Samsung NP900X3C-A01AU / Sandisk U100 128GB loses partitions after cold boot

[pfrcom]

Daughter's notebook was running Windows 10, albeit with irritations, before she decided to clean install Win10 Pro x64

Now, after a cold start, it just comes up with Phoenix boot loader, default prompting Sandisk U100 128GB

If Win10 install USB key is inserted prior to cold start, Phoenix UEFI boots into Win10 install, then selecting Custom install says there's ~119GB of unallocated space and will happily install on it

After install, everything looks good, can warm restart without problems, Disk Management reckons there's a 450MB recovery partition, a 99MB UEFI partition, and a >118GB partition

Running Samsung's BIOSUPDATE.EXE reckons UEFI is up to date (P07AAC), and Sandisk's Dashboard says SSD's firmware is up to date (10.56.04)

But turn it off, there'll be a repeat of Phoenix boot loader

Last thing my daughter did, before this problem started, was run Sanitize from Sandisk Dashboard, which asks for a USB key which it sets up then needs to boot - apparently it came up with a problem about Secure something

The plot thickens if I try SSD_Memory_Cell_Clearing - don't get too far, step 1 "hdparm -I /dev/sdX" shows Frozen

BTW, it's not just Win10, same problem if Win7 or Win8.1 is installed

[diif]

Re: Samsung NP900X3C-A01AU / Sandisk U100 128GB loses partitions after cold boot

Sounds like a UEFI issue and Secure Boot settings.

[pfrcom]

Re: Samsung NP900X3C-A01AU / Sandisk U100 128GB loses partitions after cold boot

Sounds like a UEFI issue and Secure Boot settings.

Already gone down that path - unlike some of the stuff I've found related to NP900X3C, this version of BIOS/UEFI doesn't seem to have Secure Boot option - see attached

[highpulse]

Re: Samsung NP900X3C-A01AU / Sandisk U100 128GB loses partitions after cold boot

yes it has , you need to introduce a supervisor password , then leave bios , and re enter again , some functions will now be visible , dont forget in the end to remove supervisor password

[pfrcom]

Re: Samsung NP900X3C-A01AU / Sandisk U100 128GB loses partitions after cold boot

yes it has , you need to introduce a supervisor password , then leave bios , and re enter again , some functions will now be visible , dont forget in the end to remove supervisor password

I tried that after finding a clue in an Acer document

Still couldn't get it to work, also not when I tried again now, just after midnight

However I have downgraded BIOS from P07AAC to P04AAC (easier said than done), and when I tried first with P07AAC didn't leave BIOS and re-enter again

Will restore P07AAC later and try again

Thanks for your help

[pfrcom]

Re: Samsung NP900X3C-A01AU / Sandisk U100 128GB loses partitions after cold boot

yes it has , you need to introduce a supervisor password , then leave bios , and re enter again , some functions will now be visible , dont forget in the end to remove supervisor password

Before restoring P07AAC, I downgraded from P04AAC to P03AAC and tried setting Supervisor password, then exiting, then re-entering Setup - no sign of a Secure Boot option

So then I restored P07AAC - Supervisor password was still there, but no Secure Boot

Tried clearing Supervisor password then re-doing above - still nothing

In the meantime I discovered my brother-in-law has a NP900X4C with firmware P03AAC running Windows 7, and there's no Secure Boot option in his Setup either

Is it possible Samsung/Phoenix has automated Secure Boot handling depending on Operating System like they've done with AHCI, but unlike auto AHCI they don't offer a manual override ?

[pfrcom]

Re: Samsung NP900X3C-A01AU / Sandisk U100 128GB loses partitions after cold boot

FIXED

Bought used Toshiba THNSNJ256GMCT from eBay

First time I started notebook after fitting, it showed a partition

After DISKPART/CLEAR, an install of Win10 went without a hitch (just like with original Sandisk), except this time it was still OK after a shutdown

Now waiting on mSata adapter so I can try the Sandisk in a real computer