Question NVME SSD Not Recognized by BIOS

[descender421]

I built my PC in December 2020 and had two NVME SSDs: A Samsung 970 EVO and a Sabrent Rocket 4.0. About a year ago or so my PC wouldn't boot into Windows and would go straight to the BIOS stating it didn't have a bootable device. It seemed like it wasn't recognizing the Sabrent Rocket which had the OS installed on it at the time. Weirdly, powering off the computer and powering back on got it to recognize the disk again and I didn't have issues again until about a week or two ago.

Since signs pointed towards the Sabrent Rocket SSD being the culprit, I went ahead and reinstalled Windows 10 on the Samsung SSD. I then installed both Sabrent and Samsung tools to check the health of each SSD. Both showed that the Sabrent had a bunch of critical errors and that the Samsung was healthy so I called it good and physically removed the Sabrent the other day from the motherboard which is a TUF Gaming X570 Pro.

This lasted about two days and now once again it goes straight into the BIOS and doesn't seem to recognize the bootable SSD with Windows on it. I've reseated the SSD a couple of times and this seems to occur every couple of days randomly. Basically the cycle is I can get into Windows for a day or two, and then randomly I come back to the PC and the screen is back at the BIOS and not recognizing the NVME SSD. Powering down the PC for a while tends to let me back into Windows for another day or two and then the same thing occurs.

I've opened a case with ASUS but since this occurs randomly I'm not sure how far that case is going to go. I have also been monitoring temps on the GPU, SSD and CPU and they seem to be normal. I'm not sure what the odds of both SSDs being bad are and/or if this is related to the MOBO itself. The randomness throws me off as well. Wondering if anyone had any thoughts/opinions? Thanks in advance.


AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8ghz
Deepcool Assassin III 90.37 CFM CPU Cooler
Asus TUF Gaming x570-Pro ATX AM4
G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32gb (2x16gb) DDR4-3600 CL16 memory
Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB M.2-2280 NVME SSD
Sabrent Rocket 4.0 1tb M.2-2280 NVME SSD
MSI Geforce RTX 3070 8gb Ventus 3x OC
Lian Li Lancool II Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case
Corsair RMx (2018) 850w 80+ Gold certified fully modular ATX Power supply

 

[Lafong]

Sounds highly annoying and I fear for you getting satisfaction from Asus customer service.

I gather you have 2 NVME ports that supposedly support bootable devices.

Do both drives fail intermittently in both ports?

If that's true, is it true regardless of whether the other NVME port is also occupied at the time?

Offhand wondering if juggling SATA ports around might matter. Probably not.

 

[descender421]

Sounds highly annoying and I fear for you getting satisfaction from Asus customer service.

I gather you have 2 NVME ports that supposedly support bootable devices.

Do both drives fail intermittently in both ports?

If that's true, is it true regardless of whether the other NVME port is currently occupied.

Offhand wondering if juggling SATA ports around might matter. Probably not.

Thank you for the response. Correct on the 2 NVME ports supporting bootable devices. I originally had the Sabrent SSD installed in the slot furthest away from the GPU and the Samsung SSD in the slot near the GPU. After I installed the OS on the Samsung and was able to boot back into Windows, I ran the tests that showed the errors on the Sabrent so I assumed it was basically dead and then took it out of the PC completely. But the Samsung is still in the same slot it was from the get go.

To directly answer your question though, yes, it seems both drives fail intermittently in both ports.

 

[Lafong]

But the Samsung is still in the same slot it was from the get go.

To directly answer your question though, yes, it seems both drives fail intermittently in both ports.

Not quite following that.

Samsung is "in the same slot it was from the get go".

But "both drives fail intermittently in both ports".

Contradictory? Samsung has or has not failed in both ports?

I'm probably misunderstanding.

 

[descender421]

Not quite following that.

Samsung is "in the same slot it was from the get go".

But "both drives fail intermittently in both ports".

Contradictory? Samsung has or has not failed in both ports?

I'm probably misunderstanding.

I probably worded it incorrectly. The Samsung is still in the same slot from December 2020. So technically I haven't tried moving it over to the other now empty slot. But since the exact same issue was occurring with the Sabrent in the other slot, I wonder if it would help. Anything is worth trying though. As you stated though; it is very annoying since this occurs every couple of days and it's like a waiting game.

 

[GoofyOne]

Do you have a external NVMe case that you could put the SSD in, and just plug it into a USB port?

Then try booting up from it like that, of course it will be slower since it will only work at the speed of your USB connection. It may be a way of testing whether it is some issue with the motherboard NVMe sockets.

Also may be a idea to check whether you have the latest BIOS installed. BIOS updates sometimes include support and fixes for various NVMe issues.


{GoofyOne's 2c worth .... which may, or may not be actually worth 2c}

 

[descender421]

Do you have a external NVMe case that you could put the SSD in, and just plug it into a USB port?

Then try booting up from it like that, of course it will be slower since it will only work at the speed of your USB connection. It may be a way of testing whether it is some issue with the motherboard NVMe sockets.

Also may be a idea to check whether you have the latest BIOS installed. BIOS updates sometimes include support and fixes for various NVMe issues.


{GoofyOne's 2c worth .... which may, or may not be actually worth 2c}

Unfortunately I don't have an external NVMe case but wonder if it would be worth purchasing one for this option.

