SSD M.2 Showing In Disk Management But Not In Bios

[RedTail]

Well everything was working perfectly on my M.2 drive. However, it froze last night and when I restarted, my Bios would not recognize. My OS was on this drive and also some other programs. Disk Management is showing the drive. However, a pop up occurs stating that "You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it. Select disks: Disk 3. Then the options of MBR or GPT are offered. When I choose either option, A error message pops stating : Data error (cyclic redundancy check).??? I tried putting the m.2 in a second location meaning the pci e slot with the special expansion for the m.2 card. The other option is where its placed on the actual mb. Neither spots show any different results. Considering that this drive was working perfectly for about 2 weeks then crashed. I am tempted to just replace at no charge. When booting from Win-----10 CD It is also showing the drive but not allowing me to install on. When I first got the drive---- The bios recognized just fine and Win 10 installed without a glitch. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I currently have my OS installed on another Samsung 850 ssd drive. By the way the start time is unbelievably longer than it was on the m.2. I also downloaded the Samsung NVM express utility which states put the correct drive in. However the drive in Windows states differently. Also Samsung partition magic will not recognize. I have seen several reports of the driver for the drive being difficult to actually install because its a .exe meaning I cant direct it to a specific file for a successful install. If the win 10 cd would allow me to format...I would...however that's a no go as well. I might just get a RMA however I'm willing to try a few troubleshooting procedures before going to that hassle. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Red

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Questions:

"Which M.2 NVMe drive and what model is it?"
"Which motherboard and model?"
"Which PCI-E M.2 adapter card?'

Without this information, I can only speculate based on my personal choices and experience.

on my ASUS board, you have six SATA ports. Two of these are for SATA only. The remaining pairs -- 4-ports -- of two each also function as SATA-Express with a third plug that would only fit an SATA-Express drive cable. Those 4 ports function as separate SATA ports as most people would likely desire to use them.

If I use the M.2 motherboard slot, the M.2 shares bandwidth with the SATA-Express_1 which includes SATA ports 1 and 2. The motherboard "Mode" would be set to "M.2".

If I want to use a PCIE expansion card instead, the mobo must be set in BIOS to "PCI-Express" mode as opposed to the "M.2" option. I must use an x4 slot. My third "long x16" slot functions as either x2 or x4. For it to function as x4, I then lose the option to use SATA ports 5 and 6. either way, I either "share," degrade or lose two SATA ports.

So for you, I would back up, stay calm, and check your BIOS settings. Change the appropriate settings for your choice of M.2 placement: either in the M.2 motherboard slot, or in the appropriate PCIE slot. And make sure -- for the latter -- that you are in a slot with necessary x4 lanes or greater -- without depriving yourself of a slot you might now or eventually use for a graphics card or something else.

 

[RedTail]

----------------------------
Requested Specs
SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 2280 256GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V5P256BW
ASUS TUF SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Hyper M.2X4 Mini Card
-------------------------------
My full system specs are on another post. (I also had RAM issues that have been resolved)

That's great advice that you gave me on the PCI E slot sharing certain SATA ports. However, I don't think that sharing resources would lead to a totally non-recognizable device. You indicated that there might be appropriate BIOS settings for the onboard slot? That is what I am really interested in because I plan on using that PCI slot for a GPU SLI once the price drops on my card. In the meantime, I will try and use the expansion card and set the BIOS to PCI-E just to see if it will recognize. Bottom line is that I want the drive back on the MOBO "compartment" . I guess that the information on the drive will be lost and that it is corrupted. How it got corrupted, I have no idea considering that I keep Defender running and updated. I was in the middle of using Photoshop when it happened. Currently I have two separate drives using the Sata ports E1 and E2. I will move those to the Sata G ports. This is the block containing 6. Therefore leaving E1 and E2 open. I will look in the bios for a M.2 motherboard "mode" as you suggested. This is so frustrating. I spend hours upon hours setting that drive up then BAM! I will be monitoring updates to the post all day.
Thanks for your help,
Red

 

[BonzaiDuck]

----------------------------
Requested Specs
SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 2280 256GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V5P256BW
ASUS TUF SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Hyper M.2X4 Mini Card
-------------------------------
My full system specs are on another post. (I also had RAM issues that have been resolved)

