Boot issue with new SSD

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computerguyjm
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Boot issue with new SSD

Post by computerguyjm »

My laptop has an internal M.2 SSD that was causing me issues with space on root file system so I decided to buy a larger one. I used dd to copy info over and tried a boot and everything seems to work when NVME is connected via USB. However, when I moved the NVME as internal I get an error from initramfs that the UUID cannot be found.

I believe I understand what is happening. The old SSD was B+M and being SSD instead of NVME was reported as a /dev/sdX. However, the new card by virtue of being M slot and therefore NVME I do nto think is being recognized in initramfs and that is why I am getting the error.

I have verified via blkid that UUID is the same as what is being reported as missing and also the same as in /etc/fstab. When I look in /dev in initramfs, I see only one "sd" and no /dev/nvme which is what it gets seen by when I boot from a LIVE USB.

I have done quite a bit of googling and have seen similar issues resolved by adding a module "VMD" but I added a line vmd to /etc/initramfs-tools/modules but when system boots I get a vmd.mod is not found.

I would really appreciate some help

I have even gone as far as being willing to reinstall but am also caught in UEFI hell due to needing to create a UEFI "Live" usb
Last edited by LockBot on Sun Sep 24, 2023 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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MiZoG
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Re: Boot issue with new SSD

Post by MiZoG »

Although I've never tried that kind of cloning myself...
I believe dedicated cloning software (Clonezilla-based for all I know) can handle this scenario and update initramfs correctly.
computerguyjm
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Re: Boot issue with new SSD

Post by computerguyjm »

For anyone who runs into this. I have a Dell laptop and Dell sets the SATA mode by default to RAID. I had to change this to AHCI. Once I did this, Mint started booting. Unfortunately, it corrupted my windows install and I will have to do some sort of recovery there but for me Mint is my primary OS so I can take a while to fix this.
This link does me no good but for the next guy:

https://hetmanrecovery.com/recovery_new ... indows.htm
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AndyMH
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Re: Boot issue with new SSD

Post by AndyMH »

Set sata mode back to RST and win should boot. If you then google you can find how to change win from RST to AHCI.

The link you posted refers to IDE drives, so old, this may be more useful:
https://superuser.com/questions/1529049 ... windows-10
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
computerguyjm
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Re: Boot issue with new SSD

Post by computerguyjm »

Yep, put my old drive in and made the change and sure enough it allows me to boot into safe mode on old drive in AHCI mode but this does not help me so far.

My issue is on new drive I get BSOD (Blue screen of death). I had thought this was maybe A) because I had changed SATA mode or B) had used Gparted to not only copy windows partition but also enlarge NTFS so I thought to just get the old windows partition bootable with AHCI and then copy as original size and then use windows to enlarge partition so I did this but unfortunately I still get that same BSOD.
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AndyMH
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Re: Boot issue with new SSD

Post by AndyMH »

You copied old drive to new drive with dd. That means all the partitions on the M.2 drive have identical UUIDs to the original drive. If you try and boot with both drives in the system it will confuse BIOS.

If you copied the old drive having changed sata mode to AHCI before setting up win to boot AHCI you will get a BSOD on the new drive booting win.

Note this is not a windows forum, advice will be limited.
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computerguyjm
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Re: Boot issue with new SSD

Post by computerguyjm »

AndyMH wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:06 pm You copied old drive to new drive with dd. That means all the partitions on the M.2 drive have identical UUIDs to the original drive. If you try and boot with both drives in the system it will confuse BIOS.

If you copied the old drive having changed sata mode to AHCI before setting up win to boot AHCI you will get a BSOD on the new drive booting win.

Note this is not a windows forum, advice will be limited.
Having dup UUIDs was mostly a blessing since when I resolved why the NVME wasn't being seen caused everything to work fine.

It is true I used dd initially but this last bit where I booted windows in safe mode on old drive was one drive at a time. I.E. I took out new drive and put in old drive. Fudded with BIOS settings and booted up and set safe mdoe as you suggested. I tested this on old drive and it did indeed boot to safe mode. I then used Gparted to copy this partition from old drive to new drive. I had new drive connected via USB. I then powered down, pulled old drive out and put in new drive as internal. With the new drive (NVME) and only the new drive, I can still boot Linux just fine but windows give me BSOD. Just no clue what might be windows issues.

You are right, this is now a windows problem and not a windows forum but I am pretty sure a windows forum is not going to like dual boot/grub2 boot loader.
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AndyMH
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Re: Boot issue with new SSD

Post by AndyMH »

Did you have bitlocker enabled in win? Wondering if that might be the issue. Try booting a win install stick and seeing if it can repair win.

EDIT - try cloning the drive again, but this time use a windows utility. You need one that understands linux. There used to be a free version of macrium reflect, gone now and don't know if the "free trial" will clone. Can't comment on other win cloning utilities.
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