HP Omen 17 Laptop with upgrading M.2 NVme memory to Optane for Primary bootable drive.

[Bri46]

After a day of changing back and forth NVme SSD chips, and being in contact with HP support people, I have finally determined the outcome of installing a hybrid Intel Optane H10 memory module, as the primary bootable drive in the model I have. It won't work. And here is why. Currently, the only way to enable Optane memory, is through Windows 10. Well, if you are booting from this drive, you can't do that yet. intel's website support says, that the Optane memory chip will act as a regular SSD, when Optane is not enabled. But, this is not completely so. First off, here is the memory module in question. Notice, it is actually an official HP Part. 

Now, here is what happens. When you wipe this thing, and I mean completely wipe it (via diskpart in windows administrator shell) and try to do a clean install from a bootable HP cloud recovery USB disk, the process begins fine, but within the 25 to 50 percent marker of the installation process, it only will boot to the Omen logo, and then, after 40 seconds or so, it will reboot. Then, it will repeat the process again. It boots to the Omen Logo, 30 to 40 seconds passes, and then it reboots. I have tried everything to remedy this, with no success. I wiped the thing multiple times, and I even tried to do a clone using Macrium Reflect cloning software. With that, the boot process started fine, but then went into the blue screen of recovery mode, and I selected auto-repair. It could not repair the windows structure, and so I abandoned that option as well. And don't even get me started on the "Windows Repair Disk" option. Not only is their making the actual disk soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ridiculous, 2 hour + to make a 16 GB USB boot disk ????  Are you f**c*ing kidding me?? But when I actually booted the disk, and tried to either recover windows completely in a fresh install, or from a Windows image, neither worked. And I actually had some weird USB hardware failures from using that method as well. In any case, I basically gave up on trying to get the Optane memory to work as a stand alone boot drive. Remember, I am not talking about just Optane memory, but the actual hybrid SSD and Optane version module. That should work fine, provided the motherboard bios support configured the hybrid Optane module as an SSD first, and ignore the 32 GB Optane until requested in the Windows 10 enviroment. What I think is happening is, that the motherboard bios incorrectly configures the Optane Hybrid module, and actually at some point the 32 GB portion of the module becomes visible to the HP recovery process, in "mid-stream" and confuses the HP recovery program because at that point the drive assignments get re-arranged on the fly, and there-by causes the HP-recovery installation process to be aborted pre-maturely in a perpetual reboot cycle. Ok, there ya have it HP support. HP engineers and intel should be made aware of this issue. In the meantime, I just ordered a Crucial Standard NVme memory module which they say is compatible with this Laptop model. We'll see. Thanks all, and I will welcome and read the responses to this posting.

[Bri46]

     OK, I did some additional testing and this is what I have found out. The Intel H10 Optane memory issue is not a HP Recovery software issue. It is a motherboard bios manufacturer issue. Apparently, this Intel Optane H10 memory is not truly NVMe. The physical interface is the same, but what makes it tick, and how it communicates with the motherboard, Well..................... Let's just say, that this Optane memory is a completely different animal, FOR SURE. 

     As it turns out, originally, Intel Optane memory (hybrid Optane + NAND SSD Memory) was only sold to computer manufacturers, to be installed on an OEM production basis. But, as things progressed, now these Optane modules are finding their way out to the user, on a user level. Essentially, if you do not have a motherboard bios that does not recognize the Optane memory module as an actual "Optane capable device", then it won't work. The only way around that is if you have an additional (more than 1 NVMe M.2 slot) slot to put the Optane memory into, that is NOT your bootable drive. Once you go into Windows 10, you can then install the Intel drivers and enable the Optane memory (And this is a very extensive process too, I might add), in a Windows environment.

     However, if you are not able to do that, and you are required in using the Optane memory from the get go, the only way it will work, is if you have a motherboard bios that properly configures, and properly manages the Optane memory from a board level, via actual hardware configuration controlled. Otherwise, whatever you try to install on this Optane, the software you will use will eventually see the Optane memory side of the chip, and will be completely lost, as to what to do with it, and since the motherboard bios will not be reporting to the software the correct parameters as needed, the result will be, that whatever software method you may be using, the end result will be a pre-mature abort of the installation process, with a resulting specific memory fault code of some sort. (This is a result of the Optane memory being detected on the fly, in mid-stream, so to say)

      So there ya have it. I got to shoot an email to Intel later, and ask them why they have not had their engineers get with the motherboard bios manufacturer engineers, and develop the proper coding needed to fully support the Optane memory so that this thing does not become a complete pain in the *ss, and people get turned off with it, and as a result, people just end up using a standard NVMe bus drive. The Intel Optane memory can be a seriously good thing, 'IF' the Optane memory is fully functional. But, as it turns out, it is not. And this is due to, motherboard bios configuration shortfalls, as a result of, the lack of engineering development support.

     If the engineers cannot do a bios software work-around, and it requires a hardware fix, then that is fine. then all they need to do is say that your motherboard will not support the Optane memory. But, on my system, the Intel Rapid Storage program 'did' tell me that my system was Optane memory capable, which is not entirely true. In fact, because I only have 1 NVMe M.2 slot, and my motherboard bios does not recognize the Optane, as an Optane manageable device, then that means by defacto, the Intel Optane memory cannot be installed and configured to run as a bootable drive. Unless, there happens to be something that I am missing here. If there is something I am missing here, please let me know whatever information you have, in this HP community forum, or by email.

     And that is what my conclusion of all this is, after doing long and extensive testing, and tribulations on the Intel H10 Optane memory (Hybrid) modules. Thanks.