Asus X99 Deluxe, M.2 SSD not detected.

[Mainfold]

Ok, so got all of my X99 awesomeness today, and it all works so good, except one thing.. the M.2 SSD will (for some reason) not be detected/show up.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's not like it's not correctly put in to the socket etc, no physical interface that's not connected as it should be.

 

It makes no difference if it's put in to the on-board M.2X4 slot, or the Asus Hyper M.2 X 4 Card that was included (and is clearly working, as the power-led works etc), it just doesn't appear in the BIOS or OS.

 

What could I be forgetting? Could it be that the board needs some hotfix or beta-bios installed for it to work?

 

 

The M.2 SSD is a Cruicial M500 240GB, and it's brand new, doesn't appear to have any form of damage from the shipping and such.

 

 

Anyone have any clue what's going on?

[wng_kingsley7]

Ok, so got all of my X99 awesomeness today, and it all works so good, except one thing.. the M.2 SSD will (for some reason) not be detected/show up. Don't get me wrong, it's not like it's not correctly put in to the socket etc, no physical interface that's not connected as it should be.  It makes no difference if it's put in to the on-board M.2X4 slot, or the Asus Hyper M.2 X 4 Card that was included (and is clearly working, as the power-led works etc), it just doesn't appear in the BIOS or OS. 

 

What could I be forgetting? Could it be that the board needs some hotfix or beta-bios installed for it to work? The M.2 SSD is a Cruicial M500 240GB, and it's brand new, doesn't appear to have any form of damage from the shipping and such. Anyone have any clue what's going on?

Which 2011-3 cpu do you have? on some of the asus X99 motherboards it heavily reliant on the cpu whether you have the 5820K or 5930K/5960X. The two (5960X/5930K) have enough pci-e bandwidth to allocate to the fourth/fifth pci-e physical 16x lane which can be also used for the m.2 drive.

[Mainfold]

Which 2011-3 cpu do you have? on some of the asus X99 motherboards it heavily reliant on the cpu whether you have the 5820K or 5930K/5960X. The two (5960X/5930K) have enough pci-e bandwidth to allocate to the fourth/fifth pci-e physical 16x lane which can be also used for the m.2 drive.

 

Yeah, but regardless if you had the 5820K, 5930K or 5960X, the onboard one wouldn't require more than 12x as it's a B&M-key SSD on a B-key socket.. so even if you had the 5820K, that would make it 12x + 16x and result in 28x.. which would be supported by the 5820K anyway.

 

So something like that shouldn't be the issue anyways. (also, the Hyper M.2 X 4 is supposed to not use more than 8x anyways, so I'm still not sure what could be causing it)

[Mainfold]

Gonna try with a 5820K, see if it persists (even though I don't think that one would make the situation any better, but worth a shot lol).

[theMoP]

Yeah, but regardless if you had the 5820K, 5930K or 5960X, the onboard one wouldn't require more than 12x as it's a B&M-key SSD on a B-key socket.. so even if you had the 5820K, that would make it 12x + 16x and result in 28x.. which would be supported by the 5820K anyway.

 

So something like that shouldn't be the issue anyways. (also, the Hyper M.2 X 4 is supposed to not use more than 8x anyways, so I'm still not sure what could be causing it)

hi, mainfold

 

i'm a bit of a newb, but found this thread while researching whether i could use an m.2 ssd as my boot drive on my new x99 rampage v extreme...so i registered just to reply to you

 

it's hard to find information about this, and so i thought maybe i'd add my 2 cents here...and perhaps we can muddle our way through this together =)

 

on my board, the m.2 slot is here and runs parallel to the mobo:

 

 

you can see by the number of contact points (5) that the m.2 ssd key needs to be an "m" type

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2#mediaviewer/File:M2_Edge_Connector_Keying.svg

 

if you don't want to use this interface (or if you want to add another m.2 ssd), you can use the bundled asus hyper m.2 x4 pcie add-in card... which should let you use any key (m, b, or b + m)... but will only work for pci-e ssd's

 

the crucial m500 240gb ssd you mention seems to be a sata 6gb ssd - could this be the problem?

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct240m500ssd1

 

assuming i'm correct in all of the above, i'm planning on using a samsung xp941 256gb ssd (m key) w/o the add-in card:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mzhpu256hcgl00000

 

hope this helps =)

[Mainfold]

Found out what may be the "issue".. 

 

Asus X99 Deluxe only has 6 "validated" M.2 SSD's thus far, and those are:

 

• Plextor PX-G128M6E
• Sandisk SD6PP4M-128G
• Sandisk SD6PP4M-256G
• Samsung XP941 MZ-HPU128T
• Liteon LJT-128B1P-2260-128GB
• Samsung XP941 MZ-HPU512T

 

Any M.2 that is not on that list (according to Asus), has no guarantee of working at all. So, it's a matter of controllers then (I assume), as only these 6 work for sure.

 

So, maybe it'll be fixed in a bios-update soon, or maybe not.. it's Asus, we never know if they will or not. Would be nice to have Asus' JJ accessible for replies on such topics.

 

 

(edit):

this is not a "normal" SSD no, it's just that their line of SSD's is called "M500", and you have to search for M500 M.2 to find it. 

Most likely, Asus hasn't made the Micron-controllers work for M.2 yet, which would make sense.

[theMoP]

Found out what may be the "issue".. 

