Solved! Toshiba Satellite C855-1HL HDD upgrade to SSD problems

[Graingej07]

I am trying to upgrade the father's laptop to a cheap PNY CS900 240gb SSD, however after trying multiple cloning software attempts, the drive is not bootable.
I have gotten to the point now where even a blank SSD can be detected by the bios, but shows a blank screen with a solid underscore in the top left corner when attempting to boot. Additionally, with no SSD installed and a USB windows 10 installation media, it boots to the usb no problem, however if the SSD is installed, it will not boot to this and states reboot and select proper boot device, regardless of boot priority in bios! At this moment I am considering this SSD to simply be incompatible with the laptop, is there anything further to try? The original drive still works no problem with windows 7 installed so I feel am out of options really.
Even a spare hard drive that was pulled from another laptop which was recently upgraded will not boot in this laptop despite booting in my desktop so I do not think the drives are faulty. Any pointers will be appreciated.

 

[helpstar]

Can you install win 10 to the SSD in this laptop?

Looks like a MBR problem (master boot record)

How did you clone it?

Update the firmware of the SSD if available (firmware will erase the drive. )
https://www.pny.com/support/technical-support/solid-state-drives/firmware-update/internal-ssd

Also update the BIOS of the Toshiba if available
http://www.toshiba.co.uk/support/drivers/#

 

[Graingej07]

Hi there, already completed all of this to no effect, and the MBR was absolutely fine. It was cloned using AOMEI Backupper.
I have found a solution so far this morning; even though a blank SSD could not be written to by a USB windows installation media, or a functioning HDD/SSD from any other computer could not be read no matter the MBR/GPT configuration, a disc media could write to it - no idea why this may be; I've never come across this before.
Solved for now, but an issue that I cannot understand why the CD drive worked and any USB port didn't allow the computer to recognise either drive (the USB booted when it was the only drive installed?)
Thanks for your input.

 

[helpstar]

Did you try the USB2.0 or USB3.0 to boot from the install media?

Does this laptop have the option "secure boot" in BIOS?

 

[Graingej07]

I used the 3.0 port, and no there isn't a secure boot option, is there an incompatibility or something I'm doing wrong here?

 

[helpstar]

maybe usb3 is not working with this laptop to install windows from it

 

[Graingej07]

maybe usb3 is not working with this laptop to install windows from it

Yeah I thought that too, but if there was no internal drive in the laptop and the usb media was inserted, the computer would boot from this but obviously has nothing to install to. If both were installed they were detected in bios but neither would boot... Odd

 

[helpstar]

the boot priority was set to USB in BIOS?

The SSD was cleaned/secure erased before trying to install to it?

Maybe have a look at this:
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/toshiba-satellite-wont-boot-to-usb.1187154/

 

[Graingej07]

USB was indeed the priority in this case, and yes the SSD was blank, I tried 4 different drives to the same effect including my Samsung 860 Evo 2TB. I tried the same configuration in an Acer V5 from 2012 and all of these worked despite the same bios configuration including the boot order and boot mode. I'm baffled but I appreciate the help

 

[helpstar]

blank formatted (empty NTFS partition) or secure erased ?

 

[Graingej07]

I did both with no success, blank format on the PNY drive and secure erase on a spare Kingston drive

 

[helpstar]

something in the BIOS is blocking,
Did you try different USB flash drives? How did you create the flash drive?

Just to be sure, that secure boot is not in your laptop´s BIOS -> security menu:

View: https/youtu.be/4WAEIV9bJI4?t=244

 

[Graingej07]

Yeah it's definitely blank under the password section, and I used the Window's media creation tool for windows 10, it's odd that without an ssd installed the flash drive worked no problem but once there's an ssd installed nothing advanced past the bios. Is there anything preventing the secure boot option from showing up in the bios?

 

[helpstar]

just a different BIOS/device version. The video was just an example to show where it should be, if the Toshiba you have would use it.

Is the BIOS version 6.80 ?

 

[Graingej07]

just a different BIOS/device version. The video was just an example to show where it should be, if the Toshiba you have would use it.

Is the BIOS version 6.80 ?

It is now the latest update and it appears to be working, thank you for your efforts

 

[helpstar]

Glad I could help