[SOLVED] New build issue: X870E Taichi Lite keeps losing Crucial T705 boot drive in BIOS during and after Windows 11 install ?

[bokodozogobofopojo]

Build seemed to go fine.
Memory in the A2 B2 slots.
Video Card in PCIE1
SSD in m2_1

Posted first go into BIOS. Updated via USB 3.10 to 3.16

Then the problems started.

Started fresh install Windows 11 from USB installer I created from microsoft on my old PC (Have new retail W11 home USB ordered, not arrived yet)

Installer would not find the SSD. Searched online as you do. Tried various suggestions that seemed to work for others.

Couldn't find SSD by installing drivers.

Added on old Samsung SATA SSD then it found the Crucial. Managed to start Windows install. Install failed.

Next attempt would not find the SSD. Found BIOS cannot consistently find the Crucial T705. Sometimes it shows, sometimes not.

Confirmed BIOS is set to AHCI

Changed settings for Above 4GB MMIO Enable but did nothing.

Building 2 almost identical systems, one for me, one for partner. Still waiting on my case and 2x second SSDs Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB M.2-2280

Swapped to our second T705. Found it first go and installed W11. But from then on the same issue continued. Sometimes would boot to W11, sometimes boot to BIOS with no SSD detected. W11 isn't exactly stable. Getting random BSOD

W11 is glitchy, but not sure how much is due to it being not yet activated or a dodgy install. Either way I feel this is at least downstream of the BIOS issue (or perhaps related to a faulty SSD)

Downgraded BIOS to 3.16 to 3.15 no change.

Moved the SSD half speed in the M2_2 no change.

Close to my wits end here. Any thoughts? Intermittent issues are of course some of the hardest to isolate.

Nothing is jumping out as obviously faulty. One SSD, maybe, but both? Maybe the mobo? But both M2 ports?

At this stage I'm going to leave it until the rest of the stuff arrives. See if I have any of the same issue with the 2nd build. If I have to, perhaps try W11 install to the Samsung 990 instead.

All I can guess at this stage is the T705 isn't compatible with the Taichi Lite. I'm sure I read somewhere it was, even though only the 4TB is listed on their storage QVL but now I'm second guessing myself. It's not sensible to me that 4TB would work and 2TB would not, but weirder things have happened.

EDIT: The only thing semi-consistent is now it will mostly find the boot drive from a full shut down, but will typically never find it from a reset (either from within windows or bios)

Full Specs
Mobo: ASRock X870E Taichi Lite
CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
GPU: Gigabyte GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36
SSD: Crucial T705 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X4 NVMe
PSU: Corsair RM1000x

 

[Lutfij]

It seems like there are a few people who have mentioned the same sort of issues with the T705 drive.

Posted first go into BIOS. Updated via USB 3.10 to 3.16
Did you clear the CMOS after verifying your BIOS was successfully flashed to the latest version? Did you see if CSM is disabled in BIOS? Ideally you're advised to disconnect from the wall and display, then remove the CMOS battery, then press and hold down the power button for 30secs to drain any residual power, then reseat the battery after 30mins.

How are you cooling the processor? Might want to relieve the mounting pressure for the cooler and see if that helps alleviate the SSD detection problem. You could also try and remove your discrete GPU from the build, working with the iGPU and the SSD in the first M.2 slot.

It'd be a good idea if you could drop the SSD onto another known working motherboard and see if the issue persists there. Might be a BIOS incompatibility issue or a slot issue.

 

[bokodozogobofopojo]

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, CSM is disabled and has been all along.

I have followed most of your suggestions and things initially looked promising.

* Fully cleared CMOS as you described
* Cooler is Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120. Loosened that slightly as suggested
* Got the T705 to work in my current PC (i7 8700 with ASUS PRIME Z370-A)

Formatted the T705. Tested fine. Returned it to the new PC and it was immediately found by the BIOS

Tested multiple power off shut downs and soft resets, both save and exit from within BIOS and case reset button. BIOS found it every single time. At least 12-15 times.

Thought that might be problem solved, unfortunately not.

W11 Home installation USB arrived today. Started install. Found HD immediately. Install worked fine up until we bypassed internet requirement - restart went straight to BIOS and no SSD to be seen. Shut down and restart, found SSD again. Finished W11 install. Problem of intermittently finding SSD returned. Most resets boot to BIOS with no SSD found. Once even found it as NVMe SSD with a 0.0GB size. Full power off finds the SSD.

Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB M.2-2280 also arrived today so figured might as well try that in same slot blazing m2_1 slot.

BIOS found it on first boot. Windows install went fine. Test 10 resets since and BIOS finds this drive everytime. Seems to be working perfectly.

Any thoughts?

I'm starting to think that this T705 just isn't compatible with the X870E Taichi Lite

Moving forward. Is it plausible the 4TB will work, given its inclusion in Asrock's QVL?

Or perhaps use another PCIe5 instead? The only other that really jumps out at me from the QVL is the Seagate FireCuda 540(ZP2000GM30004)

Part of me wants to give up and just use the Samsung as the boot drive and return the T705, but as our first major upgrade in almost 7 years we sort of wanted the best of the best. Not sure if I'd even notice the difference in speeds vs the T705 , but just feels somewhat disappointing feeling like I'm underusing the potential of the board.

 

[bokodozogobofopojo]

Just updating this in case it pops up in future searches for anyone else experiencing a similar issue.

I contacted both Asrock and Crucial support. Both were helpful and offered various suggestions. Unfortunately none of them worked.

The most promising lead was:

"For NVMe SSD's) Make sure the “Link State Power Management®” under the “PCI Express” field is set to “Off” (Laptop users select battery and power adapter)"

https://www.crucial.com/support/articles-faq-ssd/ssd-disappears-or-crashes

Didn't help at first, but with power management turned up to highest performance it appeared to help, with 19 successful restarts before the problem returned.

I ended up giving up on the drive and ordered the 4TB Crucial T705 CT4000T705SSD5 (with heatsink) and it has worked flawlessly. Fresh install of Windows 11 went off without a hitch. Not a single problem finding it in the BIOS, either before or after installation.

It appears that (unless both drives are found to be faulty) for whatever unusual reason, the 2TB T705 is not currently compatible with the ASRock X870E Taichi Lite motherboard.

 

[Guibsiguibs]

I have exactly the same issue with a T705 2TB and an Asus motherboard. I'm currently waiting for a replacement drive from Crucial. After multiple exchanges with Asus, it seems they haven't been able to replicate the issue on their end...
In any case, thanks for your update !