SR Can't Access SSD

[phlegmer]

I purchased a used HP 850 G6 laptop that came to me wiped. Before loading it, I was going to SR it. I created a USB thumbdive with the downloaded .exe on a different PC.

Boy was it a struggle to figure out how to get this laptop to boot from it! I would rearrange the boot order and it just would not boot off the USB. Finally I disabled secure boot and turned on legacy boot. Cool finally was able to boot up!

Once I got past the RAM check, SR reported that the NVMe "System bios MAY support this". Below that is the USB boot drive and then below it is another drive listed in red "This drive cannot be accessed" Prior to all of this, I did do an HP system diagnostic which one of the tests was to test the installed drive. It passed.

Any advice on how to get SR to be able to see the SSD?

Thanks!

 

[PHolder]

It's unclear if the HP has one SSD or two? SpinRite may be showing you the same drive twice,. Try launching SpinRite, from the command line, with the FORCEBIOS option and see if anything changes.

SPINRITE /FORCEBIOS

If it does not, you could use the DIAGS command line option, and share the results here.

SPINRITE /DIAGS

See this thread for an example of how that goes. https://forums.grc.com/threads/issues-running-spinrite-6-1-rel-2-on-zimaboard.1536/

 

[phlegmer]

AFAIK, it only has one drive so I agree it was just listed twice.

Tried the FORCEBIOS and the NVMe listing is no longer there but the item listed below the USB drive still is and still is in red.

If I go past the initial screen, it does give additional info.

"Invalid BIOS Access
Although this system's BIOS lists this drive as available it failed SpinRite's validation attempts. This can occur when a very large drive is attached to a machine with a very old BIOS. Therefore, SpinRite will be unable to work with this drive on this machine. To use SpinRite with this drive, please try with another computer."

The laptop is only a couple years old and the drive is 512GB.

 

[Scott]

You could also try booting from a USB with VirtualBox .

 

[phlegmer]

I'm unfamiliar with the VirtualBox suggestion. How many hoops are required for that?

Perhaps I've stumbled on a system that SR is unable to scan?

 

[DanR]

In the system BIOS please check the following settings:
UEFI boot - Disabled
Secure boot - Disabled
CSM boot - ENABLED

Ref: https://forums.grc.com/threads/how-to-boot-and-run-spinrite-6-x-on-csm-capable-uefi-machines.968/

 

[Scott]

I'm unfamiliar with the VirtualBox suggestion. How many hoops are required for that?

https://forums.grc.com/threads/how-to-run-spinrite-on-a-uefi-only-machine-part-1-of-5.1613/

 

[Scott]

Also, this PC is a commercial device with a lot of management capabilities, some of which may be preventing drive access outside of Windows.

For example, there seems to be a setting called DriveLock, maybe that needs to be off?

The manual I’m looking at is here, check the description of all of the settings to see what might be preventing access

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c06696065.pdf

If that’s not the right one then obviously find the correct manual and read through it carefully.

 

[phlegmer]

@DanR
UEFI Boot is disabled
Secure Boot is disabled
Legacy Boot is enabled
Also Disabled something called HP Sure Recover
CSM, I've looked and looked and don't see this option anywhere. Per your link "If there is no CSM option, then SR 6.x cannot be booted/run on this machine. In this case the user would have to wait for SpinRite 7.0 with UEFI Booting."

It's interesting that I can get it to boot, SR just doesn't seem to be able to hit the NVMe.

@Scott
The Virtual Box option seems like more work than what I wanted to do to this before installing Windows. But thanks anyway.

DriveLock is disabled be default and mine is indeed disabled.

I've attached a few pics of my situation just in case it might help the cause.

Thanks!

 

[ColbyBouma]

SR just doesn't seem to be able to hit the NVMe.

SpinRite does not have native support for NVMe yet. We're at the mercy of wildly differing BIOSes, and yours is not cooperating.

 

[Scott]

@DanR
UEFI Boot is disabled
Secure Boot is disabled
Legacy Boot is enabled
Also Disabled something called HP Sure Recover
CSM, I've looked and looked and don't see this option anywhere.

Note that having “Legacy Boot” turned On is the same as having CSM mode turned on. Different vendors use differing names for the same function.

That being said, @ColbyBouma ’s comment is correct, it’s up to the BIOS to fully support NVMe access.

You might also ensure that you’re running the latest BIOS / firmware for that machine.

 

[phlegmer]

@ColbyBouma
Ahhh, Good to know thanks

@Scott
Good idea on the BIOS update! Looks like mine was one rev behind. Updated it, booted into SR, no change.

Oh well....

 

[DanR]

@phlegmer , you could try the forcebios command line switch.

c:\>spinrite forcebios

May not help (if the BIOS is not cooperating), but worth a try?

 

[phlegmer]

@DanR
Yup, tried that. The only difference with that flag is that the initial drive listing no longer lists NVMe. (see pic)

So I typically have SR on an old 32MB thumbdrive. Smallest I have and seems appropriate for SR's minuscule size. I just updated it with 6.1 and something came up that I've never seen before. (see pic). Perhaps this 32MB drive is no longer a good solution?

Thanks!

 

[PHolder]

something came up that I've never seen before.

SpinRite is written to the device as a snapshot. The DOWNSIZE utility is meant to address the difference between the size of the device that the snapshot represents and the actual size of the device you are writing SpinRite onto. In the case of 32MB I think that is smaller than the downsize can deal with so it aborts. I don't think this will cause any issues.

 

[phlegmer]

OK good! It did continue as normal after that message. So I guess I won't retire my rare 32MB thumbdrive just yet.