Dell XPS 8930 with Optane memory, SSD Samsung: Booting loading <slow>, clean no malware Original memory, & SSD on board. I believe slow down caused by DEAD SSD. I do not see SSD, just a data drive. SSD does not appear when viewing the partition table from Windows or Macrium. Bios update > success > reboot > bios update dependent on SSD to finish updating process, dead SSD results in not updated BIOS?
Rico, can you post a screenshot of Disk Management? I'm mainly interested in the lower section containing the rectangles.
@Rico, your OS seems to be installed on your data hard drive. Did you reinstall the OS on your data drive or did the PC come installed like this? I am asking because a google search turned up your system Dell XPS 8930 on Amazon with just a hard drive and 16 GB intel Optane, and no SSD. See here https://www.amazon.com/Dell-XPS-8930-Tower-XPS8930-7071BLK-PUS/dp/B077C4Z8K1 Your system might not have had an SSD to begin with. You said that slow down was caused by a dead SSD, but if your SSD had died then your OS could not have transferred over to your data drive on its own. The slow down was probably caused by an incorrectly configured or malfunctioning Intel Optane. But I am just guessing here as I do not have all the necessary information to make an assessment.
Somehow, I thought SSD was/is involved. Purchased was 16GG mem + 16 GB Intel Optane memory, 2TB hdd. The original HDD failed & replaced with the above pic. I'll look inside tomorrow
Thanks Rico. Standard Win11 install with 4 partitions. The MSR doesn't appear in Disk Management. If you have a SSD, try a new data cable and plug it into a different motherboard SATA port. If you still can't see the SSD, try the SSD in another computer. Win11 is much slower on a HD compared to on a SSD. I'd transfer the OS to a SSD if you want better performance. If you have a motherboard speaker, install it. These speakers cost about 20 cents and make it easy to know when to press F2 to enter the BIOS. Or F12 to see the Boot Menu. You hear a BIOS beep. Also you can hear the motherboard beep codes for hardware issues.
A couple of things I see here, - I don't understand how to update the BIOS with a working computer, BIOS can be updated only after restart. - Updating the BIOS is in no way dependent on your hard drive and if in doubt, remove the hard drives, or at least the one you think might not work on your computer - also remove all other connected devices before BIOS update, BIOS update must be followed by firmware update. And finally, if you want to use an SSD, AHCI Mode must be enabled, but yours seems to be disabled.
Dell seems to prefer SATA RAID mode rather SATA AHCI. I'm not sure if this applies to the above desktop. My kids have two Dell laptops and they won't boot into Windows if you change the BIOS to SATA AHCI.
This might not be correct, but my thinking was/is: Firmware aka BIOS interacts with 'software update', so as to complete the firmware update. A post install error occurs upon reboot, resulting in Failed update. All failed updates would default to the previous version. What makes Firm/BIOS dependent on HDD is the install of new versions fails. CSI Rico
Re seated connections, blow dust <very little>, observed no SSD, observed Intel M2 mem module. M2 is Optane what to look for: toast, config, or test. Is this or could it be validation of a failed M2 module?
M2 is MEMPEK 1J016GAD so far I've found. MEMPEK1J016GA sans "D" what is a replacement? Should it be the same size as the original?
@XIII That's most likely the problem, I'm not confident about resize. Shrink C: 5gb is what there saying?
Not exactly: To me this looks like you need to have at least 5 MB free at the end of your disk (after the Recovery Partition in your screenshot), but maybe others can chime in here? That would involve decreasing & moving partitions. Both are dangerous operations! Make sure you have backups (and that you are able to restore them), before doing such things.
XIII, that's good info. Rico, you will only need 5 MB of Free Space at the end of your HD. You don't need 5 GB. You should be able to resize the 648 MB recovery partition 5 MB smaller (done offline, not in Windows). If this can't be done you can resize the Win11 partition smaller and slide the recovery partition to create Free Space after the recovery partition. The Free space has to be at the end of the drive. It can't be in front of the recovery partition.
Is paid version Partition tool, or free tool, guide you? partition tool "boot disk" > easy to understand & do the change. At that time was I asked about size, or choice? The recovery 'partition' took all the space, & Optane wants a measly 5 MB, on the same partition. Shrink by 5! In order to 'shrink by 5' from a boot disk, F2 & F12, need to be working. That goes back to BIOS and problem with 52 F12 at startup. < Dell Logo screen >
Get into the BIOS using the command line. You can boot a USB flash drive or CD from the BIOS Boot Menu. Did you disable Fast Boot in the BIOS? Doing that will give you more time for F2 to work.
If this might give you some ideas or help in any way, here is my warranty Dell original partitioned disk pictures.
kaljukass, Do you have Optane memory enabled? I note you have 12 MB of Free Space at the end of your drive. Just curious.
Yes, it is enabled. I use a Samsung 980 PRO PCIe4.0 NVMe m.2 and also use Samsung Magician and don't bother with this or any other drive. Dell and Samsung Magician will do their job at least until the warranty expires. Then I'll see what happens next.
@Brian K Optane is not enabled, <enable> is grayed out. refers to? And I'm exploring what's involved in moving or slide one partition into another, thus avoiding "boot disk", I believe 'recovery merges', leaving more than enough room for Optane to see & enable. Did I understand you? Also, That looks like my old partition table, but to restore "that look" would require re-installation from Dell recovery or factory reset, or start all over.
It seems you need at least 5 MB of Free Space at the end of the drive for Optane to enable. You can't use Diskpart in Windows to resize the Recovery partition. It can be done using TeraByte Explorer (in Windows) but I don't think you have that app (which comes with BootIt UEFI). I don't know which other partitioning apps allow you to resize that partition in Windows. I'd expect all partitioning apps to be able to resize that partition from a boot disk. Diskpart doesn't support partition slides. Is this correct? You used a Macrium boot disk to do an image restore to your current hard drive?
@Rico, try the free version of Paragon Partition Manager. It should be able to resize that partition for you. https://www.paragon-software.com/us/free/pm-express/#
Thanks! @Brian K, I thought you mentioned within Windows the allocation of the required free space for the recovery partition, could be done from within Windows by merging partitions. Is that option still viable alt.? @Raza If you look North and see smoke, it didn't go well with Paragon, and where it came from was burnt toast from the North. LOOKING FOR - What happens during the BIOS update process to completion? Download <within Win OS > install > Windows <sign out> > complete <updated> Hypothesis - between, and complete (new version is lost or not written to) If so all dependent would likely fail as well or F12 <note F2 is Dead therefore F12 dead> emojis = ?'s
Rico, I think you need to use a boot disk to make the partition changes. I've described how this can be done without using F2 or F12.
