XPS 8940, after Boot file issue, no longer booting from NVMe

If you are lucky, the XPS-8940 experienced something like a partial power failure during those updates and just has soft-errors. If un-lucky, your Samsung NVMe-SSD is crashing. Retail drives have at least a 3-year warranty.

Run something like Crystal Disk-Info or Passmark's (free) SMART status . If it passes, continue. If it fails, replace SSD.

Make it 100%-pass ePSA Diagnostics.

In either case. then do this to clean-install Windows. Completely erase disk first as it, (and any re-install archives) are likely now compromised. 

https://www.dell.com/community/Windows-General-Wiki/Guide-to-migrate-to-a-New-Windows-11-computer/ta-p/8307872

Thanks. It did finish the update after many hours but nothing changed.

So, ugh -- I shouldn't trust Samsung Magician, and need to do a clean install?  OK. I'll do whatever it takes.

But before I do, what's doubly confounding is that this PC is running so extremely slowly right now -- not just HDD slow. It will barely load a web page. That's all while ignoring the SSD. So would it makes sense that the SSD isn't the problem?

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@QuakerWildcat wrote:

Thanks. It did finish the update after many hours but nothing changed.

1. So, ugh -- I shouldn't trust Samsung Magician, and need to do a clean install?  OK. I'll do whatever it takes.

2. But before I do, what's doubly confounding is that this PC is running so extremely slowly right now -- not just HDD slow. It will barely load a web page. That's all while ignoring the SSD.

3. So would it makes sense that the SSD isn't the problem?

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1. It works fine for it's limited uses. It doesn't check for damaged files or soft-errors (AFAIK). I uninstalled it because I was done with it and didn't care for it auto-starting constantly. I forget if it checks SMART, but those others are better for that.

2. Yeah weird. Hopefully it's just something with that drive (a bad drive can drag whole computer down). Or corrupt Windows, maybe a bad cable ... once you exhaust all that you get down to major stuff like motherboard, etc.

3. I would not be jumping to any conclusions. 

Re-Read that last couple of paragraphs in the Wiki I linked you to. 

Thanks. Appreciate the detailed response.

I haven't had a chance to get back to it today but the good news is that after running for 24 hours after the rese, it's finally "settled down." The HDD isn't churning liked crazy and grinding everything to a halt.

Which means I can at least use the PC until I find the time to test the SSD and reinstall the OS on it. (and that's good because I've only done it once and have to go back to school on how to do it) 

I'm wondering if you have the beginnings of a battery problem (low voltage)?

That could explain the loss of the SSD as the boot device?

Next time you boot, use F12, not F2, to get to the boot menu.

Bring up the one-time boot menu by pressing F12 key
The one-time boot menu displays the devices that you can boot from including the diagnostic option. The boot menu options
are:
● Removable Drive (if available)
● STXXXX Drive (if available)
NOTE: XXX denotes the SATA drive number.
● Optical Drive (if available)
● SATA Hard Drive (if available)
● Diagnostics

Does the SSD show there?

In the BIOS itself, F2 entry:

Boot Sequence
Boot Sequence Displays the boot sequence.
Boot List Option Displays the available boot options.

Do you see the SSD there on either of these? If you do, then the SSD could probably be read, but you lost the configuration due to a weak battery. Although they normally have a 3 to 5 year life?

The SSD does not show up in the Boot list for either F12 or F2.

In the Boot Setup menu, I see an option to "Add Boot Option."

The choices that appear there under "File System List" are:

• PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x17,0x0)/Sata(0x0,0x0)/HD...
  
  
• PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1B,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/?/HD...

Is it possible that the 2nd one is the SSD, and if so, should I try that?  Or is that something else to be ignored?

@QuakerWildcat 

I don't know what you are seeing there? I can't see that in 8940. I do not have 2 bootable drives. Although I bought it with an SSD and a 1TB HD, only the SSD was bootable.

