[SOLVED] second m.2 (970 EVO) boot issues

Jun 13, 2020
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For the past couple years I've been running m.2 NVMe drives in combo with HDD and SSDs and for the most part, besides jumping through lots of hoops had good success. I have have never ran two m.2 NVMes though.

Current MB is an Asus ROG 370-e and running one 970 EVO SSD 500GB M.2 NVMe There are no other drives in the machine. (I have a huge Unraid server so didn't need much) but the little 500 gb drive is starting to fill up so I bought a second 970 EVO.

On install, the machine would not boot complaining of corrupted boot files and I should boot an install disk and I remember something about windows copying drivers to firmware or something but to tell the truth I've forgotten how it works.

Anyway if I take it out, it boots fine. So I've created an install USB windows disk and getting ready to try again, but Is there a writeup somewhere on the procedures to install a second drive in the above MB?

Otherwise its hunt and peck till it starts working.
 
Solution
Actually, the M.2 slots are stacked on that board, and are located in between the graphics card primary x16 slot and the CPU socket. Shouldn't be underneath anything unless you have a really big CPU cooler like the Noctua NH-D15 with a very wide twin finstack, or a three slot graphics card, and even then it should be easily accessible by removing the graphics card.

Unless you meant the M.2 drive itself had a heatsink attached, in which case, it shouldn't. The 970 Evo doesn't come with a heatsink and that motherboard doesn't have an integrated heatsink for the m.2 drives.

If there is tape involved, that would be on the heatsink, and should first be removed. For the 970 EVO I don't recommend using a heatsink anyhow because it is not...
Out of curiosity, try taking the original 970 out and putting the new on in it's place, then try to boot or power on the machine. I'm suspecting that maybe somebody purchased that drive previously, installed or tried to install windows on it, borked it up and sent it back, then they sent it to YOU as a new purchase.

So long as you don't have any SATA drives installed, because if you do you are going to run into problems using some of the SATA headers because those lanes will be reserved for the M.2 drives when there are M.2 drives installed, then there shouldn't be any special procedures you need to follow.
 
Oh you just ruined my day lol, I'm going to go study the seal I cut on the box and compare it to an old one. On that mb the number one drive is under a heatsink and I can't remember if there was tape envolved... I did get the new one off of Amazon though. I also did play with the drive order and such and had no luck but I will try again.
 
Actually, the M.2 slots are stacked on that board, and are located in between the graphics card primary x16 slot and the CPU socket. Shouldn't be underneath anything unless you have a really big CPU cooler like the Noctua NH-D15 with a very wide twin finstack, or a three slot graphics card, and even then it should be easily accessible by removing the graphics card.

Unless you meant the M.2 drive itself had a heatsink attached, in which case, it shouldn't. The 970 Evo doesn't come with a heatsink and that motherboard doesn't have an integrated heatsink for the m.2 drives.

If there is tape involved, that would be on the heatsink, and should first be removed. For the 970 EVO I don't recommend using a heatsink anyhow because it is not known for significant throttling issues and adding a heatsink might actually CAUSE thermal issues rather than solve them.
 
Solution
Hello,

I just wanted to close this out and thank you for your help. Turns out it was a combination bios issue and a loose nut between the keyboard and chair. Really, telling me it should just work made me think it through and realize I was running a pretty old bios so a quick update and all is well. Thanks.
 
Cool man. I'm just glad you were able to get it sorted, relatively easily. Sometimes there are nightmares to be had for seemingly no reason and then sometimes they just poof, go away, while other times they go on and on. Fortunately you had neither of those situations, but an actual known fix. Good luck to you notho.