Samsung 860 EVO SSD (Sata) not showing up on Omen 870 PC

[budly24]

Specs: https://www.cnet.com/products/omen-by-hp-870-244-tower-core-i7-7700-3-6-ghz-16-gb-1-tb-us/specs/
More importantly the mobo: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/omen-by-hp-870-200/13687063/document/c05369438

So I just received this SSD (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07822Z77M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and went to install it in the M2 slot behind the graphics card with the M slot. Unfortunately it is not showing up in the BIOS or Windows. Speccy says that slot is "Available".

Initially I thought I just goofed and needed to get a NVME SSD but I just wanted to confirm with HP and BestBuy before going through with it all.. HP spoke with me for hours and said it should work. Updated BIOS, made sure M2 was enabled there. The best they could come up with was they believe the system does not support 1 TB, so they suggested I go borrow a smaller one from BestBuy and test it.

I then contacted Bestbuy and someone there told me on his personal PC he has a SATA SSD in that M2 slot, and that this SSD should work, and that the 1TB limit thing was basically hogwash too. Then of course went into the "bring it in" thing.

So now I'm stuck. I have been searching these forums for hours. Some people seem to say they got it to work with NVME, some M2. I just can't find anything definitive or come across anything additional I can try.

Thanks for any help.

 

[USAFRet]

According to your cnet link, the only reference to the m.2 port is for networking. Not a drive.

Yes, that m.2 port can be used for things other than drives.

 

[budly24]

Sorry, maybe this would be better to have linked as the mobo specs: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/omen-by-hp-870-200/13687063/document/c05369438

 

[USAFRet]

From the HP link, that is an m key M.2 port.
Should take an NVMe drive.

The 860 drive you have is SATA.
If that port takes only an NVMe drive, that SATA based 860 EVO will not work. No matter what the monkey at BestBuy says.

 

[budly24]

Right, my concern was that the SSD was DOA which BB might be able to help with quickly. Or test what the HP guy said that 1tb is too much and has to be max 500gb
Here's my question for you though. From the HP link it says M.2 socket 3, key M.. Doesn't Socket 3 mean SATA or up to four PCIe lanes? I mean I have seen cases where it doesn't always, but it is usually noted in the documentation that it only supports one or the other. What did I miss that should have told me that it needed to be NVMe?

Also, would a less painful solution be to just get a m2 to 2.5 adapter and call it a day?

 

[USAFRet]

M key refers to the position of the pins and slots, for the physical connection.

An m key SSD may be either SATA or NVMe.
Given the correct protocol, there should be no issue of 500GB vs 1TB.

An m.2 port can take either SATA, OR NVMe, or some of them can take either type.
I'm thinking this port can only use an NVMe drive, such as a Samsung 970 EVO.

 

[budly24]

Hmm ok. I was under the impression that unless otherwise noted in the documentation, Socket 3 supported either type. They should really tell us these things rather than guess.

Anyway I'm just going to get an adapter and be done with it. The 970 is $100 more.. If I was smart i'd just send this back and wait for a holiday sale.

Thanks for your help USAFRet.