That's great advice that you gave me on the PCI E slot sharing certain SATA ports. However, I don't think that sharing resources would lead to a totally non-recognizable device. You indicated that there might be appropriate BIOS settings for the onboard slot? That is what I am really interested in because I plan on using that PCI slot for a GPU SLI once the price drops on my card. In the meantime, I will try and use the expansion card and set the BIOS to PCI-E just to see if it will recognize. Bottom line is that I want the drive back on the MOBO "compartment" . I guess that the information on the drive will be lost and that it is corrupted. How it got corrupted, I have no idea considering that I keep Defender running and updated. I was in the middle of using Photoshop when it happened. Currently I have two separate drives using the Sata ports E1 and E2. I will move those to the Sata G ports. This is the block containing 6. Therefore leaving E1 and E2 open. I will look in the bios for a M.2 motherboard "mode" as you suggested. This is so frustrating. I spend hours upon hours setting that drive up then BAM! I will be monitoring updates to the post all day.
Thanks for your help,
Red

On my board, "PCI-Express" was the default, and you had to change it to "M.2" before installing the M.2 drive in the motherboard slot.

I tend to avoid a lot of troubles which cost time, by spending extra time thinking about it, and I still have to remind myself to take more time thinking and planning before I put things together.

All of this "NVMe M.2" stuff is new to me. I had two objectives originally: Use the M.2 motherboard slot, and reap the rewards of M.2. But I have to manage SATA devices and cabling as part of an "overall system design strategy." So -- I said -- "to hell with using that M.2 slot." But your situation or preferences would be different.

I read in one or more places where NVMe M.2 performance is lower with placement in the M.2 motherboard slot. someone could correct me if I'm wrong. But even "sharing bandwidth" with two SATA devices tells me I could better use an M.2 SATA card in that slot, like the Crucial MX300 M.2. IF -- the "key design" of M versus B is compatible with that slot.

 

[RedTail]

I am having difficulty finding the option for M.2 or PCIE on bootup?
Update: I disconnected all sata hDD connection and left the M.2 in the Mobo slot. Bios deteceted no drives. I moved the M.2 to the PCI expansion slot and rebooted. No hard drives again. Currently it is in the PICE slot but all the same issues are happening. No progress. Man, I wish I could get this to work and all my data be saved. I think this could be a simple drive issue? When I go into device manager and look at the drive for the m.2 it is a 2006 Microsoft drive? I did d/l the drive from Samsung and ran it. Not showing correctly in Device manager. I tried running it again, windows prompted that it already had the correct Samsung drive installed? Still would like to know what to do ? Where to go? Where in the Bios would I change this M.2 / PcIe option. I did see a sata mode configuration setting that stated sata express {m.2}. I rebooted, heard a awful noise and the Bios set it back to Sata Express.
Red

 

[RedTail]

Is it possible that Windows update threw a bogus driver in for that device causing it to malfunction? It happened around the one hour time frame where updates are allowed. Just a thought.

 

[UsandThem]

I don't know how long you were using the drive before this happened, but if it was working properly and then just suddenly stopped, it could mean your drive is defective.

Is there another PC you can try it in?

 

[RedTail]

Worked perfectly for two weeks then just froze while working in photoshop. Windows is not allowing me to format or install to that drive during the windows 10 cd installation. However, it does see it? Just not accessible.
Frustrating....hopefully I will get more suggestions before I RMA.
I now one thing. .. the boot time is crazy long on the 850 compatred to 950 m.2. The m.2 has spoiled me and I will do whatever is necessary to get it back working. Ill keep yall posted. I am hoping that I can fix as opposed to RMA.
Thanks,
Red

 

[UsandThem]

Worked perfectly for two weeks then just froze while working in photoshop. Windows is not allowing me to format or install to that drive during the windows 10 cd installation. However, it does see it? Just not accessible.
Frustrating....hopefully I will get more suggestions before I RMA.
I now one thing. .. the boot time is crazy long on the 850 compatred to 950 m.2. The m.2 has spoiled me and I will do whatever is necessary to get it back working. Ill keep yall posted. I am hoping that I can fix as opposed to RMA.
Thanks,
Red

If you have only had it for a few weeks, depending on who you bought it from, you should be able to return it to the store for an exchange instead of RMAing it to Samsung. There have been a few members on here who were less-than-thrilled dealing with Samsung's RMA department.

If you were updating the driver for the drive and it didn't work properly after restarting, I'd lean that way. But since you were working in Photoshop when it suddenly quit working, I think you just unfortunately received a dud unit.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I think you just unfortunately received a dud unit.

