Trouble with m.2

[jacobbocaj]

Specs:

 

Mobo: SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 and manual

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti

RAM: G.Skill DDR4 2132

OS: Win 7

boot SSD: Kingston

storage SSD: SanDisk Ultra II

m.2: Intel SSD 6 (SSDPEKNW010T8X1)

 

Just bought the m.2, installed in the m.2 port on the mobo, but didn't see in bios.

 

1. flashed bios to latest version 
2. Installed misc. drivers for the mobo I might have missed 
3. Changed bios settings: changed "M.2 and SATA Express SATA Mode Configuration:" to M.2, changed "PCI-EX16_3 Bandwidth [Auto]" to "x4" mode. 

 

Still nothing.

1. Threw the M.2 onto the "Hyper Kit" that came with the mobo that puts an M.2 port into a PCIe slot,
2. enabled the hyper kit in bios, and then
3. Proffit! found the M.2 in the Bios.

New problem: Now my boot and storage SSD's are BOTH missing. Read online and in the manual that SATA port 1 might not work, nor would ports 5 and 6.

• Moved the SSD's to ports 2 and 4.

Now I can see all hard drives in boot options. Yay! However, in windows, Computer Management -> Disk Management, both the m.2 drive and my SanDisk SSD is missing. So, after trial and error and restarts, found that the SanDisk won't show up when either of the first two bios settings are changed(the m.2 and x4 mode). But changing them makes the m.2 disappear. Regardless, nothing I do seems to bring the m.2 into Disk Management in windows. Haven't tried moving the SanDisk to p3 yet.

 

Any ideas on finding the m.2?

 

Thanks so much in advance.

 

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EDIT:

Figured it out. Problem is Windows 7. Need the driver hotfix that Microsoft DID have in their store once, but since removed for their Windows 10 propaganda business model. Managed to find them on a lonely old forum, and I'll host them here in case anyone finds this and has a similar issue. (x64 only)

Windows6.1-KB2990941-v3-x64.msu

Windows6.1-KB3087873-v2-x64.msu