Samsung NP3530EC boot problem

[richi.gonda]

Hi Everyone,

I have the following problem with Samsung NPC3530EC notebook:
I would like to switch out the 500GB HDD to a 240GB SSD. I cloned the system to the SSD, but the notebook won' boot from it.
In fact, I can not boot from ANYTHING, except from the original HDD.
In BIOS, the ONLY boot option is "Windows Boot Manager", nothing else shows up, can't even do a clean install on SSD.
What I already tried:
- Disabling Fast Bios mode
- Disabling Secure Boot and enabling CSM only mode or CSM and UEFI mode
- Resetting BIOS to default, then trying the above 2 again

BIOS is updated to the latest version.
The original HDD has Windows 10 installed, the original system (Windows 8, recovery partition etc.) was completely deleted earlier.

If the HDD or SSD with the installed system is connected, the "Windows Boot Manager" boot option shows up, if I don't connect any of them, there are 0 boot options available, however I set up the BIOS. Can't boot from USB, CD/DVD, nothing.
It seems like a very big early UEFI bug from Samsung and I'm out of ideas.

When trying to boot from anything other than the original HDD, I have the following message: "All boot option tried. Press f4 key to recover with factory image using recovery or any others key for next boot loop iteration."

Please someone help me .
Thanks.

 

[popatim]

Did you clone all partitions or leave some out since you needed to squeeze 500GB into 240?

 

[richi.gonda]

Yeah, I cloned all partitions, there was enough space on the SSD (not so much data on the HDD).
My main problem is not with the cloning, I would do a clean install if I could, but I can't boot from any installation media. USB, DVD, nothing.
I contacted Samsung support, they told me to take the notebook to them. I don't think it's worth the money or time, so I'll probably return the SSD and stick with the HDD for now.
I don't know what I'm gonna do if the HDD or Windows goes bad.. Let's hope they won't

 

[popatim]

What did you use to do the cloning?

 

[richi.gonda]

What did you use to do the cloning?

Sorry for the late answer.
I used EaseUS Todo Backup, after that I tried with Paragon MigrateOS to SSD. You don't need to think about this problem anymore, I returned the SSD and returned to the original system.
Also, my problem wasn't with the cloning, but with booting from anything other than the original HDD.
Cloning went fine, I even tried to boot up the cloned system in my desktop computer, and it worked like a charm even with completely different hardware.

Anyway, thanks for trying to help, I will have to live with the HDD until I buy my next notebook.
Bye