HP 15-dy2054la Does not recognize SSD and does strange things with Bitlocker

[MynosIII]

Hello, i am having a problem with an HP 15-dy2054la that suddenly froze, now Windows/installer can't properly detect SSD even though HP diagnostics can

Laptop specs:
HP 15-dy2054la
BIOS/Firmware: HPS3
Windows 11
Intel platform (11th gen/Iris Xe era)
NVMe SSD (~238 GB)
BitLocker enabled

Problem started after the laptop completely froze during normal usage. I had to force shutdown it by holding the power button.

After rebooting:

• It showed filesystem reconstruction/cache metadata messages like:
  • “The operating system did not shutdown cleanly”
  • “Reconstructing Cache Metadata”
  • “Processing Delta Log record”
  • “Sorting Segment/Index pairs”
• Then it got stuck on the HP logo for over an hour.

What I tested so far:

HP Hardware Diagnostics (F2):

• Memory test PASSED
• Storage SMART PASSED
• SSD wear check PASSED
• Short DST PASSED
• HP diagnostics DOES detect the NVMe SSD correctly

However:

• Windows Recovery freezes on “Please wait” / “Preparing Automatic Repair”
• Startup Repair says it cannot repair the PC
• Windows never boots

I then created a Windows 11 installation USB using Microsoft Media Creation Tool.

The USB boots correctly, but:

• Windows installer does NOT detect the internal SSD
• diskpart only shows the Kingston USB installer
• wmic diskdrive also only shows the USB drive

Important details:

• BIOS/HP diagnostics still detect the NVMe SSD
• “OS Boot Manager” exists
• BitLocker recovery screen appears intermittently (see below)

BitLocker behavior:

• Recovery Key ID matches the correct key in my Microsoft account and i can see the device in the account. it also matches the Key Id so its not there.
• In every other boot it asks me to do enter the key and once entered it keeps looping in the HP logo forever
• BUT when attempting to reinstall Windows from the USB installer, it says the recovery key is invalid
• -This may have something to do with a Bios option i disable of safe boot or something like that now that i remember

I also downloaded the HP Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver package (sp146929) because I suspect Intel RST/VMD driver issues, but I haven't fully tested loading the F6 driver yet because when i want to try to reinstall windows it errors the key

At this point I’m trying to determine whether this is:

• Intel RST/VMD driver corruption
• BitLocker/boot corruption
• NVMe firmware/controller instability
• or a partially failing SSD that still passes SMART tests

The inconsistent SSD visibility and BitLocker behavior are what confuse me the most because i know for a fact the key is correct and it lets me enter it just fine. I have access to the account If I need to reset it (idk if its possible) or something

Does any one have any idea on what might it be

[VikramTheGreat]

Hi @MynosIII,

Welcome to the HP Support Community.
 

Thank you for posting your query. I will be glad to help you.

Thank you for explaining everything so clearly. You’ve actually done very solid troubleshooting already, and based on everything you described, this does not immediately look like a dead SSD.

Please try these steps carefully

Step 1: Re-enable Secure Boot

Since you mentioned Secure Boot may have been disabled:

1. Power ON → tap F10 for BIOS 
2. Go to: 
   • Boot Options or Security
3. Re-enable: 
   • Secure Boot 
4. Save and Exit 

BitLocker can reject recovery validation if the Secure Boot state changes.

Step 2: Disable Intel VMD / RST temporarily

This is the most important test.

In BIOS, look for:

• VMD Controller 
• Intel RST 
• Storage Controller Mode 

If available:
➡️ Disable VMD / Intel RST temporarily

Save and reboot into the Windows installer again.

If the SSD suddenly appears in Setup:
✅ Then the drive itself is fine
✅ It confirms this is driver/controller related

Step 3: If VMD cannot be disabled

Then load the Intel RST F6 driver manually:

At Windows Setup:

1. Choose Install Windows 
2. On “Where do you want to install Windows?” 
3. Click Load Driver 
4. Browse to extracted sp146929 
5. Load the Intel RST/VMD driver 

The SSD should appear afterwards.

I hope this helps.

Take care and have an amazing day!

[MynosIII]

Hello, i have just tried doing that and few other things
 First of all, tI searched for the Intel VMD Technology toggle to see if I could switch to AHCI/Standard NVMe mode. But This BIOS is extremely limited. I tried the Ctrl + S shortcut on the Main tab and other key combos, but the VMD settings are locked out or hidden. BIOS is 87FE and couldn't find if there was a way to put it an adanced mode
 Then, I re-enabeld the safe boot option and it doesn't pop the bitlocker (great) but it still says that it cannot verify the product key (It was bought with windows from HP so I guess it should have an OEM license enbebed somewhere, right?). when runningmanage-bde -status returns 'No volumes found.' However, true is that the by opening the Shift+F10 console, i could debug some more things. 
 First of all, it was taking the Memory Stick as Disk C: not E or F. 
 I tried loading the Intel RST/VMD driver (sp146929). I used 

drvload C:\f6\iaStorVD.inf

in the command prompt and it didn't outcome a fail message but a Watchdog error popped and turned off the computer
 So the only thing that really detect the disk as being there is the HP F2 options. I will try booting on Linux from an ISO pendrive to see if I can get pass the driver or something but I am afraid something is wrong with kernel to drive
 Thanks for all the probable causes, they were of great help to understand that there may be something wrong at a kernel level

[tk_srq]

@MynosIII,

According to HP specs for your model, it came with a 256 GB M.2 NVMe SSD with 16 GB embedded Optane.

