X99 Strix + Samsung 960 pro SSD disappears on reboot

[java2]

I just installed Samsung 960 pro (M2 NVME) SSD on my X99 Strix board with Windows 10 installed.
The SSD is booted normally for initial power on. However, the SSD will be disappeared no matter BIOS or Windows reboot and the PC will go into BIOS after reboot.
I have to power off and power on again to bring it back and boot up.
Any idea what happen?

[java2]

have you try the latest 960 pro firmware ?

ChaosBlades wrote:
IT WORKS!!!!

I have a ASUS Xonar Essence STX so not giving that up. I moved it from slot PCIX1_2 to slot PCIX16_2 and the system reboots. Sound card works and GPU-Z is reporting PCIe x16 3.0 on the GPU.

Thank you very much for your post. I have been dealing with this since I got my 960 Pro 1TB in Jaunuary with a dozen calls and emails to support with no help. You are my hero 🙂

Edit: I emailed ASUS Support on my cases with the resolution so hopefully anyone that calls in will get the solution to this issue. Though I doubt it with my exsperience with ASUS Support.

[java2]

previously, i had a pcie tv tuner card installed in that slot and it strange that it will "hide" the ssd upon reboot with a pcie card installed.
anyway, samsung have released a 960 pro firmware recently, have you try it?

N3xiz wrote:
Hello, I'm new to the forum and registered just to share my solution with you.

I got the same setup, i7 6800K, Strix X99 and Samsung nvme SSD 960 Pro 1TB.

Unlike you guys I came across this bug by accident because I had my old Creative Titanium HD that was previously built into another PC lying around and thought I could use it again. So I built it into the PCIe 2.0 x1_2 Slot because slot 1_1 is blocked by the GPU. And here it all began.

I had the exact same behaviour as most of you, cold start all fine, reboot SSD not found. I read through a lot of forums and of course the manual and found no logical reason for this bug. I even updated the MOBO to BIOS v1504 and still no change.

So the (SOLUTION) was to remove the sound card and leave my setup with only the GPU and the SSD. This of course is not really satisfying even if the sound of the onboards soundcard is pretty good and I heard no difference between them, but still it is pretty annoying to know that I can't use all PCIe slots of my pretty expensive MOBO without running into problems.

So to the guys with extra PCIe cards, try removing them and see if it fixes the problem like in my case.

I also would like to add that it is rather unlikely that the CPU is the root of all this because the only two things that use CPU lanes on this MOBO are the three PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and the M.2/U.2 slot. All other PCIe slots are managed by the X99 chip. Because of this my conclusion is that the MOBOs PCIe management is buggy and not the SSDs firmware, of course it could be a mix of both but all I know is that it is no defect and nothing we can correct because it is either the BIOS, the SSDs firmware or a mix of both, so we have to wait for Samsung and Asus to fix this problem.

I hope this clears things up for some of you.

[N3xiz]

java2 wrote:
previously, i had a pcie tv tuner card installed in that slot and it strange that it will "hide" the ssd upon reboot with a pcie card installed.
anyway, samsung have released a 960 pro firmware recently, have you try it?

Thank you for the hint, I updated the Firmware of my 960 Pro to the newest version 2B6QCXP7 and now everything works perfectly fine. I'm glad Samsung fixed that bug and I can finally use my MB's full potential :D.

[java2]

i see. i have ordered 960 pro and hope it will be works fine with the latest asus and samsung firmware.

N3xiz wrote:
Thank you for the hint, I updated the Firmware of my 960 Pro to the newest version 2B6QCXP7 and now everything works perfectly fine. I'm glad Samsung fixed that bug and I can finally use my MB's full potential :D.

[Malahmen]

java2 wrote:
congrat, is your ssd stills there upon reboot?

Yeah. Replying from it right now.

[Malahmen]

Had some small progress:
- I can see the drive in windows (as a storage, not as bootable)
- I have those latest drivers installed and my drive firmware is the latest.
- I already cloned successfully the HD with the OS to the m.2 SSD using the samsung data migration.

Still, I fail to see the m.2 drive as bootable in my bios.

Leaving me with the following issues:
- It might be a issue in the bios not detecting the samsung NVMe 960 PRO 512gb m.2 at all (as bootable) due to its current firmware.
- maybe if I use a controller board to put the m.2 on other PCIe slot (the ones on 4x) it might show up in the boot selection.
- the only advantage so far of a better CPU is that with a 40 lane processor the bios will show the option to activate the drive and pick it as bootable. ( which you can see in the screenshots here: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?53091-Rampage-V-Extreme-M-2-Setup-And-Windows-Installation-... )

The CPU option is a long expensive shot with a very high chance of ending with the same result and a lighter wallet.

I'm kind of getting out of ideas here...

