Arch Linux

gattu_marrudu

Member

Registered: 2008-03-29

Posts: 106

Windows laptop not recognizing disk

Hi,
I bought a used 2018 Dell Latitude laptop wit pre-installed Windows. I want to wipe the disk and install Arch.

I ran the Live Arch system from a USB stick in EFI mode and it boots without a problem, but then I cannot detect the laptop's hard drive. the only device under /dev/sd* is sda, which seems to be the USB stick. It won't appear in lsblk or blkid.

I cannot open the laptop at the moment to verify, but if I let the laptop boot in its default order it started Windows, so there is a disk indeed.

I also selected the option "Wipe data on next boot" in the BIOS menu, which it did successfully, indicating that the disk is a Toshiba NVMe.

Is there something in the BIOS that prevents Linux from detecting the device? Or something else? I'm running kernel 5.15-1, which should be much newer than the hardware.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

GeorgeJP

Member

From: Czech Republic

Registered: 2020-01-28

Posts: 190

Re: Windows laptop not recognizing disk

You disk will be most probably /dev/nvme* (not /dev/sd*)

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: Windows laptop not recognizing disk

Go to your firmware menu and make sure that drives are set to AHCI mode.

PS - Your machine doesn't have a BIOS, it has UEFI firmware.

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No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

gattu_marrudu

Member

Registered: 2008-03-29

Posts: 106

Re: Windows laptop not recognizing disk

Go to your firmware menu and make sure that drives are set to AHCI mode.

Bingo. That was it. It was set to RAID (some Intel restore mode—maybe something I have to enable with a kernel module? If I ever have any use for it?)

Now the device shows in lsblk, and yes indeed, it's /dev/nvme0n1.

PS - Your machine doesn't have a BIOS, it has UEFI firmware.

Right. old habits.

Thanks.

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: Windows laptop not recognizing disk

Please remember to mark the thread as [SOLVED].
CoC - How to post

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No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles