# All boot options are tried - Samsung Laptop



## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

Hello, it's my first thread here and I'm a bit of a noob, so please, excuse me if anything.

So, it's been a long day...

I bought a Samsung Book X50 about a month ago, and since I had a ton of files and softwares related to my work in my old HD from the older laptop, I've decided to switch the new HD for the old one. This way, I was using the old HD on the new laptop.

It was all working pretty well, until this morning, when I turned it on and got the message "All boot options are tried. Press <f4> key to recover with factory image". As I pressed F4, it would only restart and go to the same black screen.

I went to the BIOS, disabled Security Boot Control, nothing. I've noticed my HD is not showing on the BIOS, it gives me a "SATA Port 1: Not Installed". As a means to check if my HD had burned, I switched for the new one, which didn't get recognized either. They're both only recognized if I plug them as external drives, via USB.

I've tried using a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10 to repair it, but it either takes too long, or when it finally does get there, it doesn't recognize any partition with my HD in it so it can repair.

I have a few questions: first, is there any way I can boot my HD (which I'm using as internal) as external, without losing anything or having to reconfigure it all?

Second, if it's hardware related, I suppose it may be the SATA cable. In which case, should I just take it to the official assistance?

Third, in the new Samsung BIOS Configuration, you have no option of switching between UEFI and CSM, how can I do it?

Fourth, if anyone has any clues how to solve this puzzle at all, I'd be really glad. I really need to deliver some work by next week.

Thank you all!


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

Hello!

Do you know the full model number of this computer? When I look up just the X50, i see reviews from 2005. 

Since you have tried 2 known working hard drives, it does appear that the hard drive port is not working correctly. If this is indeed a new computer with warranty, you should contact Samsung to get a repair scheduled to replace the motherboard.

As a rule of thumb, I would suggest leaving the drive as an External USB and leave in the original drive.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

As to number 1, it may be possible if you put it as an external drive and use the USB Boot option, but I don't know how fast it will run, if at all.

For number 3, if you do not have that option, then it's probably not new enough to have UEFI. As I mentioned I couldn't find any model numbers that was newer than 2005...


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

Couriant said:


> Hello!
> 
> Do you know the full model number of this computer? When I look up just the X50, i see reviews from 2005.
> 
> ...


Oh, sorry, forgot to write down the full model. It's a NP550XCJ-XS1BR. It's a relatively new model.

Would you say, then, that it's possibly motherboard related? That's a little scarier for me, cause I really don't know whether it's still on warranty. They advertise at the product's website the "easy upgrade" function, which allows us to modify HD and RAM at home, without losing warranty, but the warranty documents make it sound like that's not really the case.

Is there any possibility it's really just the SATA cable?


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

As it's only a month old I would try to get it repaired/replaced under warranty.
If you decide to do that make sure the original hard drive is installed !

I doubt it's the Sata cable, most laptops don't have a cable just a socket the hard drive connects to.


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

managed said:


> As it's only a month old I would try to get it repaired/replaced under warranty.
> If you decide to do that make sure the original hard drive is installed !
> 
> I doubt it's the Sata cable, most laptops don't have a cable just a socket the hard drive connects to.


I guess it's my best option anyway, I'll be taking it there by tomorrow, I will try and switch the HDs back again.

This one's socket is a little weird, it's not "fixed" in the laptop, it's a little lose, as you take out the HD cover it flips together with the HD, there's a very small cable, which looks like a small tape, that glues it to the laptop. That's why my best bet is that it's related to this, not necessarily the motherboard, it looks really fragile.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

If you don't put the original drive back in they will know you opened it up which could void the warranty.

I suppose that cable could have been damaged, hopefully they will repair or replace the laptop any way.


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

managed said:


> If you don't put the original drive back in they will know you opened it up which could void the warranty.
> 
> I suppose that cable could have been damaged, hopefully they will repair or replace the laptop any way.


I can really only hope. Fingers crossed. Thank you for your input, mate!


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

You're welcome. Good luck with it. Please let us know how it goes.


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

managed said:


> You're welcome. Good luck with it. Please let us know how it goes.


I will, for sure!


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

I have never seen a computer with cable loose like a desktop would have. Hard drives for laptops tend to have a solid connection that the drive slides into ... but hope you are able to get it fixed.


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

Couriant said:


> I have never seen a computer with cable loose like a desktop would have. Hard drives for laptops tend to have a solid connection that the drive slides into ... but hope you are able to get it fixed.


For the sake of curiosity: 



 here, it's not my laptop, but it's the same line of samsung laptops, that's how it works. The guy in the video removed the tape, though, I didn't do that, as I guess this would cause damage.

But, thanks! I hope aswell!


