Ionico Iii 17 both drives have failed. No USB function to reinstal windows on replacement drive

[RobbieH]

Hi All. I'm new here and I'm hoping someone can help me out of this crazy situation.

Ionico Iii 17. 18 months old.
2 NVME SSD drives. (1) 500G system drive. (2) 1TB storage.
3 USB 3 ports
1 USB c port
hdmi
LAN port
micro SD card reader
Core I7 (12th gen)


The storage drive failed in August this year 2023. All data gone....sigh.. PCS sent me a replacement. I installed it. It worked fine.

The system drive failed around 2 weeks ago. PCS sympathized by no replacement this time so I bought a 1TB replacement which I installed.

My intention was to install windows on this new drive.

I Set the boot sequence to USB in the bios and tried to install windows from a properly prepared USB drive. I've done this kind of thing plenty of times before over the years. No biggie! Or so I thought.

Windows refused to load from the USB key (4 different drives tried in all 3 USB ports). The USB ports all appear to be not working. I had an hour long call with tech support who walked me through the same steps I had already taken. No Joy. I cannot get the laptop to recognize the bootable USB. I've tried 4 separate USB drives. All properly configured and working in an older laptop.
There are 3 USB 3 ports. none of them are working. There is also a USB c port. That also is not working.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

I'd be most grateful.

Robbie

 

[Bhuna50]

Can you post your full spec from your order page please.

 

[RobbieH]

I've attached screenshots of the relevant specs from the page.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I've attached screenshots of the relevant specs from the page.

If you can copy and paste the specs from the order page please?

Did you order it with windows 10 or 11 and what version were you trying to install? Were you using the latest image from microsoft?

 

[RobbieH]

Ok. I thought Id copied and pasted. Hmm. Let me try that again.

 

[RobbieH]

I think that should do it.... I hope.

 

[Bhuna50]

How to Post Your Specification to the Forum - Check this Spec

When creating a forum post looking to discuss a PC spec there's a really simple way to post the spec in question here. IF YOU HAVEN'T ORDERED ONE YET AND ARE LOOKING FOR ADVICE ON A BUILD follow this step. IF YOU HAVE ALREADY ORDERED AND ARE ASKED FOR SPECS follow the next post. Click the...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Can you post the entire spec as per this link please. not just the bits you think we want to see.

 

[RobbieH]

I ordered the laptop with windows 10. I tried the reinstall using the latest version from Microsoft website. I also tried using the iso recovery image from PCS website.

I'm dealing with multiple problems here.
1. The failure of both drives within a very short time.
2 non functional USB ports that won't pick up the USB drives.

I should also say that I've plugged several devices into the USB ports... Phones, peripherals etc to see if there was any power getting to them. In each case you'd normally see a small led or a charging icon etc. This time the USB ports seem to output no charge. They appear, for all intents and purposes to be dead.

 

[RobbieH]

Thanks for the instructions folks. And thank you for your patience.


Chassis & Display
Ionico Series: 17.3" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1440)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 14 Core Processor 12700H (4.7GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 3070 Ti - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 280W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Ionico Series Integrated 91WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C) + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
IONICO 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Carry Case
Trust 17.3" Notebook Carry Bag Classic
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: €0.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/ionico-iii-17/BJQG4geQC7/

 

[Martinr36]

Can you post screenshots of the following:

1. Windows update page including optional updates
2. the device manager page especially the USB section

 

[RobbieH]

I mentioned in my original post that my system drive is dead. Failed. Deceased. Therefore no operating system. So, the laptop is just a very expensive paperweight at present that will only boot to bios.

 

[RobbieH]

Essentially I need to get the USB ports working again so I can load a new install of windows to the new drive I bought.

 

[Bhuna50]

Have you opened it up to check for any loose connections / wires. If USBs are all dead it sounds as if something might have come loose off of the motherboard

Does it even have power at all and you can get into BIOS? have you amended Bios settings to boot from usb first? Have you done anything with bios?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Essentially I need to get the USB ports working again so I can load a new install of windows to the new drive I bought.

I know this may sound redundant, but are you preparing the USB with the Microsoft tool or with Rufus or something?

And again may sound crazy, but try creating a bootable Linux Mint USB and see if that will boot?

 

[RobbieH]

Hi. Here's the situation.

The laptop powers on and boots to bios.

That's it.

I set boot sequence to USB in bios.

I physically removed the failed system drive and put in a new drive that I bought.

I did a visual inspection insofar as it was possible and I saw no signs of anything loose or disconnected.

I tried installing windows using two sources. One, using the Microsoft media creation tool And two, downloading the windows recovery iso image from the download section of PCS website. As I said above, I've done this type of thing before. It's not a complicated procedure.

In both cases I used a 32gb USB drive. I have 4 of these drives. They all work perfectly in my 10 yr old MSI laptop.

There's little point in trying the Linux option I think. The USB ports are not functioning.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi. Here's the situation.

The laptop powers on and boots to bios.

That's it.

I set boot sequence to USB in bios.

I physically removed the failed system drive and put in a new drive that I bought.

I did a visual inspection insofar as it was possible and I saw no signs of anything loose or disconnected.

I tried installing windows using two sources. One, using the Microsoft media creation tool And two, downloading the windows recovery iso image from the download section of PCS website. As I said above, I've done this type of thing before. It's not a complicated procedure.

In both cases I used a 32gb USB drive. I have 4 of these drives. They all work perfectly in my 10 yr old MSI laptop.

There's little point in trying the Linux option I think. The USB ports are not functioning.

Apologies, I didn't see that they were working on another laptop.

In that case, your only option is to RMA it if it's a hardware issue.

 

[RobbieH]

I'll probably have to send it back to PCS for evaluation and repair. Not something you would expect from a 3000 euro machine in less than 18 months. Sigh....

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'll probably have to send it back to PCS for evaluation and repair. Not something you would expect from a 3000 euro machine in less than 18 months. Sigh....

Price has no implication on component reliability, there's no way to guarantee any electronic component, all manufacturers can do is stress test them out of the factory and hope they last their lifetime, but often this isn't the case, that's why component warranties are so important.

 

[Bhuna50]

It always surprised me when people will happily pay over £2k for the laptops but won't add £69 for the extra warranty.

 

[ubuysa]

Personally I think the Linux option is an excellent idea, you can never assume. I would also suggest using a smaller flash drive, just because they work in another laptop doesn't mean that this laptop doesn't like booting such a relatively big USB drive. None of that may help of course, but you need to cover all the bases before you go for an RMA.