HP 15-dq0001na cannot detect SSD

[VladoBENZ]

Hello, friends, I am in a dead end. I want to change my HDD to SSD on my laptop HP x360 15-dq0001na. But it does not detect it. I have tried every Intel Rapid Storage driver I could find, and following the process during Windows installation from USB, but nothing worked. Could you please tell me or advice me, what can I try to make SSD work?

[tk_srq]

@VladoBENZ,

HP specs for you model says your notebook came with a 256 GB M. 2 NVMe SSD. Are you trying to install Windows on a new M.2 drive?

HP Pavilion x360 - 15-dq0001na Product Specifications | HP® Support

Is the Windows installer telling you a driver is missing that results in the M.2 drive not being displayed?

[VladoBENZ]

I know it says I have a SSD, but actually the laptop came with HDD 500 GB....bought from UK, which surprised me.

So basically I added one new ssd to the nvme empty slot, and I even removed the HDD, but when windows installer comes to the page to choose hard disk to install to, it doesn't show any storage available

[tk_srq]

Your service manual indicates HP offers a hard drive + Optane memory configuration in the model series.

Perhaps, your BIOS is in the RAID/RST mode even though your model doesn't have Optane, and because of this, the Windows installer needs to have Intel RST drivers to detect the M.2 drive to install Windows on.

Maintenance and Service Guide HP Pavilion x360 15 Convertible PC

If you haven't extracted and copied driver files to a Windows installation usb drive, you can take the steps below:

1. Download the IRST driver file from this link.

HP Pavilion x360 - 15-dq0001na Software and Driver Details

2. Use a Windows installation usb drive created with Microsoft Media Creation Tool (an ISO file-based installation usb drive tends to cause errors during the IRST driver installation).

3.Right click the downloaded driver file (sp111381) and run it as administrator and follow on-screen instructions to perform the driver extraction process.

4. Go to C:\SWSetup\sp111381. Double click the folder and copy both the dchu_1F6 and F6 folders to the root directory of a Windows installation usb drive. 

5. Connect the usb drive to the notebook and boot the system from the usb drive. When you are asked where to install Windows, click on Load Driver. Click on Browse and click the usb drive in the window that opens. Click the F6 folder then OK.

6.  Check the box to display only compatible drivers. If multiple driver files are displayed, select one and click Next. If no drivers are displayed, click on Load driver -> Browse -> usb drive -> dchu_1F6 -> Next to see if this works.

7. If the storage drive is displayed with "Unallocated Space," click Next to proceed the installation.

[VladoBENZ]

I have tried that. The only compatible driver it shows is under dchu_1F6 folder, but it is Intel 300 SATA ANCI controller, and after I install it, it doesn't find the ssd. I've tried the same steps with many versions of the intel driver, but nothing happens. That's why I'm just in a dead end

[tk_srq]

The release date of that IRST driver is Dec 2020, and it is designed to support W10 Ver 2020. Perhaps, the driver doesn't support the latest version of W10 22H2, which is on your installation usb drive.

What you can do is to try the IRST driver from this Intel Link. This driver supports W10 and W11, and it most likely supports W10 22H2.

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Driver Installation Software with Intel® Optane™ Memory (8th and 9th...

You need to extract drivers via power shell or command prompt (7-Zip doesn't work). I can show you how to extract with command prompt in an easier way. 

1. Download the aforementioned SetupRST.exe and copy it to the root of the C: drive.

2. Open the command prompt as administrator and run the following two command lines. Click the Enter key after each line.

         cd C:\ 

        SetupRST.exe -extractdrivers SetupRST_extracted

Please note there's space between SetupRST.exe and -extractdrivers SetupRST_extracted.

3. Navigate to C:\SetupRST_extracted\Production\Windows10-x64 and double click the Windows10-x64 folder. You'll see five folders. Copy all the files from each of the five folders to the root of a usb drive. There should be 27 files altogether on the usb drive (don't just copy the five folders to the usb drive).

4.Connect the usb drive and a Windows installation usb drive to the notebook and boot the system from the installation usb drive.

5. When asked where to install Windows, click Load Driver -> Browse -> the usb drive with IRST drivers -> Ok. Check the box to display compatible drivers only.

6. If you see multiple .inf driver files, select one and click Next. Repeat this until the drive is displayed. 

[VladoBENZ]

Still nothing...it finds 3 compatible drivers, but after installing them, still nothing

[tk_srq]

Well, that's disappointing.

If your HDD is still bootable and in working condition, my only other suggestion is to put the HDD back in and clone the HDD to the M.2 SSD.

If your SSD doesn't come with a cloning software, you can use DiskGenius, which is a free, full-fledged software.

DiskGenius Free Edition - Free Partition Manager for Windows

[VladoBENZ]

But how to clone the hdd to ssd, when windows doesn't show me the ssd? It's not just the installation USB that doesn't detect the ssd, it is the bios and os too

[tk_srq]

Have both the M.2 drive and HDD installed and boot the notebook and immediately tap the F2 key fast for the hard drive diagnostic test. If the test detects the SSD, run the SMART and DST tests. if the drive passes the tests, reboot from the HDD and run Disk Management and see if the SSD is recognized as a disk with raw data. If you see the SSD there, a cloning software should detect the SSD.