Laptop does not turn on after SSD plugged

[cut7]

Hi!

After my oldish laptop's S.M.A.R.T. check had recently detected an HDD error (302) I've bought a new HDD, works great.

Motherboard observations showed there is an M.2 2280 NVMe SSD slot so I've also bought and plugged in WD Blue SN570 NVMe SSD 500GB.. and the laptop doesn't  turn on. (I do ground myself before touching things.)

After pressing a power button its LED turns on for half a second then off. Unplugging the SSD solves the problem, any combination with or without SSD / HDD fails to power on if the SSD is present. The SSD socket is tight -- had to use more force than I'm comfortable with.

Oddly enough, the SSD slot seems to be upside-down based on installation manuals and videos I've seen:

HPEnvy17-n005ur_SSD-M.2-NVMe

(watch the pins orientation)

I have failed to find spec papers for my laptop neither a soft copy (PDF) in Internet regarding this hardware upgrade.

I have also found several threads with hints to check like [content removed]

• try other capacities or brands
• try upgrading firmware drivers / BIOS

I would also appreciate some recommendations if any. Thank you in advance!

[erico]

YOur notebook is an interesting case.

Most Intel Core i5 and higher notebook will accept both SATA and PCIe NVMe SSD products.

Yours was not tested for compatiblity with any M.2 NVMe SSD products by Crucial Memory, which markets that they guarantee compatiblity with products listed for specific notebooks.

Crucial Memory has been a reliable gauge to quickly see which SSD and memory types are compatible.

Your notebook only has SATA SSD products listed as compatible.

https://eu.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/hp---compaq/envy-17-n005ur

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Just to clarify, I still can get lucky with another M.2 NVMe -- it just so happens to be untested by Crucial Memory, doesn't it?

Is it possible to replace my Optical Disk Drive with another internal HDD (as in this thread)? Do I need specific mounting rails or SATA bays? Could you recommend any?

My main goal is to stick with a middle-capacity (256GB - 512GB) SSD for OS / actively used software / games and a middle-capacity (512GB - 1TB) HDD for cold data storage.

If that's not the case for my laptop, I'm left with a single 2,5'' SATA III which leaves 2 options: an all-in HDD or an all-in SSD -- the latter one is preferable in terms of speed (up to 600MB/s vs HDD's ~150MB/s) but possesses risks of SSDs such as data retention, longevity, P/E cycles, sudden data loss (wiki).

I'm concerned that

• SATA-connected SSDs have speed limitations so it doesn't really matter;
• MLC is better in terms of P/E cycles that TLC or QLC;
• HDD's 5400-7200 RPM is fine.

That been said, my preferences are similar to:

• SSD: Samsung 870 EVO MZ-77E500B/KR 500GB, 2.5", SATA III;
• HDD: WD Blue WD10SPZX 1TB, 2.5", SATA III

Disks also vary in width: 6.8mm, 7mm, 7.5mm and so on. How can one look at his PC hardware and match width it (pun intended)?

Do you have any recommendations? I may miss something important.

[erico · Accepted solution]

"Just to clarify, I still can get lucky with another M.2 NVMe -- it just so happens to be untested by Crucial Memory, doesn't it?"   That is unfortunately, a no. If an NVMe was appropriate, Crucial would have  included at least one. Crucial Memory also produces and sells PCIe NVMe SSD products.

The Maintenance & Service guide for your laptop model series  lists the following optional configuration for yours.

(see chapter 1, page 2)

SSD configurations:, (available for i7 + GTX PCA)

●512 GB M.2 SATA SSD (TLC)

●128 GB M2 SATA-3 (TLC)

●128 GB M2 SATA-3 (TLC) value

The difference in performance between a SATA3  and a PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD are not enough that you will even know it is present unless you freak out over performance tests.

Replacing  the current NVMe  SSD with a SATA3 M.2 SSD would be the best option to fulfill your main goal.

The  Samsung 860 EVO SATA3 M.2 2280 is the specification that your system board has support for.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-500GB-SATA-Internal-MZ-N6E500BW/dp/B078218TWQ?th=1

There are other brands with the same specification  and lower cost that will do the job as well.

2280 is the physical specification of the M.2 SSD type that will fit your system board's m.2 slot.

The 2280 specification dimensions are 22 mm × 30 mm 22 mm × 42 mm 22 mm × 60 mm 22 mm × 80 mm 22 mm × 110 mm

If you replace the optical disk with a hard drive or SSD  by use of a caddy in the slot, the performance  will be disappointing.

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You were right -- the port I thought to be NVMe is actually SATA.

M.2 SATA SSD stick has 2 notches (keys B and M) so I expected to see 2 notches on a connector but there is only 1:

M.2 SATA SSD has 2 notches but both connectors have only a single notch.

..you can see where I slipped the wrong way.

Samsung 860 EVO SATA3 M.2 2280 works great.

Thank you for Maintenance & Service guide for my laptop -- it's valuable.

I've managed to get the second disk (hard drive) working as a cold data storage although it was not natively easy: the HDD was not assigned a logical disk letter nor recognized from within Disk Management utility.

Troubleshooting showed it had been automatically assigned as a Storage Space and I've never heard of this feature before. Deleting the disk from Storage Space finally made it visible from within Disk Management.