Question Strange Boot Problem - New Dell Installed PCI-E nvm M2 Secondary Storage
Question Strange Boot Problem - New Dell Installed PCI-E nvm M2 Secondary Storage
A new Optiplex small form factor is available.
I had the machine and needed to install my 1Tb M2 NVMe drive, which uses a PCI-e slot encapsulation.
The system started with Windows but didn’t recognize the added drive. I restarted and went into BIOS, noticing (in my opinion) that Raid mode was enabled.
I looked up the issue and found most users suggested switching to AHCI and booting into safe mode for driver installation. That worked perfectly.
Device manager displayed AHCI drivers for my storage devices. After rebooting, Windows booted normally using AHCI.
When I powered off the computer and installed the PCI-e drive, it booted correctly and I was able to work.
I installed some applications and had to restart again. The computer froze at the Dell splash screen.
This became a recurring pattern: after shutting down and reinstalling the PCI-e drive, everything functioned properly.
After rebooting with the PCI-e drive inside, the machine would hang on the Dell splash screen and refuse to boot.
If I removed the drive and booted normally in Windows without it, I could then reinstall and everything worked until I needed another reboot.
This behavior is puzzling. I’ve tested it multiple times to diagnose.
Dell prompted me to run diagnostics via the F12 one-time boot menu. Using that option brought me back to the Dell splash screen, where the system would hang again.
I confirmed that the BIOS changes hadn’t been reversed—when I opened BIOS and entered it, AHCI remained selected and the PCI bus still showed my 1Tb M2 drive.
I shared this issue on the Dell community forum and have an open support ticket with Dell awaiting a response.
I’m not very confident about the support I’ll receive, so I thought it would be better to ask here.
Has anyone experienced this same situation? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Welcome to the forums, newcomer!
Brand new Optiplex small form factor.
Please pass on a link to the Dell OptiPlex prebuilt you're working with. BIOS version for your prebuilt at this moment of time?
As for the PCIe expansion device, please include a link to that as well.