Old Optiplex Can't Find A Bootable Hard Drive

Don't Panic

One cause may be a dead CMOS battery and the BIOS reset to default.

F2 and check the BIOS. If it's set to Legacy and Raid instead of AHCI and the date is somewhere in 2007, the battery is probably dead.

Window's 11 can run on legacy boot but it's a little risky and doesn't always work.

What to do.

1. Install a new battery

2. Create a Windows install bootable flash drive.

3. Open the Gemini app on your phone and tell it what is going on.

You are all set. Do what it tells you to do.

Good Luck

Gemini and I fixed the boot sector and BIOS settings once. I noticed the date problem and reset it but didn't' bother replacing the battery. In the old days we could just F1 and continue to boot. Those days oar over. After a fer weeks it happened again. I had to do it all over but this time I replaced the battery.

Ventoy Hint

I dropped a downloaded Win.iso onto Ventoy. I would not boot in standard mode. I had to use Wim-boot. It loads everything into memory and boots. 

Here is the entire process:

Windows Can't Find A Boot Drive

(This assumes Windows was installed as UEFI boot before the failure).

Boot to BIOS

(usually F2)

Check if set to:

Windows Boot Loader

UEFI

AHCI (Don't worry if changing from RAID. Change it. Win11 will handle the change)

Determine the OS drive letter and the volume number of the EFI partition

(Drive letter may not be the same as when the PC is booted).

Boot to Wininstall.iso from a flash drive. F12 launches boot selector in Dells.

At the first screen:

Shift + F10 for command prompt

diskpart

list disk

You see the list of disks.

If obvious say in diskpart.

If not, exit diskpart and check for the right disk.

dir

(Determine the disk letter)

You may need to access the drive and be sure it contains the Windows install.

Let's assume the drive is D

diskpart

list disk

select disk D

list volume

The EFI volume will not (usually) have a letter.

It must be given a letter to write to it.

It will have a size of 100MB-500MB and be FAT32

Let's assume the volume of the EFI is 3

In diskpart do this:

select volume 3

assign letter=S

exit

Exit is needed because the next commands are in command prompt

bcdboot D:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

26H2 Upgrade

 https://catalog.sf.dl.delivery.mp.microsoft.com/filestreamingservice/files/94520a88-858f-4832-a57d-7211f6d84a4e/public/Windows11.0-KB5121794-x64_5e20a3cce48d6611b16bdec42b07167f5456586a.msu

Open Code Stuff

Installing Open Code Desktop with Winget

Open Code is a Coding Harness or Coding Agent that access AI models and performs tasks and functions. It can access the operating system and run commands, etc.

The Desktop version is install and go. It just works. Lots of settings are available but unnecessary to use and try.

These commands install the same thing.

winget install SST.OpenCode

or

winget install SST.OpenCodeDesktop

Why would any normal human want Open Code Desktop installed?

It can interact with your system.

I just installed it last night and wondered what I would do with it. Today I tried to print something. I'm on a laptop that was not used after we installed fiber so the printer configs were all wrong. I asked Open Code to fix it. It reset the printer and all jobs in the print spooler printed. Sure, you could do it yourself but where's the fun in that?

It works in Linux just fine. I had installed Mint on an old laptop. I download the .deb file and installed it. Num Lock was not enabled. A num lock function needed to be installed and Open Code didn't have access to the sudo or maybe just the password so it had me install it and tell it when I was done. Then it enabled the settings.

If you have X Premium Grok can be connected. And you get the most recent version 😎

To cut down on token usage (even when using free access)

Always open a new session or clear the session. All material is included in the request. You don't want stale, useless text being submitted to the LLM.

Ctrl+X opens new session

/new clears the current session an start new

Workflow habits:

Keep sessions short and scoped (cost grows non-linearly with depth)

Use the plan agent for exploration, not the build agent

    file-settings-Show agent turn it on. This allows selecting Plan of Build

Break work into subagents (they spawn with empty context) 

Learning Places

https://opencode.school/lessons/skills/

https://codesignal.com/learn/courses/foundation-getting-started-with-opencode/lessons/getting-started-with-opencode

https://github.com/wesammustafa/opencode-primer

Use Plugins to limit tokens

This is the opencode.jsonc where plugins go (skills go in SKILL.md)

{

  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",

  "plugin": [

    "openslimedit@latest",

    "@tarquinen/opencode-dcp@latest",

    "opencode-snip@latest"

  ]

}

The snip skill is here https://github.com/edouard-claude/snip/releases

To register it do this after putting snip.exe in "C:\Users\George\.local\bin"

In Powershell do this:

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable

  "Path",

  [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","User") + ";C:\Users\George\.local\bin",

  "User"

)   

To check, close terminal, reopen and type "snip --version"

Omarchy Stuff

On the Try Omarchy VM for Windows

https://tryomarchy.com/

Set scaling to 1 instead of 2 on 1080p

nano ~/.config/hypr/monitors.lua   

hyprctl reload

Windows can be widened. Look through the key bindings.

