Inspiron 15-7567, M.2 NVMe SSD, failed boot device

This Inspiron 15-7567 owner added the M.2 NVMe SSD Samsung 970 EVO and stated that changing the SATA Operation from AHCI to RAID solved his "No bootable device" problem. Are you saying that doing the same does not correct the issue?

That is correct Chris. I had seen the very thread you are quoting and gave it a shot. No luck. My BIOS was initially setup in RAID. Tried both with no avail.

OK. Hopefully another Inspiron 15-7567 owner can chime in with their opinions. In theory, it could work. Dell validated the following M.2 NVMe SSD on this model =

0WYP0 512GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, Hynix PC300

2345G 512GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, LiteOn CX2A

68V6F 512GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, Samsung PM961

9Y4V9 512GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, Samsung PM981

70KCW 512GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.23mm, Toshiba XG5

7VPP2 512GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, Toshiba XG4

@JohnJakeLindert 

Do you still have the other drive in your system.  If so, disconnect it to avoid confusion during an OS install.

If you are installing from a Win 10 install media, then set the SATA controller to AHCI.  There may also be options to turn on certain types of drives (M.2) in another section of the Bios, can't remember right now.

Boot the install media as UEFI and I always use the boot device menu (F12) to confirm.  If your drive has previous partitions on it, those need to be removed which you should be able to do during the install or use Shift+F10 to enter a command prompt on the second page of the Windows Install and use Diskpart to clean the drive, then continue.

The system should install and reboot to complete the install.  Once you get the install done, make sure and load the Samsung NVMe driver for the drive.

I run a 960 in my system and have a 970 on a desktop system so the 970 should work fine.  If you have the Samsung Magician software you can check for a firmware upgrade if one is available.

If you have problems, describe your exact procedure and where the install failed...

The SSD Im trying to us is an Intel SSD 6 1tb M.3 80mm PCIe 3.0 x 4, which may not be validated. I never thought that only certain brands or capacities would matter.

Do you still have the other drive in your system. If so, disconnect it to avoid confusion during an OS install.

If you are installing from a Win 10 install media, then set the SATA controller to AHCI. There may also be options to turn on certain types of drives (M.2) in another section of the Bios, can't remember right now.

Boot the install media as UEFI and I always use the boot device menu (F12) to confirm. If your drive has previous partitions on it, those need to be removed which you should be able to do during the install or use Shift+F10 to enter a command prompt on the second page of the Windows Install and use Diskpart to clean the drive, then continue.

I followed the steps you mentioned above. Disconnected the factory HDD. set SATA controller to AHCI. Ensured the M.2 dirve was enabled in the Bios. Booted install media in UEFI. Deleted all partitions on the M.2 and installed windows. The system rebooted and launched the windows boot tool automatically. Did a manual reboot and opened the Bios. Selected the M.2 from the boot menu and was once again greeted with the "BOOT DEVICE FAILED".

Speaking of drivers for the M.2, this being an intel M.2 I could not find drivers available on the interwebs. Also I was not able to boot windows to be able to install said drivers.

I don't know anything about those drives but I did find this on the Intel site, maybe it will help.  I will go over the instructions to see if I notice anything...

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000027198/memory-and-storage.html

Read through SSD with PCIe NVMe guide you mentioned. Was not aware that drivers could be installed before windows. Anyway, found the driver needed to operate the SSD and loaded it onto the M.2. Seemed like it took the driver well enough and tried to boot again. it failed. wiped the M.2 again trying the driver install first then windows install just for the **bleep** of it. It failed.

Another thing i just noticed is that the M.2 will not show up under the UEFI list of boot-able drives. kinda feel dumb for just noticing.

When you load a driver during an install, it is loaded during the install at a specific point.  I don't know what type of driver is involved.  Without having that drive to test it is hard for me to suggest what might be wrong.  Possibly, the Bios is not capable of running that type of drive and the driver suggested is not loading correctly.

Do you have the name of the driver being suggested to use?  Is your drive a 600 or 660?

I have been reading the support site for those drives and it seems this is not a new drive but has been around for a couple of years.  What I see is it should be a normal install without all the modifications to get it to work.

Any chance there is something wrong with the drive?  If you want me to try, I will order one of the drives and try to install it.  I would not normally run one of those because even if it is less expensive, the speed seems to be quite a bit below the normal Samsung drive.

It’s a 660p

the driver I used was from https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28325/Client-NVMe-Microsoft-Windows-Drivers-for-Intel-SSDs?v=t

It’s possible the drive itself could have failed. 

Yeah even though it’s a few years old it will still be multiple times faster than the factory 2.5” mechanical. And it was cheap. 

Intel has a 5 year limited warranty on it so I might make a claim

Are you saying you will try the same m.2 in your 15 7567?

I am going to order the 2 TB version which I should have by Wednesday, so hold on and I will test the drive to see if it is compatible.

I was able to install the 2 TB version and it seems to be fine so far.

Started with a new drive and used the F12 key to boot into the Windows 10 media.  I had already set the Bios SATA controller to AHCI and, I believe, enabled the M.2 drive in the Bios.  I had no other drive installed.

When I got the "Where do you want to install", I had the unallocated space selected then chose "New" and Apply.  The installed continued and the first reboot happened.

After the reboot, it took some time with the spinning dots on the Dell Logo but it was probably setting up the large drive.

The reboot completed and the install continued normally.  So the drive is compatible ...