1 Rookie
•
15 Posts
0
670
September 13th, 2023 19:16
Aurora R7, USB boot drive not starting
Alienware Aurora R7
Hello all, I hope to be clear in this message as English is not my first language.
So, I had a recent problem with my computer and decided to make a clear start so I created a bootable drive using Windows tool. The drive I have created is on a USB key. I formatted it in FAT32 an created a partition of 16GB to fit the Windows 10 installer. My problem is that when I boot my computer, press F12 and select USB boot option I never make it into Windows installer. I see ALIENWARE and dots spinning. I even left them spinning for hours in hope that it would start sometime. What is weird is that if I unplug every storage drive, HDD, SSD and SSD NVMe I can get into the Windows installer, but I have no drive to install Windows on so it's a bit frustrating.
I have an Aurora R7, that had Windows 10 home edition 64bit and at some point last year it upgraded by it self to Windows 11.
Please let me know if anyone has a solution for this. If more info on system is needed on my system I can try to provide but I cannot access Windows anymore on my computer
Thank you.
Chino de Oro
9 Legend
•
8.1K Posts
0
September 13th, 2023 19:47
First, create the installation USB again, but, let Windows to do its thing in creating partition and formatting.
Second, removing all internal, external drives, except for the intended boot drive.
Lastly, set your SATA operation mode to AHCI prior to loading the installation.
Extra note, the same goes for Windows installation process if you can get there, delete all partitions on intended boot drive and select next to allow Windows set partitions and formatting the drive.
Chino de Oro
9 Legend
•
8.1K Posts
0
September 13th, 2023 20:12
As mentioned in my post, you do not need to format the USB drive. When you download and run Windows Creation Tool, you get to select Windows language and version, then checked the box to install on other PC. When you select the USB drive, a warning message that Windows will erase your drive, accept that and Windows will format, set partition and creating installation image, all on its own.
Are you going back to Win 10 or reloading Win 11?
(edited)
Chino de Oro
9 Legend
•
8.1K Posts
0
September 13th, 2023 20:43
Again, as mentioned before, you delete all partitions by clicking on each partition and select delete button. Then click on the only one unallocated space left and select next to allow Windows to set partitions, and formatting.
The reasoning is, they are old and none of those partition are useful to you anymore. Windows installation will create needed partitions automatically.
(edited)
VieuxWolf
1 Rookie
•
15 Posts
0
September 13th, 2023 19:56
Thank you for your quick reply, I will redo my boot drive. Should I format it into FAT32 or NTFS?
Vanadiel
6 Professor
•
7K Posts
0
September 13th, 2023 20:24
@VieuxWolf Use the Windows 10 creation tool from the Microsoft only link. It will create a bootable installation medium for you. No need to format or do anything else.
Windows 10 Media Creation Tool
Just be aware the Windows activation is tied to your BIOS, so you have to select the same version as you originally had installed. You cannot activate Pro with a Home activation etc...
VieuxWolf
1 Rookie
•
15 Posts
0
September 13th, 2023 20:34
ok, so I have redo my boot drive, set sata to AHCI, I can now get into windows installer!! That's a huge step! But now, the drive I want to use is my SSD NVMe, it says I have total space of 449gig, free space 448gig. When I try to install windows on it says that I donèt have enough free space on it to install windows.
It's the only drive that let's me try to install on it.
Drive 0 partion 4 principal.
The other:
partition 1 is recovery,
partion 2 is System,
partition 3 is MSR,
partition 5 is recovery,
partition 6 WINRETOOLS recovery,
partition 7 image recovery
partition 8 DELLSUPPORT recovery
What I find weird is that it looks like the is something on the drive...What should I do from there?
Thank you very much
VieuxWolf
1 Rookie
•
15 Posts
0
September 13th, 2023 21:45
Chino!! You are a god!! It works, I'm at the point where I have to select language / region and all when doing a fresh install! Man I wish I had come here earlier, I have spent at least 8 hours troubleshooting this problem with google on my phone...
Can I ask, for personal knowledge, what is SATA set to AHCI for? Because at first it was set to raid or something, what does it do?
Much appreciated!
Thank you very much!!!
(edited)
Chino de Oro
9 Legend
•
8.1K Posts
1
September 13th, 2023 21:57
You are very welcome and glad to hear your installation is successful.
If my posts are helpful and resolved your issue, you can mark accepted answer as solutions.
Added bonus instructions: download this Intel chipset driver and ME driver to your system. Run installation the chipset first, restart machine, then install the ME driver. Afterward, run Windows updates to receive the remaining drivers.
Chino de Oro
9 Legend
•
8.1K Posts
1
September 14th, 2023 09:26
Did not see your question earlier, hence a late reply. My basic understanding on the R7 is:
SATA controller set to RAID would require additional Intel RST driver loaded (F6) during installation to identify storage drive(s) and make them visible for setup, ready for RAID volume creation via device configuration.
SATA controller set to AHCI would make all drives visible as native non-RAID, available for selection during installation. No RAID volume setup available in this mode.
Vanadiel
6 Professor
•
7K Posts
1
September 14th, 2023 13:56
@VieuxWolf By default these systems have the SATA mode set to RAID, without any actual RAID volumes defined. This is often called hardware RAID as it uses the hardware RAID controller. When SATA access is set to RAID mode, the proper RAID driver for the controller needs to be loaded by Windows, or it will not be able to detect any drives. You can not read SMART status of drives when controller is set to RAID mode.
AHCI is Advanced Host Controller Interface, call it the default SATA mode. Windows always has AHCI drivers loaded and therefore no additional drivers need to be loaded.
You should not be using RAID mode in a consumer system, because it's not designed for consumer environments. Instead you should be using Windows Storage Spaces, if you want to combine multiple drives into a single unit, with or without dedicated backup drive(s). There's also no point in using RAID mode if you are not going to define RAID volumes and use multiple drives.
The reason why they install in RAID mode is because you can switch from RAID to AHCI access mode on a single non-raid volume and it will boot fine. You cannot switch from AHCI to raid without major intervention.