NVME M.2 drive not recognised in Maximus VII Impact BIOS

[d0mini]

Hey, I'm having an annoying issue with my VII Impact and the 1TB Toshiba XG3.

The SSD is properly installed and is visible as a drive in windows 10, and I can even begin installing windows on it, so there's no fault with the hardware. The issue is when the installation needs to continue on the booted SSD - the BIOS does not see the drive so it can't boot from it and continue the installation.

The BIOS version is the latest available - 3003. I have tried reflashing the BIOS, resetting it to defaults, and have messed with boot settings. Nothing has worked so far.

What else can I try? Has anyone had a similar issue before, and did you resolve it? This is especially aimed [@]Raja@ASUS[/@], I really hope there is a way around this.

I really appreciate any help on this one. This was an expensive drive and it would be a terrible thing for it not to be used as intended.

EDIT

Here it is in Toshiba's SSD utility in windows 10:



As you can see, it is fully recognised and functioning, I even managed to install the correct driver - a problem I have seen for others online.

How can it be so fully functional in windows and not bootable/visible in the BIOS? This is infuriating.

[d0mini]

Here are all the relevant (that I know of) BIOS screens with settings I've been playing around with, if anyone has any ideas feel free to make suggestions:

• Fast boot - I have tried simply disabling it, but that had no effect. Haven't tried anything else.
  
  
  
  
  
• As you can see, the USB stick I have can be booted by UEFI, so the BIOS can see UEFI drives. Just not the M.2 one...
  
  
  
  
  
• I have disabled secure boot as this guide for getting it to work in a laptop stated was necessary. I have backed up the keys.
  
  
  
  
  
• The CSM options seem the most useful, I have tried a few combinations, but I am sure not all.
  
  
  
  
  
• M.2 is enabled in the Onboard Devices Configuration. I have not yet found any other setting for enabling or disabling it
  
  
  
  
• This section is just as blank with or without the M.2 drive installed. Almost as if the BIOS is completely unaware the drive is there and accessible through windows.
  
  

I am going to try disabling my sata drives and mess around with the BIOS then. That way, if a setting does actually allow the M.2 drive to be bootable without showing up in the BIOS, I will know straight away. I would really appreciate any and all help, I need to get this sorted.

[Mobie]

d0mini wrote:
Here are all the relevant (that I know of) BIOS screens with settings I've been playing around with, if anyone has any ideas feel free to make suggestions:

• Fast boot - I have tried simply disabling it, but that had no effect. Haven't tried anything else.
  
  
  
  
  
• As you can see, the USB stick I have can be booted by UEFI, so the BIOS can see UEFI drives. Just not the M.2 one...
  
  
  
  
  
• I have disabled secure boot as this guide for getting it to work in a laptop stated was necessary. I have backed up the keys.
  
  
  
  
  
• The CSM options seem the most useful, I have tried a few combinations, but I am sure not all.
  
  
  
  
  
• M.2 is enabled in the Onboard Devices Configuration. I have not yet found any other setting for enabling or disabling it
  
  
  
  
• This section is just as blank with or without the M.2 drive installed. Almost as if the BIOS is completely unaware the drive is there and accessible through windows.
  
  

I am going to try disabling my sata drives and mess around with the BIOS then. That way, if a setting does actually allow the M.2 drive to be bootable without showing up in the BIOS, I will know straight away. I would really appreciate any and all help, I need to get this sorted.

M7I BIOS not support any toshiba(OCZ) M.2 SSD

[Praz]

Hello

The RD400 works here without issue. With no other drives connected, default settings and CSM set to disabled Win10 installs fine.

[d0mini]

Praz wrote:
Hello

The RD400 works here without issue. With no other drives connected, default settings and CSM set to disabled Win10 installs fine.

Hey Praz, I'm glad it worked for you, I don't know why it didn't for me then too considering they are effectively the same drive. Regardless, I did get it to work:

After a good 24 hours of trying to get this to work, I managed it. My XG3 is now recognised by my BIOS and is my boot drive.
All it took was a BIOS modification..! To be more specific, I had to add an NVMe module to my motherboard's BIOS, as apparently the support already in place for NVMe drives was not sufficient for some reason.


