mobo cant find nvme ssd

deebs101

I just finished putting together my first build, and im having trouble finding answers to my problem. I made sure to check https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B450Mac/index.asp#Storage for a compatible nvme ssd. It wont show up anywhere in the bios or in the windows 10 installer. I've read a few things about maybe needing to update the bios, but it says its running 1.7 which looks like the most recent version according to ASRock's website, it even says on the mobo box "amd ryzen 3000 desktop ready." In the bios the sata mode is set to AHCI. Im not really sure what i should do, or who to reach out to for help, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

*i also have an hdd to use, but wanted to hold off on that until everything was up and running on the nvme ssd. not sure if it matters or not. its currently not even plugged into the mobo.

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
mobo: ASRock b450m/ac
storage: Samsung 950 pro 512gb m.2 2280 nvme ssd

TSTonyV

Hello @deebs101! Welcome to the Community. 

Do you have any other drives hooked up to the computer? If so, disconnect them and try with just the NVMe SSD installed.

Unfortunately that board only has one M.2 slot, so the only way to rule out if it's the slot or the drive would be to test the drive in another computer, or test another drive in this board. 

deebs101

I dont have any other drives hooked up, its just the nvme ssd in there.
I also luckily came across this guide http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1236&title=how-to-install-windows-on-a-pcie-ssd. Unfortunatley, it didnt help. However, ive also read that the Samsung 950 Pro cant use the AHCI protocol? So now im just confused if my mobo can use an nvme ssd as a boot drive or not. And if i still can, how do i go about figuring out which one to use?

TSTonyV

Try going through the steps in this guide:

https://www.microcenter.com/tech_center/article/6013/troubleshooting-cannot-see-your-hard-drive-or-ssd-in-windows-7-setup

While this is for Windows 7, the process is exactly the same in Windows 10. 

When you get to list disk, if the NVMe SSD doesn't show in the list, it means your computer is not detecting it at all, and my assumption would be that it's likely a bad drive. If it does show up, you should be able to clean it and format it, then you can try the Windows installation again. 

deebs101

Well, i was able to follow the guide without any problems. When i started the windows installer again, it told me it couldn't find the right driver. I closed out of the installer, restarted the pc, and now it wont load up the USB from the boot override in the bios. I feel like i should forget about nvme and go with a sata 3 ssd. This is getting to the point where im over my head.

TSTonyV

The NVMe part of it doesn't really matter, to be honest. It should work exactly the same whether it's NVMe or SATA. 

One last thing you could try, would be clearing the CMOS on your motherboard. If that doesn't do it, I'm going to say it's still likely just a bad drive. 

Derock

Did you go to disk management it might need to be formated before it can be detected. I just had this problem with an inland m.2 ssd I got 3 days ago. 

PowerSpec_MikeW

Usually the error you saw where it couldn't find a drive, just means that it can't see a drive to install to and a B450 motherboard should have no issues with an NVME drive. It sounds like you're just running in a hardware problem with the drive. Now it sounds like it's hangs trying to enumerate the drive when it loads into the PE environment. Remove the drive and boot without it to verify. If it boots fine, I would exchange the drive. You can try to secure erase it then load again, but it's very likely to be a hardware failure.