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- Re: HP Z220 CMT Disk Read Error after WIndows 11 Upgrade

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08-11-2025 04:07 AM - edited 08-11-2025 04:17 AM
Hi guys, I have recently upgraded my HP Z220 Workstation CMT to Windows 11. It was working fine right up until I restarted it and now I am getting an error. "A Disk read error occurred Press Ctrl+Alt+del to restart" I'm confident the problem isn't the disk as it is a new Samsung SSD that I've only been using for about a month. I think this may be a BIOS/AHCI issue due to the PC being so old.
Is there any thing I can do to fix this? I have checked the BIOS and SATA Emulation is set to RAID+AHCI but I'm not sure if this is an old BIOS version and perhaps that is causing the issue? It's Version 2.13.1216 I believe. (Going from what it says at the bottom of the screen.)
I tried flashing the BIOS from a USB after downloading the latest BIOS update from the HP site but after putting the contents of the DOS Flash folder on a FAT32 USB it is giving me another error when it is plugged into my Z220.
"Attempting Boot From USB Device
An operating system wasn't found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an operating system.
Press any key to restart"
I disconnected my other drives and still no joy. The SSD is still showing in the BIOS so I'm confident that it isn't the SSD at fault. I just need a way to get it to boot again.
I know it's an old computer but I was hoping I could get it working on Windows 11, it was working for a whole day but I got this error the next day after shutting it down the day before.
Any help in solving this would be greatly appreciated.
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08-12-2025 03:34 AM - edited 08-12-2025 03:38 AM
Hi Paul,
Thanks for all of your help, you were right, it wasn't the SSD. Your advice on where to find the BIOS update helped me get the update done.
@Paul_Tikkanen wrote:Regarding the BIOS update:
If you copied the contents of the DOS flash folder to a FAT32-formatted USB flash drive, you don't boot from the flash drive to update the BIOS.
What you need to do is have the flash drive plugged into a USB port.
Turn on or restart the PC.
Immediately tap the ESC key to get the menu of options.
Select the F10 Setup option.
Select the File tab>Flash system ROM command.
Select the USB flash drive.
The PC will 'see' the BIOS update file on the flash drive.
Follow the onscreen instructions to update the BIOS.
When the BIOS version was updated to 2.15.1229 I changed the Storage > SATA Emulation option to just AHCI without the RAID+. (An option that didn't exist before the update.) (https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp97001-97500/sp97118.exe)
After a restart Windows 11 kicked in but then bluescreened with a "Disk not found" error. The automatic repair kicked in and by a stroke of luck it managed to fix the issue itself and after another restart I could finally log in again. (Has to be one of the rare occasions where I've actually witnessed Windows automatic repair manage to fix a boot issue.)
Glad to finally be done with this upgrade. Thanks again for all your help. 😃
08-11-2025 07:11 AM
Hi:
Regarding the BIOS update:
If you copied the contents of the DOS flash folder to a FAT32-formatted USB flash drive, you don't boot from the flash drive to update the BIOS.
What you need to do is have the flash drive plugged into a USB port.
Turn on or restart the PC.
Immediately tap the ESC key to get the menu of options.
Select the F10 Setup option.
Select the File tab>Flash system ROM command.
Select the USB flash drive.
The PC will 'see' the BIOS update file on the flash drive.
Follow the onscreen instructions to update the BIOS.
The RAID+AHCI setting is the default setting, so I do not believe that is the problem with why the PC won't boot from the SSD.
08-11-2025 08:26 AM
Do you think I just got real unlucky with the SSD then? Do you know any good software I could use to test it? SSDs rarely fail on me so I don't really know any I can test it with. It's just strange, all the files are on it and everything when I connect it externally. Normally if I have a SSD that has failed it's dead dead.
Just wanted to try to keep my software which is why I went with the upgrade option but now I'm probably going to have to do a fresh install anyway. Was the last thing I wanted to see first thing back at work on a Monday morning. Way to add more to my workload.
08-11-2025 09:48 AM
I don't believe that there is anything wrong with the SSD.
Have you tried booting up the PC in safe mode?
See if it will boot that way.
Since the PC won't boot up, see the info at the link below, method 1.
How to boot Windows 11 in Safe Mode (8 ways) - Digital Citizen
08-12-2025 03:34 AM - edited 08-12-2025 03:38 AM
Hi Paul,
Thanks for all of your help, you were right, it wasn't the SSD. Your advice on where to find the BIOS update helped me get the update done.
@Paul_Tikkanen wrote:Regarding the BIOS update:
If you copied the contents of the DOS flash folder to a FAT32-formatted USB flash drive, you don't boot from the flash drive to update the BIOS.
What you need to do is have the flash drive plugged into a USB port.
Turn on or restart the PC.
Immediately tap the ESC key to get the menu of options.
Select the F10 Setup option.
Select the File tab>Flash system ROM command.
Select the USB flash drive.
The PC will 'see' the BIOS update file on the flash drive.
Follow the onscreen instructions to update the BIOS.
When the BIOS version was updated to 2.15.1229 I changed the Storage > SATA Emulation option to just AHCI without the RAID+. (An option that didn't exist before the update.) (https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp97001-97500/sp97118.exe)
After a restart Windows 11 kicked in but then bluescreened with a "Disk not found" error. The automatic repair kicked in and by a stroke of luck it managed to fix the issue itself and after another restart I could finally log in again. (Has to be one of the rare occasions where I've actually witnessed Windows automatic repair manage to fix a boot issue.)
Glad to finally be done with this upgrade. Thanks again for all your help. 😃