Advice on moving my old ssd with windows installed to my new pc build

[FalseInfo]

Hi, I’ve recently built a new pc but have encountered an unfathomable amount of trouble trying to install windows 11 (and windows 10 when that failed) onto it. 

I’ve gone through the windows forum which told me my problem would be my ssd, when through the samsung forums and couldn’t figure it out, and decided to try with a different ssd, and that still didn’t work out. 

 

I’m planning on moving my old ssd with windows already installed on it into the new build, is there anything I should watch out for or any reasons why I shouldn’t? My alternative is driving to micro center and trying to get somebody experienced to work on it in person. I bought my cpu and motherboard for this build from them recently.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Tetras]

33 minutes ago, FalseInfo said:

I’m planning on moving my old ssd with windows already installed on it into the new build, is there anything I should watch out for or any reasons why I shouldn’t?

The main problems that I'm aware of happening with this are encryption (e.g. bitlocker & secure boot) and the use of a CSM/Legacy install that has the drive using MBR instead of GPT.

 

Once the Windows is actually running, experience varies. Sometimes it is trouble free, other times it is a world of pain.

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

You vaguely mention specific issues in your first paragraph, but then go on in your second to ask for general advice. What are your specific issues?

[FalseInfo]

1 hour ago, Hairless Monkey Boy said:

You vaguely mention specific issues in your first paragraph, but then go on in your second to ask for general advice. What are your specific issues?

Some more specifics:

cpu - amd ryzen 7 7800x3d

motherboard - gigabyte b650 gaming x ax

ram - 4x 16 gb sticks (2 kits) of G.SKILL Flare X5 Series

gpu - amd 7800 xt

ssd - samsung 990 pro 2 tb

second ssd (bought expecting to fix issue, didn't work) - Crucial P3 Plus 2TB

 

More specifically I can't choose my SSD as a boot option when CSM is disabled. I've updated my SSD, my BIOS. 

 

However, even when I try to install windows 10, what happens is my windows 10 seems to install but when it restarts it goes back to the initial install screen as if nothing happened. If I take out the installation USB and try to boot into the SSD, it reads like an empty drive.

 

here's a thread of me asking for help from a windows support agent:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_11-windows_install/need-help-finishing-windows-11-install-and/50966326-96ef-494f-92d5-bbfbf44ff0e4

TLDR: they conclude it seems to be a drive issue, which led me to the Samsung forums but I didn't try all that hard tbh, and just ordered a new SSD hoping that it would fix my issues.

 

I didn't mention too much of these issues in my initial question because I've given up really on trying to fix it unless someone can point me in an unexpected direction, but I'd rather just have my new computer up and running. I'm planning on moving my SSD tomorrow when I have some time since it doesn't seem too terrible.

 

 

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

I read through that forum thread. It wasn't clear if you were saving settings and rebooting after changing CSM settings.

 

I recall having an issue like this in the past, and CSM was the issue for me. If I were you, I'd take another stab at it, and try all permutations of CSM settings. Start with whichever settings sound the most permissive.

[Alan G]

I've seen lots of reports of issues with four DDR5 RAM sticks.  I don't know if this relates to your issue at all.  You might want to just use two sticks and see if that changes things.  Last year there was a firmware issue with Samsung M2 drives but if you recently purchased the drive, it should have been fixed.  I bought a Samsung Pro M2 drive five months ago from Microcenter and the firmware was already updated.

[FalseInfo]

3 hours ago, Hairless Monkey Boy said:

I read through that forum thread. It wasn't clear if you were saving settings and rebooting after changing CSM settings.

 

I recall having an issue like this in the past, and CSM was the issue for me. If I were you, I'd take another stab at it, and try all permutations of CSM settings. Start with whichever settings sound the most permissive.

I've managed to get the CSM settings saved and tried every combination I could think of and it still didn't work unfortunately, all still repeat the same windows installation loop where it seems to install but on first restart all progress seems effectively wiped.

2 hours ago, Alan G said:

I've seen lots of reports of issues with four DDR5 RAM sticks.  I don't know if this relates to your issue at all.  You might want to just use two sticks and see if that changes things.  Last year there was a firmware issue with Samsung M2 drives but if you recently purchased the drive, it should have been fixed.  I bought a Samsung Pro M2 drive five months ago from Microcenter and the firmware was already updated.

I bought a more recent drive so I'm not worried about that, but I haven't tried with 2 ram sticks, I'll see if that helps with anything.

edit: Did not work

[FalseInfo]

Just moved my old ssd with windows installed into my new pc, but when I boot into it it has this error msg:

I’m going to move my ssd back to my old computer in a second to see if it still has windows, but does anybody know where I messed up in moving my ssd over?

 

Also I had to enable csm to choose this as a boot option