[SOLVED] Second m.2 SSD not allowing windows to boot. Assistance Needed!

Nov 18, 2020
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Ok guys, I'll do my best to give all needed information in the initial post, but if I am missing some kind of information please let me know and I will edit!
I just purchased a new PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 drive (Samsung 980 Pro 500g) for an extra drive for gaming. This does not and will not have the operating system on it. After installing it into the m.2A slot my computer I am welcomed to this screen: "An operating system wasn't found"
Upon seeing this I went through the following steps to try and resolve my issue
  1. Verified I could see all of my drives in the BIOS screen. All showed up including the new drive. Rebooted, same problem.
  2. Verified boot sequence was correct. Boot Drive #1 is my other M.2 drive in the m.2B slot. Rebooted, same problem.
  3. Walked through my motherboard manual to ensure proper SATA connections were being used in case either of the m.2 slots were disabling any of the other SATA ports.
    1. Here is the link to my specific manual: Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite
    2. My configuration is as follows:
      M.2A Socket: New Drive
      M.2B Socket: Operating System Drive PCIe NVMe m.2 drive
      aSata3 0: Null
      aSata3 1: Null
      Sata3 0: 1TB SSD
      Sata3 1: 4TB HD
      Sata3 2: Null
      Sata3 3: Null
    3. Per Manual directions, with two M.2 drives installed the Sata 3 0 & 1 locations should be safe to use and functional.
  4. Since the default configuration would still not work. I proceeded to try every combination of sata drive configurations with no luck. All other attempted configurations resulted in the same screen.
  5. I then tried switching my two M.2 drive by moving my current one that was on m2B with the operating system to m2A and this also did not work.
  6. I then REMOVED the new m.2 drive but left the original drive with windows on it in the m2A slot, this also did not work .
  7. In the end I have reverted the original m.2 drive back into the m2B slot and uninstalled the new m.2 drive completely until I can figure this out.
I am at a loss for what else to do. Below are all of the specs of my rig. If anyone has run into this issue and has any kind of tips it would be greatly appreciated.
My BEST guess is that I am installing an NVMe 4.0 m.2 and it is somehow interfering with the original NVMe 3.0 drive? I don't really know what I am talking about though so could be nothing.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite
Operating System M.2 Drive: Inland NVMe 3.0 M.2 512g
New M.2 Drive: Samsung 980 Pro NVMe 4.0 M.2 500g
Sata3 0 Drive: Inland 1TB SSD
Sata3 1 Drive: Toshiba x300 4TB Harddrive
 
Solution
Installing of M2 devices disables certain SATA ports.

This is what your motherboard specifies in the manual.

arous.jpg



Or it could be that M2A_SOCKET is faulty.
Installing of M2 devices disables certain SATA ports.

This is what your motherboard specifies in the manual.

arous.jpg



Or it could be that M2A_SOCKET is faulty.
 
Solution