Asus Z170-P and Intel 6 SSD

[Mir96TA]

I bought the intel SSD 6 256GB. I would like to install it on Asus Z170-P MB.
However I am seeing strange behavior.
After physically installing it MB see it but it reports M2 slot is empty and windows does not see even if I load F6 driver for the controller.
This is the Drive I bought

At Bios info screen it will see as a possible boot device, but in M2 slot it says empty

This is the setting I have in Storage section

I cannot tell if I have a defective device or compatibility issue ?

 

[UsandThem]

Looks like it is just an Asus motherboard issue/poor configuration literature because I found this thread:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2771559/asus-z170-bios-detecting-s951-pcie.html

This tip is about halfway down the page:

After my last post in this thread, I actually bought a Samsung 950 Pro M.2 PCIe SSD and had a hell of a time trying to get it to be detected by the BIOS so I could use it as a boot drive (Windows detected it fine, so it was usable as a data drive, but I couldn't add it to the list of bootable devices). Ultimately I had to set to UEFI-only boot and had to clean install Windows on the drive (I initially tried to clone my existing HDD to it, which didn't work). Ensure that you select the UEFI mode of your installation drive (optical or USB), the drive name should start with UEFI on the boot devices list. Additionally, I had to delete all partitions on the drive so that Windows could partition it correctly prior to the installation. Finally, in the ASUS Z170-A BIOS/UEFI settings, you need to (counter-intuitively) set the M.2/SATA Express option to SATA Express (which forces the SATA Express to go through the SATA controller and lets M.2 go to the PCIe bus). After installing Windows, all other bootable devices vanished and "Windows Boot Manager" was the only bootable device, which correctly booted Windows from the SSD. To boot from a legacy device after that, you have to change from UEFI boot to legacy. it's possible to change between then as needed.

 

[Mir96TA]

It is not even seen in Bios either
Os Win7 pro 64 bit.

 

[UsandThem]

It is not even seen in Bios either
Os Win7 pro 64 bit.

I noticed reading through that thread I linked to, there were several people who said the same thing, but were able to get it working by changing settings or loading drivers.

So from reading threads about Asus motherboards and M.2 drive issues, most likely your M.2 drive is fine, you just have to figure out a way for it to show up in your BIOS.

 

[UsandThem]

I also read through this post, so maybe changing these settings will help:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2804761/asus-z170-deluxe-sm951-sata-express.html

According to the manual (Pages ix & x) only one can be in SATA mode at a time, and the other gets set to PCIe. If you are installing a PCIe device (Samsung 950) in the M.2 slot, you want SATA set to SATA Express, so that the M.2 interface is correctly set to PCIe

And they linked to this Youtube video showing how to configure it with an Asus board (I don't think I've heard BIOS ever pronounced that way BTW ):

https://youtu.be/No-ct8pQcIg?t=43s

 

[Mir96TA]

I cannot define the mode of the Sata since drive is not detected in Sata port
Seems like this is a return of this MB.
I wonder what will be good replacement AsRock, MSI or GigaByte
Also my issue is more of BIOS level not a OS level

 

[UsandThem]

Did you try to do what they did in the video, because the 600p is a PCIe drive, not SATA. It should be configured just like the 950 Pro M.2 in that video.

 

[Mir96TA]

In video I see they changr any setting for Sata aeetung
Or I missed some thing

 

[UsandThem]

In video I see they changr any setting for Sata aeetung
Or I missed some thing

They changed a couple things, but I've read through so many threads and posts on Asus motherboards and M.2 issues, my head is spinning. Read through the posts on the Tom's thread I linked to on the suggestions they said worked for them, and see if anything helps.

It does seem like some Asus z170 boards are finicky with some PCIe drives. There are a ton of threads out there.

 

[Mir96TA]

Not atleast the MB version I have with this Bios and Intel 6 SSD

 

[UsandThem]

Not atleast the MB version I have with this Bios and Intel 6 SSD

Not sure what you mean there.

One last thing that might help you. Asus owners in this thread say it doesn't show up unless you go to the boot menu:

Windows 10 has native NVMe drivers, so the Samsung driver isn't necessary right away. The Samsung driver is better though, so you will want to install it after Windows is installed.

The BIOS won't show the drive except in the Boot section (it doesn't in my M8 Gene anyway).

it should be just a matter of plugging the drive into the M.2 port, booting into the BIOS, and going into the Boot menu to choose the UEFI 950 Pro option in the Boot Overrides section.

I've heard that some boards need to have the Compatibility Support Module enabled, so you can try that if the above doesn't work.

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthre...950-Pro-not-detected-by-Bios-or-Windows-10-OS

Outside of that, I am out of ideas. Maybe there is another Asus owner here who see the thread, and can give you any additional ideas on how to configure it.

 

[Mir96TA]

Spoke to Asus Tech support. He told it is not compatible with it. Intel 6 SSD will not going to work with it.

 

[Mir96TA]

Here is list from asus PDF
This is what I Bought

 

[UsandThem]

Spoke to Asus Tech support. He told it is not compatible with it. Intel 6 SSD will not going to work with it.

If their techs said that, I guess that is the answer then.

 

[Mir96TA]

Plot get thicken !
Intel saying vender is saying it will work
Vender aka Asus saying ask Intel
I am going banana!
Last Reviewed: 02-Nov-2016
Article ID: 000022677

The Intel® SSD 600p/Pro 6000p/E 6000p Series features an M-Key M.2 PCIe NVMe interface.

See below for a list of motherboards that contain this interface.

 

[VirtualLarry]

At Bios info screen it will see as a possible boot device, but in M2 slot it says empty

Under SATA Information, it shows "M.2: N/A". This is correct. The 600p is NOT a SATA M.2 drive. It is an NVMe PCI-E drive.

Look under "Boot Priority". Do you have another Intel SSD in the system? Because it looks like it's being detected.

Edit: What OS are you trying to install onto it? Does the OS's installer program see the drive?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Os Win7 pro 64 bit.

You do realize a few things, right? That getting an NVMe PCI-E M.2 SSD to work with Windows 7, on a Skylake mobo, is "difficult".

This is because the stock Windows 7 installer doesn't recognize NVMe drives, and needs a driver supplied at install time. MS DOES supply a driver. (Sorry, don't have the link handy.)

However, given Windows 7 and Skylake issues, you CANNOT simply supply the driver at install time on a USB flash drive, because the Windows 7 installer doesn't contain XHCI drivers, so all of the mobo's USB ports will be non-functional at install time. (Although, you may be able to use mouse and keyboard, if your board supports "Port 60/64 emulation" or "PS/2 port emulation". But not flash drives.)

What you need, is TWO SATA CD/DVD ROM drives connected. One for the Windows 7 OS installer, and one containing a driver disk with the NVMe driver.
Then, after it is installed, a CD/DVD containing USB3.0 / XHCI Intel controller drivers, then you can finally use a USB flash drive, and install other stuff.

Edit: If you use a USB installer of Windows 10, it should just install, smooth sailing.

 

[Mir96TA]

Since I didn't get much help from Asus I have returned the MB.
I got the MSI H110 Pro AC. It didn't had M.2 slot info heeee ee also Intel send me info which tell me few things, along wat have larry have said.
Then I understood what is going on.
With windows 7 I need to slip stream Sp1 and then hot fix from MS and ACHi drivers.
Then Bios I neen turn on option for non uefi os.
I didn't had time to test all that so I installed the win 10
I tell you wat! I can boot windows in 4 secs
I am impress with UEFi and windows 10 and Pci M.2