Unable to Get my HP ProBook 650 G1 to Recognize my SSD as Replacement for my HDD

[gbmungan]

I recently purchased a refurbished HP ProBook 650 G1 laptop with an Intel i5 processor, 500 GD hdd and WINDOWS 10 64 bit installed. Setting up the PC with my data and apps went off without a hitch. Realizing that I may not have the most current HP updates for this model, I downloaded and installed the latest bios,  The bios went from  L77 ver 01.34 (dated 8/25/2015) to ver 01.5 (dated 2/26/2020). After updating the bios I checked , and the system performed as expected.  At this point,  I attempted to replace the hdd with a ssd , with no luck.  I ran the migration software, AOMEI Partition Assistant, and  successfully migrated the OS, apps and data files to the ssd.  I then tried to boot up the system in two different ways. 1) I removed the hdd and left the ssd attached via USB 3.0 cable, changed the BIOS to first check for a hard drive attached via USB cable, and attempted the boot.  When it attempts to boot up I see a message that Windows is in a repair mode.  I attempted all of the possible repair tools listed with no success. It still would not boot up. 2) With the hdd removed I put the ssd in its place, changed the bios back to booting from the notebook hard drive, and attempted the boot. With this, I get the message that boot device not found.  Thinking that I might have a bad ssd, I replaced it with another ssd, ran the same processes, and got the same results.  It seems like the process of swapping out a hdd with an ssd  should be a straight forward process, if you follow the procedures.  Yet, it doesn't work for me.  Am I missing something basic, or is this particular HP model unable to recognize an OS on an ssd?  Any help would be appreciated.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The only suggestion I can offer would be to clean install W10 on the SSD.

You can do that by making bootable installation media using the media creation tool from the link below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Boot from the installation media, and after you select the correct version of W10 to install (I assume W10 Pro), you will be asked to enter a product key.   

Select the 'I don't have a product key' option, and W10 will install and automatically activate once you are connected to the internet, since Microsoft has a record of your PC having previously being upgraded to W10.

Then you can install the drivers and available software from your notebook's support page.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-probook-650-g1-notebook-pc/5405400

[gbmungan]

Thank you for the suggestions.  I did forget to mention that one of the fixes that I attempted was to restore windows which did result in any different outcome.  Would a fresh reload of windows be any different?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

It might because maybe there was an issue with the cloning.

I have the HP 350 G1 (which is basically a cheaper, no frills version of the 650 G1), and I installed a Sandisk 240 GB 2.5"  SSD with no problem.

I clean installed W10.

Also, the service manual for your notebook indicates that SATA SSD's are supported, and were offered by HP as optional drives...chapter 1, page 4.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04823617

Another thing you may want to try would be to set the BIOS to its defaults and restart the PC before attempting to do any further troubleshooting on your PC.

[gbmungan]

I did as you suggested and made a bootable installation media using the media creation tool.  I downloaded the files and burned them to a DVD. I also set the bios options to default.  I removed the hdd and replaced it with the ssd, and changed the bios to boot from USB CD-ROM,  When I attempted to boot, the system did not recognize the DVD as a bootable medium. 

With the hdd installed, the system has been operating in Legacy mode.  I kept this same boot mode when attempting this boot. .

In the bios the boot modes for Legacy  are- 

Notebook Hard Drive

USB Hard Drive

USB CD-ROM

USB Floppy

Notebook Ethernet

Notebook upgrade bay

Dock upgrade bay

eSATA Drive.  

I chose USB CD-ROM as the closest device.  I did not see DVD player or anything close.  I even tried loading the media to a flash drive, but I could not locate that as a boot option either.  As I said earlier I thought that I had the latest bios available. Is there a way to revert to an older bios version?   Obviously, I was not able to load a clean version of Windows 10. Did I do something wrong when following your instructions?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

How did you burn the ISO file to a DVD?

Did you use an option to burn the ISO file so that it is bootable?

You can't just copy and paste it to a DVD and burn it that way.

You can use the Microsoft tool that I zipped up and attached below to burn the W10 ISO file to a DVD or USB flash drive so that it is bootable.

Yes, legacy mode is OK.

Turn on or restart the PC.  Tap the ESC key to get the menu of options.

Select the F9 boot options menu and from that select the USB CD and press the Enter key.

If the DVD with the ISO file was made correctly and is bootable, the PC should boot from the USB DVD drive.

[gbmungan]

hi,

I have been busy trying to get this to work.  I finally was able to create a bootable flash drive.  After many attempts to install windows, at one point it got to copying files.  However, after a brief time I got the message -  Windows could not format a partition on disk 0.  The error occurred while preparing the partition selected for installation.  Error Code 0x80070057,  Disk 0 has 476 GB and one partition.   Rebooted several times, and was unable to even get that far.  More often I was told that disk 0 had 0 GB. When I would press Refresh nothing would change.  Totally puzzled why the disk can be found sometime, but not all times,  Should the blank ssd have more than one partition?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Glad you were able to boot from the W10 installation media but sorry you are having so much trouble!

The only suggestion I can offer would be to try cleaning the disk during the initial phase of the W10 installation.

Watch this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=z4Z38pD1Gt0&feature=emb_logo

If that doesn't work either, perhaps you should try a different model SSD.

This is the one I used in my HP 350 G1...

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sandisk-ultra-500gb-internal-sata-solid-state-drive/5969505.p?skuId=596...

[gbmungan]

I did run clean on the sdd.  Unfortunately, I got the same result.  As a test, I took my old laptop, an Acer Aspire, took out the old hdd and replaced it with the sdd I have been working with.  I then booted it up with the flah drive.  I was able to install windows without a problem!  There was, however a major difference that I noticed.  After setup started, after agreeing to the license, I was asked if this was an initial install of windows. I was asked for my key.  At tbe bottom I could  check if I did not have my key, which I did.  A list of windows 10 versions were listed.  I clicked no the version that was most recently used.  After this, the windows installation proceeded without a hitch, on the ssd that I was havig difficulty with.  My question is why during all of my attempts to install windows on my HP, with the same same ssd, wasn't I asked if this was an initial install?  This one step appears to be the difference between a succesful install and all of my previous failures.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Unfortunately I would have no idea.

I have clean installed W10 on at least half a dozen various PC's with SSD's and was never asked anything except to enter the version of Windows, and to check the 'I don't have a product key' option.