive was COMPLETELY wiped and switched from GPT to MBR and back to GPT. The laptop is setup with UEFI boot and secure boot is off. I have the 4k touchscreen/16gb configuration.

I've tried atleast 5 reinstalls of Windows, and it's the same all around. The laptop occasionally gives the Dell "hard drive missing" message at bios and starts Diagnostics as well. I've run check disk mutiple times, and and I know someone else ?gonzo? reported there may be a firmware update coming for these toshiba drives to try to fix issues.

Does anyone have any other ideas about what to try? I've used the default Win 10 AHCI drivers and the Intel ones and it makes no difference. I did NOT install the full IRST package just the f6 driver inf manually.

 

Does it ever hang while running? It sounds to me like a dying SSD. If you have a Samsung lying around, I'd switch it.

 

Dell removed the firmware, god knows why as it worked fine for me, it will only install if it is supported (not the new XG4) https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArTAP9qwiGB0hPUdG0_HpCh1QdPeXQ
Make sure the BIOS is up to date, make sure you are in AHCI mode and install the Toshiba driver from this link (you will need to force the driver if it isn't one of the original XG3 drives) http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ftware-problems.784691/page-160#post-10436086

Also this is all I have to say on the matter as troubleshooting wise as you are running an insider build that isn't even a pre release, considering windows could be the root cause of the long boot etc you will need to go back to the current release build to rule that out. I ditched the fast ring after a few days, it wasn't stable on this chipset.

 

(edited for inaccuracy)

 

Don't want to tread on your toes but this is a known bug on this laptop and not normally related to a hardware failure. A BIOS update and a SSD driver (plus firmware for the Toshiba SG3) along with running in AHCI fixes this 99% of the time.

Afraid the morons at Dell send replacement parts and nothing changes!

 

As I was saying.... It's probably that bug where you need to update your BIOS and flash your SSD firmware.


Good catch, bud. Original post edited.

 

I have the latest bios - and I'll try the firmware, but the laptop is like a week and a half old, so probably not the v3 of the SSD. Which device are you force replacing in device manager with the one you linked? One of the NVMe controllers? Or something else?

 

the microsoft nvme controller with the toshiba one assuming you ar ein ahci mode now.

 

Installing that NVMe driver caused a GSOD. Error code "CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED". Trying to recover from that now.

 

If it is being a tit try it from safe mode.

 

Same thing from safe mode. The firmware also says its not needed.

 

You still on the insider build?

 

Yes, I need to be on the insider build in order for a piece of software that I need for dev purposes to work right on Windows Subsystem for Linux. It doesn't work right on the anniversary version. Something is added in the test builds that makes it work right.

If I can't fix the boot time, I can live with it, as I HAVE to have the WSL thing working right which means I have to be on Insider builds.

 

I am sure Toshiba are holding off on a new driver until the RS2 release is final due to it needing to be WHQL (and the cost involved)
After all the XG4 is out (you have one I think) so it is a case of put up with it until the new driver comes out as Dell can do bugger all and this is the fix that has worked for everyone. Just the insider build tripping you up!

 

Hi GoNz0 -

I just wanted to let you know that I've probably spent about 10 hours total googling and trying things. I also posted over on the Win-Raid forums. No one has drivers for the XG4 that's in this laptop. And I found a Reddit post from someone who claimed to have spent almost 200 hours trying to get Win7 installed on these with the XG4 and couldn't do it at his work.

I think i'm oop: outta luck until Toshiba gets off their laurels and does something.

 

The XG3 driver force installs and works for most people, Of course the laptop isn't sold as compatible for windows 7 so yeah technically you are out of luck.

 

Hi - I'm posting back to let everyone know that there are solutions to both issues. The new XG4 firmware that's available has completely stopped the "missing hard drive" problem on my device. I also can report that the newest version of the Dell provided (cooked, custom who knows wtf they did to it) version of the Intel graphics driver does work on Windows 10 insider preview builds again, instead of causing the device not to boot and bluescreen. It also fixes the boot time. Boot time is now back to about 10 seconds from the end of the Dell bios screen to Windows logon screen, and I do have the Windows Subsystem for Linux installed, which is known to cause slower boot times.