Can't boot to M.2 SSD

[STRMfrmXMN]

I bought a Samsung 960 EVO to use as a boot drive. I currently have it installed in this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017JGVTAM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 adapter on my Gigabyte B85M-DS3H rev 3.0 motherboard.

 

I can get to the Windows installation and can install Windows via my USB flash drive and everything is fine and dandy but when I go to restart my BIOS doesn't see it as a bootable device. I have messed with every setting imaginable in the BIOS, trying to enable/disable CSM, booting in UEFI mode only, etc, and for the life of me I cannot get this thing to be a bootable disk. I've resorted to using Samsung migration software to clone my old SSD to the 960 EVO in its adapter (Windows 10 recognizes the drive as a storage device I can save stuff to, it's in the Device Manager, but this is all on the install of Windows 10 on my old SSD) and the drive still is not a bootable device. 

 

Any idea what to do? 

[themctipers]

bios doesn't support booting off of nvme drive? :eyes:

[ARikozuM]

Are you sure that Windows Boot Manager doesn't show up in the BIOS under UEFI settings?

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Any series prior to 90 series doesn't have support for NVMe unless the manufacturer released an update for it.

[STRMfrmXMN]

22 minutes ago, itsmyjobtoknow said:

Any series prior to 90 series doesn't have support for NVMe unless the manufacturer released an update for it.

Not sure what you mean, this is the Haswell platform.

 

25 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Are you sure that Windows Boot Manager doesn't show up in the BIOS under UEFI settings?

Yup.

 

27 minutes ago, themctipers said:

bios doesn't support booting off of nvme drive? :eyes:

Doesn't the PCI adapter negate that?

[Energycore]

2 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Not sure what you mean, this is the Haskell platform.

I think he means chipset series. The 90-chipsets were released alongside Haswell Refresh just like the 200-chipsets were released alongside Skylake Refresh.

[Equlizer]

You need Z97 or higher. Linus made a video about it recently.

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Just now, STRMfrmXMN said:

Not sure what you mean, this is the Haskell platform.

 

Yup.

 

Doesn't the PCI adapter negate that?

An adapter is just an adapter...doesn't add any special software feature that allows incompatible hardware to become compatible. 

The BIOS has to have support to boot into the NVMe drive, otherwise it will be seen as another storage drive. 

I would know since I've looked into getting an Intel 750 for my z77 platform almost a year ago.

There is an option for you to get it working, but that will require you to modify the BIOS

[vanished]

12 minutes ago, themctipers said:

bios doesn't support booting off of nvme drive? :eyes:

My gut feeling is this is probably the issue, but I could be wrong

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 minutes ago, itsmyjobtoknow said:

An adapter is just an adapter...doesn't add any special software feature that allows incompatible hardware to become compatible. 

The BIOS has to have support to boot into the NVMe drive, otherwise it will be seen as another storage drive. 

I would know since I've looked into getting an Intel 750 for my z77 platform almost a year ago.

There is an option for you to get it working, but that will require you to modify the BIOS

Hmm, well this might have been a colossal waste of time and money on my part

[itsmyjobtoknow]

1 minute ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Hmm, well this might have been a colossal waste of time and money on my part

Can't you return it? Or did you pass that 15 day mark?

[ionbasa]

6 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Hmm, well this might have been a colossal waste of time and money on my part

Not really. You could use the GRUB2 boot loader on a SATA disk that points to the Windows install on the NVMe drive. This is known as chain loading. You can also use Windows to do this.

You can use something like EasyBCD: https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

 

Bootloader on SATA disk and then the Windows installation on the NVMe drive.

 

EDIT: If you give me a few hours I could test it out with EasyBCD on a VM and guide you through the setup.

[STRMfrmXMN]

7 minutes ago, itsmyjobtoknow said:

Can't you return it? Or did you pass that 15 day mark?

I can. No biggie. Just frustrated by the amount of shit I've had go wrong in the past couple weeks.

 

5 minutes ago, ionbasa said:

Not really. You could use the GRUB2 boot loader on a SATA disk that points to the Windows install on the NVMe drive. This is known as chain loading. You can also use Windows to do this.

You can use something like EasyBCD: https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

 

Bootloader on SATA disk and then the Windows installation on the NVMe drive.

 

EDIT: If you give me a few hours I could test it out with EasyBCD on a VM and guide you through the setup.

Awesome man, let me know how this goes, Might end up having to return the EVO and the adapter if it doesn't all work out.

[ionbasa]

3 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

I can. No biggie. Just frustrated by the amount of shit I've had go wrong in the past couple weeks.

