Installing Samsung 950 Pro M.2 not working

[Boestro]

Dear,
I've bought a Samsung 950 Pro 250GB and put it in my motherboard (MSI Z97 Gaming 9 ACK with M.2 slot) with windows 10 installed. Then i've downloaded the Samsung nvm driver version 1.0 but it says: Samsung NVM Express device is not connected, please connect your device. Anyone knows what I have to do now?
Thanks for the help

 

[alexoiu]

Hi,
Is Windows installed in UEFI mode?

 

[The Original Ralph]

for the hell of it, download and install samsung's data migration software and see if it will allow you to clone the OS drive to the 950 - their data migration software has done some interesting things - if it will, let it - if you don't want the 950 as your OS drive, then simply wipe the drive but at least you'll have it recognized

and btw, in the m.2 socket on your z97 mobo, very few z97 boards have 4 lanes (or x4) on their M.2 socket. If you don't see read speeds much over 800 MB/s, you know why

 

[Boestro]

Well, it's an UEFi mode I think and I downloaded samsung data migration but it says please connect a Samsung SSD, it's a real hell.
🙁

 

[alexoiu]

Check in msinfo32: http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-94-73-metablogapi/7532.image_5F00_4371A120.png

 

[Boestro]

Well I checked it and it says "verouderd" what is dutch and means: outdated. Should I update this then?

 

[alexoiu]

You have to reinstall Windows in UEFI mode, for the M.2 drive to work (check the board's manual).

 

[Boestro]

I've downloaded the newest version for my motherboard from the MSI website and installed it with flash in the bios setup and it's installed but it still says outdated, I tried samsung nvm driver again but it says: please connect samsung ssd. Also I found this in my motherboard manual: 1Intel RST does not support PCIe M.2 SSD with Legacy ROM 2 M.2PCIe interface does not support RAID 0, Raid 1, RAID5 and RAID 10.
Maybe there is another way to update my bios?

 

[alexoiu]

"Intel RST does not support PCIe M.2 SSD with Legacy ROM"

verouderd = Legacy, therefore SSD not working.

You have to go in BIOS, Set ▶Boot Mode to UEFI and reinstall Windows. It would be a good opportunity to install it on the new SSD.
I can't help you more. You can google about differences between UEFI and Legacy.

 

[Boestro]

I've installed the UEFI and it shows up in system information. But the samsung NVM driver installer still says that I have to connect a Samsung device. Is there a next step?

 

[The Original Ralph]

for whatever reason your driver is not seeing the M.2 device, the 950 - it may be the 950 isn't seated properly in the M.2 socket or the socket is bad.
I'd suggest getting a M.2 > PCIe expansion card adapter and installing the 950 on it in one of the PCIe 3.0 x4 slots - it that works, you know that socket or the circuit to it is bad

fwiw

 

[Boestro]

I've checked the M.2 and it's plugged in good; also i don't have a PCie 3.0 x4 slot; also in my bios he doesn't see anything in the M.2 slot, is my motherboard bios to old, because I don't get it

 

[The Original Ralph]

from the specifications page, your board has three PCIe 3.0 slots

"PCI-E Gen Gen3 (16, 0, 0), (8, 8, 0), (8, 4, 4) "
http://us.msi.com/product/motherboard/Z97-GAMING-9-ACK#hero-specification

the only info i could find on your M.2 slot is "Push your SSD to the limit with M.2 & SATA Express" - you ought to check your owner's manual for that mobo to confirm it's a PCIe M.2 socket and not sata

either the 950 is defective, not seated properly in the socket, or the socket (or it's circuit) is bad

 

[Boestro]

It is a M.2 port, I checked the manual, when I touch my Samsung SSD i feel it is warm, so that means it works i think, are there other programms then samsung nvm installer to check if the M.2 works or something?

 

[The Original Ralph]

being an M.2 port does not mean it's PCIe - it could be a sata M.2 - they do exist, which means the 950 would not show up in your system

that's why i suggested a) checking your manual to confirm it's a PCIe socket, not a sata connection

2nd suggestion, is to get an expansion card adapter and try the 950 in that - if the system recognizes it, then either the M.2 is a sata channel, or it's defective. The 950 being warm doesn't rule either of those two possiblities out - it simply tells you it's getting power

 

[Boestro]

In the manual I read: M.2 port supports M.2 PCIe module up to 10GB/s speed, but it doesn't support M.2 with Lagacy ROM.

 

[The Original Ralph]

so at least we've confirmed it's PCIe

now try the other suggestions - it's all i can see to identifying the problem - this all assumes that you're running a UEFI BIOS

 

[Boestro]

Yes a UEFI bios or Legacy + UEFI, I can send the ssd back to where I bought it and they pay me back then, so there is nothing I can do now without that PCIe expansion card, nothing drivers or something?

 

[The Original Ralph]

no - maybe, if you have a friend with a working NVMe PCIe SSD in his/her computer, installing that 950 into their computer to confirm the 950 is not defective. That or the expansion card are all i can suggest - the expansion card can be had for as little as $20

this is the addonics http://www.addonics.com/products/adm2px4.php

 

[The Original Ralph]

something just cropped up on the asus mobo support forum that hadn't occurred to me as my mobo doesn't support sata express - a user with a similiar mobo to yours, his bios keeps resetting to sata express from M.2

in your bios settings, have you selected M.2? - you'll have to check your mobo user's manual for the location of the settings choice - but that could well be the issue

 

[Boestro]

Well i changed form UEFi boot to UEFi + lagacy mode and now i can boot my windows from there, so that means he is still working, but I will now try installing the drivers on it.

 

[Boestro]

OMG guys, SSD is connected; NVM drivers are installed another big shit out of my live, can I transfer my windows 10 from my intel SSD to samsung SSD with Samsung date migration?

 

[The Original Ralph]

yes - but when you do, and reboot, you'll find the intel drive "offline" - you'll be able to see it in disk management

reason is, samsung's data migration software copies the OS drive exact, including labeling the partitions the exact same, ie "C", "D" etc, so the system can't have duplicate partitions. You might want to try the freeware version of Macrium Reflect - like other clone software, it will label the new drive's partitions as "J (C)", K (D)", so both drives will be available

the samsung migration software was fast though, under 10 minutes for 177 GB - you can always use a partition management software to wipe the intel drive after cloning, so you can use it for storage

 

[Boestro]

I would like to thank you and for everyone here, becoming part of the Samsung 950 Pro family is tough, now i'm enjoying my pc star up

 

[Boestro]

But when I boot my pc up with the samsung SSD 950 Pro it says it'ss not a good booting device, but when I boot with the UEFI HArd DIsk: Windows Boot Manager, windows starts and OS is on the 950 pro, is this normal?