[java2]

can you see the 960 ssd after reboot ?
it should be another issue that the ssd can be found but not bootable. maybe related to the clone software, i used true image 2017 to clone the windows 10 from original sata3 ssd to 960 ssd and it boot normally. alternatively, have you perform a clean windows install on m2 ssd ?

anyway, i gave up the 960 ssd and returning to amazon.

Malahmen wrote:
Had some small progress:
- I can see the drive in windows (as a storage, not as bootable)
- I have those latest drivers installed and my drive firmware is the latest.
- I already cloned successfully the HD with the OS to the m.2 SSD using the samsung data migration.

Still, I fail to see the m.2 drive as bootable in my bios.

Leaving me with the following issues:
- It might be a issue in the bios not detecting the samsung NVMe 960 PRO 512gb m.2 at all (as bootable) due to its current firmware.
- maybe if I use a controller board to put the m.2 on other PCIe slot (the ones on 4x) it might show up in the boot selection.
- the only advantage so far of a better CPU is that with a 40 lane processor the bios will show the option to activate the drive and pick it as bootable. ( which you can see in the screenshots here: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?53091-Rampage-V-Extreme-M-2-Setup-And-Windows-Installation-... )

The CPU option is a long expensive shot with a very high chance of ending with the same result and a lighter wallet.

I'm kind of getting out of ideas here...

[Malahmen]

java2 wrote:
can you see the 960 ssd after reboot ?
it should be another issue that the ssd can be found but not bootable. maybe related to the clone software, i used true image 2017 to clone the windows 10 from original sata3 ssd to 960 ssd and it boot normally. alternatively, have you perform a clean windows install on m2 ssd ?

anyway, i gave up the 960 ssd and returning to amazon.

- I can install windows into the ssd, but I can't finish up the install because after the SO is installed, the ssd does not show on the bios as bootable, so the SO installation is never finished or booted.
- I used the samsung migration software to clone the hd to the ssd, same result, does not show as boot option anywhere.

the only way I can use that drive is as storage, which is a waste, IMO.

Even worse is that removing the HD and trying to boot from the ssd, failing, inserting back the HD, gives me a bllue screen and messes up my HD install.
Completely twilight zone.

I will try that cloning software tonight when I get home.
Its going to be another long night...

[java2]

from above post, looks like it is 960 series known bugs.

Malahmen wrote:
When the bios detects the pen as starting disk it probably doesn't launch all its daemons, just the necessary ones, maybe missing the one that limits the pcie slots.
This is just one possible explanation since when the system POSTS the bios already should know which hardware exists so any limitation could be applied.
The thing is, when booting from the pen, no limitation is applied.
As soon as you boot without the pen, the slot limitation is applied as stated in the board manual.

Anyway, I really wish you were right and I am wrong.
That would mean that a solution would be possible even with my CPU.
In my setup I only have a PCIe for the GPU.

[Mr_Savy]

I purchased and successfully installed a Samsung 960 m.2 1TB drive on my existing system as the boot drive. My system is an Asus Strix X99 Gaming MB, Bios 1504, I7-6800k, W10, 16GB 4x4 Corsair Dominator Platinum 3200MHz, Corsair H100i v2, and EVGA GTX 970. Before installation, I never realized my existing boot drive (Samsung 850 SSD) was booting MBR. Since I always upgraded OS's , never thought about the implications. So to ensure a UEFI installation for the new m.2 drive, followed the recommended procedure for creating a UEFI USB W10 Install USB flash drive. This procedure calls for disabling CSM. Before the install, I disconnected all existing drives and loaded bios defaults. I also moved the Samsung 950 SSD to Sata 2 since the m.2 drive "disables" the sata 1 port. All this is fairly easy with my Thermaltake Level 10 GT case. Upon boot, the bios recognized the m.2 drive on the summary page. Booted to the USB flash drive and following the procedure installed W10. Did all the security upgrades prior to reconnecting any of the drives. Since my installation, I've had no issues. CSM in the bios continues to be disabled. Whenever I do overclocking, I load the default bios settings. When this happens, CSM is re-enabled. and the system can't find the m.2 boot drive. I can't remember but I think the bios still sees the m.2 and the Samsung 960 Windows boot loader (maybe wrong on this one, it may just see the "Samsung 960 w/o boot loader) BUT it won't boot to Windows. So have to disable CSM to get it to boot to Windows. Don't understand what's going on, but hey it works.

java2 wrote:
I just installed Samsung 960 pro (M2 NVME) SSD on my X99 Strix board with Windows 10 installed.
The SSD is booted normally for initial power on. However, the SSD will be disappeared no matter BIOS or Windows reboot and the PC will go into BIOS after reboot.
I have to power off and power on again to bring it back and boot up.
Any idea what happen?