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installing new hard drive
I have an Insprion desktop, which has been upgraded from W8 to W10. I think my hard drive is starting to fail, because it keeps powering down by itself with a disk error message. I bought a new drive and put it in the empty bay, disconnected power and data from the existing drive and connected them to the new Seagate 3TB drive. I also created a Windows 10 dvd disc using the media creation tool.
When I boot the system with the W10 disc in the drive and the new HD connected, it lists the four SATA devices and says there are no bootable media. It also tells me that to select F1 to retry, or F2 to use the boot utility. Neither function key does anything. I've tried to boot with the disc out and selecting F2 or F10 during the initial boot and nothing happens. I made a second disc and the same things happened.
I should say mention that for at least the last year when the system boots normally, With my Microsoft keyboard connected, I get a "Keyboard failure" message in the upper left corner, but continues to boot with full function once booted. Is there a way to get to the boot parameters once Windows completes its launch? I want to check to make sure the DVD drive is in the list of install options,
rdunnill
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January 27th, 2017 20:00
You're trying to boot from a 3tb? That requires special consideration, which I don't know if the Inspiron 660 meets.
Mary G
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January 17th, 2017 09:00
The drive is empty and not formatted yet. Boot to the windows disc instead of the computer. Select Custom Install which will allow you to format the drive. Most computer use F12 to open the boot menu. Start the computer and immediately start tapping the F12 key to get to the boot menu without waiting for any screen. Select the dvd drive. When you start the windows install skip the key screen when it asks for a product key/activation. It will activate after the install is complete. Your win 10 key is kept on the MS Servers.
saline02
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January 17th, 2017 12:00
When you say, "boot to the Windows disc," do you mean insert the windows disc, power on, then hit F12? I get the same errors. I've tried with and without the W10 disc in the drive? Not sure what I'm supposed to see up to the point where I get the opportunity to format.
rdunnill
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January 18th, 2017 20:00
You should be able to set up the optical drive to be the first boot device, and that will spare you having to use the boot menu.
saline02
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January 21st, 2017 05:00
I can't seem to get to a place where I can define the boot drive. I normally hit F2 or F10, or F12 when I start the system, but that doesn't take me to the BIOS. I get the error I mentioned above. Is there a way to order the boot sequence from W10? I can get to my desktop, I just can't get to my BIOS.
ejn63
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January 21st, 2017 07:00
What model Inspiron?
saline02
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January 22nd, 2017 12:00
Inspiron 660
[Admin NOTE: Service tag removed per TOU policy]
rdunnill
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January 22nd, 2017 13:00
Have you tried removing the coin-shaped battery from the motherboard for a few seconds? That will reset the BIOS.
saline02
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January 24th, 2017 15:00
I had to upgrade my BIOS in order to upgrade from W* to W10. Will I lose this BIOS?
speedstep
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January 25th, 2017 06:00
ADVANCED FORMAT DRIVES in AHCI will not see any drives without F6 mass storage drivers. If your bios has ATA mode instead of AHCI mode under SATA operation you could install that way. Otherwise you must use mass storage F6 drivers.
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/23060
saline02
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January 26th, 2017 15:00
I don't see Windows 10 as an available download. I did download and run the Intel Driver Update Utility Installer.exe. Is that all I need to do to try to boot from W10 disk and install on the new 3T drive?