Dell XPS 9560 Clean install guide + custom ISO download.

Wouldn't call it a ton, LOL. I did read some of the the Reddit threads, one notable similar issue...unresolved.
BY:
" pekhachin 1 point 2 months ago

Hey OP, sorry for the random comment, but I'm trying to upgrade a new XPS 15 (9560) to the Samsung 960 as well. After installation, it said no bootable devices found. Do you have any advice?"
suggestion was "used Macrium Reflect to do the backup and restore and it worked perfect." but if the drive is not seen, then there is no way to do backup. -- makes no sense.

If you know of a way to make this work, I will certainly try.
NSDQ ('93- '12)

 

Sorry I just did a simple search and came up with 800+ posts on reddit

Here is one person with the same problem that solved it:
"Thanks for taking the time to comment. I switched the setting in the bios from RAID to AHCI. It recognized the drive after that. One simple switch made it work!"

 

Thanks for the reply and pointer, no apologies...I am not a big Reddit user so I obviously came up short. The searching I did on Dell 9560 with 960 PRO didn't show much in the way of useful threads regarding 9560 with the 960 Pro installed and any "how to" but having followed GoNz0's OP and instructions repeatedly, I will admit to some fatigue in the matter. Most combinations of SSD in the threads point to configs with EVO type m.2 so I discount them. The NVMe in the Pro is apparently different than the EVO.
960 Pro has MLC NAND; the 960 Evo uses TLC NAND, not 100% sure that makes a hill of beans difference to Dell's BIOS but it is a difference in the SSDs and simply changing the BIOS from RAID to AHCI did NOT make the Dell XPS15 9560 w 1.6.2 recognize the drive...just confirmed it one more time..at risk of going insane...

So, the 960 Pro is heading back to Amazon and Newegg is on track to deliver a 960EVO 500GB some time next week, my fingers are crossed. I am going to put the XPS back together for now and wrap it up. Again, without someone who has successfully installed a Samsung 960PRO m.2 SSD in a Dell XPS15 9560 and is willing to share the "how they did it" I am attributing the "no drive detected" to incompatibility of the HW and I do not recommend this combination.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." --Unknown

Thanks GoNz0 and custom90gt!

 

Setting it to AHCI didn't help then?
And you have nothing else attached drive wise when doing this?

 

Correct, BIOS SATA Drive set to AHCI, nothing attached (nothing on internal SATA cable and nothing in USB slots) only had the 960 PRO installed in the onboard m.2 Not seen in BIOS.

When USB drive bootable disk from your ISO is inserted and then laptop powered on, the 960PRO still not seen in BIOS and during WIN10 install, it is not detected.

 

Did you have the twin drive setup before? I think that opens a new BIOS option or if not part of the intel RST cache settings from the installed RST suite. I wonder if you need to backtrack with both original drives installed in raid mode and remove the cache drive so it breaks the link. I seem to remember this being an issue back with the 9530 or 9550 if you didn't destroy the link as that did something to a hidden BIOS switch.

 

Most of the posts with users with 960 pros just say they have them because they don't have to do anything. What is your stock drive setup? TLC vs MLC doesn't explain anything and the two use the same controller (what actually matters).

 

Not sure what you mean by "twin drive" but, the configuration of the 9560 I received from Dell was a 32 GB SSD m.2 with a 512 SATA HD, the SSD does not identify as a seperate drive (Dell Voodoo? but I have heard of people erroneously referring to a hydrid drive...which it is not, they are two distinct separate physical components, my understanding is that the OS is on the m.2 SSD.

I am not familiar with how one would "backtrack with both original drives installed in raid mode and remove the cache drive so it breaks the link"

I don't know about a hidden BIOS switch and the time on the phone with Dell on this issue last week did not yield any hint of such.

If you or others have encountered this and have a solution, I'd be interested in maybe trying it this afternoon but I am at the point now that if it is experimenting (I have already put quite a few hours into this 960PRO issue) then I think I am going to re-box, wrap and put a bow on it, in its Dell delivered config for the Mrs., and probably next week see if the 960EVO treats me any better.

 

The 32gb cache and 500gb hdd is what GoNz0 is referring to. The OS is on the 500gb and the 32gb acts as a caching drive (like a hybrid but instead of the cache being built into the hdd it's a separate entity). GoNz0 may be on to something since my guess is you won't have any better luck with the EVO vs the Pro (again same controller).

I'm sure you reset the bios to default settings? What about upgrading/downgrading the bios? Another suggestion would be holding the power button for 25 seconds to clear the CMOS.

 

yeah wishful thinking...plug and play right? well i assure you, carefully installed (two different 960Pros) repeatedly attempted, it is NOT recognized by the XPS15 9560 that is otherwise fully functional in its Dell delivered config., 32 GB SSD m.2 with a 512 SATA HD. Spent a LONG phone call with Dell trying to see what may be the root issue but unresolved...

If you have taken and successfully installed a 960PRO in a Dell XPS15 9560 then I am very eager to hear exactly how it was done. Second hand speculation based on similar but not same HW config isn't something I can afford to explore right now.