Also, I have to do a TOTAL clean install of W11 when Support was working with a boot problem I had initially.

However, from the data above, and I'm guessing, you still only have ONE disk that can be booted? The SATA one, and the 2nd is Pci which I assume (I could be wrong) is the Network adapter? You are allowing Wake On Lan option in BIOS.

More telling would be to use the Windows Key + R and enter 'diskmgmt.msc' and SEE if the SSD is even active? I suspect not? However, for a reference, here is what I see:

If you don't see the SSD there, either it is damaged, loose on the motherboard, BIOS or battery problem is more than likely the cause?

If you DO see it, then the problem could be a corrupted Boot Loader that could have happened during a power loss, lock up, invalid forced shut-down?

Thanks. I should have been clearer about that. The nvme SSD is definitely working. It's there in disk management as drive D just at it has been since I installed it. I can use Windows explorer to navigate to the drive and see all the "alternate universe" folders from the past year -- the Windows files and Docs and Downloads and application folders...

But the SupportAssist recovery process seems to have restored the PC to a state from before I installed the SSD (thankfully I never erased the original Windows installation on the C: (HDD) drive). It's was missing a year's worth of updates but otherwise is functional.

The ONLY problem (now that all the windows updates are caught up) is that the   (SSD) drive isn't showing up as a boot option in the BIOS.

Well, I suspect then that the Support Assist restore did you in maybe?

There is a program (free) you could run, EasyUEFI (https://www.easyuefi.com/index-us.html ) and it will show you some bootable choices. See the web page for what it would look like. Mine is FREE though? Not sure if they still have it, but this page, https://www.easyuefi.com/license-free.html says it is Free?

It might help you see if the SSD is even able to be booted?

Just another thought?

Could the SSD be in RAID mode, not UHCI? That can slow it down some?

Check the BIOS. If it is in RAID, follow the instructions in this link, https://gist.github.com/chenxiaolong/4beec93c464639a19ad82eeccc828c63 

Now that's something I'd never heard before. I have 3 of these desktops, and all of them have been running Windows for a long time, installed on a NVMe-SSE (using the motherboard slot), and labeled D (i.e, they are all the D  Drive)

And to be clear, there are no bad drives as far as I can tell. The original C: drive (HDD) that came with the PC runs fine and has been used for storage. The drive (NVMe) shows up in Disk Manager, passes all tests, and the contents are still accessible in File Manager. It has simple disappeared as a Boot Option.

I DO appreciate all of your input/advice! I have not been able to make troubleshooting a priority the last several days. 

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@QuakerWildcat wrote:

Thanks. I should have been clearer about that. The nvme SSD is definitely working.

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I'm a little confused about which drive it bad and which drive is your C-Drive.

Let me put it like this:

a. If a drive (other than your C-Drive) is giving you trouble, I suggest you completely disconnect it and be sure the system works properly with just the C-Drive.

b. If you have SATA drives and a NVMe-SSD (using the motherboard slot) in a Dell desktop ... pretty sure the NVMe-SSD must be the C-Drive or you will eventually have troubles with drive letters.

I too am not sure of what your drives look like or hold?\

Any drive can be the boot drive, and from what you are saying is the boot drive and C: is a data drive.

I'm guessing the Support Assist didn't find the boot record on C: and created it, maybe removing the one from D:?

The posting of the output of DISKMGMT would help 'us' understand what the disk arrangement is?

I've done what you have done in the past. Bought and XPS with a HD only and installed via the MS Media Creation tool to the newly installed SSD (with the original HD disconnected). Then reconnected the old C: and it became D:. You I guess left it in. Not a real problem.

However, I did erase the old C: (now D:) via a format. Then partitioned it.

So what I actually had was in DISKMGMT the boot drive on Drive 1 and data on Drive 0. Similar to what you have.

So again, please share the DISKMGMT output. If nothing else, make sure the still has the bootable partition and the UEFI loader.

Here you go!