 

Asus X99 Deluxe only has 6 "validated" M.2 SSD's thus far, and those are:

 

• Plextor PX-G128M6E
• Sandisk SD6PP4M-128G
• Sandisk SD6PP4M-256G
• Samsung XP941 MZ-HPU128T
• Liteon LJT-128B1P-2260-128GB
• Samsung XP941 MZ-HPU512T

 

Any M.2 that is not on that list (according to Asus), has no guarantee of working at all. So, it's a matter of controllers then (I assume), as only these 6 work for sure.

 

So, maybe it'll be fixed in a bios-update soon, or maybe not.. it's Asus, we never know if they will or not. Would be nice to have Asus' JJ accessible for replies on such topics.

 

 

(edit):

this is not a "normal" SSD no, it's just that their line of SSD's is called "M500", and you have to search for M500 M.2 to find it. 

Most likely, Asus hasn't made the Micron-controllers work for M.2 yet, which would make sense.

 

ahh, ok... i looked up the wrong ssd -- but on that image you can see that it says sata 6gb/s (it's a b + m key, btw) -- i'm pretty sure asus said that only pcie-type ssd's work with these sku's

 

btw, i suspect that "validated" list isn't totally inclusive...for example the plextor also comes in 256 and 512gb models, with the identical interface (b + m), form factor (m.2-2280), and ssd controller (marvell 9183)

 

as well, the samsung xp941 mz-hpu512t and the xp941 mzhpu512hcgl-00000 are, for all intents and purposes, identical cards (both m key, etc)...and the 128 and 256gb models of the latter are all identical in interface, form factor, and ssd controller

 

still scratching my head - lol

[theMoP]

did some more digging and think i've confirmed my suspicion...

 

"ASUS integrated the following features into the X99-Deluxe's design: eight SATA 3 ports; an M.2 PCIe x4 capable port; two SATA Express 10 Gb/s ports; dual Intel Gigabit NICs - Intel I218-V and Intel I211 controllers; a Broadcom 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth controller; five PCI-Express x16 slots; one PCI-Express x4 slot; 2-digit diagnostic LED display; on-board power, reset, CMOS clear, USB BIOS Flashback, and MemOK! buttons; TPU, EPU, EZ_XMP, and multi-GPU switches; Crystal Sound 2 audio solution; and USB 2.0 and 3.0 port support. Also included with the board are the Fan Extension card, M.2 support bracket, and ASUS Hyper M.2 x4 add-on card."

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Motherboards/ASUS-X99-Deluxe-Motherboard-Review

 

 

"M.2 (and SATA Express) are the future for SSDs, however there are different grades of SSD in terms of length and performance that need to be noted before buying. Certain keying on the M.2 SSD can help prevent mis-matching, but some motherboards only accept up to certain sized devices.

Please note: This article assumes that you have confirmed your motherboard/notebook supports PCI-Express M.2 SSDs, not SATA ones. Read our earlier guide to understand why this is important.

M.2 SSD Keying

Currently an M.2 SSD has either one of three key types: B, M or B+M, while a socket can only have one key. As the key positions of B and M are slightly different, the M. SSD can only be installed one way.

A ‘B’ keying (pins 12-19) gives PCI Express SSDs up to 2x lanes of bandwidth, while a ‘M’ keying (pins 59-66) provides PCI Express SSDs with up to 4x lanes of bandwidth. Even with 2x lanes of bandwidth a ‘B’ keyed M.2 SSD still gives 10Gbit/s performance, whereas the 4x lanes on ‘M’ gives up to 20Gbit/s. M.2 SSDs with B+M keying maximize compatibility in both slots, and will operate with 2x lanes of bandwidth." [so b + m keying can be used, but at only 10Gbit/s]

http://rog.asus.com/313352014/labels/guides/buying-an-m-2-ssd-how-to-tell-which-is-which/

 

"One used to mean the other, but we are currently on the cusp of two inflection points in the SSD market: the first is a protocol change from SATA to PCI-Express; as data, this is not something you can see directly.

The second is the change in physical connectivity. Instead of just the common SATA connector, we now have several different connector types, with each offering their specific benefits.

The seen (connector) and unseen (protocol) cross-over can potentially catch the unprepared upgrader off-guard. Follow our terminology guide below to understand the differences and what to look for in your 2014 upgrade.

...

"Briefly known as NGFF (next generation form factor after mSATA), M.2 is the current connector standard for mobile SSDs, although it has also been adopted by motherboards as well. M.2 connector can plug in both PCI-Express-based and SATA-based SSDs, but is generally PCI-Express-based only. This is important because, as we explained above, SATA and PCI-Express protocols are not inter-compatible. The only way to confirm compatibility between your motherboard M.2 slot and your M.2 SSD is to read the respective product specifications first: if they match PCI-Express-to-PCI-Express or SATA-to-SATA, you’re good to go!"

http://rog.asus.com/308552014/labels/guides/ssd-guide-pci-express-m-2-msata-and-sata-express-the-differences-explained/

 

note: the previous two links were first posted in reference to m.2 pcie 2.0, and before pcie 3.0 came out...and the x99 has 3.0, so the "m key" ssd's with m.2 pcie 3.0 4x lanes can have the 32Gbit/s performance that you'll often see mentioned -- i can't confirm if the 3.0 will boost the "b + m key" in the same manner

 

hope this helps! =)

[Lefty]

I don' know I this makes a difference, but Crucial Is not on the QVL.  I know that really doesn't matter , but with the new tech, it might?

 

I'm about to use the Samsung xp941 mz-hpu512t.  I let you know what happens.