 

I have done the CMSO clear and have repeatedly reset the BIOS to default and factory (both)...no joy.

downgrading the BIOS may be a way (I haven't tried that) is there a particular version that has been successful for 9560 users installing a samsung 960Pro?

 

I have not installed a 960 pro, only every other samsung SSD that they've made in the last couple of years. I even did a SM961 which is the OEM version of the 960 Pro. Second hand speculation as you call it is 15 years of working on computers so I think I have a decent grasp on how hardware works.

And when you cleared the COMS how did you do it? In terms of downgrading the bios you can do just the last version.

 

right. so my specific HW issue that Dell has not denied may be a compatibility issue is the 9560 with 960Pro. Any other configuration may or maynot be applicable, I am just out of time to mess around and experiment.

What was your first hand experience in the 9560 and Samsung SM961 (SM961 is the 950 PRO equivalent; the PM961 is the 960 EVO equivalent); that is what process was followed? Did it start with a 9560 that was configured with a 32GB SSD and a SATA HD? Did you do something to the BIOS while the 32GB SSD and SATA HD were installed? If so, I am very interested to understand what you did but again, it is not the same as the 960 PRo so I am still wary of its applicability in this case.

 

It doesn't get any closer to the 960 pro than the SM961 since everything is the same except for the firmware. I did have the 32gb cache and did not have to do anything specific however my laptop was never configured correctly since it came from the Dell outlet and they had the OS installed on the 32gb drive without being configured as a caching drive.

It was the same story with my PM961 1tb, 950 pro, SM951, PM951, and 960 Evo.

 

You would need to install both old drives, boot into windows. Load the intel RST suite and remove the cache drive from the setup.

 

GoNz0 thanks.I'll take a look!!!
custom90gt, thanks as well!

It would appear to me that the 32GB SSD I have from Dell arrived with the OS installed on it perhaps similar to your custom...I cannot boot from the SATA HD without the SSD installed...

I am out of time on this pre-Christmas endeavor...putting a bow on it and I am expecting the 960EVO by New Years; will post late next week!

 

It won't boot because it moves the most frequently used files over (like the ones for the OS) to the faster 32GB drive. When you disable caching it moves everything over to the hard drive.

 

Makes sense. So is the idea that disabling that will open another setting in the BIOS?

 

I think what GoNz0 is basically getting at is the system right now expects to have the 32gb cache drive and 500gb hdd in there (this flag is set with the rapid storage software in windows). We are hoping that removing that flag by disabling the caching will allow the bios to "see" other drives.

 

Guess I'll pull those damn torx bit screws one more time, then no kidding I need to box and wrap this thing!
Thanks!!!

 

Lol sorry, I'm just worried you're going to have the same luck with the 960 evo. I don't know of anything else that would cause you issues like that. Also you did the 30 second power button to reset the CMOS? I don't know if it actually works but that's what I keep reading online.

 

uuuugh

made the change to remove the cache drive from the setup. reboot, BIOS shows the 32GB in the m.2 SATA position and the 500GB HDD as primary HDD.

power down, remove the 32GB m.2 ssd and the sata HD and boot to BIOS, change to AHCI reboot, 960PRO installed power back up and look at BIOS, still no sign of mr. 960 PRO in BIOS

BIOS defaults set. (CMOS 30sec pwr off to clear)
Boot Mode UEFI
secure boot ON

Device info portion of system information
no drives!

 

That's so weird. I wish I would have paid attention to the bios to see if my drives showed up there or not. Sorry it's been an arduous process, I'm not sure what else to try besides a bios downgrade. I hope the evo works for you. Are these 960 pros coming from amazon or a third party seller?

Btw - iunlock had a 960 pro in his 9560...

 

Also I did some googling and there are quite a few complaints of people getting fake 960 pros from Amazon, some of them "fulfilled by amazon" and others from third party sellers...

Funny thing is one guy was going through basically the same thing as you, turned out his "960 Pro" was keyed in both M and B keys (should only be M). I'm wondering if you're been had...

 

First one was from a company accessed though Amazon, noted in the thread, I did get a full refund on my return... the second from Amazon...they were black through and through, no green boards. I don't have any reason to suspect counterfeit product...I did look closely but as you infer, there are some skills out there...I am assuming I received Samsung product.

Man I am bummed, I think I am following the instructions closely but am open to stepping back and starting fresh!!!

 

Yeah the counterfeit ones look real. Do you mind taking a picture of the drive (if it's out and easy)? Was it directly through amazon or "fulfilled by amazon?"

 

The most recent was directly from Amazon...will get photos in morning!

 

after "remove the cache drive from the setup" BIOS sees 32GB SSD in the M.2SATA, not a M.2PCIe SSD



Photos of the 960 Pro

 

The reason it doesn't show as nvme is with it being a sata drive m8.

