Troubleshooting SSD Boot Issues: My Experience with the Dell G3 3579

Recently, I experienced a perplexing issue after upgrading my Dell G3 3579 with a new WD NVMe M.2 SSD and installing a fresh operating system. The first few days went smoothly; however, on the fourth day, my computer suddenly refused to boot. Upon starting the device, I was greeted with an unsettling “Required device not found” error message.

Finding a solution proved to be a challenge. Attempting to access recovery mode led nowhere, and when I booted from a recovery USB and accessed the Command Prompt, I discovered something alarming: while the disk was recognized as “online,” the associated partitions were offline. This raised a significant question—how could this happen?

In light of the urgency and the fact that I didn’t have crucial data on the drive, I decided to take drastic measures. I opted to wipe the SSD, convert it to the GPT partition scheme, and reinstall Windows from scratch. This definitely resolved the immediate issue, but it left me wondering about the root causes of the problem to better prepare for the future.

After some research and further troubleshooting, the prevailing theory is that my SSD might have experienced a disconnection, which led to the partitions being dismounted. While the reason for this occurrence remains unclear, it’s a reminder of how unexpected hardware issues can arise after upgrades.

For those facing a similar situation, I would recommend checking your SSD connections if you encounter similar boot errors. If you do find yourself in a bind, performing a clean installation—while a bit extreme—might get your system back up and running.

I’ll make sure to update this post should I discover any further insights into why this might have happened. If any readers have experienced something similar or have additional advice, I would appreciate your input. Let’s help each other troubleshoot these frustrating tech hiccups!