B450i not recognizing M.2 drive, after recognizing M.2 drive

Wrench8 · December 12, 2022

A few years ago I built a system with the following specs-

Ryzen 5 3600

Asus Rog Strix B450-I

2080 Super

16 gb Corsair LPX RAM 3200 CL 16

1 TB Samsung 860 QVO SSD

500 gb Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 NVME

Silverstone SX-G 700w 80+ gold

I booted from the M.2 drive, and it ran perfectly for years.

I moved that system from an open air case I made to an NZXT h210i to give to my nephew for Christmas. Now I get a recovery error (0xc00000e9) on startup. After going into BIOS, I found that only the SATA drive is showing up, and not the M.2 drive I normally boot from. I would have thought that that was the reason I'm getting a recovery error, except that I'm getting a windows recovery code.

I've tried removing the harnesses from the usb and sata headers on the mobo, but nothing seems to make a difference. I've updated bios, and next I'll be doing a fresh windows install on the SATA drive and then removing the M.2 drive and trying it out on the back port to rule out a bad drive.

Is there anything I'm missing? I know there are configurations that can limit the bandwidth of the USB or M.2 headers in general, but I can't find anything specific to this particular problem. Any help would be greatly helpful!

Noah Egener · December 13, 2022

Hi

It sounds like the M.2 drive is not being recognized by the motherboard anymore. There could be a few reasons for this, including a faulty drive, a problem with the motherboard's M.2 slot, or an issue with the cables or connectors.

One thing you can try is to check the BIOS settings to make sure that the M.2 drive is selected as the primary boot device. If the M.2 drive is not showing up in the BIOS at all, then it is likely a hardware issue and you may need to replace the drive or the motherboard.

Another thing to check is the cables and connectors. Make sure that the M.2 drive is securely connected to the motherboard and that all the cables are properly seated. Sometimes, loose cables can cause problems like this.

If you have tried all these steps and the M.2 drive is still not being recognized, it may be a good idea to try a fresh installation of Windows on the SATA drive. This will help you determine whether the problem is with the M.2 drive or with the system as a whole.

In summary, there could be a few reasons why the M.2 drive is not being recognized, including a faulty drive, a problem with the motherboard, or an issue with the cables or connectors. You can try checking the BIOS settings, making sure that the cables are securely connected, and doing a fresh Windows installation to troubleshoot the problem.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions