Omen 880 can't recgonize the SSD as a bootable device

[reebokalone2001]

Recently got this Omen-880 Which came with a Windows 11 home, I have an old SSD contains a Windows 10 Pro that I prefer to use. I can boot the SSD connecting via USB but not SATA cable. The SSD can be read as a second drive in both BIOS and the Windows 11. I saw someone in another thread recommended to change SATA emulation in BIOS from RAID to AHCI, but mine seemes locked in with RAID (as it's grayed out). Some extra info: BIOS read the hdd and the PCIe drive that came with the new PC both as Intel Optane, and the plugged SSD as non-RAID physical disk. BIOS version is 2.18.1263. 

Could someone please help me to let me know what I need to do to have the PC regularly  boot from my SSD? Thank you. 

[Bill_To]

Hi 

Your PC has a 32 GB SSD and a 2 TB HDD. Your PC is using Intel Optane.

This is a RAID setup. This may be why you cannot boot using the W10 Pro disk.

You may have an activation problem using the W10 Pro SSD in any event. The W10 Pro OS SSD is from a different PC/MB.

You would have to disable Intel RST Optane options within W11. Then change BIOS settings to AHCI.

Again, you may have Windows activation problems even if the PC boots using the W10 disk after changing OS and BIOS settings.

[reebokalone2001]

Thank you so much for the reply, Bill_To. It's indeed what I am looking For. I will try if I can disable the Intel RST Optane option tonight. Meanwhile, do you mind sharing how to do so? A side question, is there any benefit of using Intel RST Optane over AHCI? Thank you so much. 

[reebokalone2001]

I tried to disable the Intel RST Optane option in W11, but I can't even find the Intel Rapid Storage in the system. Can anyone please educate me what to do?. Thank you. 

[Bill_To]

Hi @reebokalone2001 

My pleasure.

I haven't resolved your problem. You should be able to undo the solution.

Again, I think you are going to have some issues using a W10 disk on this PC besides the Optane issue. You may break the W11 Optane installation requiring a reinstallation of W11 in AHCI mode. I would try disabling Optane in W11 before checking the BIOS. You cannot proceed if the BIOS option is grayed out.

I would not do what you are trying to do; mixing Optane and AHCI system disks and trying to boot to a W10 system disk created on a different PC.

The following sites, one Intel and one HP, provide steps to take when using or disabling Optane:

Intel

HP

[reebokalone2001]

You are so humble, Bill-To. I respect that. I will look into the resource your recommended. If my following question is answered in those documents, I apologize.

I wish I have waited to see your reply, Bill_To. I might have done something really stupid. I tried to disable Intel RST Optane in W11, but can't seem to find/open the Intel RST software as others demonstrated (I googled how to do it). I disabled the Intel RST Optane Volume in BIOS, and now all three (the SSD, the original NVME, and the original HDD) all became non-RAID drives. However,  the SATA Emulation is still grayed out as RAID in the BIOS, so none of the drives are bootable at this moment. Oh mine. Lol. Is there away that I can change the SATA emulation to AHCI? Thank you for your time.    

[Bill_To · Accepted solution]

Hi @reebokalone2001 

Sorry to see this. I never used Intel Optane. Did not like the concept of caching the boot loader and most used data on a small SSD while the operating system is installed on a slow platter HDD.

You need both disks to run Windows. The BIOS needs to be set to RAID and Intel Optane needs to be enabled in the operating system using IRST software.

You might be able to get W11 running again by removing the W10 Pro disk. Loading Windows 11 now may be a problem if you did successfully disable Optane in Windows 11.

Reset the BIOS to defaults. Save and exit. Try to start W11.

Maybe a different forum member having more experience with Optane can assist. 

You may have to do a HP Cloud Recovery. I would remove the W11 slow 2 TB HDD before doing a cloud recovery. Connect this drive to a different PC as a data drive. Backup what you need in your "User Folder" to the second PC or to removable media. Remove the W10 Pro disk. Do a HP Windows cloud recovery using factory disks and BIOS Optane settings enabled.

This HP document has details on disabling Optane in the BIOS and the software. Scroll down to find instructions. If done correctly AHCI should be available. Then try only the W10 Pro SSD using AHCI. 

Or try removing the Optane SSD. See if you can now disable Optane in the BIOS in the Storage setting (save and exit) enter the BIOS again and enable AHCI in the BIOS (save and exit). Try the W10 Pro disk.

Again, you will have an activation problem and possible: chipset and other driver issues using a W10 disk from a different PC if you can change the BIOS to AHCI.

[reebokalone2001]

Hi Bill_To, thank you very much for your recommendations. I would like to follow up wt some updates, for the future references. 

First of all,  I enabled the grayed-out default RAID option for SATA emulation by unplug the Intel Optane SSD. Now I can switch it to AHCI. That's a progress. 

However, I was not able to disable Intel Optane either through BIOS or W11. My BIOS (HP version 2.18) does not have "Sytem Options" under "Advanced" setting (which is where to disable the Intel Optane by uncheck "Configure Storage Controller for Intel Optane", according to HP document). I neither could locate the IRST software in W11.  

The operation of delete Optane drive in BIOS seemed not revertible, even after reset the BIOS to the default mode. Guess i accidentally disabled Intel Optane by doing so, the downside is you can't simply enable it when you want to. 

After all, you were correct that I will have problem booting from the W10 Pro SSD and I did.  The PC still shows a bootable device is missing after I set the SATA to be AHCI. I don't think I can do a HP Cloud Recovery anymore as I now can't boot the W11 (by deleting Optane drive in the BIOS). What I am going to do now is to boot the W10 Pro SSD through USB, backup all the data, then do a clean W10 Pro reinstall to the SSD using AHCI and start from there. Hopefully that will work. Again, thank you for all your help. Best wishes.  

[Bill_To]

Hi @reebokalone2001 

My pleasure.

Yes, backing up data and installing W10 Pro clean is the best option.

Is this W10 Pro version from a different PC an OEM or a retail product key? A retail version can be transferred to a different PC. OEM product keys are generally not transferrable to a different MB.

It is best to Uninstall the retail product key on the primary PC before activating W10 on the second PC to avoid activation problems on the second PC.

[reebokalone2001]

Thanks for the reminder, Bill_To. It's a retail license. Yes, I will reformat the system partition on the ssd before the resinstall. Thank you. 

You once mentioned I would have problem boot from the W10 Pro SSD even after setting the BIOS to AHCI. Would you mind explaining the rational behind a little bit? Thank you.