[SOLVED] Kingston A2000 M.2 nvme & Asus Prime B350M-A Problem (M.2 N/A)

[Zzzangetsu]

I have a system like this;

Asus Prime B350m-a (bios version is 5406 - lol they just released a newer version 5603 today after I updated)
Ryzen 5 1600
Corsair Vengeance Lpx 16gb (2x8) DDR4 RAm - CMK16GX4M2B3200C16
Msi Aero Gtx 1070
I was using system with 2.5" ssds

(no.1) Sandisk Ultra 2 - 240gb
(no.2) Sandisk SSD Plus - 120gb (windows disk)

I recently decided to buy a nvme m.2 ssd (Kingston A2000 500gb) after checking my motherboard's manual.

I have no.1 and no.2 ssds installed on Sata 1 and 2 slots. (My sata 5 and 6 slots are already empty)

I installed Kingston A2000 m.2 nvme to m.2 slot on motherboard. (marked as no.3 on motherboard manual)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hQqTBdHjZp6dyP5J7

When I go into bios in main screen M.2 slot is seen as N/A

You can check screenshots of my bios here;

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XV2CYCoSXNEyzSWu6

Only place that I can see A2000 is the boot priority menu. (there is no sign of Kingston A2000 anywhere else)

Here is a short video for bios also

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pyv82Mg8JspJsSN68

I checked everywhere in bios there is no option like enable m.2 slot etc.

I tried disabling CMS but that didn't help everything was same.

Also in windows 10 I can't see A2000 in my computer or disk management.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PTeqovtZ67jXfjWUA

I need some help here I can't solve what is going on.

What am I doing wrong?

Is there anybody that uses a nvme ssd with that kind of motherboard (asus b350m-a), can you share your experiences?

Maybe I damaged the ssd while installing? Because My motherboard was old and I didn't have the M.2 screws, so I checked local computer shops and tried to find a screw. I found one and installed nvme. But I didn't know that there was also a spacer/standoff for it so I screwed it to motherboard without a standoff/spacer. After I realized I correctly mounted it with a m.2 screw and standoff. BWT A2000 doesn't come with m.2 screws. There is no sign of a damage btw. I'm just saying maybe.


I tried some solutions I found but couldn't succeed. I was planning cloning the system (windows 10) on 120 gb ssd to A2000 in windows platform. And using 120gb ssd for an old laptop. But in windows platform A2000 can't be seen in any way.

Then I created a system image on my 240gb ssd. from
Control Panel\\All Control Panel Items\\Backup and Restore (Windows 7)\\Create system image

As I can see A2000 on boot menu I'll try to write that image to A2000 by booting with a recovery usb.

Before doing this I'm planning to disconnect the 120 gb ssd that has my windows 10 system.

But I'm not sure I just wanted to get some opinion.

I never tried A2000 alone as I don't want to lose my windows 10 yet before taking backup of important things.

Edit 1:

1. I upgraded bios version to 5603 (nothing changed)
2. I disconnected all ssd except a2000 checked bios, still only place I can see the nvme a2000 is the boot options menu. There is no sign of it in any other place
3. Then I reconnected the 240 gb ssd on sata 2 (because my windows 10 system image was stored in it) I didn't connect my actual windows 10 system ssd (the 120 gb one)
4. I booted on a windows 10 recovery usb, and I tried recovery from the windows 10 image from 240gb ssd. (as this ssd has the recovery image it is excluded from the recovery process) Why I did this, because It was the whole plan to clone my whole windows config and apps to new nvme.
5. Windows 10 system successfully installed on a2000, (nothing changed in bios), but system couldnt boot by giving error blue screen "boot device not accessible" I tried various windows troubleshooting options like startup repair,command prompt,uninstall previous updates,system restore, even windows reset. None of them worked.
6. So My last shot was to install a fresh windows on a2000, I disconnected all ssd except a2000 and did fresh windows 10 install. (nothing changed in bios interface, only place I can see a2000 nvme is boot options) Windows 10 booted normally, I also did a disk test
   https://photos.app.goo.gl/ok7Hb9y3HX3zrWXe8
   https://photos.app.goo.gl/hMSXEu821QRH87by5
   https://photos.app.goo.gl/9W7sUpZvirufALT57
7. I rebooted several times after that to check if anything changed in bios but all same.
8. Then I started installing drivers from motherboard site. I was messing around with the motherboard raid drivers. I dont know why I did but I triedAMD RAID driver V9.3.0.38 For Windows 10 64-bitI thought maybe it could help with the bios issue. But after I installed it and restarted I got the same "boot device inaccessible" blue screen. Then I tried troubleshoot with startup repair, and I think repair did a recovery from a system restore point when I first installed windows, because some of the things I installed were missing like I've never installed.Right now everything seems ok. Now I'll try connecting other 2 ssd to motherboard and check if everything is ok.
9. I'm not sure maybe I installed the same raid driver on the system that I take the first windows image from and because of that my recovery from my first windows image didn't work. (But in that one no other recovery option also worked) Is there a way to delete raid drivers from that windows image ?
10. My conclusion is that : nvme m.2 ssd (Kingston A2000 in my ex.) work on my asus prime b350m-a motherboard (bios 5603) if it is the boot disk and windows is installed on it. But when it is the data disk and you have another lets say ssd as the windows boot disk, Kingston a2000 nvme does not show up anywhere else (also in windows) except bios boot options.

