Re: Unable to boot from internal hard disks on new PC

From: Ralf Mardorf <ralf-mardorf_at_riseup.net>
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2022 12:48:21 UTC
Hi,

I forward your reply [1] to the mailing list.

Since you can mount the disk and you also see information about it by
the BIOS and nothing else seem to fail, I guess the battery is ok, but
it doesn't harm to replace a supplied battery by a brand new branded
battery. I'm usually doing this each time I change something, like
replacing a small size SSD by a large size SSD. This is bad for the
environment, but good against unpleasant surprises at a bad time. I'm a
burnt child with musical instruments from the 80s. I don't dare to open
my master keyboard, one of the first Yamaha DX7, because I'm afraid of a
battery with exotic soldering lugs that no dealer has. But I will have
to do it. However, for our mobos we don't need to fear exotic soldering
lugs, we only need to change the battery without any soldering at all.
Battery buffered stuff sucks. While it couldn't have been any other way
in the 80s, today it should be illegal under criminal law. These
batteries will always fail at the worst possible moment if you don't
replace them too often.

Testing a battery is tricky and usually not worth the trouble, see this
German explanation:
https://www.reichelt.de/magazin/projekte/ist-meine-batterie-noch-in-ordnung/

IIUC there's one internal disk, a WD_BLACK SN770 500GB NVMe.

My SSDs are all SATA, I fear trouble when using NVMe.

Consider to get in contact with Gigabyte support,
https://www.gigabyte.com/de/Contact or goggle for something like

  NVMe not bootable

The first hit I got:

https://scottiestech.info/2022/04/26/nvme-drive-missing-or-not-booting-theres-a-simple-fix/

Maybe you need to "turn off Intel VMD".

Information related to the beep code:

"If the computer passes the POST, the computer may give a single beep
(some computers may beep twice) as it starts and continues to boot." -
https://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

IOW your mobo's self test tells you that everything seems to be ok.

Regards,
Ralf


[1]
-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: Johannes-Maria Kaltenbach <johannes-maria@t-online.de>
To: Ralf Mardorf <ralf-mardorf@riseup.net>
Subject: Re: Unable to boot from internal hard disks on new PC
Date: 28/12/22 11:26:21
Mailer: Mutt/1.12.2 (2019-09-21)

Hello,

thanks very much for your help an please excuse the late answer;
I wasn't on my computer over night.

On Tue, Dec 27, 2022 at 07:26:38PM +0100, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> On Tue, 2022-12-27 at 17:07 +0100, Johannes-Maria Kaltenbach wrote:
> > I can't find the internal disks (ada) at all.
> 
> Hi,
> 
> if you can mount the internal drives by an OS on an USB stick, then the

yes, I did mount the partition with the installed 13.1 and the
efi partition.

> BIOS does recognise the drives. Did you click each sub menu of all BIOS
> menus, while all USB sticks were detached?

Not yet; the USB installation disk for 13.1 was always attached.
I did it now: in the Boot sub menu ist shows only the four lines

> Boot0002* UEFI: HTTP IPv4 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
> Boot0003* UEFI: PXE IPv4 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
> Boot0004* UEFI: HTTP IPv6 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
> Boot000A* UEFI: PXE IPv6 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

> The related menu of your BIOS probably isn't named "Hard Drive BBS
> Priorities", but there must be some way to select internal drives.

I can't make a picture of the Bios screens but now I wrote them
down and print the contents at the end of this mail (took a long
time ;-).
In this long list I (now) found an entry (in System Info/Plug In
Devices Info) for the disks; but it's only an info, I can't
change there anything.

> FWIW you manually checked the battery? Related to the battery you can't

How do I do this?
But the computer ist absolutely new, just built in December;
so I think the battery should be new and OK.

> trust the mobo's self test. Apart from this pitfall the self test is
> useful. The beep code when turning on the computer is ok? It doesn't
> return an error beep code?

It gives just one short beep.

