Z640 boot issue with m.2

[hiebertw07]

I'm recently picked up a Z640 and added an m.2 drive via PCIe card and I'm having trouble getting it to boot. After POST and the HP splash screen, it just goes black and has to be hard restarted. 

I'm able to boot off the Win install media, run the installation to the m.2, and use Windows. Once it restarts though, the only way to boot windows is to select boot from file and find bootx64.efi. Using Windows Boot Manager doesn't work at all. Any idea of what to make of that? 

[itsmyname]

After installing Windows to the M.2, are you removing the Windows Installer Media? If not, when you restart your computer, it boots from that Installer, and recognizes that there now is a valid operating system on the M.2, and "transfers" the boot-process to the M.2, to complete the start-up of Windows.

If you remove the Installer media, does your computer boot from the M.2 ?

If not, enter BIOS SETUP, and configure the list of eligible boot-devices, to be sure to include the M.2.

[hiebertw07]

Yes. Installation media is removed and the NVMe is at the top of boot priority. 

[itsmyname]

Reconnect the Installer media, and boot from it. Choose "Repair My Computer", and see if it will repair the boot-records on the M.2 device.