Cloned SSD fails to boot. Stuck at "Press ESC for Startup Menu" Unable to access BIOS

[mozzie4]

HP 510-A011A with Win 10 Pro 64-Bit (irrelevant but included). 1 3.5" 1TB HDD, 1 CD Drive. All working AOK.

Bought the Crucial recommended MX500 1TB SSD. Cloned the HDD to SSD with the Crucial recommended Acronis software (SSD connected via USB to SATA (as recommended by Crucial) as there is only 1 HDD SATA port.

Cloning generates no errors and completes.

Reboot with HDD connected as boot to make sure all still OK.

Disconnect HDD and replace with clone SSD.

Hangs at "Press ESC for Startup" screen. Pressing ESC does nothing; Unable to access BIOS Setup, Boot Menu, etc.

Crucial unhelpful.

Any thoughts folks?

Thanks

[Bill_To]

Hi @mozzie4 

I have seen 2.5 inch SATA SSD problems from other manufacturers (Crucial or Samsung) with certain HP PCs. Tough to isolate the problem in your scenario. Contact Crucial. Maybe they can assist.

If possible, try mounting the Crucial SSD on a different PC as a data drive to check the file structure.

Try different disk imaging/cloning software. I use Paragon (free) disk imaging software. I don't think Paragon supports cloning. But you can create a disk image on a backup up drive. Then restore the image from the backup drive to a different disk using a Paragon USB recovery boot drive.

Or check the WEB for other free disk imaging/cloning software.

I also suggest trying a HP 2.5 inch 1TB SSD.

A HP SSD should work with a HP PC.

Regards

[mozzie4]

Thanks Bill_To. I appreciate the prompt response.

As explained Crucial were unhelpful.  They provided a lot of feedback but nothing that you couldn't get from the internet.

Follow-up: I took a 1TB HDD and cloned it using 3rd party software "Clonezilla". [ Aside it took 40 minutes vs the 31 hours Acronis took ]

I connected the cloned HDD in place of the original and the PC booted to Windows without error.

Connected the original HDD and all works flawlessly.

So cloning a HDD to SSD appears to produce a different result to cloning a HDD to another HDD.

Hopefully someone will have an Aha! moment and give me the answer. Perhaps "You need to do X after or during  cloning.."

Thanks again for your prompt, helpful and thoughtfull response.

[Bill_To]

Hi @mozzie4 

My pleasure.

I can only stress this again, some HP PCs have issues with certain 2.5 inch SATA drives.

I think your PC falls into this group. The fact that you cannot enter the BIOS when the Crucial drive is used is one of the symptoms for all of the other PCs in this group. A bad clone would probably give you a "no boot device error" but the you should be able to enter the BIOS.

I think you would still see the same result (PC locks up, can't access the BIOS) even if the drive was wiped clean.

The other option is the Crucial drive is bad. That's why I suggested installing this drive in a different PC as a data drive to see if the second PC can mount the drive. But, I would think a bad drive should cause the cloning process to fail.

Regards

[mozzie4]

Just to add to the story, for anyone following:

Recap:HP 510-A011A hangs when Crucial MX500 is connected to (HDD or ODD) SATA data cable.

I installed a Samsung 870 EVO 2.5 SATA  in the mate's PC (HP 510-A011A). Same symptom as the Crucial MX500.

If you check back through the Internet you'll discover this issue has existed in the HP desktops since 2018 without a fix from HP except to offer "It's your fault, not ours" responses. 

It seems HP's BIOS has been written to require either Intel or HP SSDs ONLY, although there are some reports that WDC SSDs sometimes work.

So if you have a Pavilion 510 series desktop and you want to upgrade to an SSD, be prepared for a LOT of grief. My recommendation would be to NOT install an SSD, wait until your PC needs replacing and don't buy another HP-Compaq again.

[mozzie4]

HP Support has officially confirmed that the 510 series does not support an SSD upgrade, in fact any PC that is provided with an HDD does not support an SSD upgrade. Buy it with an SSD or forget it.

Thanks HP for being such a customer focussed company.

***bleep***!

[mozzie4 · Accepted solution]

Hi Folks,  A poster in another Forum, who is also a provider of SSD (and RAM) upgrades has responded:

"Does this mean HP is building PCs that are not SATA III compliant?"

I'll leave the answer to the reader 🙂

PS A Western Digital (WD) Blue SATA III SSD DID finally work in the HP PC. Crucial, Samsung and other manufacturers should be a little peeved that HP has chosen not to support their SSDs, but for some reason they don't seem to care. Possibly HP are not a major player in the PC space? Who knows.