From a casual inspection of the posts, it certainly seems like that is a possibility.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

----------------------------
Requested Specs
SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 2280 256GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V5P256BW
ASUS TUF SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Hyper M.2X4 Mini Card
-------------------------------
My full system specs are on another post. (I also had RAM issues that have been resolved)

That's great advice that you gave me on the PCI E slot sharing certain SATA ports. However, I don't think that sharing resources would lead to a totally non-recognizable device. You indicated that there might be appropriate BIOS settings for the onboard slot? That is what I am really interested in because I plan on using that PCI slot for a GPU SLI once the price drops on my card. In the meantime, I will try and use the expansion card and set the BIOS to PCI-E just to see if it will recognize. Bottom line is that I want the drive back on the MOBO "compartment" . I guess that the information on the drive will be lost and that it is corrupted. How it got corrupted, I have no idea considering that I keep Defender running and updated. I was in the middle of using Photoshop when it happened. Currently I have two separate drives using the Sata ports E1 and E2. I will move those to the Sata G ports. This is the block containing 6. Therefore leaving E1 and E2 open. I will look in the bios for a M.2 motherboard "mode" as you suggested. This is so frustrating. I spend hours upon hours setting that drive up then BAM! I will be monitoring updates to the post all day.
Thanks for your help,
Red

You know, given how sparse the information in ALL motherboard manuals -- ASUS neither worse nor better -- it's interesting if they included that caution about setting the BIOS appropriately, especially when intending to add an M.2 NMVe to the motherboard slot for it. And more interesting -- they embedded that warning or instruction in the BIOS instruction-pane when that M.2/PCI-Express-mode has focus.

It could insinuate the possibility that just the wrong BIOS setting could damage hardware or even firmware.

That wasn't my own unpleasant experience. I am addicted to a popular Steam game which may work well on a certain generation of NVidia card, but not only later models, despite Experience's recognition, management and update. Occasional freezes occur and recover, so the user may have varied experiences keeping the airplane in trim or in the air, the stock car from hitting the rock wall, the shooter who misses an occasional DOOM-demon of critical importance for that moment.

At one point, this happened as I was "tuning" dual-OS separate NVMe caches for SATA devices on the 960 EVO. [You cannot mix the caches -- whichever proprietary or agnostic caching software you use. It requires for me creating separate logical volumes of initially equal size, in addition to "C :" drive boot-volumes in other logical volumes on a large NVMe. For the moment, the boot-volumes are on an ADATA SATA SP550 480GB -- more or less up-to-snuff for what you pay.] the 250GB NVMe EVO is split into two 100GB volumes -- one for Win 7 boot-time, the other for Win 10 boot-time.

Enter my fingers -- there is possibility that I hit a peculiar combination or sequence of keys to make a panic exit from the game when I might only have waited. Now of course, the graphics card is on the PCIE bus with an NVMe expansion card -- that's just a fact.

I think it then threw a message with the word "Samsung" and the word "reset" in the text I barely had time to read. But it recovered to Windows -- no freeze there, no BSOD or hard reset.

It disappeared from "Storage Controllers" in Device Manager. Rebooting -- it remained missing in action. So of course, if you think it was a bad NVMe, a bad PCIE slot -- RAM? CPU? less likely -- you'd unplug everything, pop the case open, remove the NVMe. Oh -- and there was especially the possibility that the expansion card failed, when we point out that it seems like nothing but circuit-traces to the PCIE edge-connector. So that became first priority, and I replaced the card.

Replacement was ASUS Hyper M.2 X4 Mini, which also optionally works with an ASUS hyper-kit device.

At system boot, the drive was again recognized, the partition and volume intact -- (but I chose to replace those anyway). Nothing more to it. No more hiccups. My LACK of knowledge tells me to stick with the ASUS Mini just for the CHANCE that I'd avoid any future problems, but I always recognize multi-causation and things like "mutual-independence" or other probability scenarios.

But I suppose if I report the detailed symptoms I had here, because many of us are all just learning about NVMe, PCI-Express, SATA-Express, M and B key devices (or both). I discovered an outfit with "cable" in their name featuring a vast number of devices and adapters for NVMe and M.2. the problem is finding the one you need the first time.

