HP Pavilion x360 11M-AD013DX Replace HDD to SSD supported or not allowed?

[Markx360]

I have this 11.6 inch 2 in 1 laptop, HP Pavilion x360 11M-AD013DX, can I replace the slow hard drive with SSD sata drive?

Is this supported or HP lock the bios on this model so it will only support slow hard drive? 

[Huffer]

No computer I know of has the BIOS locked where it will take a SATA hard drive but not a SATA SSD. 

So yes you can replace the hard drive with a 2.5 inch SATA-3 SSD such as the Samsung Evo 860. Here is the Service Manual:

Manual

Pages 27-37...the Manual was hard to find and this one is for the 11m-ad100 series but it is internally the same as your model. 

See p. 37. The computer will take an M.2 gumstick type drive but only a special type that you would have to order from HP but you can use a 2.5 inch SATA SSD bought at retail and just use the same caddy and connector used for the hard drive. 

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-860-EVO-500GB-SSD/dp/B07937HDJM/ref=sr_1_5?rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=15334242...

Post back with any more questions and please accept as solution if its the info you needed. 

[Markx360]

I tried to install an SSD drive already, 256GB, samsung evo sata III. I did a clean installation on windows 10 x64. Install works fine but turning it off after few minutes, and turning it back on show error "no bootable" drive found.

A quick fix is to go back to bios, no changes at all, just save and exit, then windows 10 will load. 

So I tried reinstallaling windows from scratch, with legacy bios enabled, uefi disabled, TPM is also disabled. ..still the same intermittent no boot issue.

When this problem happen, I check the bios and ssd drive is shown. Now, thinking HP is not compatible with samsing evo 860 ssd drive, I tried gigabyte 256gb ssd drive. Still in legacy mode, install from scratch, windows works..boot is normal, turn off for while, then few  minutes later, check..booting up show "no bootable device" again.

Checking windows, I can confirm its correctly booting in "legacy mode". Correct partition, C drive. I don't think the boot manager is corrupted since I can boot properly as long as I go to the bios, no change, just save.

In the BIOS I tried setting the boot priority to "hard drive"., but still the same error?

Do you think this laptop had hardware issue?  This issue makes me think HP is locking the BIOS to regular HDD only and not SSD, which is very lame for HP. Or this is some kind of hardware/BIOS bug affecting any SSD drive?

[Markx360]

Dang!

I read the service manual for HP Pavilion x360 and the ssd drive supported is not the regular ssd sata drive but "128 GB 2280 M2 SATA-3 TLC SS".

Do you think this laptop will support 256gb M2.Sata3 2280 TLC ssd drive in sata 2.5 enclosure? 

[Huffer]

There would be no point to that. A SATA M.2 and a 2.5 inch SATA SSD perform the same so you would just spend extra money to take an M.2 and put it in a 2.5 inch box to install it in the laptop and wind up with the same speed as if you have just bought a 2.5 inch SSD. Again there is no BIOS lock. From what media are you trying to install an OS onto these SSDs? And why are you doing it in legacy mode?

[Markx360]

I tried on legacy install since my first installation with default uefi enabled in the bios is having the same "no bootable disk" error.  So this is my 5th installation from scratch and now I am back to uefi installation, secureboot disabled. 

Installation went fine, then I customize windows. Turn off the laptop, after few minutes, turn back on and same error no boot error. Went to the bios, make uefi/boot manager as the primary bootup device, save, exit. Then it load windows. 

Again, turn off after few mins to check...turn on, and there the problem occur, no bootable disk. I am thinking,this is HP bios bug somehow. 

Looks like the bios F.03 is not properly detecting the hard disk. The odd part is that, when error is shown, I checked the bios, and it was able to see the uefi/boot manager/ssd drive. 

I will try to update the bios if one is available. Or my option is to upgrade to hybrid HDD drive and not SSD. This ssd upgrade with my HP laptop is a hit and miss.

And right now its a miss!  Very sad! I am getting disappointed with HP quality. This is a very new laptop.

[Huffer]

I'm not sharing in your diagnosis I assure you there is no BIOS lock which would treat an SSD differently than a SATA hard drive or SSHD. Make a new Windows 10 install disk and use a different thumb drive if you can just to rule out a problem with the media. 

[Markx360]

My laptop is actually HP Pavilion x360 convertible 11.6 11M-AD113DX, product number: 3WL08UA#ABA. 

I am suspecting this is bios ssd drive detection issue.

With uefi enabled on bios, the error is "no bootable disk" 3f0. Press power button off, then power on again and it will boot successfully. 

I tried updating to F.42 BIOS but failed, error " Get platform info fail in SMI". So I am out of luck my friend, as I will  have to leave with an intermittently booting NEW HP LAPTOP 😞  HP laptop sucks!