Third SSD in the trash! Aspire TC-780 keeps encrypting m.2 SSD even before I install Windows

sapabg
sapabg Member Posts: 9

Tinkerer

I will brake this PC I swear!
It was with a 1TB HDD.
1. Disconnected that one so I don't destroy it;
2. Add NVME SSD an disable TPM and AES-NI;
3. Install windows for 10 minutes - great performance all good.
4. Shut down and connect old drive - new drive is locked!
5. Add new SSD - reinstall while the old drive is also connected;
6. All good - runs great - shut down, take the power out;
7. Turn on - SSD is encrypted! No boot!
8. ANOTHER NEW SSD! Boot from flash - took too long - force restart - SSD IS F*ING ENCRYPTED!

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!?!?!?

Answers

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,182 Trailblazer

    That is the latest trend in laptops, I just bought an OLED 16" Asus and my NVMe drive came encrypted, no way out, when you back up the encrypted drive with W7 in W11 23H2 the image file is not encrypted and can be mounted on another Windows machine.

  • sapabg
    sapabg Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer

    It's not even new or a laptop!
    How do maufacturers come up with this bull… Because of a bad CMOS battery I loose all my data and the drive - "genius"! I can't even clean the partitions on another PC…just perfect!

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,064 Trailblazer

    Your Aspire TC-780 should not have any encryptions from Acer or Microsoft, only the BitLocker encription security that is ON automatically that after the Windows install it can be turned off. Have a look at this community thread SSD upgrade ACER Aspire TC-780 desktop as many community members have upgraded the TC-780 SSD drive.

  • sapabg
    sapabg Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer

    I do this for a living!
    I have installed countless windowses on different machines! I am well aware of how to do it!
    Please read my post! Last SSD that got locked didn't have anything on it and the Windows installation did not even start! It is something to do with the bios or the ME firmware…something is wrong!
    I am currently trying to install windows on a SATA SSD so I can try to downgrade the bios and see if something else happens…

  • sapabg
    sapabg Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer

    What do you suggest I do with the SSD-s that are already locked?

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,064 Trailblazer

    I'm very aware of your problems as its so strange, as NO other community member has ever complained about the Aspire TC-780 encrypting their SSD drives. I have never ever seen this encryption problem ever in 38 years of being involved in computing and installing many many operating systems and/or a manufacturer upgrading a bios version to secretly encrypt their users SSD or HDD of their systems😁, that is impossible and unheard of. The last bios for the TC-780 is the "Fix system can't auto detect ODD status" which to do with the DVD in version R02-B2 and if you look at all the bios updates it has nothing to do with any encryptions.

  • sapabg
    sapabg Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer

    I am baffled, aspecially with the last one…I SWEAR - it just started loading the Windows installation and because it took too long I just held down the button to shut it down…Nothing should have been written to the drive right? Well it is "locked" after the restart… It CAN NOT BE BitLocker in my oppinion!
    Something else is happening!

  • sapabg
    sapabg Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer

    I've checked and BitLocker is not on by default in Windows. Just finished an Install on a SATA drive…
    It's kinda weird that when it boots with the nvme in the setup resolution is perfect - small and readable text like it has drivers but when I install on the SATA it has no drivers - large text poor resolution…
    I am going to try yet another nvme ssd after I downgraded to R02-B0….

  • sapabg
    sapabg Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer

    edited December 2023

    I guess fourth time is the charm…
    After I downgraded to R02-B0 (because I saw that in R02-B1 there is "Fix Intel security- side channel issue. Update ME to 11.8.50.3460" and I updated it to R02-B2 when I got it) there is absolutely no problem.
    I even pulled the battery to reset the bios and it loaded fine after I disabled TPM again.
    This was some weird [content removed] I've never seen!

    @StevenGen, I've seen Dell laptops encript hdds without asking, there is an option in bios to disable it tho and it's not TPM…I've had plenty of problems cloning drives because of similar bull…
    The second SSD that got locked was because of the bios resetting and I am positive that both TPM and AES-NI were disabled when I installed the windows on that one…third is total mistery!
    I am probably missing something but it's not as obvious as "you are doing it wrong"…
    Thanks for the replies tho!

    If anybody has any idea what to do with the 3 "locked" drives I'll appreciate it a TON! I don' want to go the warranty way…

    [Edited the thread to hide sensitive content]

  • sapabg
    sapabg Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer

    edited December 2023

    HEEEEEEEEEEL NO!

    IT happened again!

    After everything is installed and done just restarted and again - SSD is freackin LOCKED!
    Bios is NOT reset, BitLocker is NOT ON, TPM IS OFF and AES-NI is OFF!!!!
    WHAT THE ACTUAL [content removed]

    [Edited the thread to hide sensitive content]

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,101 Trailblazer

    I wonder if there's something wrong with the M.2 port itself that's corrupting the drive data, making it think it's encrypted. I also wonder if the drive manufacturer has a low level format routing that would wipe it clean of any corruption for reuse elsewhere.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • sapabg
    sapabg Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer

    I read somewhere that it is a bug in the ME controller or something like that. The drives probably have some encryption feature that gets triggered falsly…don't remember anymore, I gave the PC back to the customer…
    The SSD-s are unusable - they are visible in the win setup but can't make partitions on them. I tried on a mobo with "SSD sanitasion" feature - it is detected as a RAID member or something like that and it is not detected as NVME SSD at all…can't be sanitised…
    I've returned the SSDs to see if it is covered by warranty…
    good thing they were relatively cheap, if they were some Evos I'd be much, much more frustrated… 4 wend at the end at least it dindn't lock the HDD with all the info on it…