[SOLVED] Windows not booting M.2. Tried A lot. Not easy.

[Y3nis]

Motherboard: Aorus B450 pro rev 1.0
ssd: Kingston A2000 1000GB M.2 SSD

Things I tried:

General
Updated bios to the latest version (F51)
ssd is in de correct x4 slot, I checked the manual
Create windows 10 USB with mediacreation (latest version).
Used diskpart 'clean' command several times for several attempts.
m.2 drive was the only disk connected

in random order:
1.)
Set bios to run in UEFI mode. CSM enabled.
Unformatted clean drive.
Install windows.
checked that it has the EFI partition.

An error explaining no correct boot drive was connected.

2.) see 1 but in Legacy mode.
Result: ? Can't remember exactly but it didn't work (of course)

3.) see 1 but with CSM diabled
Result: Motherboard doesnt see the m.2 drive and boots directly to bios
Enable CSM.
Same error as situation 1.

4.) see 3 but with secure boot enabled.
result: same as number 3.

Source I used: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/cant-boot-from-m-2-nvme-ssd.3365143/

5.) Last attempt
Same as 1 but I formatted the drive in GPT and NTFS (not quick format) before install.
Pictures:

https://ibb.co/NCwGykW

https://ibb.co/KWQzD0k

https://ibb.co/p1bCz0K

https://ibb.co/9Z42Myk

https://ibb.co/714hsYT

https://ibb.co/cT0qnHC



6-10 create partitions in GPT. Before installing windows, I usually get an error saying that my hardware might be incompatible with booting from this drive.


From what I've read so far, option 1 should work, but it doesn't

I can put files on it in windows explorer. But I wan't to use it as my boot drive.

TLDR:
Boot in UEFI mode.
Only 1 disc connected.
install windows.
set the ssd as boot drive in bios.

I get this error:
https://ibb.co/KWQzD0k

 

[Colif]

An error explaining no correct boot drive was connected.

Are you sure win 10 is installed? How far into the install process do you get? Did you set up accounts? did it restart and boot off the m.2 at all?

TLDR:
Boot in UEFI mode.
Only 1 disc connected.
install windows.
set the ssd as boot drive in bios.

you shouldn't have to set ssd as boot drive in bios after install. It should just happen.

I get this error:
https://ibb.co/KWQzD0k

A brand new PC should just boot off the USB without needing to change any settings. Reset bios to defaults.

Do you have the latest BIOS?

might pay to check health of m,2

 

[Y3nis]

Hey thanks for your reply.

Yes I'm sure win10 is installed, When I plug in my other drives and start up windows from my old sata ssd, I can see all the windows files are on the m.2 ssd.
The last process I see is that I finish installing windows from my USB stick, it say's it's going to restart. It restarts to my USB, not to windows, even when I select my m.2 drive as the 1st boot option.

Yes I have the latest BIOS.
I've tried installing with a BIOS that was set to defaults

Disk health is fine:
https://ibb.co/QFvq40w

 

[Colif]

The last process I see is that I finish installing windows from my USB stick, it say's it's going to restart. It restarts to my USB, not to windows, even when I select my m.2 drive as the 1st boot option.

its not fully installed then, its only copied onto the ssd. you don't have any accounts set up on it and it won't run in that state.
What its meant to do on the restart is auto boot off the m.2 without you needing to do anything.

I suggested checking M.2 as I have seen this before, it can be caused by a bad m.2.

that motherboard has Boot override.
did you set USB as 1st boot device at any stage?


put USB at startup and go into the bios
i would reset bios to defaults.
go to the save & exit tab.
click boot override option'
pick USB from list, PC will restart and boot from it this one time, it should default to m.2 on the next startup
install windows
it should get to restart stage and just auto boot from m.2 without you doing anything in the bios.

 

[Y3nis]

I followed the steps, after the reboot it booted to the USB drive.

The first think I tried when I got this ssd is to migrate my windows to in with 'casper' software. https://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/
Other drive migration tools didn't work because of a different cluster size.

Casper failed to make it a boot drive as wel of course.

I downloaded kingston ssd manager to check the SSD. It didn't see the ssd, but in the event section I read "identity failed". According to diskpart, disk 4 is the kingston ssd.
Maybe the firmware is broken? Could that be possible? And how can I fix it?


https://ibb.co/gR9wSK8

 

[Y3nis]

Finally found the solution!

Send some e-mails back and forth with kingston support, they had no other options but to return the ssd as well.
So I finally got a replacement.

And... it worked instantly

So it was a bad ssd, even though I could put files on it and the health was supposed to be fine.