Samsung EVO 970 SSD in PCIe x 16 slot, Can't Install Windows 10

[Sickancrazy]

Hello TomsHardware. So i decided to buy an ssd, and i was reading alot forums about to connect to a PCIE slot with and adapter an ssd what is M.2 one. So i brought the SSD Samsung 970 Evo and brought an SSD adapter aswell. This is how it looks

https://imgur.com/a/Qe1YfaE

I Put it in the PCIE x16 slot on my motherboard (ASUS M5A97 Evo R.2)

https://imgur.com/a/udYjQnw

Everything worked well, did an bootable usb win 10 aswell i wanted do clean install on it.
When i wanted to install win 10 its says: Windows cannot be inst....this computers hardware...etc..see at picture. But if you can see it recognize it, its there.

https://imgur.com/a/BRmAtWN
https://imgur.com/a/HXWLrBn

So i was curious if i gonna do a new participation do it will let me and show on my PC. Yes its shows aswell there (Local DIsc F):

https://imgur.com/a/4HZWFb2

I tried tons of changes in My Bios, Did AHCI to Raid, Ahci to IDE, Back to Ide back to raid etc etc etc... nothing worked out This is my Bios option atm how it was i changed it back:

https://imgur.com/a/VIPO7KI
https://imgur.com/a/7tJbRzj
https://imgur.com/a/MiBa63R

So atm i am only Struggling how should i install win 10 on it, i read alot about this and i could not find nowhere such topic what a problem i have, most peoples cant even see the SSD when they connect to the PCIE, some get they need change to GPT etc etc etc... So i feel i am so close to fix this with you guys, I hope someone from you have any solution for this, it would be really nice to make it work. I did alot pictures i am sorry bout that i wanted share full info of everything so you dont need ask for something. Thank you very much for the help, and lets hope we can fix it

Greetings Andreas

 

[bmockeg]

So you arent using a GPU?

Either way I am pretty sure your bios does not support the tech you are trying to install.

 

[InvalidError]

The problem seems simple: your computer BIOS doesn't have an EFI extension to boot from PCIe storage and your M2 drive doesn't provide such an extension either. So, although the SSD gets picked up by PCIe enumeration, the BIOS can't boot to it and Windows won't install to it.

You either need a riser card with an EFI extension ROM on it or a newer motherboard with a BIOS that natively supports booting from NVMe SSDs.

 

[Sickancrazy]

Invaliderror i am sorry did not wanted vote down your post,was a missclick from my phone, cant undo it. Do you say i should try to connect it with a riser card? If yes can you suggest me with a link which riser card i should try? Because i could try it then and we see would that be a solution.

And for first post i use a GPU, i have 2x PCiE 16x slot on this motherboard. Thank you for your replies

 

[drivinfast247]

Why not just plug it in via SATA?

I'm an idiot. It clearly states the 970 which is a m.2 drive.

 

[Sickancrazy]

Why not just plug it in via SATA?

Seems the Samsung 970 Evo is a newest model of SSD and it does not fit in the M2 B Key, it only fits in M2 M Key. Its an NVMe M.2 model so how i read it it does not support B key. Also funy is i can see everywhere the Samsung Evo 970 SSD, computer recognize it, windows aswell, i can see it everywhere when i connect it in the PCIE x16, just cant install windows and thats the main problem sadly. Also i wait a reply from InvalidError what he suggest and we see what i can do

 

[InvalidError]

Also funy is i can see everywhere the Samsung Evo 970 SSD, computer recognize it, windows aswell, i can see it everywhere when i connect it in the PCIE x16, just cant install windows and thats the main problem sadly.

As I wrote earlier, the problem isn't detecting the PCIe device, it is that your system BIOS doesn't know how to BOOT to an NVMe drive. This means that even if setup let you install to it, you wouldn't be able to boot from it after the initial setup image transfer is complete - the BIOS doesn't know how to load the OS from NVMe.

Looked around a bit, seems like Samsung may have dropped the UEFI firmware blob from their NVMe SSDs past the 950 series. To boot with newer models, NVMe support must be built into the system BIOS.

If you want to boot from SSD, your options are either BIOS-modding to insert an NVMe driver into your BIOS or returning the M2 970 and replace it with a SATA one. Makes very little difference performance-wise for most people, especially on older, slower platforms.

 

[Sickancrazy]

Also funy is i can see everywhere the Samsung Evo 970 SSD, computer recognize it, windows aswell, i can see it everywhere when i connect it in the PCIE x16, just cant install windows and thats the main problem sadly.

As I wrote earlier, the problem isn't detecting the PCIe device, it is that your system BIOS doesn't know how to BOOT to an NVMe drive. This means that even if setup let you install to it, you wouldn't be able to boot from it after the initial setup image transfer is complete - the BIOS doesn't know how to load the OS from NVMe.

Looked around a bit, seems like Samsung may have dropped the UEFI firmware blob from their NVMe SSDs past the 950 series. To boot with newer models, NVMe support must be built into the system BIOS.

If you want to boot from SSD, your options are either BIOS-modding to insert an NVMe driver into your BIOS or returning the M2 970 and replace it with a SATA one. Makes very little difference performance-wise for most people, especially on older, slower platforms.

Thank you for your reply. Also should i try BIOS-modding to insert an NVMe driver to my BIOS? yes, i could buy then the sata III one, but cant sadly replace it back now, so i would experiment if it would work or not. Because droped now out 70eu for the SSD, and if i could make it work i would try it out. Can you link me a post where i could try the BIOS-modding? thank you

 

[InvalidError]

I haven't looked into how to mod BIOS, only came across a post where someone suggested it to someone as a possible solution and the OP replied saying he tried it and it worked for him. Keep in mind that if you mod your BIOS, you won't be able to use Secure Boot anymore (if that matters to you) and you may brick your board in the process.

My recommendation would be to simply buy a 120-250GB SATA boot drive and install your games/programs on the NVMe drive afterward.

 

[Sickancrazy]

Hmmm was not thinking on that to install the games there. Would that make some difference then if the games going be installed on the SSD Samsung 970 Evo instead on the Seageta barracuda?

Also which Sata 3 SSD you would suggest then to buy?

Thank you Invaliderror

 

[InvalidError]

Hmmm was not thinking on that to install the games there. Would that make some difference then if the games going be installed on the SSD Samsung 970 Evo instead on the Seageta barracuda?

For most everyday uses, the biggest single benefit from SSDs over HDDs is 0.1-0.2ms latency vs 7-15ms which makes loading most stuff substantially faster, especially where a large number of relatively small files or discontinuous data chunks are involved.

As for what SSD to buy, almost anything mainstream (as in above entry-level cache-less SSD) from the major brands should be more than good enough as a boot drive. You can get a 250GB Samsung 860 EVO for ~$60, I'd say that's a good starting point.

 

[Sickancrazy]

Hmmm was not thinking on that to install the games there. Would that make some difference then if the games going be installed on the SSD Samsung 970 Evo instead on the Seageta barracuda?

For most everyday uses, the biggest single benefit from SSDs over HDDs is 0.1-0.2ms latency vs 7-15ms which makes loading most stuff substantially faster, especially where a large number of relatively small files or discontinuous data chunks are involved.

As for what SSD to buy, almost anything mainstream (as in above entry-level cache-less SSD) from the major brands should be more than good enough as a boot drive. You can get a 250GB Samsung 860 EVO for ~$60, I'd say that's a good starting point.

Thank you very much for your replies InvalidError. You helped me alot with this topic.