Can't find M.2 Nvme SSD in Boot Priority

[Raj Aryan]

Hello everyone, 

 

I just upgraded my system with new M.2 SSD (nvme 250gb Samsung evo plus) and i was able to install windows 10 x64 on it and after installation everything was running smooth. Also while installing windows on M.2 SSD I physically  removed all my other storage device from motherboard (sata ssd and hdd). Then i restarted my pc and i got a error blue screen so i did hard restart (from cabinet button) and went into bios to see if my motherboard is detecting the M.2 SSD or not. My board recognizes the M.2 storage in "Onboard device configuration" and also in boot selection menu (the one which comes when you press F8). The strange part is that my boot order is showing only my WD HDD with Windows manager written with it and when i tried to configure boot options from motherboard bios options i can only see my Sata SSD and Sata HDD, i can't find the option to choose M.2 as my primary boot device. I tried everything which i knew and now i have no clues what to do. 

 

Note - I never installed windows on my HDD, i used to have windows on my ssd which i completely formatted after installing OS on M.2 and now it's being used as storage device. 

 

I am able to boot windows and able to use my PC when i choose M.2 from boot selection menu (by pressing F8 on bios) screen. 

Please help me because i want to use M.2 as my primary boot as it is super fast and makes my life easy while using my PC. It is so frustrating to always go to bios and select the M.2 from there and then boot. Any help is highly appreciated.

 

 

 

 

PC Specs - 

Mobo - Asus z97-a 

CPU - Intel i7 4790k 

Ram - 16gb 1600mz (8x2)

GPU - Zotac RTX 2060 Super 

Storage - WD Blue 1TB, Toshiba SSD 128Gb, M.2 nvme 250gb samsung evo plus (2280) 

OS - Windows 10 64bit 

[AndreiArgeanu]

It's probably because it's in UEFI. I encountered the same issue when I installed an SSD in my laptop which was detected but didn't appear in the boot order. Either switch from UEFI to BIOS or get your installation for windows for UEFI. I'd recommend doing the 2nd one where you get your windows installation for UEFI

[Raj Aryan]

12 hours ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

It's probably because it's in UEFI. I encountered the same issue when I installed an SSD in my laptop which was detected but didn't appear in the boot order. Either switch from UEFI to BIOS or get your installation for windows for UEFI. I'd recommend doing the 2nd one where you get your windows installation for UEFI

How do I do that? I am not very good with bios stuff. I usually follow you tube and forums to solve my problem, can you please explain in more detail?

[AndreiArgeanu]

7 hours ago, Raj Aryan said:

How do I do that? I am not very good with bios stuff. I usually follow you tube and forums to solve my problem, can you please explain in more detail?

It depend on the BIOS, but generally speaking look around your boot options and disable secure boot, and then look for a setting that menitons UEFI

[Raj Aryan]

On 5/29/2020 at 7:04 PM, AndreiArgeanu said:

It depend on the BIOS, but generally speaking look around your boot options and disable secure boot, and then look for a setting that menitons UEFI

Following are the settings which solved my problem - 

 

Advanced\PCH Storage Configuration\Sata mode selection - AHCI

Advanced\Onboard Devices Configuration\PCIE Express Slot and M.2 Bandwidth - M.2 mode

Boot\Fast Boot - disabled

Boot\CSM\Launch CSM - Enabled

Boot\CSM\Boot Devices Control - UEFI and legacy

Boot\CSM\Boot from Storage Devices - Legacy oprom first

Boot\CSM\Boot from PCIE Devices - Legacy oprom first

Boot\CSM\Secure Boot - other OS

Hardrive BBS - Option 1 = M.2 SSD

Hardrive BBS - Option 2 and 3 = Disabled

 

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate the help.

[homeap5]

In boot order you can choose only drive or other peripherals. Which drive it is you must choose in different place called hdd priority (or similar). So you must first set your m2 as first drive in disk order and then choose boot from drive. I hope it's not confusing.

[AndreiArgeanu]

4 hours ago, Raj Aryan said:

Boot\CSM\Boot Devices Control - UEFI and legacy

See if you can change this to something else, perhaps something that mentions BIOS

 

[Raj Aryan]

1 hour ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

See if you can change this to something else, perhaps something that mentions BIOS

 

in this section there was no option to choose only bios

[Nayr438]

2 hours ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

See if you can change this to something else, perhaps something that mentions BIOS

 

The BIOS is the motherboards firmware image for controlling everything. There should only be Legacy and UEFI options for the boot process mode, if it's called something else on your system, that is just due to your motherboard manufacturer naming it differently.

1 hour ago, Raj Aryan said:

in this section there was no option to choose only bios

Boot\CSM\Launch CSM - Enabled   Should be enough to allow the drive to show up if the drive isn't formatted for EUFI using the GUID Partition Table (GPT) and a Fat32 EFI Partition flagged as bootable.

 

If you reinstalled windows, with windows already installed on another connected drive. It may have reused the EFI Partition on that drive, instead of writing it to your M.2. In which case I would recommend reinstalling windows with the other Windows Drive disconnected.

[homeap5]

2 hours ago, Raj Aryan said:

in this section there was no option to choose only bios

Do you read my answer? If you can boot using boot manager, all you need is proper bios settings.

[Raj Aryan]

22 hours ago, Raj Aryan said:

Following are the settings which solved my problem - 

 

Advanced\PCH Storage Configuration\Sata mode selection - AHCI

Advanced\Onboard Devices Configuration\PCIE Express Slot and M.2 Bandwidth - M.2 mode

Boot\Fast Boot - disabled

Boot\CSM\Launch CSM - Enabled

Boot\CSM\Boot Devices Control - UEFI and legacy

Boot\CSM\Boot from Storage Devices - Legacy oprom first

Boot\CSM\Boot from PCIE Devices - Legacy oprom first

Boot\CSM\Secure Boot - other OS

Hardrive BBS - Option 1 = M.2 SSD

Hardrive BBS - Option 2 and 3 = Disabled

 

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate the help.

These settings are working perfectly for me. Do you guys suggest to tweak these as well to optimize it further?