XPS 15 9550 i5 Windows will NOT complete installation

I have a dell xps 15 9550 with a i5 6300hq
32GB SSD and 1TB hdd.
I recently reformatted the HDD and tried to install factory windows on the primary hard drive only. I made sure to set the SATA mode to AHCI and use a iso image on a USB made using rufus.

The USB is detected fine and the windows creates partitions and installs on the hard drive without a problem, but when it reaches the stage during the installation where it has to reboot, It boots back to the USB and the initial windows installation screen with purple background shows again.

When I try and force it to boot to the HDD in UEFI and finish the installation, it refuses, and brings up the dell diagnostic tools which say 'windows is having issues booting' though the computer passes all the diagnostic tests. When I tried switching to legacy boot it says 'no bootable devices found'.

I then used f12 to show boot options, the hard drive i installed windows on isn't shown as a option under ufei or legacy.

I have tried reformatting the HDD and reinstalling multiple times and face the same issue over and over again.

Would REALLY appreciate some help

 

Remove your 32GB SSD before you start the Windows installation process. I don't know if this changed in the Windows 10 installer, but previous Windows 7/8 install processes would only let you choose where you put your core Windows installation processes; but not the bootloader. The install process would put the bootloader on whatever it identifies as the "first" drive in the system. If you have multiple drives in the system, then you could potentially have a situation where your bootloader & OS installation end up across two drives. You can avoid this by having only one drive in your system during the Windows install process, to force the bootloader & OS to end up on the same drive.

My guess is that your bootloader is split across two drives. If that is the case, then it would explain why your system can't boot when you specify the boot device to be your 1TB mechancal HDD (because the bootloader isn't on there); you would need to specify your 32GB SSD as the boot device (because it contains the bootloader), which would call the bootloader, which tells the system that the core Windows OS installation actually exists on your 1TB HDD. Avoid all of that mess by just removing your 32GB SSD before the Windows installation process, to "force" Windows Setup to put both bootloader & OS on the same drive.

Also, remove your USB thumb drive after the first reboot. You don't need that USB thumb drive anymore for the rest of the Windows install process.

On a related note, you might as well keep your 32GB SSD out of your system entirely, and get rid of it. Something that small isn't really worth using; especially if you are putting your OS on a mechanical HDD. Trying to use your 32GB SSD to do other things (like run games) won't be very practical due to the small size, and relatively small impact that an SSD will have on your games.

I don't know if you've ever used an SSD before. But the biggest benefit of having an SSD for most poeple is to run your OS. It's not about boot times or load times (although both of those are nice-to-haves). The best way to describe it is that it eliminates "burst latency" and improves response times; especially when multitasking. The closest analogy for people who haven't used an SSD is like comparing a 56Kbps dial-up modem to a 50Mbps broadband connection**. You don't buy a broadband connection so that you speed up the load time of a web page from 3sec --> 0.3 sec. You do it for response times... you do it so that you get instant response when you click on a link, instead of waiting. If you're in the business world, it's equivalent to using a web-based app vs. a desktop app. Even if the web-based app is fast, it will never match that "instant response" you get from a desktop app.

So... if you ever want an SSD, save up and get at least a 256GB SSD for your OS, games, and apps. They are incredibly cheap these days, and getting cheaper all the time.

Hope this helps.

 

Worked like a bloody charm. Thank you so much.
I do run my main desktop as an SSD only system so I am familiar with the advantages. The SSD in the XPS was set up using Intel Rapid Storage Technology which dynamically uses the 32GB ssd as cache . I would probably like to re-enable this as speeds up the system quite well.

 

Awesome! Glad it worked.

As for Intel RST... You are in a pretty common situation. Just Google how to enable Intel RST after you have already installed Windows, and you should find tons of guides and info on how to do that.

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