How do i find a missing SSD?

[jim.brailer]

I purchased a laptop on eBay the other day, MSI GS73VR, it was listed as new missing box. The seller had lots of good reviews so it seemed like a good idea. This laptop is supposed to have a 2 TB hard drive and a 256 GB SSD. After windows spent a day updating and restarting and i loaded a few games on it, i had time today to play with it and check it out. i could not find the SSD listed anywhere, disk management shows only the HDD, all of the windows files are on the HDD.I was unable to register this computer with MSI, so i called there tech support. The computer was out of warranty and had already been registered. I asked him about the hard drive and he said yes this computer was shipped with a SSD and I should return it. I emailed the seller and was told that they have the warranty it just needs to be properly registered and the SSD is there it just needs to be properly formatted and partitioned.

Before I make a big deal about this and probably end up eating the return shipping cost, could anyone tell me if I am overlooking something, could it be there and i just can't find it? If you buy a new computer with a SSD should windows come loaded onto the SSD? I sent these questions to the seller as soon as i got there reply but they were suddenly closed until Monday. I enjoy playing with computers but am not an expert in any field of computers, I don't want to push this if there is a chance that I am wrong. If i had gotten a really good deal on it I would let it go but i paid too much to ignore this. Thank you in advance.
Jim

 

[nobspls]

Return it ASAP. The seller is trying to pass off defective hardware to you. The SSD slot is a real skills test to get to. See:
https://www.laptopmain.com/msi-gs73vr-disassembly/

It is on the backside of the motherboard, and really hard to get to, requiring you to basically dissassemble the whole PC to see if there is an SSD in there to start with. And if it had gotten loose, correcting it would be the same major hassle. There is no way to get at the SSD easily just to test it either. So return it ASAP for your own benefit.

 

[jim.brailer]

Return it ASAP. The seller is trying to pass off defective hardware to you. The SSD slot is a real skills test to get to. See:
https://www.laptopmain.com/msi-gs73vr-disassembly/

It is no the backside of the motherboard, and really hard to get to, requiring you to basically dissassemble the whole PC to see if there is an SSD in there to start with. And if it had gotten loose, correcting it would be the same major hassle. So return it ASAP for your own benefit.

Thank you, I am feeling the same way about it right now, like I was just robbed. Would you feel safe logging out of a computer and returning it or would you do a fresh windows install before sending it back?

 

[USAFRet]

Return it ASAP. The seller is trying to pass off defective hardware to you. The SSD slot is a real skills test to get to. See:
https://www.laptopmain.com/msi-gs73vr-disassembly/

It is no the backside of the motherboard, and really hard to get to, requiring you to basically dissassemble the whole PC to see if there is an SSD in there to start with. And if it had gotten loose, correcting it would be the same major hassle. So return it ASAP for your own benefit.

Thank you, I am feeling the same way about it right now, like I was just robbed. Would you feel safe logging out of a computer and returning it or would you do a fresh windows install before sending it back?

Post a screencap of your Disk Management window.

As far as "logging out" vs clean install?
What have you done with this system so far?

 

[jim.brailer]

logged into my google account, Microsoft account, steam account and possibly a few other small sites but nothing with my bank. Google does have my credit cards and passwords to a lot of things though.

 

[USAFRet]

logged into my google account, Microsoft account, steam account and possibly a few other small sites but nothing with my bank. Google does have my credit cards and passwords to a lot of things though.

oooo...that would be a FULL clean install.
Wipe the entire drive.
What OS is this?

However....screencap of Disk Management, so that we can verify the SSD does or does not exist.

 

[jim.brailer]

I have a picture i took with my phone bu i have no idea ho to get that picture into this chat. I am sure if i spent some time reading i could figure it out.

 

[USAFRet]

I have a picture i took with my phone bu i have no idea ho to get that picture into this chat. I am sure if i spent some time reading i could figure it out.

Detailed instructions on posting images on Tom's hardware.
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2580030/detailed-instructions-posting-images-tom-hardware.html


Basically, upload that pic to somewhere like imgur.com.
Post the link here.

 

[jim.brailer]

https://imgur.com/a/Z6hGb

 

[USAFRet]

https://imgur.com/a/Z6hGb

Yup, that's a single 2TB HDD.
Return and Refund time.

 

[jim.brailer]

Thank you for your help, was hopeful I was wrong about this. I will start wiping it out in the morning and have it ready to return Monday morning. Part of me wants to take it apart and see but that would probably be a bad idea if I want my money back. Thanks again, this has to be the most helpful place on the internet and always the nicest people.

