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dellxps8500

12 Posts

90568

February 1st, 2013 16:00

Dell XPS 8500 won't install windows 8

I've got a new Dell XPS 8500 last week.  it came with 2TB hard drive and 12GB ram.  I put in a SSD drive and try to do a fresh install of windows 8 using DVD supplied by Dell.  UEFI is enabled in the BIOS.  Boot secure mode is enabled.  And legacy OPROM is disabled.  It booted up the DVD and installation seemed fine.  After it finished copying files it rebooted itself a few times.  Then stops at a screen that complains windows installation failed, need to reinstall.  tried it many times and the result is the same.  Also tried a retail windows 8 pro DVD.  same.  The only way it will complete installation is to enable legacy OPROM but that means it won't be booting UEFI, which is what i want.  Also tried loading the Intel Rapid Store AHCI drivers before starting installation but that didn't help.  The BIOS version is the latest A09.

Dell tech support wants to replace the hard drive and motherboard.  Does that sound right?

rdunnill

6 Professor

 • 

8.8K Posts

March 5th, 2013 08:00

Does anyone know where I can get the media from (without having to purchase another copy)?

Borrow it from someone who has it or order a copy from Dell.

Will I need the OEM product key for Windows 8 Pro when installing to the new SSD?  I understand that the Windows 8 product keys are baked into the BIOS.  The key license sticker, etc... did not ship with the system.

No, Windows should find the key "baked into the BIOS."

If it turns out to be too much of a hassle to get the media for Windows 8 Pro, is it recommended to mirror the OS fro the HDD onto the SSD?

If you're referring to "cloning" the existing partition, that sounds like a good idea!

 

 

 

smithduluth

25 Posts

March 9th, 2013 06:00

DropPass: You will not be able to restore Windows from your 1TB drive, as the image file (WIM) has to be restored to another drive of the same size, 1TB. That is why I needed to use a Windows 8 dvd which I copied to a USB pendrive, as I could not boot the dvd in UEFI mode. The activation will be automatic, as the key is in the bios.

infiniteloop33

1 Message

July 16th, 2013 07:00

i'm way late on this, but thought anyone else looking for an answer would benefit from an answer. i ran into the same symptoms last night, here's what i finally ended up doing: 

1. shut everything off

2. disconnected SATA drive

3. disabled safe boot

4. launched windows boot manager (f12 at start up)

5. selected to boot from dvd 

6. deleted all partitions on my  ssd and allowed windows to install itself onto unallocated space (i.e. it created whatever partitions needed)

7. launched windows boot manager

8. selected to boot into uefi mode (if you disable safe boot, you can get the option for legacy or uefi hdd/dvd boot by launching boot manager)

9. windows finally started installing, no more reboots on startup. 

10. installed windows updates

11. rebooted (again, had to go into boot manager and specifically select uefi hdd - booting to legacy wouldn't work.)

12. verified everything was working. shut down. 

13. connected sata drive

14. booted into boot manager, selected uefi hdd as source

15. formatted sata drive

16. restarted

17. went into bios, enabled safe boot

18. machine works fine now. 

i tried re-installing the OS multiple times, each time it failed upon the initial boot. turning off safe boot and then proceeding with the install was the only way i could make the install work. 

dellxps8500

12 Posts

July 16th, 2013 08:00

it's an issue with the BIOS on the video card.  I had dell send me newer rev of the video card I had.  win8 installed fine with uefi and safe boot.

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