M.2 drive corrupt and cannot wipe clean

aguatec

Reputable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,510
How to reformat a PLexor M.2 ssd. I have a similar problem in that I wish to reformat mu M.2 drive which is corrupt. Every time the card is installed and in spite of pressing the Del on startup my PC goes to the M.2 drive and freezes.
I remove the drive and Windows starts normally. I try to set BIOS to start in the drive with windows but on shutting down and re installing the M.2 drive directly to MoBo it starts in the 2 drive and freezes again ! Any suggestions pleas. Thank you
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Did the m.2 drive ever have windows on it? is there a choice in Boot order for Windows Boot Manager?

What happens if you try to boot off USB? Have you got a win 10 installer? If you don't, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB
If it lets you boot off USB I would unplug PC, remove power from current boot drive (so as to not to accidentally wipe it), boot using a win 10 installer and use it to erase the m.2 drive

how to clean drive

change boot order so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose command prompt

Then type "diskpart" and hit enter

then type "list disk" hit enter, it should only list drive 0

Next "select disk 0"

"clean" (this kills whatevers on there and reformats)

"convert GPT"

"exit"

Then close the window.

At that point the drive is completely wiped. It should not try to boot or anything at that point. Then on whatever computer you use it in you need to make sure to set the bios to not boot from it.
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2997128/erase-ssd.html

then unplug PC again, reattach normal boot drive and restart and see how it goes :)
 

aguatec

Reputable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,510
Thank you for your reply.
1. Yes I installed Windows 10 Pro from a USB. No problem, all worked well until I tried later install a copy of X-Plane 11 on the same drive. I began to transfer the file (113gb) but the dreaded blue screen appeared with the message " windows encountered a problem and will now try to repair" Not exact words. Then nothing happened for about 10 minutes after which I re-booted. The Plexor screen appeared saying "searching for SSD" and froze. If I could only re-format the Plexor without installing on Mother Board.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
What motherboard are you using? You must have to change some setting to stop it using the m.2 drive like that, as it seems to bypass the boot order in some way.

I haven't had a lot to do with m.2 but will try to figure out why its doing this. It won't be for a few hours as i have to go out soon, but if you give me motherboard info I see what I can do.
 

aguatec

Reputable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,510
Colif, Thank you for your interest in my problem. Tomorrow I will follow your advice that you posted later and post the results. Meanwhile my Mother board details: Gigabyte Z170-HD3-DDR3 with Intel i7-7700K processor. 16 G Ram, Nvidia GTX 1070 GPU.
Thank you again.
 

aguatec

Reputable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,510
Thank you for your comment James. Fast Boot disabled in BIOS. But as I mentioned, whatever Bios setting once I reinstall the Plexor M.2 SSD on boot-up the PC goes directly to this SSD and freezes! I just want to be able to reformat this SSD to be able to use it.!!
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Wonder if setting bios to defaults would fix it? I looked in your manual for motherboard, its not very informative about nvme - it has a screen on the peripherals tab that shows details of nvme but I couldn't tell if it let you change anything in it, as it didn't say in manual.
 

aguatec

Reputable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,510
gigabyte z170-hd3 ddr3 user manual Google this to get pdf user manual. Sorry but i do not know how to send it to you.

M.2 SSD Plexor M8Pe M.2 NVMe SSD 256 GB P/N 3C07120232
How do i send a screen shot of BIOS?
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator


he linked to screenshots of your bios and manual above, click on blue words - he wasn't asking for them :)

think i stop commenting, don't want to confuse anyone :)
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
have a look on peripherals tab of the bios and right down bottom is a NVME entry, click on that and see what it lets you do as I cannot tell from the screenshots I have.

If you want to share a picture, upload it a image sharing web site and share link here.

I will help, just don't want to get in James' way :)
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
On the tab 1 to the right of the boot tab is peripherals, its here that shows the nvme (Or should). I don't know if I am looking at this wrong - I am assuming there is a way to disable the nvme from booting. The link James gave with screenshots are actually gifs of the screens but since the PC showing examples doesn't have NVME it doesn't show what options there are.

its not in the boot list but it doesn't seem to care about that
 

aguatec

Reputable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,510


 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
I wonder if pressing F7 at the 1st screen would help, its optimised defaults, It should set bios to defaults, then go set up boot and see if it ignores it again.

Shame its nvme and not just a normal ssd you can put in another PC and wipe it.

did you disable it in bios after putting it back in?
 

aguatec

Reputable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,510


 

aguatec

Reputable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,510
Hi Calif, Tried F7 but just goes to the dreaded PLexor screen. I called Plexor and they suggested I download the latest firmware (non Windows OS) and burn the ISO file to a cd saying that the PC will boot first from the CD..not so! Just reads the CD for a few seconds then on to the PLexor screen and freezes.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
normally if you boot off DVD you have to hit enter for it work I think (its been a while)

did you burn it as a bootable CD? is secure boot still off?

Don't worry about name, at least you don't think panopticon is my name :) (and no, I don't know what it means)