You might consider opening a thread about this as it isn't related to my ISO so lots will be missing it.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

Does the front sticker have the copper layer? The images you posted like similar but has different components than the stock pictures I see online. May just be hard to tell from the small photos you posted though. Also when did Samsung start making 960 Pros in china? All the ones I've seen are made in Korea...
I am not sure why you would have issues with a 960 pro when others do not. If I still had my XPS I'd throw my SM961 from my server into it to see what it shows in bios.

 

Samsung 960 EVO M.2 SSD arrived from Newegg...go figure, exact same symptoms as the 960Pros previously,no detect on BIOS. Have attempted several iterations of BIOS setting changes, after trying the normal AHCI...so now going to attempt older BIOS and see what I get. Will open a new thread. BTW the 960EVO M.2 from SAMSUNG is tagged as a product of China...

 

Opened new thread as mentioned:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...s-with-samsung-960evo-m-2-ssd-upgrade.812276/

 

Thanks gonzo for your work putting this together,

I just did a fresh install of 10 Pro using your most recent ISO with rufus and default BIOS settings

It seems that quite a few drivers are missing including the network adopter for wifi (see screenshots below). Any ideas why this might be?

 

The killer network drivers were integrated so I have no idea.

 

Thanks for the reply. Hmmm... bit of a strange one - I just tried a clean install again and got the same thing. Seems like it's not just the network adapter that's missing (as per screenshots above)
I was sure to copy the exact Rufus settings as in your screenshot and I reset the BIOS with AHCI mode and deleted all partitions.

I'm now going to try with an image from the windows media creation tool as you advised on your last update to the ISO Windows 10 should have all working drivers included.

Are there any recommended driver replacements or do the windows ones generally work efficiently in your experience?

 

UPDATE: OK, I've now tried an installation with the windows 10 media creation tool and I got the exact same thing - no network adapters visible. They were working perfectly fine before on a factory installation of Windows 10 Home.... any ideas? Obviously I'm going to give manual installation of the driver a try. ... would it be "Killer Wireless 1435 1535 Driver" found here: http://www.dell.com/support/home/uk/en/ukbsdt1/product-support/product/xps-15-9550-laptop/drivers ?

 

Well the device manager shot you posted clearly shows a "network adapter"
It just needs the drivers m8, grab them from the killer site if you can't manually update via right clicking and update driver then let me pick and untick show compatible hardware then look under "Qualcomm Communications inc for the 1535 device.

 

Thanks my friend. I tried 9550_Killer-Wireless-1435-1535-Driver_G0JXX_WIN_1.1.68.1346_A00.EXE off the Dell Drivers site and it didn't work as it couldn't find the killer hardware.

I tried DW1820A_1830_WiFi_Win10_x64_1.566.0.2_SETUP_ZPE.exe (Dell Wireless 1820A 1830 WiFi Driver) and it worked....

 

That explains it, this is a 9560 ISO and I didn't add drivers for older models, got there in the end

 

the new xps 13 2018 with the 1435 seems to have issues. My 1435 in reporting data rates of 144Mbps! That is on the 5Gz band on a D-Link router. Luckily I have a hardline wired connection. But it is costing me a USB-port on the laptop when I only have 2 total.

 

@GoNz0 : in the latest opening post, you say: "Content removed as I will no longer be developing this as Windows 10 works out the box now."
Does that mean I can use Microsoft's Windows Media Creation Tool to make a bootable USB stick, without specific Dell drivers? Would that work for my XPS15 9550? Should I use one of your older ISOs?
I was planning to do a fresh install. After I upgraded (without reinstall) from Win10 home to Win10 pro, my XPS 15 has become incredibly slow, especially when running on battery.

Thanks for your valuable contributions to this forum!

 

Worst case is you may need the wifi driver ready post install but the ISO had got to the stage where I only put wireless drivers on as windows update pulled down anything else, it isn't worth compiling a custom ISO for that any longer.

I only started doing this as people couldn't see the NVMe drive when trying to install windows and to fill in the missing drivers, they sorted that by the time RS2 was out and it all seems to work rather well.

It takes hours to sort, convert ESD's etc, then do it for home and pro etc.

 

Now that I see 'content has been removed' I'm unclear what your answer is. I'm pretty sure it's because I don't understand this stuff well enough, but what specifically do you recommend to do a clean install now? Do I need to use a flash drive at all or do it from somewhere within Windows? Any link you recommend?

 

The windows ISO works fine with no additional drivers integrated, you can use the windows media creation tool to do it all for you as well.

 

Thanks. Again, this is all pretty new to me so I don't entirely know what that process is. Do I just follow the instructions here? https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

Anything to look out for?

I'm not having performance issues but Win 1709 failed to update after a 'memory management' BSOD over and over so I waited for 1803 and get the same BSOD. I've done the suggested tests for memory issues and everything was fine. Should a clean install of Windows do the trick? I tried the 'fresh start' option that supposedly reinstalled Windows but kept your files but the BSOD continued.

Will I run into any license issues? Should I write the key down at all?

Can all of this be done offline?

 

Key is in the BIOS and will be read and activated automatically, yes the microsoft guides all you need. When asked for the key just skip that step.