 

[RedTail]

Thanks for your help. Yall are certainly much more knowledgeable than I am with troubleshooting procedures. Where is this magic spot in the Bios to setup the m.2 onboard slot? The issue right now is why Windows will not allow the drive to be initialized. (Error message and description are above) Even if I could get the Bios to recognize, the only way its going to boot correctly is if none of the data is damaged? However, I would be totally open to re-formatting and starting over. I would lose days of work. What makes matters worse is that I got it at a really really good price over Thanksgiving. The vendor is out of stock and company policy is to just issue a refund. Anyways, even if the issue is not resolved via the forum....its been a good way to let go of a little aggression !! Still open to any and all suggestions.
Thanks!
Red

 

[UsandThem]

Thanks for your help. Yall are certainly much more knowledgeable than I am with troubleshooting procedures. Where is this magic spot in the Bios to setup the m.2 onboard slot? The issue right now is why Windows will not allow the drive to be initialized. (Error message and description are above) Even if I could get the Bios to recognize, the only way its going to boot correctly is if none of the data is damaged? However, I would be totally open to re-formatting and starting over. I would lose days of work. What makes matters worse is that I got it at a really really good price over Thanksgiving. The vendor is out of stock and company policy is to just issue a refund. Anyways, even if the issue is not resolved via the forum....its been a good way to let go of a little aggression !! Still open to any and all suggestions.
Thanks!
Red

It should be on page 3-34 of your manual if I am looking at it right. But if you didn't change anything in there when it stopped working, that's not likely the issue. You could install the OS on your 850 EVO or PRO, and then try formatting the 950 PRO within Windows. If it still doesn't work, you should just go ahead and RMA it. When you new one comes in, you can just clone it over using Samsung Data Migration.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

It should be on page 3-34 of your manual if I am looking at it right. But if you didn't change anything in there when it stopped working, that's not likely the issue. You could install the OS on your 850 EVO or PRO, and then try formatting the 950 PRO within Windows. If it still doesn't work, you should just go ahead and RMA it. When you new one comes in, you can just clone it over using Samsung Data Migration.

Well, my only thought was what I know (didn't he say Sabertooth Mark 1?) -- the default for that board is PCI Express. The BIOS itself cautions "set to M.2 before inserting M.2 card" or similar. If they had to put that in the BIOS help-tips, I thought it could mean the setting could cause damage -- that you had to prepare the system in BIOS before adding the M.2 and booting up. That's a speculation supporting the RMA option, when he gets to it.

 

[UsandThem]

Well, my only thought was what I know (didn't he say Sabertooth Mark 1?) -- the default for that board is PCI Express. The BIOS itself cautions "set to M.2 before inserting M.2 card" or similar. If they had to put that in the BIOS help-tips, I thought it could mean the setting could cause damage -- that you had to prepare the system in BIOS before adding the M.2 and booting up. That's a speculation supporting the RMA option, when he gets to it.

You might be right. I'll have to take a look at the manual a little bit closer. I really just skimmed it to find the BIOS area where the M.2 configuration was at.

EDIT

I didn't see anything in there with warnings on that. Could you tell what page that is on?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

You might be right. I'll have to take a look at the manual a little bit closer. I really just skimmed it to find the BIOS area where the M.2 configuration was at.

EDIT

I didn't see anything in there with warnings on that. Could you tell what page that is on?

Wow. That's just it -- it isn't in the printed manual -- I just checked in the pages describing the physical M.2 slot and the page dealing with the BIOS selections. It's in the BIOS "tips" toward the bottom of the screen when [M.2][PCI-Express] option has focus -- clicking the mouse on it to highlight brings up the tip text at the bottom. I'm not entering my BIOS now to get further accuracy, but I know pretty well it's something like "Set this to M.2 before inserting M.2 SSD in motherboard slot." Essentially, that was the meaning of it.

These days, building a new system, I'll set it up initially at stock defaults and page through the BIOS screens to gain familiarity. At the point I noticed it, I didn't have immediate M.2 plans without further study. But I wanted to make sure the setting was right for my SATA connections -- so then -- I did more reading -- "further study." The confusion about what is going on with that menu option made me think long and hard before I ordered the little 250GB EVO I'm using for caching volumes.

So looking into it more, I could see I'd lose two SATA ports or degrade performance with an M.2 in the M.2 slot. Or -- I'd lose two other SATA ports converting PCIE-16_3 to x4. And I completely circumvented to problem of changing the PCH Storage->M.2/PCI-Express selection, because the default had been PCI-Express. But if that tip is in the BIOS, it may have been an understated indication of the risk.

 

[UsandThem]

So looking into it more, I could see I'd lose two SATA ports or degrade performance with an M.2 in the M.2 slot. Or -- I'd lose two other SATA ports converting PCIE-16_3 to x4. And I completely circumvented to problem of changing the PCH Storage->M.2/PCI-Express selection, because the default had been PCI-Express. But if that tip is in the BIOS, it may have been an understated indication of the risk.

