[SOLVED] Installing M2 NVME SSD on M5A97 LE R2.0 MOBO

[Markman123]

Hello,

I was in the process of upgrading an older build with more memory and a new M2 NVME Samsung 980 SSD. My motherboard, (Asus M5A97 LE R2.0), doesn't have a M2 slot on it. However, I purchased a PCIE adapter card off of Amazon and it's recognized when doing a fresh install of Windows 10 off of a USB stick. When I try to boot my computer, the bios doesn't recognize my new 980 SSD, only my older 860 SATA SSD. I upgraded to the latest bios version for my MOBO, version 2701, but it still doesn't support my new SSD. I then followed a Youtube tutorial to use UEFI tools to install the NVME driver onto the .cap bios file. While this works, EZ flash in Windows doesn't allow me to update the driver with the newly modified one as I currently have the latest one installed in my bios. It won't let me downgrade to an older version either. I tried doing this through the bios but I get a "security verification" error when I try to change the bios, presumably because I have the most current bios update installed. I don't have a flashback button on or outside my MOBO so the old school method of flashing the bios without a CPU doesn't work. This would work in theory as I would theoretically be forcing the bios to accept whatever version of new bios file I tell it to install, thus bypassing ez flash.

I'm at a loss, short of just buying a new MOBO which I don't want to do on an old build with old RAM, I'm not sure what to do. I wish I could change the attributes in the . CAP file to trick ez flash into thinking I'm loading a new version of the bios file. I think this would do the trick, but I'm unsure of how to modify the .CAP bios file attributes.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I purchased a PCIE adapter card off of Amazon and it's recognized when doing a fresh install of Windows 10 off of a USB stick.
Mind sharing a link to that adapter?

As for your platform, you need to understand that adapters of any kind that deals with NVMe SSD's, are pretty much hit or miss or that there's info stating that the adapter will work after a certain platform onwards, as stated on Silverstone Tech's PCIe adapters.

 

[DSzymborski]

Honestly, a traditional SSD SATA makes much more sense than this jankiness.

 

[Markman123]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I purchased a PCIE adapter card off of Amazon and it's recognized when doing a fresh install of Windows 10 off of a USB stick.
Mind sharing a link to that adapter?

As for your platform, you need to understand that adapters of any kind that deals with NVMe SSD's, are pretty much hit or miss or that there's info stating that the adapter will work after a certain platform onwards, as stated on Silverstone Tech's PCIe adapters.

Hello Lutfij, thanks for your response. I agree that these Amazon adapters are hit or miss, but in my case, I can see the drive when installing a fresh copy of Windows 10, it creates the partition and writes to it with no issues. I hesitated purchasing a standard SATA SSD like my current 120 GB drive but was impressed by the lightning fast NVME SSD's. Here's a link to the adapter that I purchased. I'm running a Samsung 980 M.2 NVME SSD: https://www.amazon.com/EZDIY-FAB-NV...id=1651789242&sprefix=pcie+to,aps,139&sr=8-31
Thanks

 

[Markman123]

Honestly, a traditional SSD SATA makes much more sense than this jankiness.

I agree and normally wouldn't go this route, but strangely the drive appears when installing Windows 10.

 

[USAFRet]

I agree and normally wouldn't go this route, but strangely the drive appears when installing Windows 10.

The drive appears, or the adapter?

Motherboards of this vintage often cannot use a NVMe drive in a PCIe slot as the OS drive.


During the OS install, you want only ONE drive connected.
Disconnect the 860, try the install on this new drive and adapter.
If it fails, it fails.

 

[Markman123]

The drive appears, or the adapter?

Motherboards of this vintage often cannot use a NVMe drive in a PCIe slot as the OS drive.


During the OS install, you want only ONE drive connected.
Disconnect the 860, try the install on this new drive and adapter.
If it fails, it fails.

I'll try installing the OS again, pretty sure I had the 860 disconnected but I will try it again. When I installed the OS the first time, it saw the drive, name and capacity and all, not the adapter which I found strange that it wouldn't see it in the bios menu. Thanks