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

Kkfranca said:


> For the sake of curiosity:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


OK, thank you for the clarification!


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

That's an unusual way to connect the hard drive in a laptop.

You did the right thing leaving that tape connected to the drive caddie, if you had removed it that would show you had been 'inside' the laptop and could void the warranty.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

Did you get your computer looked at?


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

Couriant said:


> Did you get your computer looked at?


Hey, sorry for not updating before, as far as now I could only schedule the visit to the IT for tomorrow.

As soon as I get back I'll give you guys some updates on the situation, thank you for asking!


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

Quick update: since I'm going to take my laptop to the assistance tomorrow, I've had an idea, and it brought me some interesting results.

First of all, to clarify:

- The HD that came with the laptop was inicially cloned into a copy of my old HD, but that didn't work. So, what I had to do was actually just swtich them.

- These two HD's are the ones I've tried for booting after the problem appeared, and when I try them, I get SATA Port 1: Not Installed. So, at first, I figured it might be a hardware problem.

But right now, I had the idea of testing yet another third HD, a clean HD, that came with my stepfather's laptop ages ago, but which still works. I put it on my laptop and voila! SATA Port 1 *is* recognized, but still unbootable. At BIOS, under SysInfo, it gives me SATA Port 1: WDC etc (name of my step father's HD), but when I enter Boot Device Priority, it shows no options at all to boot.

Still, this may be an advance, cause it means the hardware does have the capacity to recognize the HD's I put in it, so, what now?

I've realized, too, by plugging my main HD in my stepfather's laptop as external, that it's completely corrupt, I'm not sure for what reason, but I'm working on recovering the files. As for the clone HD, which came with my new laptop, it works fine, still has got my files in it, but the windows booting partitions and settings may have been copied in a poor way. Still, I can get most of my files.

Alright, so here's the thing: coming from this place now, where I know it will recognize some HD's, the question is: why won't it recognize mine? And for the ones it can recognize, why aren't they allowed as boot options?

Any clue at all?

Edit:

- Secure Boot is disabled
- As far as I'm aware, there's no way of switching to Legacy Mode on this version of BIOS
- Would a BIOS downgrade give me the opportunity to enable Legacy Mode and try and see if it works? If so, how can I do it?
- I tried my HDs in my stepfather's laptop and they both get recognized, I'm not really sure what this means. But there must definitely be some configuration in my BIOS that can suit these HDs.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

It may not boot to your 3rd drive because the settings is different to what you have (ie UEFI/Legacy, ACHI/Raid) but no doubt once you recover the files from that drive, you can format it and reuse it.

Typically on the Dells I work on, the legacy mode is enabled when Secure Boot is disabled but you have mentioned that it is... so I really don't know much about the system. I would suggest contacting the manufacturer of the machine to see what they say since I can't determine the actual release date of that machine.


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

Couriant said:


> It may not boot to your 3rd drive because the settings is different to what you have (ie UEFI/Legacy, ACHI/Raid) but no doubt once you recover the files from that drive, you can format it and reuse it.
> 
> Typically on the Dells I work on, the legacy mode is enabled when Secure Boot is disabled but you have mentioned that it is... so I really don't know much about the system. I would suggest contacting the manufacturer of the machine to see what they say since I can't determine the actual release date of that machine.


I guess that's what I'll end up doing, mate. I'm currently trying to do exactly that. I'll post a new update.


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

Another update:

First, turns out Samsung Brazil sucks really badly. There's a total of 15 authorized assistances all over the state of São Paulo, where I live, and none of them give laptop support, just celphone support or other products support. The website doesn't differentiate, so I had to go through a couple of different stores to finally be informed that there are only a some stores that would actually give laptop and pc support. I got the phone numbers of all authorized stores, and just then I was able to find out the nearest one to me is a total of 59 km away from me. Which means, basically, I can't get autuorized assistance. (I live quite near the center of São Paulo, the biggest brazillian financial center). Specially during the pandemic, since I don't even own a driver's license or a car, I can't possibly take this much public transport just to get there.

Anyway, here's how I'm gonna do it: since my stepfather's HD is recognized, I'm gonna try and use it definitely as my own. I've tried, and his laptop recognized my HD, so, we're just, really, gonna switch.

It's a useful solution, but not really the best solution, I wish I was able to use the new HD in my, well, new, laptop.

Anyway, if you guys can help me in some maybe more basic infos, as I'm installing Windows in my stepfather's laptop, it's in one of the HDs that wouldn't get recognized in my own laptop, and I get:

- Drive 0 Partition 1 - Total Size 15.0MB - Free Space 15.0MB - Type MSR (Reserved)

- Drive 0 Partition 2 - Total Size 931.5GB - Free Space 931.5GB - Type Primary

As I try to install it on Drive 0 Partition 2, I get "We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. For more information, see the Setup log files.". I've tried formating the partition, but it won't do anything at all. Any recommendations?


