Attachment uploads are currently disabled. This is a temporary situation and will resume as normal in the coming days.
Solved!
Go to SolutionWindows 8 will not launch after hard drive clone
BRIEF DISCRIPTION
Dell XPS 8500 i7 will not launch Windows 8 after attempt to clone hard drive for backup purposes. Secure boot has been disabled. I do not have and do not see a viable path to get a backup.
QUESTIONS
1) How can I solve the failure to launch W8 problem? e.g. would enabling secure boot solve it?
2) How can I get a viable backup in place prior to enabling secure boot? I am concerned that by enabling secure boot I will be completely locked out of the computer if I don’t have a viable hard drive and a W8 system in place.
CURRENT STATUS
Primary drive
>Returns following message after launch – “Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot Device and press key”
>Norton Bootable Recovery disk launches and NBR-Tool detects no virus’s after scanning 233,039 files
Secondary (Cloned) drive put in primary drive’s place
> Returns following message after launch “MBR Error 1 Press any key to boot from floppy …”
> Norton Bootable Recovery disk does not launch
PREVIOUS EVENTS
Computer recently purchased. Basic productivity software added to system. No problems prior to cloning.
Cloning
>Secondary Drive is WD 2TB HDD; Model “sdc wd20 earx-32pasb0”
>Installed “Acronis True Image WD Edition” on bootable disk
>Acronis will not run without WD HDD in computer
>Bootable disk would not run initially; Ran after disabling secure boot.
>Clone from Primary drive to Secondary drive completed 100% with no errors
>Turned off computer; turned computer back on; failed to launch Windows 8
After Cloning
>With Primary and Secondary Drive (WD) installed, windows will not launch.
>With Primary and Secondary Drive (WD) installed Acronis will not launch / startup.
>With Secondary Drive (WD) removed Acronis will startup, but will not perform any functions because the presence of WD drive is required.
FAILED ATTEMPT TO BUILD NEW SYSTEM FROM SCRATCH
Dell Drivers.
>Located driver download page. Have not attempted download.
>Located Dell link for download page for 3rd party software. Dell 3rd party software (i.e W8 etc) will only download software after the website queries the computer to retrieve the service tag (i.e. not possible in this state).
Manual installation of software to secondary harddrive
>Placed hard drive in an enclosure
>Connected to my Lexmark 6000 laptop running XP. Drive did not show up in My Computer, but did show up in device manager. One google search indicated my 2TB external drive might be too big for Windows XP.
SYSTEM COMPONENTS
XPS 8500 Qty 1
XPS 8500, Windows 8, 64-bit, English
Catalog Number: 29 DXDAPY3
Module Description Details
XPS 8500 XPS 8500
Operating System Windows 8, 64-bit, English
Processors 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3770 processor (up to 3.90 GHz)
Memory 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz - 2 DIMMs
Keyboard Dell KB213 Wired Multimedia Keyboard, US-English
Video Card AMD Radeon™ HD 7570 1GB GDDR5 for Win 8
Wireless Driver Dell SRV Software 1703
Hard Drive 2TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive 6.0 Gb/s
Chassis Black w/19:1 Media Card Reader
Mouse Dell Laser Mouse
Network Card Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Optical Drive 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW), write to CD/DVD
Sound Integrated 7.1 with WAVE MAXXAudio 4
Speakers No speakers
Wireless Dell Wireless 1703 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0+LE
Power Cord US Power Cord
Documentation English Documentation DAO
Optical SW Cyberlink Media Suite Essentials DVD
Hardware Support Services 2 Year Enhanced Support
Additional Settings PocketCloud Companion, Standard, Digital Delivery
shesagordie
12 Elder
•
46017 Posts
2052
0
Posted November 25th, 2012 14:00
Vince_W
Not certain if this will help you, but it does work on my Windows 8 desktop, using Acronis TI 2013, that supports Win 8.
First, install Acronis TI 2013 on the Primary C: / boot drive, then install the new drive as the secondary and image the exsisting C:/ to it.
After cloning, immediately shut the system down, switch the data cable [SATA port 0] to the new drive, making the new hard drive the master and see if the system boots correctly.
Boot the system with only the new hard drive connected.
Remember to leave the original drive disconnected, until the new C: / boot hard drive is working to your satisfaction.
Before cloning a hard drive, be certain that existing drive has no corruption or virus on it, as these will be transfered to the new hard drive.
Bev.
Ps, A thought, have you checked to see if the WDC version of Acronis TI supports Win 8?
I bought the retail version of TrueImage, which comes with a bootable DVD, and performed a Windows 8 clone from that DVD. I did not install TrueImage on the hard drive.
Even though the source hard drive was encrypted with Bitlocker, the cloned hard drive booted. (I did have to enter the Bitlocker recovery key once before the boot completed.)
Right now I'm more concerned about getting my computer running again, than getting the clone working. At this point, with only my original hardware in place, and with the only difference in the system being that the secure boot is disabled, my computer will not boot into windows.
I can enable secure boot, but I bit afraid to. You can get into the equivilent of BIOS and change the settings if it is disabled by tapping the F2 key during the Dell Circle boot screen, but my understanding is that if secrure boot is enabled, you can only disable it from within windows. Since I have at least one experience that says I can not boot from a CD with secure boot enabled, I believe that enabling secure boot with what may be a nonfunctioning drive may leave me with a locked up machine that I can do nothing with, or at a minimum will be very difficult. Its also possible I don't understand the impacts of the secure boot function. I have not enabled any kind of encrytion, so unless it is the default setting, my drive should not be encrypted.
Vince_W
11 Posts
2052
0
Posted November 26th, 2012 10:00
I have contacted Dell Support and they have provided a solution to reinstall W8 and the original software. By restarting the computer and Tapping F12 during the Dell Circle boot period we were able to confirm the hardware was OK via the diagnostic tool. If I need any additional help after the Dell solution has been attempted, I will repost. Thank you for your help.