HP ProBook 640 G1 - New Kingston A400 SSD - can install Windows 7 but not boot

[MBev]

Evening all,

I'm running a HP ProBook 640 with a 128GB Lite-On SSD and recently bought a Kingston A400 480GB SSD as I was running out of space.

Having put the new drive in the laptop, I booted up the Windows 7 DVD (same one used for original install) and everything seemed to install ok up to the completing installation section. At which point the laptop went for an auto reboot, then went to a black screen with the "BootMGR is corrupt, unable to boot" error. I've tried the install several times with no luck. Using Windows install repair does nothing and I've even tried to repair the bootloader/MBR from Kubuntu utilities and also install the Grub loader, but nothing I've done has worked.

I've connected the drive via USB adapter and checked the drive (brand new, from a reputable retailer) with the Kingston SSD manager software and the firmware is up to date and showing no errors. All the windows install folders are there and populated.
I have noticed that "Notebook harddrive" doesn't always show up in the BIOS. I've checked that SATA port is set to AHCI (also tried it with IDE) and is in legacy mode. 

Could it be the BIOS? It's running HP L77 Version 01.39 from 26/9/2016. There are a couple of updates on HPs site including one from Nov 2018, but the version history doesn't mention my issue. (There was a version older than the one that's installed, 1.05, that did mention support for SSDs intermittently not working)

I can normally work around most computer problems, but this is not giving in.

Any help or suggestions gratefully received.
Kind regards,
M

[Huffer]

Kingston A400 is a TLC NAND SSD. The 128 gig Lite-on I am not sure of. Sometimes newer SSDs are just not compatible with older laptops and I have trouble predicting when that will happen or explaining it when it does. Usually switching to a different SSD results in a working installation. What is the model of the original Lite-on SSD? Several different part numbers for 128 gig SSDs are listed in the Service manual. 

[MBev]

Hi,  thanks for the quick response.

The label on the drive displays:

Model: LCS-128L9S-HP

I naively assumed that as the notebook supported SSD and the A400 isn't one of the really new 3D types, it would be compatible.

Cheers,

M

[Huffer]

Yes the A400 is a newer one but entry level so uses TLC and the Lite-0n is TLC, too. I have not compared the controllers. I install a lot of SSDs in laptops for people and they just have not achieved the universal interoperability of hard drives. Every now and then I get a situation like this where it just can't be figured out. It has been suggested that prepping the SSD on another computer i.e. initializing it and formatting it and make sure it is set up GUID may make it work but frankly I have never found that I needed to do that or that it helps in these situations. Sorry for your troubles. 

[MBev]

Digging around the forums (and not just HP laptops) it seems that some SSD drives are fine first time and some are problematic for no apparent reason.  I see that Crucial have a 500GB drive that they are saying is compatible (see below).  I did consider cloning the current drive to the new Kingston one to see if that works rather than the fresh install I was intending.  I might order one of the Crucial drives and see if that will work out of the box - I'll post back with how it goes.

Just out of interest (as you have experience with installing SSD hardware) is there anything else that needs to be set in the BIOS other than the SATA mode to AHCI?  Does BIOS vs UEFI make any difference?

Again, many thanks for your time,

M

[Huffer]

You definitely want AHCI, secure boot-UEFI and have the disk set up GUID and not MBR. I am not a fan of the Kingston or Crucial SSDs I use Samsung if I or whoever is paying for it can afford it. But with the Crucial you will never get hung out. If they say it is compatible with your model they will stand behind it. 

[MBev]

Can I ask what the difference is with the UEFI safe boot with GUID?

The Lite-on original came setup with MBR on a legacy boot.

[Huffer]

My bad you are running Windows 7. Yes in that case legacy boot and MBR.