 

Awesome man, let me know how this goes, Might end up having to return the EVO and the adapter if it doesn't all work out.

Just to double check, You're using Windows 10 and have your PC set to UEFI boot correct?

[STRMfrmXMN]

Just now, ionbasa said:

Just to double check, You're using Windows 10 and have your PC set to UEFI boot correct?

Yes.

[ionbasa]

2 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Yes.

Do you have windows installed right now on a non NVMe drive in the system? Mind downloading EasyBSB and posting a screenshot of the "View Settings tab" also post a screenshot of Disk management. Here's what mine look like so you know what I'm talking about:

 

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 minutes ago, ionbasa said:

Do you have windows installed right now on a non NVMe drive in the system? Mind downloading EasyBSB and posting a screenshot of the "View Settings tab" also post a screenshot of Disk management. Here's what mine look like so you know what I'm talking about:

 

 

 

Yes, I have Windows 10 Pro installed on my OCZ Arc 100 SATA SSD. Note that I'm back to using my GTX 970 in the PCI slot the M.2 drive was adapted into. Should I put it back in?

 

[ionbasa]

1 minute ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Yes, I have Windows 10 Pro installed on my OCZ Arc 100 SATA SSD. Note that I'm back to using my GTX 970 in the PCI slot the M.2 drive was adapted into. Should I put it back in?

 

Yes, Could you re-install the NVMe drive and then re-post screenshots. 

[STRMfrmXMN]

Just now, ionbasa said:

Yes, Could you re-install the NVMe drive and then re-post screenshots. 

Will be back.

[STRMfrmXMN]

6 minutes ago, ionbasa said:

Yes, Could you re-install the NVMe drive and then re-post screenshots. 

 

 

The 960 EVO is 250GB BTW

[SuperShermanTanker]

19 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

I can. No biggie. Just frustrated by the amount of shit I've had go wrong in the past couple weeks.

 

Awesome man, let me know how this goes, Might end up having to return the EVO and the adapter if it doesn't all work out.

Hay at least you don't have a magical unicorn computer that turns itself on from a fully shut of state and have 5.5tb of hard drives you have to worry about every time it turns itself on when your not in the room. PS sorry for going off topic and I agree with the posts saying it's the chipset or the bios, the only B85 board I have is a Asrock ITX one in my LAN Party/Spare PC and that doesn't have a M2 port on it so I can only go by basic knowledge of M2 only really being implemented in the mainstream during the later parts of Haswell/Haswell Refresh lifetime.

[ionbasa]

10 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

 

 

The 960 EVO is 250GB BTW

 

Just to get this out of the way, This should work, but might break your Windows install, so backup anything important before proceeding. Also, have the Windows 10 installation media (DVD, Flash drive) handy incase anything goes awry.

 

So, it seems that the NVMe Windows install is on drive letter "G". EasyBCD uses drive letters to make things easy.

 

Go into EasyBCD, and select the "Add new Entry" tab on the left.

Name it something like "Windows NVMe" and select the drive letter as "G" then click "Add Entry"\

Next, go to the "Edit Boot Menu" tab on the left and click the save settings buton in the lower right hand corner.

 

Now post a screenshot of the "View Settings" so I can see what it looks like. If it all looks good, then restart and you should be prompted which OS to boot.

[STRMfrmXMN]

4 minutes ago, ionbasa said:

 

Just to get this out of the way, This should work, but might break your Windows install, so backup anything important before proceeding. Also, have the Windows 10 installation media (DVD, Flash drive) handy incase anything goes awry.

 

So, it seems that the NVMe Windows install is on drive letter "G". EasyBCD uses drive letters to make things easy.

 

Go into EasyBCD, and select the "Add new Entry" tab on the left.

Name it something like "Windows NVMe" and select the drive letter as "G" then click "Add Entry"\

Next, go to the "Edit Boot Menu" tab on the left and click the save settings buton in the lower right hand corner.

 

Now post a screenshot of the "View Settings" so I can see what it looks like. If it all looks good, then restart and you should be prompted which OS to boot.

OK, all that done, here it is.

[ionbasa]

1 minute ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

OK, all that done, here it is.

Well I guess restart and see what happens! It looks good on my end.

 

Just remember, have your important data backed up before restarting. Also have the Windows Install media handy!

[STRMfrmXMN]

1 minute ago, ionbasa said:

Well I guess restart and see what happens! It looks good on my end.

 

Just remember, have your important data backed up before restarting. Also have the Windows Install media handy!

Awesome, see ya then.