[SOLVED] Second SSD Slot Not Showing ANYWHERE

[Jaguar84]

Hello,
I have the GA503QS and one of the SSD slots is no longer showing anywhere on the computer. I have checked the BIOS, Disk Part in Command Prompt, and Disk Management within the GUI interface. I have also tried different SSDs within the slot and nothing seems to show within those spaces I mentioned. The other SSD slot works perfectly.

It happened after I dual booted my computer with Linux and Windows and then deleted the Linux partitions which were sitting inside the currently working slot. I forgot to replace the Windows partition as the bootable drive within the BIOS configuration sitting within the current non-working slot before deleting the Linux partition, which messed with startup, but was fixed after switching the windows bootable SSD into the working slot.
After deleting the partitions above, I replaced the Wi-Fi Card with the AX210 because it works better with Linux rather than the MediaTek card that came with the machine. I unplugged the battery before starting and things went as smooth as ice.

When I started up the machine after deleting the partitions and installing the card, an SSD slot was no longer working.

I'm working from the one SSD slot and wondering what my other options could be to make the second slot work again. I would appreciate any help. Thanks in advance!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

With regards to your OS, what version(not edition) of Windows 10 are you working with? What BIOS version are you on for your laptop's motherboard? For some odd reason Asus's support portals aren't working for me. Can't check to see what the latest BIOS version listed on their support site is for your laptop. I'm certain that your OS/partition structure has ended up corrupt, which should be resolved with an OS reinstall, after you've reseated the SSD's in their original slots.

 

[Jaguar84]

Hello Lutfij,

I reinstalled Windows 10, and the slot is still not showing. The BIOS version is 412 and there's an available update, but I haven't done that. Looks like all it does is...

- Fix the issue that SecureBoot will be disabled if BIOS is updated by EzFlash or WinFlash

I installed Windows 11, though. The OS is snappier, but again shows nothing in the second SSD slot.

By original slots, does that mean the SSDs are within the slots they were in before things became tricky? Both slots have SSDs, but I switched them because I put the faster SSD into the working slot.

Thanks for your help!

 

[mrmike16]

Hello Lutfij,

I reinstalled Windows 10, and the slot is still not showing. The BIOS version is 412 and there's an available update, but I haven't done that. Looks like all it does is...

- Fix the issue that SecureBoot will be disabled if BIOS is updated by EzFlash or WinFlash

I installed Windows 11, though. The OS is snappier, but again shows nothing in the second SSD slot.

By original slots, does that mean the SSDs are within the slots they were in before things became tricky? Both slots have SSDs, but I switched them because I put the faster SSD into the working slot.

Thanks for your help!

When you installed Windows 11, you probably just upgraded it from Windows 10, which is not likely to fix boot management issues. The best solution, although it is time-consuming, is to perform a clean installation of either Windows 10 Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com) or Windows 11 Download Windows 11 (microsoft.com) , after backing up your data and license keys (using something like Belarc Advisor) to an external storage device (or a cloud storage service).
I would perform the installation with only your main SSD installed, and then add the second one later. Format the second SSD as well on another PC, just to make sure it won't cause any issues with your new Windows boot manager.