Brand new HP dv6t - Clean Win 7 Ult install: No drives were found error

Just pulled my brand new dv6t quad edition w/ 32gb mSSD out of the box. Going for a clean format and install of Win 7 Ultimate. Upon booting from the bootable DVD, I'm getting a "No Drives Were Found" error. No drives/partitions will show.

When I boot into the existing install of Win 7 Home Premium and boot the win 7 install disc up, it will find the drives.. but I can't format or delete being as that I need to boot from the disc.

Seems to me like a driver issue for the HDD/mSSD. Has anyone encountered this? Any and all help is very appreciated.

 

My conclusion on this is to AVOID the 32GB SSD cache option at all costs!! I've been on the phone with tech support for almost 2 hours now.

YOU CANNOT REFORMAT YOUR OWN HD WITH THIS OPTION.


This is BS. I'm about to send this thing back. Nightmare isn't the word.

 

FedEx picked up the computer this morning. Trading out that HDD for the 1TB model.. and bonus, with the Memorial Day sale.. it comes out to less than the original model..!

It's a true story and a fact: You cannot run Widows 7 Ultimate on this machine or do a true format on the drive if it has the 32GB mSSD cache option. You must always be chained to HPs bloatware in order to access the drive.

I found a few references while Googling where direct access via Linux line commands may allow you to set partitions, but nothing fully verified at this time with this exact HDD option. In the future, someone I'm sure will find a work around.. but if having complete control of you own computers HDD and operating system is something that you value, stay far away from this build option.

 

Is it possible to remove the mSSD drive from the laptop? Maybe a clean install would work, then reinstall the mSSD later. I just received my laptop and didn't know about this problem.

 

Omg...this is probably the same reason for my brand new Envy 6t:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/667656-envy-sleekbook-6t-1000-cant-reformat.html

I can't reformat it at all. I've tried everything. I will remove the SSD cache and see if that helps.

 

YEP! Figured it out.

The culprit is the mSATA 32GB SSD Cache!
It is in a RAID mode with the 5400rpm 500GB HDD, and so that prevents one from doing a full reformat.

However, after I removed the SSD Cache and unbounded the HDD from the RAID setting, I was able to finally reformat windows. The HDD drive finally showed up visible.

 

How exactly did you do this? How so you remove an SSD cache? I was under the impression that it's a hybrid drive, no?

When you reformat without the cache.. I take it that it's now useless. So again.. this option is total garbage from the beginning..??

 

The mSATA module is separate from the cache found in a hybrid drive (if you ordered one) and would be redundant if that is your setup. In the dv6-7xxx, the mSATA module is located underneath the left palm rest, as seen here.

 

Are mSSD and SSD physically identical? And the only difference comes from the fact that mSSD is bound in a RAID array with the HDD? If so, can you unbound it and use it as a standalone SSD, onto which to install the OS for example ?? At present it is much cheaper to buy 32GB mSSD with 1TB HDD 7200 than buying even a 160GB SSD, let alone bigger one.

Secnd question, what is the cache composed of inside hybrid drives? Small SSD or flash mem, to which there is no access? Then is there performance difference between hybrid disk and a configuration of HDD 7200 + mSSD, where flash is used essentially as cache too?

 

I saw some photos of the notebook apart and saw that this raid and done through the memory ram, has a piece that holds a memory bank and make this communication.

you guys know if I can get this mssd cache, and install a mssd with greater capacity for normal use?