Hey everyone! I recently got a Dell Optiplex 9020 micro for free and I'm planning to convert it into a home server for various applications like pi-hole, DNS, VPN, and Plex. I wanted to use a 64GB SATA M.2 drive that I have from my Steam Deck as the boot drive, but I'm running into an issue: it doesn't show up in the BIOS at all. I can see and install Linux on it when I boot from a USB drive, but after I remove the USB and reboot, the BIOS still doesn't recognize it, and I get a boot error saying there's no hard drive. I'm not sure if this is related to the Dell BIOS settings or if I'm just not approaching it correctly since I'm still learning Linux. Any advice would be awesome, thanks!
3 Answers
It sounds like your Optiplex’s BIOS might have the SATA configuration set to RAID instead of AHCI. You can check this by entering the BIOS, navigating to "System Configuration," and then locating "SATA Operation." If it's set to RAID, change it to AHCI and reboot your system. Just a heads up, make sure to backup any important data before you make changes to BIOS settings!
It’s really odd that your BIOS can’t detect the drive, yet Linux can install on it. When you boot from a USB with a live Linux distro, those special drivers get loaded, allowing Linux to see the drives. Unfortunately, you won't be able to boot from them if the BIOS isn’t recognizing it. A common fix for older Dell systems is to ensure AHCI mode is enabled in the BIOS settings and disable any RAID options. Also, some Dell machines might behave this way when using certain types of M.2 drives. You should double-check any vendor specifications.
Exactly! It’s all about those drivers and how the BIOS interprets the drives. If you ensure AHCI is on, that should help a lot.
In the UEFI settings, it’s crucial to check if the storage configuration is set to RAID or AHCI mode. AHCI is usually the way to go for most setups. If it’s on RAID, that might be causing the drive recognition issue.
Yeah, that happens quite often with older Dell workstations. The Linux installer can detect drives thanks to those specific drivers loading up, but without BIOS support, it just doesn't work right. Definitely stick with AHCI and avoid RAID settings.