M.2 sometime not recognized.

[alinashul]

Hello guys , i just bought like 1 month ago some new parts for my build . And i noticed that sometimes my m.2 SSD is not recognized and i have to restart the PC ( it happened 3 times already ) , i always realize this when i try to play a game on steam and it says INSTALL :)) . I have 2 m.2 SSD , 1 older one ( Samsung 970 evo 1tb ) wich i use for windows , and 1 wich i bought now WD black SN850X 1TB wich i use for games that need m.2 speeds. For slower games i have another sata SSD . 
The SN850X i installed in the gen5 m.2 slot on my MOBO ( yes i know the SN850X is not gen5 ) . 

So i was wondering , what could trigger this to happen ? this never happened to me . 

PC specs : 
RTX 4070

Ryzen 9 9950x3d
32GB vengance 6000mt/s cl 30 
MSI x870e gaming plus wifi

2 HDD 4TB each 
1 sata SSD 1TB 
1 m.2 Samsung 970 EVO 1TB
1 m.2 WD Black SN850X 
Arctic Liquid freezer III 280mm 
Windows 11 .

[Mumintroll]

Have you checked for firmware updates for the SN850X?

If not do that. I think Western Digital's app is named Sandisk Dashboard or WD Dashboard.

 

You can also try to manually set the m.2 slot to gen 4 in bios settings.

[alinashul]

8 hours ago, Mumintroll said:

Have you checked for firmware updates for the SN850X?

If not do that. I think Western Digital's app is named Sandisk Dashboard or WD Dashboard.

 

You can also try to manually set the m.2 slot to gen 4 in bios settings.

M.2 have drivers too ? where do i find those ? and i install it ?

[Mumintroll]

8 minutes ago, alinashul said:

M.2 have drivers too ? where do i find those ? and i install it ?

Not drivers, but firmware.

 

For WD drives look for Sandisk Dashboard.

 

It's good if you also check the firmware for your other SSD aswell.

Samsung Magician for Samsung drives.

what other Sata SSD do you have?

[alinashul]

4 hours ago, Mumintroll said:

Not drivers, but firmware.

 

For WD drives look for Sandisk Dashboard.

 

It's good if you also check the firmware for your other SSD aswell.

Samsung Magician for Samsung drives.

what other Sata SSD do you have?

the sata ssd is also samsung . 

[Mumintroll]

For the WD Drive

In this link https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/52335/~/western-digital-dashboard-end-of-support

You'll see that Western Digital has ended their software support and points to Sandisk Dashboard instead. Scrolling down that page you'll see a link to Sandisk software download.

On that Sandisk page click on the WD tab and then the Sandisk download.

 

 

If you also want to check firmware on the Samsung drives you'll have to use Samsung Magician for those.

https://semiconductor.samsung.com/consumer-storage/support/tools/

 

Anyway I hope updating firmware solves your drive problem.

[alinashul]

On 12/26/2025 at 11:35 AM, Mumintroll said:

For the WD Drive

In this link https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/52335/~/western-digital-dashboard-end-of-support

You'll see that Western Digital has ended their software support and points to Sandisk Dashboard instead. Scrolling down that page you'll see a link to Sandisk software download.

On that Sandisk page click on the WD tab and then the Sandisk download.

 

 

If you also want to check firmware on the Samsung drives you'll have to use Samsung Magician for those.

https://semiconductor.samsung.com/consumer-storage/support/tools/

 

Anyway I hope updating firmware solves your drive problem.

hey , i did all that , and it seems that the problem is fixed. But only time will tell . I also reseated the m.2 again and i realized that the ez clip is broken on the gen5 m.2 drive. Since i have big fingers , and those easy clipz are made of very very thin cheap plastic i must've broken it , but theres still a small small plastic corner that can grip the m.2 . and then i just screwed in the included chilling plate with the included thermal pads included on the gen5 bay wich should hold the m.2 drive in place  .