Haha, you will have to install Nano unless you want to use NeoVim

Note: I had to do this for Gimp. Set to 2 did not leave room to read the edges of Gimp.

If, for some reason, you can't use Windows, Linux can be a good option.

1. Windows won't install on your system? (Which is why I have one CachyOS system.)

2. Hardware is limited?

But unless you require emotional comfort from "creating your own system", which you really aren't doing if you are honest, I don't see the advantage. After trying OmarchyOS and CachyOS, both of which are very fast, fun and entertaining. They don't do anything for me Windows lacks. And they do make some things more difficult. Partly do to my lack of experience but often it's how Linux does things. Omarchy's window manager and hot key approach is very like how I often use Windows. But with Windows I'm not restricted to window manager/ hot key only. Try using Anydesk or RustDesk. Oh I'm sorry, they don't display on Wayland. Do I really need them? Yes, I do. I can use my keyboard to launch almost anything on my Windows system. And yes, I can tile them, close them, and place them on workspaces. 😂

OMG, are you using Omarchy?

Nope, boring old Windows. 😂

Browser Settings Script

 PowerShell Admin

https://github.com/corbindavenport/just-the-browser

Includes reversals

Just now trying it. 

Winaero Stuff

An effort to make Windows setups consistent.

My list:

Take Ownership

Disable User Folder Backup to OneDrive

Atomatic Registry Backup

Ads and Unwanted Apps

Shut Down

PowerShell as Administrator

Command Prompt as Administrator

Disable "Shortcut" Text

Remove Windows Spotlight Desktop Icon

Restart Explorer

Disable Web Search

In Wintoys so no need to duplicate here

Classic Full Conten Menus

Enable NumLock on Logon Screen

Here is a .ini file to import into Winaero.

I included the duplicates included in Wintoys in case they are missed when setting up Wintoys.

Name it something.ini then use File > import

[Format]

ProductName=Winaero Tweaker

ProductVersion=1.65.0.0

FormatVersion=1.1

[User]

pageDisableSpotlightDesktopIcon=1

pageNumlockLoginState=1

pageContextMenuShutDown=1

pageContextMenuTakeOwnership=1

pageDisableShortcutText=1

pageWin11ClassicContextMenus=1

pageContextMenuPSAsAdmin=1

pageDisableWebSearch=1

pageContextMenuCmdAsAdmin=1

pageContextMenuRestartExplorer=1

pageAdsUnwantedApps=1

pageRegistryAutomaticBackup=1

pageOneDriveDisableUserFolderBackup=1

[pageContextMenuPSAsAdmin]

contextMenuTitle=Windows PowerShell (Run as Administrator)

Extended=0

[pageContextMenuCmdAsAdmin]

contextMenuTitle=Command Prompt (Administrator)

Extended=0

[pageAdsUnwantedApps]

UnwantedAppsDisabled=1

FileExplorerAdsDisabled=1

LockScreenAdsDisabled=1

StartSuggestionsDisabled=1

TipsAboutWindowsDisabled=1

WelcomePageDisabled=1

SettingsAdsDisabled=1

TimelineSuggestionsDisabled=0

Wintoys Stuff

Wintoys_Performance_Settings

 Wintoys_Health_Settings

Wintoys_Desktop_Settings

Wintoys_StartMenu_Settings

Wintoys_StartMenu_Settings

Winget_FileExplorer_Settings

Wintoys_Privacy_Settings

Wintoys_Ads_Settings

Wintoys_System_Settings

Making A Powershell Shortcut For Invoke Commands

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Start-Process powershell.exe -verb runas -ArgumentList 'irm https://christitus.com/win | iex'

Right click on the Desktop and choose"New and Shorcut".

"Type the location of the item" is where you paste the above string.

The problem arises when the string gets applied to both "Target and Start in".

Right click the shortcut and open "properties"

Delete the "Start in" entry and "apply" and it will work.

Simply change the text after "ArgumentList" for different shortcuts.

GL.iNet GL-MT3000 Beryl AX Wi-Fi 6 Travel Router

 https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNet-GL-MT3000-Pocket-Sized-Wireless-Gigabit/dp/B0BPSGJN7T

I probably have more setup instruction saved somewhere but the one thing that always stumps me when connecting in a hotel is:

   You don't connect to the splash page in the phone app or setup tab.

   You have connected the router to the hotel's wifi and your phone/pc is connected to the router.

   Check your wifi connection. It may give a way to launch the portal.

   If the portal launches but authorization is refused, read the whole page. It may provide a way to launch again.

   Open some http: address the access the hotel splash page or plain old google.com.

To be clear. You don't access the splash page within the GL app. Use a browser.

  

Chris Titus Tools

 This is what I have decided on today. Tomorrow may change. 😂