 

[SkyNetRising]

What windows version?
Windows 7 for example needs specific hotfix before nvme M.2 devices are enabled.

Make sure chipset drivers are installed.
Also check device manager for entries with yellow exclamation marks.

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you for your help, was hopeful I was wrong about this. I will start wiping it out in the morning and have it ready to return Monday morning. Part of me wants to take it apart and see but that would probably be a bad idea if I want my money back. Thanks again, this has to be the most helpful place on the internet and always the nicest people.

Contact the seller before you do any wiping, etc.
Seeing as this is a little bit shady, he may try to use that as an excuse to push back on the refund.

Don't do anything else to it until you get something in writing about the full refund/return.

 

[jim.brailer]

You make a good point there, I guess since it is already installed and they were suddenly closed till Monday I could play some games on it this weekend. It is a nice computer even without the SSD but i could get a new one for less that does not have the extras.

 

[jim.brailer]

What windows version?
Windows 7 for example needs specific hotfix before nvme M.2 devices are enabled.

Make sure chipset drivers are installed.
Also check device manager for entries with yellow exclamation marks.

It is running Windows 10 and as far as I can tell everything is up to date. I just spent some time on the device manager page checking for updates on anything that looks like it has to do with a HDD/SSD and found nothing.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Did you install chipset drivers?
https://www.msi.com/Laptop/support/GS73VR-6RF-Stealth-Pro#down-driver&Win10 64
Can you post screenshot from Device Manager?

 

[jim.brailer]

on the device manager page there was a firmware option, i updated that and now it will not start windows at all. The computer made some odd noises and goes straight to bios screen or a blue screen where it restarts from.

 

[nobspls]

If you want to wipe the disk, just re-install windows, or install linux. They can fix it when they get it back and reinstall windows to their liking.

 

[jim.brailer]

If you want to wipe the disk, just re-install windows, or install linux. They can fix it when they get it back and reinstall windows to their liking.

I might of got lucky, under the troubleshooting option it offers to factory reset removing all personal files. I was getting worried that I would be stuck with this if it did not restart. once it is wiped clean it is going back in the box to return.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Firmware update probably reset BIOS options to default.
You have to restore previous sata controller settings and boot mode settings.

If you don't know, what they were before, you'll have to try them out until you find the right ones.

 

[jim.brailer]

Firmware update probably reset BIOS options to default.
You have to restore previous sata controller settings and boot mode settings.

If you don't know, what they were before, you'll have to try them out until you find the right ones.

That is way above my comfort level, maybe with an old computer I would try it but this one was $1300 and I plan to get that back and buy one that works right out of the box. While I was on the bios screen i checked and did not see anything about the M.2 drive. I am done touching it now, hopefully tomorrow morning it will be reset.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Just read the manual. Boot mode settings are described there.
Correct Boot mode settings are either UEFI of UEFI with CSM (Legacy setting most definitely is not the right one).
Correct SATA controller settings most likely is AHCI.
https://www.msi.com/Laptop/support/GS73VR-6RF-Stealth-Pro#down-manual

 

[nobspls]

I do NOT have a GS73VR, but I got a very similar MSI laptop, it is the GS63VR. The bios should be essentially the same. The UI that you see should be identical. You should be able to see the storage devices regardlesss of what AHCI mode, UEFI boot mode or whatever else you've set. See here are my screen shots for comparison.

Select storage from the main screen like this:

If you do NOT see the SSD here, something is really wrong.

And you should see the device listing like this:

As you can see I have 2 SATA SSD's in my machine since I replace the HDD with a SSD last year.

 

[jim.brailer]

I do NOT have a GS73VR, but I got a very similar MSI laptop, it is the GS63VR. The bios should be essentially the same. The UI that you see should be identical. You should be able to see the storage devices regardlesss of what AHCI mode, UEFI boot mode or whatever else you've set. See here are my screen shots for comparison.

Select storage from the main screen like this:

If you do NOT see the SSD here, something is really wrong.

And you should see the device listing like this:

As you can see I have 2 SATA SSD's in my machine since I replace the HDD with a SSD last year.

That is the BIOS screen I was looking at and there was only the 2 TB drive listed there. I got up this morning and the factory reset was done, I emailed the seller and told them the experts have spoken and it must be returned. I guess I will start looking for a new one with lower specs, that one was at the top of my price range.