TC-280-UR11 will NOT boot from Windows 10 after trying to migrate to SSD using Acronis for Crucial.

I tried to migrate to a Crucial MX500 250 GB SSD using Acronis for Crucial. I took a shortcut and installed the SSD in a spare SATA port instead of using a USB 2.0 adapter like the instructions said. After the migration, nothing would boot - neither SSD nor HDD. Error 0xC0000225. I have tried all of the fixes found on the internet except for flashing the BIOS. I finally installed Ubuntu as a dual boot setup and it works. All of my applications are still available on Windows 10. Interestingly, neither Windows 10 recovery media nor Windows 8.1 DVD will do an "clean install". They both get to the first restart and hang with the "insert bootable media" type error. Does anyone know how to flash the BIOS?. It is Version P11-A4 from 4-26-2016 which I think is the latest version. Clearing CMOS does not help. My only thought is that something got hosed in the NVRAM in the BIOS chip during all of the forced power offs that I did.

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billsey

Typically this type of problem is caused by letting the cloning software resize all partitions instead of forcing the system partitions to stay the same size as on the HDD. When POST is done and the BIOS looks for the boot info it can't find the right stuff to boot from. The solution is to redo the clone, but only allow the resizing needed to fit the SSD in the C: partition on the HDD. That allows the tiny partitions to still be recognized by the boot process. I have no idea why the companies that develop the cloning software don't do that for you automatically, since it's such a prevalent problem...

Putting the SSD on a SATA port instead of USB doesn't hurt, it's actually going to be much faster than using USB 2.0 and even faster than using USB 3.0. I doubt if there's a problem with your BIOS, instead the UEFI stuff on the HDD/SSD has been corrupted. It's typically saved in a 100MB EFI partition along with the recovery environment stored in a 500MB system partition. You can boot off install media and use the repair option to rebuild those partitions once they're the right size. If you haven't done anything to the HDD data yet (though likely you have with the Linux install) you can wipe the SSD, do a new install, then clone the C: partition from the HDD onto the SSD to get everything back. If you backed the HDD up before starting this whole process you can also do the clean install and restore the backup.

RF8flyer

Thank you for your response. I have tried a clean install to the SSD but even after I used DISKPART to "clean' it and convert to GPT, the Windows install media (Windows 10 - 1809) hangs after the first restart. A Windows 8.1 install DVD exhibited the same behavior after cleaning the HDD. My very first step was to restore my Paragon backup which also will not boot. I will try the clean install to the SSD with Windows 8.1 and see if it works. PS - I have tried just about every combination of bootrec etc to fix the EFI partition to no avail. The Windows 10 recovery media gets failures on some of the commands that work from the 8.1 DVD, but nothing so far has made the HDD bootable except for Linux!

billsey

I wonder what the odds are that the SSD itself is bad. Was your vendor reputable, or just the cheapest you could find? Sometimes shady vendors will reflash SSDs and SD cards to look like they have more capacity than they really do...

RF8flyer

First, you are correct that I should have done a clean install to the SSD and then migrated the C: drive. That would probably have worked. The SSD is a Crucial MX500, 250 GB. I am pretty sure it is fine since I can perform all of the DISKPART commands on it - clean, format, create partition etc. I am 99% convinced that something in the OEM section of the NVRAM is messed up. I have tried a clean install to the HDD from both DVD and USB Windows 10 recovery media. Both stop after first restart with a black screen error - "Reboot and Select proper Boot Device or Insert Boot Media in selected device and press a key". Ditto for a Windows 8.1 DVD - black screen error after first restart. Same results with Win8.1 and Win10 clean install to the HDD. I have found the instructions and utilities to re-flash the BIOS using a UEFI bootable USB, but that also fails. My next step is to contact Acer and see if they have an idea. I don't want to be restricted to running Window 10 alongside Ubuntu. Thank you for responding. If I ever get this fixed, I will post the solution.

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