Optane memory, if it malfunctions, can trigger various types of errors.

A problem you are facing may not be with Intel RST VMD Technology or its drivers, but rather with Intel Optane memory.

See this thread where the person experienced errors you just listed in your fist post.

Solved: Abnormal status reported by Rapid Storage Technology UEFI dr... - HP Support Community - 937...

The author's last reply says, " disabling the Optane Volume in the Bios setup menu did allow the laptop to boot and now seems to work! "

Here's another post with an Optane problem.

Solved: MS Media Creation Tool to create a Windows 11 install usb dr... - HP Support Community - 964...

This is a lengthy thread, but basically, the person tried to reinstall W11 with a Windows installation usb drive with IRST VMD storage divers and Optane drivers but failed. A hard drive diagnostic test revealed the Optane had a 39% of wear level. He disabled Optane in the BIOS and was able to run W11 again and didn't lose any data. His last reply explains how he disabled Optane.

If you don't want to disable Optane yet, you can try to reinstall windows with an installation usb drive,  but you need to supply Intel RST VMD storage drivers and Optane drivers to the Windows installer. If your Optane is physically intact, a Windows reinstallation may work, but if it is defective, you may need to disable Optane.

Read my third and fourth replies for how to add Optane drivers if you use an IRST file sp146929.

[MynosIII]

Hello @tk_srq,
 Thanks for that idea of fixing. I've read that too. The problem is that I couldn't find the way to enter BIOS advanced options. I tried CTRL+A, CTRL+F10, CTRL+F10 three times, FN+A, FN+F10, FN+F9 and some of them also rebooting the PC. None of those really recovered the PC. 

 The SSD is not physically dead. ddrescue copied the full internal NVMe SSD into an image with 100% rescued, 0 read errors, 0 bad sectors. That strongly suggests the NAND and controller are readable enough, and the main problem is not catastrophic hardware failure.

Linux detected the internal Intel storage in a strange way: one namespace around 238.5 GiB and another around 13.4 GiB, both with related Intel model/serial information. It also exposed md126/md127, and the raw sector dump showed Intel RAID ISM metadata, including a Cache_Volume. This strongly suggests the laptop was using Intel RST/VMD/RAID-style metadata or cache configuration, which made the disk layout confusing to Linux.

The GPT/partition table was corrupted, but not lost. gdisk initially showed a damaged GPT with a valid backup header, bad CRCs, and fake garbage partitions like entries 125 and 127, including impossible sizes. But the real partitions were still visible and sane:

1  EFI system partition       260 MiB
2  Microsoft reserved         16 MiB
3  Basic data partition       90.5 GiB
4  Basic data partition       760 MiB

We created a full image backup on the 4 TB HDD, then made a working copy. On the working image, we deleted the corrupted phantom GPT entries and wrote a repaired GPT. After detaching and reattaching the image, Linux successfully detected the partitions as loopXXp1, loopXXp2, loopXXp3, and loopXXp4. That means the GPT repair on the image worked.

The main Windows partition, loopXXp3, is BitLocker-encrypted. Linux recognized it as BitLocker, and dislocker accepted your recovery key and created a decrypted dislocker-file. That means the BitLocker layer is intact enough and the recovery key works.

The remaining problem is below BitLocker: when trying to mount the decrypted dislocker-file, Linux reported filesystem/superblock errors. fdisk on the decrypted file showed nonsense MBR-style partition entries with impossible sizes, suggesting the decrypted NTFS filesystem or its boot sector/metadata may be damaged or misinterpreted. So im trying now with that. 
 RAM seems to have been problem if u ask me that create a problem with something on the tables of the SSD. But again, I cant enter the advanced mode of the BIOS and that has prevented me to do some things there that I wanted to do such as disabling optane. And I cant drvload the driver because it crashes wachtdog. Additionaly, If i try to clean install windows, it pops a message that key cannot verified. 
 Thing that shouldn't even be possible, to my understanding the windows key is embebed in the components and I do have the bitlocker key. The UI to introduce the bitlocker didn't showed up again since I re-enabled secure boot 
 Please, if you know how to enter the advanced mode, it would be game changer because I feel as entering the Kojima Code (without results) 😞