I did this seemingly computer-engineering-level feat by following two very simple guides by Fernando on the win-raid forums:

1. This guide 'How to get full NVMe support for Intel Chipset systems from 6-Series up' gives the module required as well as telling you how to add it to your BIOS.

2. This guide How to flash a modded ASUS/ASRock/Gigabyte AMI UEFI BIOS tells you how to flash the modified BIOS onto your motherboard, as some conventional methods may not work.

This will most likely not work for all motherboards, but in the case of the Maximus VII Impact, it just does.


Just in case anyone has the exact same issue as me at some point, +/- the same NVMe SSD, here is my modified BIOS for the Maximus VII Impact:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz3JFg0qs4L9ZS04ZXZmWndkOVU/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-nAlIwJ21...

Obviously I don't take responsibility if using my BIOS fails for you in any way. If you're concerned, just do it yourself following Fernando's guides.


Thank you for your posts anyway! I really did try everything, and the fact that it just worked after I changed the BIOS seems to show I was trying the right settings.

[Mobie]

d0mini wrote:
Hey Praz, I'm glad it worked for you, I don't know why it didn't for me then too considering they are effectively the same drive. Regardless, I did get it to work:

After a good 24 hours of trying to get this to work, I managed it. My XG3 is now recognised by my BIOS and is my boot drive.
All it took was a BIOS modification..! To be more specific, I had to add an NVMe module to my motherboard's BIOS, as apparently the support already in place for NVMe drives was not sufficient for some reason.


I did this seemingly computer-engineering-level feat by following two very simple guides by Fernando on the win-raid forums:

1. This guide 'How to get full NVMe support for Intel Chipset systems from 6-Series up' gives the module required as well as telling you how to add it to your BIOS.

2. This guide How to flash a modded ASUS/ASRock/Gigabyte AMI UEFI BIOS tells you how to flash the modified BIOS onto your motherboard, as some conventional methods may not work.

This will most likely not work for all motherboards, but in the case of the Maximus VII Impact, it just does.


Just in case anyone has the exact same issue as me at some point, +/- the same NVMe SSD, here is my modified BIOS for the Maximus VII Impact:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz3JFg0qs4L9ZS04ZXZmWndkOVU/view?usp=sharing

Obviously I don't take responsibility if using my BIOS fails for you in any way. If you're concerned, just do it yourself following Fernando's guides.


Thank you for your posts anyway! I really did try everything, and the fact that it just worked after I changed the BIOS seems to show I was trying the right settings.

Hi did you tested the mod BIOS work with XG3? thx

[d0mini]

Yes, the modded BIOS worked for me and I am using it now. I would recommend making your own instead of using mine though, it's good practice for all things, and if you do try it keep a stock BIOS handy as backup on a separate USB stick. The guides will show you how to flash/edit the BIOS.

EDIT

@Praz ,

I double checked the original 3003 BIOS by flashing it the same way that I flashed the modified BIOS - USB Flashback, and used the same settings that worked with the modded BIOS. Still nothing.

I find it confusing that the RD400 works for you without issue with the stock 3003 BIOS and I can't get the XG3 to do the same, but there it is. I definitively require the modified BIOS to boot from the XG3. Maybe it's the slightly different firmware of the SSDs.

[salmonmeat]

damn, i am having the same problem with an asus 970 pro gaming aura, and the 256gb version of the same ssd. i actually went through those same guides from win-raid, and even had to find an old version of afudos which still supported the /gan option to override the security verification. still nothing showing up in BIOS.

i thought it might be that my board supports only gen 2 pcie, but windows sees the drive fine as a storage device, and even installs to it fine until it needs to restart and i get to the same point you were getting to - UEFI doesn't see any m.2 device.

i really hope asus releases a bios update for my mobo soon so that i can actually boot from this thing.

[d0mini]

Hi there,

I have been getting multiple requests for access to the M7I file I shared back in 2016. The link had expired, so I have replaced it with this one: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz3JFg0qs4L9ZS04ZXZmWndkOVU/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-nAlIwJ21...

Good luck out there to all who need this. Maybe I'll make another post one day renewing the URL again, who knows.*

[Ricson]

Recently used this modified BIOS as well. All good. I am considering to mod 3503 BIOS hope it goes well.