Edit 2: I managed to restore my old system from the first image like this

1. Sandisk 240gb ssd on sata 2 slot, Kingston a2000 on m.2 slot, in bios csm is on, ahci mode, uefi and legacy option selected.
2. I restored windows to kingston a2000 from the windows image of my first system that was on my 240 gb ssd.
3. I disconnected my 240 gb ssd from motherboard.
4. At that point I got "boot device inaccessible" blue screen as expected. (no recovery option worked as before, because what causing this was the raid drivers I installed from asus b350m-a driver site before taking the windows image)
5. From recovery menu of windows I opened command prompt and by the help of this guide, https://pureinfotech.com/uninstall-driver-recovery-environment-windows-10/I uninstalled rcraid.inf, rcbottom.inf and rccfg.inf amd raid drivers from my unbootable windows installation.
6. After uninstalling those drivers I could boot the system and everything was restored as it was on my first 120 gb ssd disk.
7. At that point only problem was that as the windows image was 120 gb it is restored as 120 gb on kingston a2000 m.2 nvme even though the drive is 500gb.
8. I extended the windows partition to unallocated space with the help of this guide.https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ge-to-an/e20992ca-5641-4f7c-bb09-3895d0732162
9. Conclusion : you can reinstall your old windows system image on asus b350m-a motherboard and kingston a2000 nvme with the help of a uefi bootable windows 10 recovery drive, and if you face any driver problem that prevents booting, you can uninstall those problematic drivers in the recovery options menu from command prompt. If you are taking your old windows image to a new and larger disk you need to extend the drive to use unallocated space.

 

[Lutfij]

The latest BIOS update for that board is 5603.

This was also stated in your motherboard manual;
AMD Ryzen™ processors: - 1 x M.2 socket 3 with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280/22110 (PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support* * When a SATA / PCIe mode M.2 device is installed, the M.2 socket shares bandwidth with the SATA6G_5/6 ports.

Which ports are you using to populate the SATA based SSD's?

If you want to install the OS onto the NVMe SSD, you should remove all drive that are connected to the system except the NVMe drive and install the OS onto it, after creating a bootable installer for Windows 10 using Windows Media Creation Tools.

Make and model of your PSU?

 

[Zzzangetsu]

Yes I know after I updated my bios today like 1 hour later they released a new bios

I have 2 ssds installed on the board
Sandisk SSD Plus - 120gb (windows 10) - is on slot Sata6g_1 - (sata 1)
Sandisk Ultra 2 - 240gb - is on slot Sata6g_2 - (sata 2)

sata 3,4,5,6 are all empty.

Kingston A2000 m.2 nvme is installed on M.2 Slot.

My psu is HighPower HPC-550-B12S - 550w

https://www.loot.co.za/product/high...50w-atx-black-power-supply-uni/jpwg-4113-g030

Should I try to write my windows 10 system image to A2000 and see if everything is ok ?
Is it normal to see M.2 N/A ?

