XPS One 2710, Slow to boot up and shut down with new Seagate SATA HDD

Did you do a clean install on the new HDD or clone the old one?

Your image shows that the mSATA SSD cache isn't enabled. Read how to enable the cache. Note: Those instructions only go up to Win 8, so things may be different with Win 10...

Old PC so it's possible the eject button function isn't supported in Win 10.  Does it eject the disk if you do it manually via the software in Win 10?

Hi Ron, Thanks for your reply. There's so much info in the knowledge base that unless a query is phrased right there's a high chance of missing an answer like this! I'll now see if I can confirm the procedure for Win10.

To answer your questions...

Yes, a clean install of Win10 onto the new HDD.

Yes, I can eject the media from the drive with Right click / Eject so must just not be supported on the PC.

Thanks again,

David

Hmmmm! Dell Pre Boot Diagnostics and Setup  both see the Samsung SSD but Windows does not. I set ACHP, exited setup and the computer went on to load Windows, but brought up all the exact same errors it was bringing up before I changed the main HDD. Went back into setup and reverted to RAID, computer works okay again. Now I wonder if all my troubles are actually due to the SSD cache packing up? Downloaded OpenHardwareMonitor - it cannot see the SSD either. Thoughts? Cheers.

In order to use the SSD as a cache for the HDD, BIOS has to be set to RAID. If BIOS is changed to AHCI, PC won't boot because Windows files that are needed are on the SSD and won't be accessible.

The cache SSD is invisible when BIOS is set to RAID. Only Windows can see and read/write to that drive. Any other activity that affects the content on the SSD would destroy the cache and stop Windows from working.

The default BIOS setting is AHCI, so if the motherboard battery died, BIOS could have reverted from RAID back to the default AHCI, meaning PC wouldn't be able to boot. So if you never replaced that battery, this may be the time to do that, before going any further.

Hi Ron

The BIOS battery has not died, the BIOS setting has only ever been RAID, and the only reason AHCI came into the conversation is because the instructions you linked to specified that setting. Windows cannot see the SSD via Device Manager but Dell pre-boot diagnostics both see the device and return a ok result for test. I'll change the BIOS battery because it is 8yrs old after all, but just put up with the slowness. Cheers, David

Hi Ron, no I have not re-enabled the cache on the SSD. The files don't exist at the link for the  Intel Rapid Storage Technology Application  at step 6 of the Windows 8 instruction, and you did not seem overly confident that the Win7 or Win 8 instructions would work for Win10 on this PC so I've decided to quit while I'm ahead!

This PC has been  running Win10 just fine for six years, which has been a win on its own considering Dell say it is not capable. Now with new BIOS battery, new HDD, and new AX200 WiFi6 card it is actually going to do the duty it needs to pretty well, and the person who is going to be gifted it won't even realize that it is slow to boot.   

Cheers

David

Too bad you didn't put an SSD in there instead of a new HDD. That would have made it boot up at lightening speed...

The giftee should be happy/thankful to get this PC!

Hi speedstep, thanks for that. Windows now sees the mSATA SSD, and so do windows apps such as Open Hardware Monitor which tells me the device has 95% life left ... much better than I expected at 8 yrs old!

Given that boot up speed is not an issue for the person who will use this machine am I better ignoring the SSD to leave the HDD running ACHI, or should I find a suitable version of Intel Rapid Start and try to reconfigure to RAID with SSD cache?

Cheers

David

Actually .... scrap my last question! I've just been starting up and shutting down the PC with the HDD config set to ACHI and it is spectacularly fast!!!!! 

Thanks for the great result

Cheers

David

Just one more thing for anyone stumbling down this same track in future .... 

Everything ran sweetly for ten days, then Win 10 update 21H1 July 2021 downloaded and installed. Next time the computer restarted, black screen "No boot device available". Somehow BIOS had gotten changed in the update such that it thought it was supposed to be booting from the mSATA drive. Could not find a way to disable the mSATA in BIOS so, long story short, device physically removed. All running sweet now with all latest updates installed. 

Hi Speedstep,

As you will see from this thread the PC has been running pretty well for the most part, except when I get a black screen on boot up.

As you will see elsewhere in the thread the machine was trying to boot from the SSD when this first happened. I removed the SSD and all seemed fine, however the black screen has happened again. I can get the PC to resume boot up if I select F2 and tell it to boot from the HDD (even though the HDD is already selected in the BIOS) and subsequent boots are good again. I think the trigger for this issue is when Windows puts the  computer to "Sleep", so for now I've set Sleep to "Never" and instructed the user on how to step through from pressing F2 at the black screen in case it happens again. What are your thoughts on this issue please? Cheers, David.

@notmanyifany1  - You should set BIOS to have Windows Boot Manager as the first boot option, not the HDD itself, even though WBM will boot PC from the HDD...

Thanks Ron. WBM does not appear in the BIOS list of boot options so how do I get it there please?

Cheers

David