I could see it not showing up or working if the correct standard wasn't selected, but it wouldn't give it more power or anything like that. Plus, if he installed and used the 950 PRO for two weeks, and it suddenly stopped working while in Photoshop, my guess would be it is just a dud. Generally if there is a defect in the item, it will fail pretty quickly (I had a 850 EVO that pretty much did the same thing after 10 days).

Is this the footnote you are talking about?:

*2: The M.2 socket shares SATA ports with SATA Express_1 port. Adjust BIOS settings to use an M.2 SATA device.

To me, that just means if you stick a PCIe drive in there, it just won't work if set to SATA (and vice versa say if a person was using a SATA drive and went to a PCIe unit). I personally don't take that as potentially damaging.

 

[RedTail]

Wow, the post has taken a much deeper run into whats best which is great. So, what BIOS setting is right for each option? Meaning what bios setting is right for the onboard mobo slot and what setting is right for the PCIe hyper card 4x?
Thanks,
Red
(What confuses me about this is for a newb like me, neither options sounds relative considering that there is no actual physical Sata E connection taking place on the board. Internally.....that could be different?)

 

[UsandThem]

Wow, the post has taken a much deeper run into whats best which is great. So, what BIOS setting is right for each option? Meaning what bios setting is right for the onboard mobo slot and what setting is right for the PCIe hyper card 4x?
Thanks,
Red
(What confuses me about this is for a newb like me, neither options sounds relative considering that there is no actual physical Sata E connection taking place on the board. Internally.....that could be different?)

If it is installed on the onboard M.2 slot, then it should be set to 'M.2' (page 3-34) if I am looking at it correctly.

 

[RedTail]

Wow. Thank you so much for all the input. Looks like I'm gonna just need to do a return to the vendor. There is a Samsung 960 out now. Would my board handle a 960 Evo or Pro? Would that be faster than the 950? Inventory is very scarce on the 960 pro at the moment and I don't want to pay the price tag for a 1 tb. Thoughts?
Thanks,
Red

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I could see it not showing up or working if the correct standard wasn't selected, but it wouldn't give it more power or anything like that. Plus, if he installed and used the 950 PRO for two weeks, and it suddenly stopped working while in Photoshop, my guess would be it is just a dud. Generally if there is a defect in the item, it will fail pretty quickly (I had a 850 EVO that pretty much did the same thing after 10 days).

Is this the footnote you are talking about?:



To me, that just means if you stick a PCIe drive in there, it just won't work if set to SATA (and vice versa say if a person was using a SATA drive and went to a PCIe unit). I personally don't take that as potentially damaging.

I think you specified the BIOS "note" correctly, and I haven't yet checked it in review on my own. Somehow, I thought for sure it had said "select M.2 before connecting M.2 SSD" or something like that.

I'm just making inferences about what I saw or thought I saw. Maybe he had a weak or damaged NVMe. Maybe just a short period of use pushed a weakness over the edge.

I just thought from my own experiences -- chronicled here in post #11 -- things can cause hiccups to the NVMe, or maybe certain expansion cards are better than others. I cannot tell conclusively.

I always see these new techno-twists and innovations as sort of a gauntlet with processes and decision points: How does this work? what can cause it to really die, and what can cause it to appear to die with recovery just for removing and reinserting the NVMe on the expansion card? How do you avoid little disasters?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Wow. Thank you so much for all the input. Looks like I'm gonna just need to do a return to the vendor. There is a Samsung 960 out now. Would my board handle a 960 Evo or Pro? Would that be faster than the 950? Inventory is very scarce on the 960 pro at the moment and I don't want to pay the price tag for a 1 tb. Thoughts?
Thanks,
Red

I'm debating this myself, but I already bought a 250GB 960 EVO to use with two caching volumes, one per OS in dual-boot system.

I now want to move the SSD boot-system volumes to a 1TB NVMe. A 512GB NVMe will be too small for a dual-boot system such that I keep or expand the caching volumes.

I'm assessing how many writes I rack up in a year's time. I'm guaranteed 400TBW for the EVO. A different measure -- the statistical or expected value of Pro longevity -- is about 1.2 PBW. The only other drive to consider for TBW is the ADATA SP550 SATA. My experience so far is that caching volumes don't have so high a write rate for a workstation as they might for a server, and for which you might use more RAM-caching instead.

The Pro could be a good investment. But the EVO would last quite a while. I have to think about it, and think about augmenting my RAM. Meanwhile, the caching seems to work pretty well for having a high-speed SSD for it.

 

[RedTail]

Thanks everyone for your intuitive responses. Currently, I am having to return the m.2 to the vendor for a refund. Unfortunately, they are out of stock on this item.
Red