Now to the Bios entries:

In my mail from Tue, Dec 27, 2022 at 05:07:52PM +0100
I gave only the headings of the sub menus:

> The Bios has the following sub menus:
>         Favorites
>         Tweaker
>         Settings
>         System Info
>         Boot
>         Save&Exit

Now in detail (mostly irrelevant, but here are all, just to be safe)

Favorites
---------

  Performance CPU Clock Ratio                           Auto
  Max Ring Ratio                                        Auto
  Min Ring Ratio                                        Auto
  ICP Ratio                                             Auto
  IGP Ratio                                             Auto
  Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.)                       Profile 1
  CPU Vcore Loadline Calibration                        Auto
  CPU Vcore                                             Auto
  System Memory Multiplier                              Auto
  DRAM Voltage (CH A/B)                                 Auto
  CSM Setup                                             Disabled
  Secure Boot Mode                                      Custom
  VT-d                                                  Disabled
  SATA Controller(s)                                    Enabled
* Advanced CPU Settings

[*: next sub menu level]


Tweaker
-------

  CPU Upgrade                                           Default
  Performance CPU Clock Ratio                           Auto
  Efficiency CPU Clock Ratio                            Auto
  Max Ring Ratio                                        Auto
  Min Ring Ratio                                        Auto
  ICP Ratio                                             Auto
* Advanced CPU Settings

  Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.)                       Profile 1
  System Memory Multiplier                              Auto
  Memory Reference Clock                                Auto
  Gear Mode                                             Auto
* Advanced Memory Settings

CPU/PCM Voltage Control
  Vcore Voltage Mode                                    Auto
  CPU Vcore                                             Auto    1.200V
  Dynamic Vcore (DVID)                                  Auto   +0.000V
  BLCK Adaptive Voltage                                 Auto
  CPU Graphics Voltage (VAXG)                           Auto
  Internal L2Atom Overall Mode                          Auto
  Internal L2Atom                                       Auto
  Internal L2Atom Offset                                Auto
  Internal VCCSA                                        Auto
  CPU VCCIN Aux                                         Auto    1.800V
  VCC1p05                                               Auto    1.050V
  V0P82PCH                                              Auto    0.820V
  V1P8CPU                                               Auto    1.800V
  VCC1V8P                                               Auto    1.800V
* Advanced Voltage Settings

DRAM Voltage Control
  VDDQCPU                                               Auto    1.200V
  DRAM Voltage (CH A/B)                                 Auto    1.200V


Settings
--------

* Platform Power
* IO  Ports
* Miscellaneous

  Option Search (Hot Key: Alt-F)

* PC Health Status


System Info
-----------

  Model Name                                            B660 DS3H AX DDR4
  Bios Version                                          F20
  Bios Date                                             10/25/2022
  Bios ID                                               8AADL080

  [Processor Type, Installed Memory, Max Address,
  System Date and Time etc.]

* Plug in Devices Info

* Q-Flash

In 'Plug in Devices Info' I found the disks:

PCIE Slot Info
  PCIEX16: N/A
  PCIEX1_1: N/A
  PCIEX1_3: N/A
  PCIEX1_4: PCIe 3.0x2 @ 3.0x1
  PCIEX1_5: PCIe 3.0x2 @ 3.0x1

M2 Slot Info
  M2A: WD_BLACK SN770 500GB NVMe 4.0x4 @ 4.0x4
  M2P: N/A


Boot
----

Boot Configuration
  Bootup NumLock State                                  Off
  CFG Clock                                             Disabled
  Security Option                                       Setup
  Full Screen Logo Show                                 Enabled

Boot Option Priorities
  #1 UEFI: HTTP IPv4 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
  #2 UEFI: PXE IPv4 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
  #3 UEFI: HTTP IPv6 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
  #4 UEFI: PXE IPv6 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

  Fast Boot                                             Enabled
  SATA Support                                          All SATA Devices
  VGA Support                                           Auto
  USB Support                                           Full Initial
  PS2 Devices Support                                   Enabled
  Network Stack Driver Support                          Disable Link
  Next Boot After AC Power Loss                         Normal Boot
  Mouse speed                                           1x
  Windows 10 Features                                   Other OS
  SCM Support                                           Disabled
  Administration Password
  User Password

* Secure Boot
  Preferred Operating Mode                              Auto


Save&Exit
---------

  Save&Exit Setup
  Exit without saving
  Load Optimized Defaults

Boot Override
  UEFI: HTTP IPv4 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
  UEFI: PXE IPv4 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
  UEFI: HTTP IPv6 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
  UEFI: PXE IPv6 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

  Save Profiles
  Load Profiles



What should I do with this Bios to be able to boot from
the internal disks?

Regards,
Johannes-Maria