BIOS not recognizing SSD

[SBC427]

I have an old HP Pavilion G7 laptop. It works fine but it's quite slow so I decided to try to liven it up with a new SSD. The SSD was also tested in another system and it also works fine. The SSD even works fine in my G7 BIOS where you can test the memory and the hard drive both test fine without any errors. Here is where it gets frustrating despite all this the BIOS still doesn't fully recognize the drive. Under the Boot options the Hard Drive section is blank. This is odd because the other section of the BIOS sees and tests the drive as working fine. Naturally I considered upgrading the BIOS but as far as I know it's already using the most current one. Is there some way to get the BIOS to see the drive so I can load a OS on it and use it?

[BeemerBiker]

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@SBC427 wrote:

I have an old HP Pavilion G7 laptop.  Under the Boot options the Hard Drive section is blank. T

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It is blank as there is no bootable OS.  The name of the boot manager should (normally)  be there.  Either "Windows" or "Ubuntu" or whatever boot manager is installed.

If you cloned your old drive to the new one it should have booted up the old OS,.

Unless I am mistaken, you have a UEFI bios.  You should also be using GPT and not MBR if installing a new OS.

For ubuntu

For windows 11  (yes, it will run on your old system)

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/364461i0B71CD621576B37C/image-size/large/is-...

[SBC427]

Thank you for trying to help me. Apparently I have not adequately explained my issue so I will include a picture showing it. My problem is that the BIOS literally sees no SSD or HD present in my machine whatsoever. I am not sure how this can even happen. Since the portion of the BIOS that tests the memory and even the part that tests the SSD function perfectly. It performs the full entire test with no errors.  It even takes eight minutes to complete the long portion of the SSD test. Yet this is what my Boot screen looks like.

[erico]

Describing the laptop as an "old G7 laptop" and the SSD without type and specifications, you are asking anyone trying to help you to go down a rabbit hole without an end in sight.

Start out on the right foot by  actually identifying the laptop and the SSD with its brand, footprint and part number.

HP has produced and brought to market more than a thousand different models of notebooks and desktop PCs over the years.

It is difficult to help you if we don't know the hardware configuration of the laptop that you own.

Method #1: If the notebook will boot into Windows, you can retrieve your Product Number by pressing Fn + Esc key.

Method #2: Press the power button and immediately tap the F10 key to invoke the BIOS. In the Main section, you will find the Product number or Product ID. Post that in your next reply in your thread.

Method #3: Press the power button and immediately tap the F2 key.

Method #4: If powering on is not an option, take a look at the bottom of the laptop for the label with the product name and product number. For a desktop look at the rear for the label.

If your laptop has HP Hardware Diagnostics UEFI version 10.3.0.0, there is a System Information section that also has the Product ID.
We need that information, along with the installed Operating System information to help you.

[SBC427]

Since the Product ID appears to have 25 digits and my eyes aren't what they once were perhaps I had just better post another picture. So here is one of the BIOS screen, and the SSD as well.

As for the installed OS there isn't any. I didn't clone the drive before I took it out of service as the boot drive in my other system because it was too small I merely formatted it. I haven't been able to load one on now because the BIOS reports there is no HD/SSD in the system. Which is demonstrably false.

[SBC427]

The second picture seems not to have went through.

[erico]

I am really surprised that the laptop battery, dated 12/13/2011, still operates.

The warranty date started in 2012

There are no drivers available. HP did not support your laptop for Windows 10 OS or beyond.

Since the BIOS is an InsydeH2O version, it is indeed a UEFI firmware solution.

[SBC427]

The battery only lasts about thirty minutes unplugged but considering it's age that's nothing to complain about. The Hard Drive with the original Windows 7 that it came with still works fine as well with no bad sectors even. You do have time to go get a sandwich while it boots up though. That's why I was hoping to add this surplus SSD to liven things up. If I can get this accomplished their is an eleven year old boy that was broken hearted when the school he went to took back the laptop he had come to consider his own for the two years of COVID distance learning.

This was especially frustrating considering last year they had seventeen days of remote learning that he missed when school was cancelled because he doesn't have a laptop and his parents can't afford to buy him one. I even briefly considered purchasing another SSD but since this mainstream Intel SSD doesn't work I wouldn't trust that any other SSD would either. So that's my predicament I hope someone can offer a solution.

[erico]

Is it your plan to install Windows 7 or a flavor of Linux to the laptop?

The laptop is compatible with 2.5" (7mm) SATA SSD products.

There are no HP drivers available for the laptop from HP.

Snag the drivers from the System32 folder within Windows on the old hard disk.

Best install of Windows 7 to an SSD is with a Windows 7 install CD, if cloning is not possible.

In BIOS, change the SSD type to AHCI.

I hope the 24 character Windows 7 license key is still visible.

[SBC427]

If I get this to work I will load Windows 7 on it. I think Linux Mint would be a better choice for it's intended purpose but they parents disagree they say if I load Linux they won't be able to help him do anything since they are unfamiliar with it. Yes it still has the code sticker on the bottom of the laptop so there is no problem there. The problem remains that the BIOS doesn't see that there is any HD/SSD in the computer.

You state that "The laptop is compatible with 2.5" (7mm) SATA SSD products." That sounds great accept I have repeatedly told you that it's not. I have even provided a pic where the BIOS shows that no drive is present. That being the case I can't change the SSD type to AHCI because the BIOS reports there is no drive present.

The icing on the cake is that the System Diagnostics tag sees and tests the SSD as being fine even though the Boot section of the drive shows that there is no HD/SSD present. This is why I am hesitant to buy another SSD because according to what you said this drive is compatible. Nonetheless it is not recognized by the Boot portion of the BIOS.

Here is another picture of the System Diagnostics. This one shows that the drive is properly attached and working with no errors even though the Boot section of the BIOS claims that there is no such drive present in the system!