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SSD Upgrade in a HP Z400 Workstation
Hi All,
I'll preface this by saying i'm sure this is a really basic issue, but my brain is just blanking and i'm running short on time to research / do some trial and error.
So i have a Z400 workstation (XX382PA) HP workstation that had a dodgy drive. I'm trying to replace it with a Samsung Evo 850 500GB SSD. The problem i have is the Windows 7 Installer just won't see the SSD drive, it prompts for drivers.
This is relatively normal and i jumped onto the HP website, put in the product code and located the storage drivers. Now there's 11 various options, some are different versions but mostly different products (LSI & Intel based). To be safe, and because i'm not sure exactly which RAID controller is onboard (fairly certain it's Intel), i grabbed the lot and extracted them all to their relevant folders and copied them onto an external disk.
I then booted back into the Windows installer and when prompted pointed to the individual sub folders one after the other waiting for it to locate the drivers. But after going through them 1 by 1 it still can't find the drivers?? I don't understand what i'm missing here?
Next step i tried was to modify the BIOS settings and change the SATA controller from AHCI/RAID to IDE with the hope that would work smoother. But same issue - can't see the new drive and prompted for drives - non of which seem to work.
Out of interest wondering if it's an SSD thing, i wacked in a standard SATA drive that was out of a HP 400 Pro desktop still with the brand new factory image on it, and the system booted straight into Windows. I then restarted and booted off the Win 7 image and had the same can't see the disk issue again.
I'm kinda stumped as to what else to try. I'm currently trying to image the failing drive onto the SSD, but i'm not holding my breath that it's going to succeed!
I'll preface this by saying i'm sure this is a really basic issue, but my brain is just blanking and i'm running short on time to research / do some trial and error.
So i have a Z400 workstation (XX382PA) HP workstation that had a dodgy drive. I'm trying to replace it with a Samsung Evo 850 500GB SSD. The problem i have is the Windows 7 Installer just won't see the SSD drive, it prompts for drivers.
This is relatively normal and i jumped onto the HP website, put in the product code and located the storage drivers. Now there's 11 various options, some are different versions but mostly different products (LSI & Intel based). To be safe, and because i'm not sure exactly which RAID controller is onboard (fairly certain it's Intel), i grabbed the lot and extracted them all to their relevant folders and copied them onto an external disk.
I then booted back into the Windows installer and when prompted pointed to the individual sub folders one after the other waiting for it to locate the drivers. But after going through them 1 by 1 it still can't find the drivers?? I don't understand what i'm missing here?
Next step i tried was to modify the BIOS settings and change the SATA controller from AHCI/RAID to IDE with the hope that would work smoother. But same issue - can't see the new drive and prompted for drives - non of which seem to work.
Out of interest wondering if it's an SSD thing, i wacked in a standard SATA drive that was out of a HP 400 Pro desktop still with the brand new factory image on it, and the system booted straight into Windows. I then restarted and booted off the Win 7 image and had the same can't see the disk issue again.
I'm kinda stumped as to what else to try. I'm currently trying to image the failing drive onto the SSD, but i'm not holding my breath that it's going to succeed!
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Interesting - haven't tried different media. I'm using a Zalman drive which creates a virtual cd drive and mounts the image. Will dig out a DVD and try that.
Yesp, give it a try.
I have performed this exact upgrade 30 times or more. When you go into BIOS Setup (F10) does the new SSD show up in the available drives?
What is your device boot order?
Upon boot are you you selecting a Boot Device (F9)?
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What is your device boot order?
Upon boot are you you selecting a Boot Device (F9)?
20160517_105332.jpg
20160517_105150.jpg
20160517_105137.jpg
20160517_104954.jpg
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Hi Lee,
The Samsung drive appears under BIOS ok and as an available drive. All the BIOS settings appear to be the same.
I'm booting off the virtual CD without any problems via F9 key on startup and it loads the windows setup fine. The windows setup can't see the SSD to install onto though.
The Samsung drive appears under BIOS ok and as an available drive. All the BIOS settings appear to be the same.
I'm booting off the virtual CD without any problems via F9 key on startup and it loads the windows setup fine. The windows setup can't see the SSD to install onto though.
Have you tried this?
Boot Windows 7 media.
At the welcome screen Windows Setup, press Shift + F10, to display a command prompt.
Type diskpart and press enter.
Type "list disk" press enter.
Do you see your SSD in the list. You should see a number identifying it.
Type "select disk X" (where X is the number identifying your SSD) and press enter.
Type "clean" and press enter. This will write a blank MBR.
Boot Windows 7 media.
At the welcome screen Windows Setup, press Shift + F10, to display a command prompt.
Type diskpart and press enter.
Type "list disk" press enter.
Do you see your SSD in the list. You should see a number identifying it.
Type "select disk X" (where X is the number identifying your SSD) and press enter.
Type "clean" and press enter. This will write a blank MBR.
Hi Lee,
Yes - tried that. The disk isn't displayed when doing list disk.
I pulled the ssd out and put it into a caddy attached to my laptop and initialized it and formatted it. Still have the same issue though.
Yes - tried that. The disk isn't displayed when doing list disk.
I pulled the ssd out and put it into a caddy attached to my laptop and initialized it and formatted it. Still have the same issue though.
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Out of curiosity what version of the BIOS are you at?
I have: SYSTEM BIOS: 786G3 v03.56
Current Version: 3.60 Rev.A (14 Apr 2016)
http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=3718669&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4059
I have: SYSTEM BIOS: 786G3 v03.56
Current Version: 3.60 Rev.A (14 Apr 2016)
http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=3718669&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4059
Thanks Lee - i'm just creating a new bootable USB to see if that makes any difference. I'm going to let the clone disk run overnight (it's just hit midnight here) and see where it's at in the morning.
Will confirm BIOS version as well in the morning.
Cheers!
Will confirm BIOS version as well in the morning.
Cheers!
What about trying it from DVD media?
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Hi Lee,
Made a new bootable USB and it found the disk straight away. So must have been an issue with the bootable USB i was using. The only other thing i did was switch from front USB ports to the rear.
Giving Noxcho some points as i suspect a Windows dvd probably would have the same result. Unfortunately i didn't have the means to burn a new disk to give it a try.
Made a new bootable USB and it found the disk straight away. So must have been an issue with the bootable USB i was using. The only other thing i did was switch from front USB ports to the rear.
Giving Noxcho some points as i suspect a Windows dvd probably would have the same result. Unfortunately i didn't have the means to burn a new disk to give it a try.
It's all good. I have a lot of older z400, z420 and z620 in our production environment I've re-purposed with the Samsung 850, vid card and RAM upgrades. The Samsung's are great value. I'd keep a traditional HDD as a secondary drive for the swap/performance file so you're not constantly writing swap file to the SSD. Let me know if you'd like my check list for performance tuning for SSD.
Cheers, Lee
Cheers, Lee
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