 

[Zzzangetsu]

Edit 1:

1. I upgraded bios version to 5603 (nothing changed)
2. I disconnected all ssd except a2000 checked bios, still only place I can see the nvme a2000 is the boot options menu. There is no sign of it in any other place
3. Then I reconnected the 240 gb ssd on sata 2 (because my windows 10 system image was stored in it) I didn't connect my actual windows 10 system ssd (the 120 gb one)
4. I booted on a windows 10 recovery usb, and I tried recovery from the windows 10 image from 240gb ssd. (as this ssd has the recovery image it is excluded from the recovery process) Why I did this, because It was the whole plan to clone my whole windows config and apps to new nvme.
5. Windows 10 system successfully installed on a2000, (nothing changed in bios), but system couldnt boot by giving error blue screen "boot device not accessible" I tried various windows troubleshooting options like startup repair,command prompt,uninstall previous updates,system restore, even windows reset. None of them worked.
6. So My last shot was to install a fresh windows on a2000, I disconnected all ssd except a2000 and did fresh windows 10 install. (nothing changed in bios interface, only place I can see a2000 nvme is boot options) Windows 10 booted normally, I also did a disk testhttps://photos.app.goo.gl/ok7Hb9y3HX3zrWXe8https://photos.app.goo.gl/hMSXEu821QRH87by5https://photos.app.goo.gl/9W7sUpZvirufALT57
7. I rebooted several times after that to check if anything changed in bios but all same.
8. Then I started installing drivers from motherboard site. I was messing around with the motherboard raid drivers. I dont know why I did but I triedAMD RAID driver V9.3.0.38 For Windows 10 64-bitI thought maybe it could help with the bios issue. But after I installed it and restarted I got the same "boot device inaccessible" blue screen. Then I tried troubleshoot with startup repair, and I think repair did a recovery from a system restore point when I first installed windows, because some of the things I installed were missing like I've never installed.Right now everything seems ok. Now I'll try connecting other 2 ssd to motherboard and check if everything is ok.
9. I'm not sure maybe I installed the same raid driver on the system that I take the first windows image from and because of that my recovery from my first windows image didn't work. (But in that one no other recovery option also worked) Is there a way to delete raid drivers from that windows image ?
10. My conclusion is that : nvme m.2 ssd (Kingston A2000 in my ex.) work on my asus prime b350m-a motherboard (bios 5603) if it is the boot disk and windows is installed on it. But when it is the data disk and you have another lets say ssd as the windows boot disk, Kingston a2000 nvme does not show up anywhere else (also in windows) except bios boot options.

 

[Zzzangetsu]

Edit 2: I managed to restore my old system from the first image like this

1. Sandisk 240gb ssd on sata 2 slot, Kingston a2000 on m.2 slot, in bios csm is on, ahci mode, uefi and legacy option selected.
2. I restored windows to kingston a2000 from the windows image of my first system that was on my 240 gb ssd.
3. I disconnected my 240 gb ssd from motherboard.
4. At that point I got "boot device inaccessible" blue screen as expected. (no recovery option worked as before, because what causing this was the raid drivers I installed from asus b350m-a driver site before taking the windows image)
5. From recovery menu of windows I opened command prompt and by the help of this guide, https://pureinfotech.com/uninstall-driver-recovery-environment-windows-10/I uninstalled rcraid.inf, rcbottom.inf and rccfg.inf amd raid drivers from my unbootable windows installation.
6. After uninstalling those drivers I could boot the system and everything was restored as it was on my first 120 gb ssd disk.
7. At that point only problem was that as the windows image was 120 gb it is restored as 120 gb on kingston a2000 m.2 nvme even though the drive is 500gb.
8. I extended the windows partition to unallocated space with the help of this guide.https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ge-to-an/e20992ca-5641-4f7c-bb09-3895d0732162
9. Conclusion : you can reinstall your old windows system image on asus b350m-a motherboard and kingston a2000 nvme with the help of a uefi bootable windows 10 recovery drive, and if you face any driver problem that prevents booting, you can uninstall those problematic drivers in the recovery options menu from command prompt. If you are taking your old windows image to a new and larger disk you need to extend the drive to use unallocated space.

 

[Zzzangetsu]

My last conclusion and that's the nfo on web;
As my Kingston A2000 m.2 nvme is a pcie device, it is normal for it to not show up in my asus prime b350m-a bios sata menu, and it is normal to see it as "m.2 N/A" in sata menu.
Only place you can see "kingston a2000" is bios boot options menu.
On this motherboard you can use this nvme (kingston a2000) only as bootable windows disk.
You can't use it as a second storage device addition to your present windows 10 system.

If anyway you come this post and find a way to use another nvme or Kingston A2000 as a storage ssd on Asus Prime b350m-a or if you find a way to make it appear in bios other than boot options , please add your solution to this post.

Edit: Enabling Ami Native NVME driver option on motherboard bios also didn't work for me. (I found it by chance while checking bios menus)