Article ID: 000057370 Content Type: Troubleshooting Last Reviewed: 08/04/2021

Primary Drive Stopped Booting after Removing Intel® Optane™ Memory

Environment

windows1064bit

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Summary

Steps to try if Intel® Optane™ memory was removed from the system without first disabling the system acceleration

Description

The primary system drive is not able to boot after removing the Intel® Optane™ Memory module from the system.

Resolution
NoteIntel® Optane™ acceleration must be always disabled prior the removal of Intel® Optane™ memory from the system. The steps below can be followed to try to get access to the primary drive if the system stopped booting after Intel® Optane™ memory was removed without disabling it beforehand. However, keep in mind there are no official recovery methods that will guarantee the success of this operation. Having a backup of the data is always recommended.

To try to boot the system and get access to the data in the primary drive, follow one of the options below. If the first option does not work, try the next one.

Hardware or BIOS changes

  1. Revert any changes performed at BIOS or hardware level.
  2. Install Intel® Optane™ memory back in its original M.2 port.
  3. Try to boot.

Booting into Safe Mode

  1. Windows* 10 should automatically display the Startup Options after three consecutive failed boot attempts:
    • Click Troubleshoot > Advanced Option > Startup Settings > Restart. The computer should boot into a blue screen with several boot options.
    • Select option 5: Safe Mode with Networking.
  2. The system should restart and automatically boot into Safe Mode.
    NoteMore details on how to enable Safe Mode from a black screen can be found in Start your PC in safe mode in Windows 10.

Secondary drive

  1. Connect the system drive to a different computer as a secondary drive to try to recover the information
  2. If a different computer is not available but the system has the option to boot from a different drive, try using this option.

Related Products

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