Question M.2 Windows Visibility and Install Issues - please help

[Lewdlion]

Hi Guys,

I have been building a new setup over the last couple days where I upgraded everything bar the GPU.

My issue is with the M.2 - XPG Spectrix S40G 2280 PCIe Gen3x4 and installing windows to it. This is the only drive I have in the system at the moment waiting for more drives in the future. My MotherBoard is TUF Gaming X570-Plus. I have the M.2 Installed on the M.2_1 socket which according to the motherboard manual supports PCIe 3.0x4 and sata mode m key design of type 2280 storage devices.

Full System Specs:

Motherboard	TUF Gaming X570-Plus
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 5800x
GPU	NVIDIA GeFroce GTX 980 Ti (Zotac)
M.2	XPG Spectrix S40G 2280 PCIe Gen3x4
RAM	XPG Spectrix D60G
PSU	Corsair RM750 Gold
OS (That was installed after the first setup)	Windows 10 Pro - unsure of exact version, whatever the most recent from Windows 10 Downloads was, this initial install was done with a USB created through the Media Creation Tool

Yesterday after the build was complete and I needed to install Windows 10 Pro, I had some visibility issues with the M.2.; First it would't show in BIOS, then after some changing of BIOS settings it appeared; Second the drive then didn't appear in Windows installer, after some restarting and adjusting again of BIOS settings it then appeared but needing to be formatted. I formatted the disk and installed Windows 10 Pro on it with no issues.

Following the successful install I downloaded some games/software that required restarts and there was no issue with it booting to back to Windows.

The Problem: I woke up this morning with the PC booting straight to BIOS and being unable to see the M.2 once more. I tried the Secure Boot and CSM options in as many combinations as possible to get it to boot back to Windows but with no success. After making it appear in BIOS, the PC would attempt to boot off the drive and gave me the error

"Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key"

I decided to attempt to reinstall Windows with the same USB as yesterday. No matter what I try I can not get the M.2 to appear in the Windows Installer, the M.2 appears in BIOS but is not in Windows Installer through the wizard or through CMD using diskpart.

What I have tried so far and their results:

Updating BIOS	No effect - still see the M.2 in BIOS but not in Windows Installer/CMD
Disk Manager on another PC to format the Drive	First time loading up Disk Manager the device appeared stating it needed to be formatted to MBR or GPT, I attempted to select GPT and the device was no longer found so could not be formatted. Multiple restarts of the system and Scanning/Disk Manager and I can't get the device to show up again.
Changing the M.2 to the other slot	No effect
Every combination of BIOS settings regarding Secure Boot and CSM I can think of.	No effect - some setting combinations make the drive disappear in BIOS
Create a new install media using Rufus- with the partition scheme set to GPT Image of the settings I used - format options>file system only shows NTFS	With secure boot disabled I get into the Windows install but the drive is still not visible in Installer wizard or CMD using diskpart

This is getting extremely frustrating especially since I already installed Windows to it once and everything was fine.

TL: DR: New system with Spectrix S40G M.2 and motherboard TUF Gaming X570-Plus. I had installed Windows 10 Pro to the M.2(the only drive in the system) yesterday after messing in BIOS to get it to be visible and formattable in Windows installer. The install was fine with no issues, installing games/software that required restarts worked perfectly fine and got back to Windows no problem.

I turn the PC on today with the system booting straight to BIOS as the M.2 is no longer visible. I tried to change some settings in BIOS once more which made the drive appear, but could not boot to Windows and get me an error on a black screen stating "select a proper boot device". No matter the things I try I cannot get the M.2 to appear in Windows installer or diskpart tool through CMD. Please help me!

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Does the following link provide the applicable motherboard User Manual?

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...0-PLUS/E15235_TUF_GAMING_X570-PLUS_UM_WEB.pdf

[Verify that I found the applicable manual.]

Does it appear that BIOS is not saving the applicable configuration settings that you are making/changing?

Are you sure that you are correctly saving those changes?

This:

"Second the drive then didn't appear in Windows installer, after some restarting and adjusting again of BIOS settings it then appeared but needing to be formatted. I formatted the disk and installed Windows 10 Pro on it with no issues. "

What BIOS settings did you need to adjust? From what not-working settings to what working settings?

Try a new, fresh working CMOS battery.

Also change POST reporting to be as verbose as possible so you can observe what the system is doing, finding, and reporting during boot up.

 

[Lewdlion]

Hi Ralston,

Thanks for the reply I appreciate it! I have updated the comment and put my specs, I am not sure of the exact OS version as I created it through the Media Creation Tool.

[Verify that I found the applicable manual.]
Yeah that is the correct manual.

Does it appear that BIOS is not saving the applicable configuration settings that you are making/changing?
I believe it is, when I make any changes and head back into BIOS the changes appear to have saved. This is when restarting and re-booting from a full shutdown.

What BIOS settings did you need to adjust? From what not-working settings to what working settings?
I can't remember the exact settings I had at the time, but these are the settings I have been changing in combinations when I managed to get it to work yesterday and the attempts I have made today: NVMe RAID mode, OS Type, Clearing/Unclearing Boot Keys, Launch CSM.

The combination that seems to provide the most results, like the M.2 showing in BIOS are:

NVMe RAID mode	Disabled
OS Type	Other OS or UEFI
Boot Keys	Boot Keys installed
Launch CSM	Enabled

There is some other stuff I found today: I have two Windows Media USBs, one made through Rufus(USB1) as mentioned in the initial comment and one created through Media Creation Tool(USB2).

BIOS did not show the M.2 with settings different from those above at first. After changing to them the M.2 finally showed on the BIOS. I attempted to install Windows but again the storage device was not there to be installed to.

When changing the BIOS settings above after it, the only time the M.2 doesn't show is when I disable Launch CSM.

Using USB2 the M.2 would also only show when Launch CSM was enabled. None of any of these combinations let me see the Drive in Windows installer or diskpart.

Try a new, fresh working CMOS battery.
I don't have any other CMOS battery but I will look into buying one as well.

Hopefully that additional information is helpful.