Clone to SSD - stuck on BIOS logo?

Darkstrike · 26 Feb 2019

Porthos said:

Time for a clean install and transfer the data from the old drive. you should try that anyway to make sure your new drive is not having issues.

This machine is partially used for their small business, and so has a lot of their software install on it. I'd rather not have to wipe and reinstall everything unless absolutely necessary as it would be a large hassle for them to reinstall and set back up all their software. I've done around 20 clones on Linux installs before (and several Win7 clones and Win10 clone as well with the BIOS set to legacy rather than UEFI) and everything always worked perfectly....are there really no other options?

Porthos · 26 Feb 2019

I do this many times a month for a living. By doing a quick clean install you can at least narrow down the issue and rule out the drive. I also suggest that you put the old drive back inand do a BIOS update if you have not done that already.

I've done around 20 clones on Linux installs before (and several Win7 clones and Win10 clone

I NEVER clone unless I am doing data recovery. Time to invest in a bigger external drive.

sn00ker · 26 Feb 2019

Darkstrike said:

Hi Snooker - not really sure what you mean? I can find that setting in the BIOS, it's currently set to AHCI (which it should be, right?) There is no RAID option and this is not a RAID hard drive install, so it shouldn't be that.

I just tried changing it to ATA and it still fails to boot, same issue - Dell logo screen, Windows never starts loading.

I switched it back to AHCI, which it was on before and it does the same - Dell logo screen, Windows never starts loading.

The Windows install is fine as it was closed from a functioning, booting install of Windows on the other hard drive. I am thinking this has to do with the MBR, or GPT or something like that...? Do I need to convert the MBR to GPT when cloning to an SSD rather than another HDD maybe?

Yeah, you have the correct setting under the bios. I was just curious by chance it got changed but it doesn't seem the bios is the issue. it would help to see a screenshot of both drives

NavyLCDR · 26 Feb 2019

I agree with @Porthos. It's time to try a clean install.

Darkstrike · 26 Feb 2019

Well, I didn't solve the problem. but I talked to the owner of the PC and they are fine with wiping it and putting their software back on, so we are going to do that.

Thanks for all that tried to help though! I really appreciate the suggestions! :)

Porthos · 26 Feb 2019

sn00ker said:

it doesn't seem the bios is the issue.

Unless the bios version has an issue with that SSD. The clean install will determine that. If a clean install works then it is the cloning process.

sn00ker · 28 Feb 2019

Porthos said:

Unless the bios version has an issue with that SSD. The clean install will determine that. If a clean install works then it is the cloning process. [/FONT]

I'm guessing a faulty drive, a clean install will tell . Or a setting in the bios and maybe an error/ corrupted partition, time will tell

thomaseg1 · 06 Mar 2019

have you tried setting fast boot to off as well as secure boot to off?

thomaseg1 · 06 Mar 2019

did you shut down all anti virus/adware programs, open taskmanager and kill nonessential programs like google update and adobe update.
you might try safe mode or clean boot.

Ztruker · 06 Mar 2019

He is not even getting into Windows 10 boot. Anti-virus, safe mode, clean boot ... none of this applies until the system can at least begin to boot Windows.

Try a different cloning program. Create Kyhi's Rescue flash drive and use Minitool Partition Wizard to Copy (Clone) the HDD to the SSD again. You will need to remove all partitions from the SSD using diskpart first as Minitool require unallocated space for the copy.

If it won't clone the whole HDD then you can do as I did.
What I did a few nights ago was do a clean install of Windows 7 on a new SSD then used Minitool to copy the C: partition from a restored backup image into the space where the new install was. I deleted the partition first. Worked perfectly. Same process will work with Win 10.