I am on the latest stable BIOS as well as that was one of the first things I tried in terms of troubleshooting.

 

[Lafong]

The cases are very handy and can turn any M.2 drive into a very fast USB flash drive equivalent.

Might cost 20 to 25 bucks. Quite useful even if you didn't have this problem. They connect via a cable maybe a foot long.

 

[descender421]

The cases are very handy and can turn any M.2 drive into a very fast USB flash drive equivalent.

Might cost 20 to 25 bucks. Quite useful even if you didn't have this problem. They connect via a cable maybe a foot long.

I will definitely look into this then as that's not as expensive as I thought it would be.

 

[Bob.B]

Unfortunately I don't have an external NVMe case but wonder if it would be worth purchasing one for this option.

I am on the latest stable BIOS as well as that was one of the first things I tried in terms of troubleshooting.

Try the other slot for the 970 and see if the problem follows.

Don't be surprised if you mount the 970 external that it won't boot at all.

 

[descender421]

Try the other slot for the 970 and see if the problem follows.

Don't be surprised if you mount the 970 external that it won't boot at all.

Will do. I have a feeling the problem will follow but if it does, does that essentially prove something with the motherboard is causing it?

 

[Bob.B]

Will do. I have a feeling the problem will follow but if it does, does that essentially prove something with the motherboard is causing it?

Maybe.

 

[descender421]

Maybe.

I ended up swapping the slot with the 970 and issue occurred again after about 12 hours or so. I'm not sure of next step now.

 

[Bob.B]

I ended up swapping the slot with the 970 and issue occurred again after about 12 hours or so. I'm not sure of next step now.

Just to be clear.
You only have the 970 installed?

You have tried both m.2 slots?

The 970 works for some period of time and then it vanishes?

When the pc tries to boot it says no boot device?

When you get this no boot device does the bios see the m.2?

 

[descender421]

Just to be clear.
You only have the 970 installed?

You have tried both m.2 slots?

The 970 works for some period of time and then it vanishes?

When the pc tries to boot it says no boot device?

When you get this no boot device does the bios see the m.2?

Yep I've tried the 970 in both m.2 slots and it is the only SSD I have as I removed the Sabrent completely which was doing the same thing when it was installed in the m.2 slot near the video card.

When this occurs after 24-48 hours and goes straight into the BIOS, it doesn't recognize the SSD in advanced configuration to include no boot device found.

And when I power off the PC for a period of time and turn it back on, it seems to recognize the SSD and boots back into Windows for another 24-48 hours and the cycle repeats regardless of which m.2 slot the disk is in.

 

[Bob.B]

Yep I've tried the 970 in both m.2 slots and it is the only SSD I have as I removed the Sabrent completely which was doing the same thing when it was installed in the m.2 slot near the video card.

When this occurs after 24-48 hours and goes straight into the BIOS, it doesn't recognize the SSD in advanced configuration to include no boot device found.

And when I power off the PC for a period of time and turn it back on, it seems to recognize the SSD and boots back into Windows for another 24-48 hours and the cycle repeats regardless of which m.2 slot the disk is in.

If it's under warranty you might want to contact the samsung folks and have a chat.

Another option would be to buy another m.2 of a different brand and test.

 

[descender421]

If it's under warranty you might want to contact the samsung folks and have a chat.

Another option would be to buy another m.2 of a different brand and test.

So the Samsung isn't under warranty but the Asus MB is and I have actually contacted ASUS. It appears they may be doing an RMA after having me essentially do the troubleshooting you guys have already recommended. Sucks I'll be without a PC for a while but oh well lol. I hope it's not the SSD otherwise I'll be back to square one although each time I do a health check the Samsung seems to be fine. Thanks again for your help!

 

[descender421]

Quick update. I didn't want to be without a PC for an extended period of time so I went ahead and purchased an Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero motherboard. It worked for about a week until yesterday and now the same situation is occurring. On the BIOS screen, powering down and powering back on the SSD is then recognized and it goes back into Windows as if nothing happened. But eventually it goes back to the BIOS screen and the process repeats. I've also ordered a Samsung 980 Pro that gets here tomorrow and will most likely reinstall Windows on it and see if this issue persists. If that resolves, then I'll try to RMA the 970 as it's still under the 5 year warranty. If the issue persists, I have no clue on next steps. Possibly power supply?

 

[Zbigniew Lisiecki]

Look, here:
https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...erboard-does-not-recognize-m-2-memory.3764301 is more or less the same ! The problem has nothing to do with Windows or Linux (in my case) but: ASUS mainboard and Samsung M.2 memory.

The warranty won't help you. ASUS recognized the warranty case and Samsung as well,
I'v got a new board and a new mem, but the problem remains.
In my case the system worked fine for > 2 years , which means the board and the mem
are not generally incompatible !

IMHO the very UEFI interface is not defined in a clean way.
ASUS nor Samsung are guilty, but the very concept of this interface.
The source could be Intel and Microisoft. Their first aim is to prevent you to use the system
if you use it against some possible authors rights. - This is my suggestion only, for wich I have no prove.

In any case, if one cannot bring the board to the factory state with CMOS reset
the very construction of the board is defective .