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## DRPC (Feb 9, 2020)

I think you need to convert that HD from MBR to GPT before you install Windows on it. If there is no legacy option, that means your laptop must use UEFI, and UEFI requires a GPT partition scheme. What you show with that "Drive 0 - Partition 1 -...-Type MSR (Reserved)..." indicates an MBR partition scheme. There would be an EFI partition if it was using GPT.

Converting to GPT (with diskpart) will remove all data from the drive, so ensure you copy anything you need from the drive off of it before doing the following.

Boot to the Windows Installer, set Language + Keyboard layout, then open Command Prompt with shift+F10, and run these commands:

*diskpart

list disk*

- this shows a list of disks in the system. Determine the number of the one you want to install Windows on.
Also check the GPT column in the list. An asterisk in the column means that disk uses GPT, the lack of one means it uses MBR

*select disk X*

- where X is the number of the disk you want to install windows on that you obtained from the list.

*clean*

- this removes all partitions on the drive (ensure you backed things up BEFORE doing this step)

*convert GPT*

Quit out of diskpart/command prompt, go back to Windows Install and it should install now, and boot correctly.


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

DRPC said:


> I think you need to convert that HD from MBR to GPT before you install Windows on it. If there is no legacy option, that means your laptop must use UEFI, and UEFI requires a GPT partition scheme. What you show with that "Drive 0 - Partition 1 -...-Type MSR (Reserved)..." indicates an MBR partition scheme. There would be an EFI partition if it was using GPT.
> 
> Converting to GPT (with diskpart) will remove all data from the drive, so ensure you copy anything you need from the drive off of it before doing the following.
> 
> ...


Thank you! That completely worked for installing Windows on my stepfather's computer with my HD.

I'm finding new problems now, in installing it in my own new laptop. I am able to go through every procedure, I've cleaned and converted the partitions to GPT, it gets stuck in "Copying Windows Files (0%0)", and it gives me a whole different set of error messages, such as 0x80070057 and 0x8007045d. In a lot of cases, the problems are related specially to I/O and harware issues, leading me to believe it is a SATA cable problem. I'm posting another update to further it all.


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

Update:

So, I did switch the HDDs, and it installed fine in my stepfather's laptop. Just to recap, the HDD I'm using in my own laptop gets recognized in BIOS under SysInfo, but not under "Boot Device Priority", which means I can't boot from it. Still, the Windows 10 installer recognizes it, so I figured it'd be an easy install.

I'm finding new problems though. I am able to go through every procedure, I've cleaned and converted the partitions to GPT, it gets stuck in "Copying Windows Files (0%0)", and it gives me a whole different set of error messages, almost at random, such as 0x80070057 and 0x8007045d. In a lot of cases, the problems are related specially to I/O and harware issues, leading me to believe it is a SATA cable problem.

I've, then decided to open the laptop as a whole and check the SATA cable by myself, it is apparently undamaged. I'm posting pictures of it. If the problem resides in it, which is what I'd probably say is the case, then it's really bad for me, cause I am really unable to find a cable with this Part Number to buy and install by myself, and since Samsung Support simply won't answer me or give me clear explanation, it is becoming really tiring to solve this issue.

The whole code listed on the SATA Cable reads:
A11rounder2-15 HDD BA41-02812A
REV 1,0 LL 20200326A
How can I find a compatible model?













































I'd also like to ask you guys, I'm almost reaching the conclusion that for now, what I can do is boot as an external hard drive. In which case I can download the official Windows ISO and install using WinToUSB on an external hard drive, so I can try and boot.

That's just a short term solution, while I may not be able to find or afford proper assistance, so I'd like to ask, what performance issues may this cause? See, I work in Adobe softwares, as well as I work mostly on Ableton and a ton of external plugins (amps, drives, reverb, etc). When booting externally, is it certain that my laptops performance will slow down?


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## DRPC (Feb 9, 2020)

Those errors are indicative of a corrupt HDD. It could be the cable, but I would first try installing a different HDD, so as to rule out the problem being the current HDD.


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## Kkfranca (Sep 17, 2020)

DRPC said:


> Those errors are indicative of a corrupt HDD. It could be the cable, but I would first try installing a different HDD, so as to rule out the problem being the current HDD.


Hmm, I was trying to format it via command prompt, by using clean and format fs=ntfs, but it simply won't clean. I type clean and get absolutely nothing, not even an error message, so I assumed this also may be because of some physical connection problem. Still, I'll try to format it once more and try again, thank you!


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