Unable to boot from SSD - XPS 8950

I'm confused... You show system info and Disk Management screenshots so how are you booting the PC if "unable" to boot from the new Samsung Pro 980 NVME SSD? 

Was the original boot drive (C:) a HDD that you cloned onto the SSD? If it was a HDD and it's still connected to the motherboard, Windows will always boot from it, not from the new SSD.

How did you change BIOS to AHCI? Did you simply change the setting in BIOS setup or did you reconfigure Win 11 to use AHCI before changing BIOS?

Windows Boot Manager should always be first in the Boot Sequence, so you don't need to change anything in BIOS.

Have you tried booting from the new SSD using the F12 boot menu?

I'm not convinced your screenshots say anything about the new SSD, if the HDD is still connected.

Sounds like you have several issues here.

1. Original HDD is (apparently) still connected to the motherboard.
2. You changed BIOS to AHCI without configuring Windows first.
3. Did you change BIOS to AHCI before or after cloning onto the SSD?
4. You have to initialize the HDD (ALL FILES DELETED!) to use it for storage.

Reboot and tap F12 to open the boot menu. Select the option to boot from the NVME SSD. (If no option to boot from SSD is available, go directly to next paragraph.) Does PC boot from SSD and work properly, Yes/No?

If it can't (no SSD option) or won't boot from the SSD via F12 menu, remove the SSD.  Does PC boot from HDD and work properly again, Yes/No?

If it won't boot from HDD (SSD removed), go back into BIOS setup, change it back to RAID, and save the setting. Does PC boot from HDD and work properly again now, Yes/No?

Answers to those questions will help to plan the next steps.

#4 has to wait until it's absolutely certain PC boots/runs normally from SSD, every single time.

The screenshots provided were to show that the PC had, in fact, detected the SSD and it was not an install issue.

I'm assuming it's an HDD - screenshot below of specs.. and I had read online that I could still use that drive as additional storage .... if it IS an HDD, are you stating that I cannot use it?

and the way I changed to ACHI I went to the BISO operation, and changed it... I did not (nor was I aware) that I needed to configure windows to use ACHI... my assumption was that it would automatically happen

Appreciate your timeliness and responsiveness here on this!

I just tried the F12 boot menu (i had only been doing F2) and it booted up just fine! The response time is incredibly faster compared to what it was previously. The question I have now is... since I'm booting from the SSD, does this now in fact make it the C: drive?

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have not seen anything about the F12 menu vs the F2 menu anywhere!

Thanks Ron, might have missed the post right afterwards, but your F12 solution worked (I had not seen this anywhere) I think the only thing now is to determine 1) did the SDD now become the default C:/ drive? and 2) How long should I wait before I remove all the data from the HDD now that I know the SDD is operational?

Thanks, again, for all your help

@BBOW987 

1) Your SSD is not the default boot drive as long as the HDD is still connected. If you wish to boot from the SSD with the HDD connected you will always need to boot using F12 and selecting the SSD from the Boot Menu.

2) There is no time limit on how long you should wait to remove all data (reinitialize) from the HDD as long as you are sure that the SSD is completely and fully operational. By the way, if you have no backup of your data the HDD is your only backup.

@BBOW987  Glad to help and that you confirmed it boots from the SSD via F12.

Still puzzled why Win 11 boots after you changed BIOS from RAID to AHCI without reconfiguring the OS to use AHCI. In that case, a boot failure error is the typical outcome.

Unless you keep using F12 to boot from the SSD every time, you should disconnect the HDD from the motherboard so you can boot "normally" while confirming everything is good.

After you're satisfied that everything is working properly, you can reconnect the HDD again, boot from the SSD via F12, and initialize the HDD using Disk Management. When that's done, you can boot normally directly from the SSD and use the HDD as your D drive for storage.

I am also puzzled that switching the SATA Operation mode from RAID to AHCI did not require any changes to the Windows 11 installation. It is not clear to me but apparently both the HDD and the SSD boot fine after the change to AHCI.