HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 won't detect a drive after reformat.

[perfm2]

So I've worked on dozens of HP and Dell laptops and have never encountered this before.
Steps taken in my usual process.
Reset security settings in the BIOS
Ensure existing HD comes up into the OS
Shut down the laptop and disconnected the main battery
Removed old M2 drive and replaced with a new 1tb Mushkin Temptest NVME drive. (I'm aware the bus is Sata III but the drive should still work at a slower speed right? Been my experience in other laptops)
Replace battery connector and close up the laptop
Insert my USB drive with my Windows 10 image I've used on dozens of HP rebuilds
Boot into the BIOS and make sure I can see and boot from the USB drive
Boot into the windows 10 install
Go through the Windows setup screens and everything seems normal
Setup reboots and I get the "Boot drive not found"
Run the process again and same thing.
Thinking maybe I just got a bad drive I try to run the built in HP BIOS diagnostics but it can't find the drive either.

So I reinsert the old 128gb LiteOn drive and attempt to reformat and reinstall Windows 10 on the factory drive that was working fine an hour ago.
Same thing, once I walk through the Windows 10 setup to format and reinstall, it won't boot and complete the setup.
Says the drive is not found.

The difference is the HP onboard diagnostics, can see the old Lite-On and "test" it. But it won't boot to the new Windows 10 setup either.

Any ideas? Never run into this. Usually for me it's "clear bios" "replace drive" "boot to Win 10 setup from USB" "delete all partitions from Win setup and then just run the rest of setup" "download laptops drivers once windows finishes" done

[mcplslg123]

Re: HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 won't detect a drive after reformat.

You need to manually add IRST driver through browse option on the screen where no drive found is displayed. this applies for 8th gen onwards laptops. Without IRST driver being manually installed, it dont detect hdd drive. Just try once.

[reformatt]

Re: HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 won't detect a drive after reformat.

Yep, and I've had to guide other shops multiple times on this. Last time a guy put the RST driver exe file on a USB and then asked me why it wasn't working. Seriously.

Windows 10 is quite old now, and doesn't have built in support for the newer chipsets. This is why you need to download the RST driver from HP, extract it, and dump the driver files to a USB. Then you do the Load Driver bit at the drive screen. Other option is to use the HP Cloud Recovery tool to create a factory installer. Should have the RST driver slipstreamed into the Windows 10 build.

BTW, why didn't you just clone the old drive to the new one?

[perfm2]

Re: HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 won't detect a drive after reformat.

"BTW, why didn't you just clone the old drive to the new one?"

Needed a clean install for client

Thanks I'll look into the RST driver

[perfm2]

Re: HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 won't detect a drive after reformat.

I think i need to clarify.
When I'm inside the Windows 10 setup, the drive appears normally, I can partition and format it. Then click next to continue install.
Windows 10 goes through the install process inside the setup environment, loads all the files, then it reboots itself as typical for an installation.
Upon reboot, it wont boot off the hard drive which is supposed to be what happens next. Instead it either boots back into the USB setup environment to start over, or if I remove the USB drive it will attempt to boot to the hard drive like it's supposed to and I get the generic "Boot disk not found" error

[reformatt]

Re: HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 won't detect a drive after reformat.

Are you using UEFI/SecureBoot? Maybe select UEFI boot only (no CSM), disable SecureBoot, and use a GPT partitioned Windows 10 boot disk. Use Rufus for that.

During Windows 10 setup, delete all partitions and leave the volume as unformatted. Click next, Windows will automatically partition it all for you with a GPT layout. Don't manually format it, have had troubles doing that previously which is why I just leave it unformatted and let Windows do all that stuff for you.

[perfm2]

Re: HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 won't detect a drive after reformat.

Yeah everything is set up for UEFI, I've also tried setting the BIOS to no CSM, that didn't work either.
I have not tried disabling SecureBoot yet but that's never been an issue in the past in any of the HP Elitebooks I've worked.

Yes I always delete all partitions and just click "Next" to let Windows setup do it's thing and create the GPT layout on it's own.

[reformatt]

Re: HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 won't detect a drive after reformat.

If Secureboot doesn't work, try installing Windows on your SSD in another system, allow it to complete. Then put it back in the Folio. Should at least boot and allow you to install drivers.

Or use the HP Cloud Recovery Tool to create the factory installer for this model.

[perfm2]

Re: HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 won't detect a drive after reformat.

Ok so I think the issue is that the 1040G2 has a "M" key M2 slot that only supports SATA Super annoying that it has an "M" key instead "B" or "M+B"
I placed the original SATA M2 M+B drive in another laptop and let it complete the Window 10 install, then moved it back, everything works now.
Tested a lot of other methods, think it's really the SATA limitation of the laptop even with upgraded BIOS.
Ordered a SATA M2 drive to see if I can upgrade through that method.
Will update once I get the drive in hand

[perfm2]

Re: HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 won't detect a drive after reformat.

Yep, ok problem solved. The Folio 1040G2 will not support the NVME protocol and is SATA only.
Upgraded the unit with a 1tb Western Digital Blue M2 Sata drive with B+M key
Not sure why the factory M2 SATA from LiteOn wouldn't reboot during a fresh Windows install at 1st, but got both the LiteOn and WD SATA drives to work now.