[Help] m.2 ssd not recognized.

[Karatekidhero]

Hello. I recently bought a Samsung 960 EVO 500GB M.2 PCIe SSD to put into my msi z270 m3 motherboard. However it does not show up in windows. I have read somewhere that not all motherboards are compatible with both m.2 and other drives? In addition I am using both a 1tb hdd and a 250gb ssd with windows on it.

 

I would appreciate any help

[Blebekblebek]

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Administrative Tools>Computer management>Storage>Disk management

 

Format, set Drive letter and done.

[wONKEyeYEs]

I bought the same M.2 with an MSI Z170.

Unplugged other drives to install OS

and had no probs.

[Ser James Acinonyx of Compactis]

I remember I had an issue with even the BIOS not recognizing the M.2 I tried to install. That was due to my lack of understanding that PCIe and SATA M.2s are two different things, and I had an incompatible one with my motherboard. Not saying it is the case here, but just sharing my experience.

[Rubin Chen]

yes exactly as Ser James said M.2 does not always = nvme support. Check to see if your motherboard supports it. sometimes you need to update your motherboard firmware(BIOS)

[Karatekidhero]

6 minutes ago, Rubin Chen said:

yes exactly as Ser James said M.2 does not always = nvme support. Check to see if your motherboard supports it. sometimes you need to update your motherboard firmware(BIOS)

I really dont know what to look for on the mobo spec sheet.

 

39 minutes ago, wONKEyeYEs said:

I bought the same M.2 with an MSI Z170.

Unplugged other drives to install OS

and had no probs.

I am not trying to install windows on the m.2. I have windows as OEM on my 250gb ssd sadly

31 minutes ago, Ser James Acinonyx of Compactis said:

I remember I had an issue with even the BIOS not recognizing the M.2 I tried to install. That was due to my lack of understanding that PCIe and SATA M.2s are two different things, and I had an incompatible one with my motherboard. Not saying it is the case here, but just sharing my experience.

Just to clarify: my m.2 ssd has nothing to do with sata, right? And my other two drives, are they even able to work with my m.2? And when you talk about pcie and sata, are you talking about the power cable? Im really new to all this.

[Blebekblebek]

new drives are comes unformatted, it doesn't matter what slot/model it is, it will never shows up until you format and assign it.

 

there's a differences with "not recognized by windows" and "not detected by system", at this point I don't know which one.

 

if the hardware already detected in device manager, then all you need to do is format and assign it.

 

now if this drive isn't showing up even in BIOS/UEFI then, try to re-plug it, and maybe unplug the rest of the drive.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2017 by Blebekblebek
autocorrect

[Karatekidhero]

28 minutes ago, Blebekblebek said:

new drives are comes unformulated, it doesn't matter what slot/model it is, it will never shows up until you format and assign it.

 

there's a differences with "not recognized by windows" and "not detected by system", at this point I don't know which one.

 

if the hardware already detected in device manager, then all you need to do is format and assign it.

 

now if this drive isn't showing up even in BIOS/UEFI then, try to re-plug it, and maybe unplug the rest of the drive.

 

 

Im not home ATM . It does show up in the Bios though. I will try the device manager steps when I am home. Thank you

[vaiwalker]

your board does seem to support pcie ssd. with one pcie ssd, all your sata ports should work according to the manual. there is a bios update "Improved M2 device compatibility." bios 1.1. might wanna try that

[Karatekidhero]

37 minutes ago, vaiwalker said:

your board does seem to support pcie ssd. with one pcie ssd, all your sata ports should work according to the manual. there is a bios update "Improved M2 device compatibility." bios 1.1. might wanna try that

Thank you! Do I need to update it manually? 

[vaiwalker]

9 minutes ago, Karatekidhero said:

Thank you! Do I need to update it manually? 

yea. download the update from here https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z270-GAMING-M3.html#down-bios the 1.1ver should do fine. just copy the file(E7A62IMS.110) to a thumbdrive. boot into bios, and there should be an option for a bios update or flash or something like that. point it to the file in the thumbdrive. that should update it. but you might wanna check the bios settings first to check if you missed out anything to enable the pcie ssd. havent dealt with them before so im not too sure about the settings in this board.

[Karatekidhero]

22 hours ago, Blebekblebek said:

new drives are comes unformatted, it doesn't matter what slot/model it is, it will never shows up until you format and assign it.

 

there's a differences with "not recognized by windows" and "not detected by system", at this point I don't know which one.

 

if the hardware already detected in device manager, then all you need to do is format and assign it.

 

now if this drive isn't showing up even in BIOS/UEFI then, try to re-plug it, and maybe unplug the rest of the drive.

 

 

Your solution worked! I was able to do it just fine from control panel

21 hours ago, vaiwalker said:

yea. download the update from here https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z270-GAMING-M3.html#down-bios the 1.1ver should do fine. just copy the file(E7A62IMS.110) to a thumbdrive. boot into bios, and there should be an option for a bios update or flash or something like that. point it to the file in the thumbdrive. that should update it. but you might wanna check the bios settings first to check if you missed out anything to enable the pcie ssd. havent dealt with them before so im not too sure about the settings in this board.

Thanks!

[Purphoros]

On 5/31/2017 at 1:52 AM, Blebekblebek said:

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Administrative Tools>Computer management>Storage>Disk management

 

Format, set Drive letter and done.

You are a god send.