[HowTo] Get full NVMe Support for all Systems with an AMI UEFI BIOS

Just purchased a Samsung 512GB 950 PRO + Asus Hyper M.2 X4 for use with my Asus Maximus VI Gene.
I’ve read reports on this thread of success with that configuration using this mod, so I’m happy that I can hold off upgrading to a new system till Kaby Lake / Zen.
It should arrive on Tuesday, I’ll read up on the procedure and report my findings after it is done. Thanks for this mod !

@Zerreth :

Welcome at Win-RAID Forum and good luck with your project!

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)

Post #300, Page 20 ( @daemont ) used the MMTool 4.5 with “ASUS Z97 NVMe modules” (he extracted 3 NVMe modules from a Maximus VII Z97 BIOS)
He was also trying to get NVMe working on a Z87 Maximus VI Gene. He didn’t get it working with the posted files but did with his extracted files.
I’m assuming he means the 3 modules labeled: “Nvme”, “NvmeSmm” & “NVMEINT13” ?

I made this mini Guide for Asus M6 Gene using the M7 Gene NVMe modules as vaguely described by daemont
IMGUR Album: https://imgur.com/a/x5hyI






Does this look right ? I will test it on Tuesday and will report back.
I’m already fully on board with UEFI, GPT & Windows 10, so I’m not expecting any issues there.
I’ll off load my RAID0 array to my server and do a fresh install with the NVMe drive. If everything is “super green”, then my 3x 256GB 840 EVOs will be on eBay.

Yes, Zerreth you are right!

Thanks for the follow-up!

Won’t be able to test it today since Amazon decided to experiment and use Chronopost for One day delivery. They never showed up even tough the tracking number said they were out for delivery. Very disappointed.

A comment for that outdated discussion about PCIe 2.0 vs. PCIe 3.0 with NVMe:
In Reality M2 Cards only support 4 Lanes and also support lower PCIe2 Frequency.
In my Case on a z77 Mainboard the M2 achieves about 1.4GB/s Random Read in PCIe2.0 x4 Mode vs. about 1.8GB/s in PCIe 3.0 x4 Mode. In Sequencial Read both achieve about only 250MB/s like very other SSD, too.
Unless it is almost random whether the data is read sequentially or randomly when using applications and nearly no application is optimized for random read you barely feel the difference in practical works.
Also: In PCIe 2.0 Mode, the M2 gets less hot and thus won’t fall into cool down mode that quickly if you copy lot’s of data.

EDIT by Fernando: Unneeded parts of the quoted text and blank lines removed (to save space)

I have done the guide step by step, but my modded bios file is 2kb bigger than 8MB. The CH341 programmer say: "FIle length, beyond range of ill be ignored"

@>|Sh4d0w|< :
If you have done the insertion of the NVMe module(s) correctly, the BIOS file size will not be touched at all!

That’s odd. On my RIVE, I can boot fine with CSM disabled on stock BIOS. But I do indeed notice the same issue when enabling fastboot where it doesn’t detect the SATA drives. Just like you, I didn’t notice any difference, so I just disabled it.

Answer is probably no but possible support for nforce chipsets? (Specifically the 790i ultra)

@WangGang :
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

Only nForce chipset users, who have already tested it, will be able to answer this question.
If your system is able to boot off a PCIe connected drive, it may work, but you have to make sure, that the SSD has its own LEGACY NVMe Option ROM (afaik the Samsung 950 Pro and the Intel 750 SSD has it).
An insertion of any NVMe EFI module is neither required nor useful, because your non-UEFI system will not be able to load it.

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)


Perhaps Windows Boot Manager is installed on another drive in the system? As long as Windows Boot Manager starts from any (other) bootable device, it can load Windows installed on non-bootable devices.

I’ve discovered an issue that I’ve narrowed down to the BIOS mod. Whenever I switch off my PC for several hours and boot it again, the GPU will not detect at all on my Rampage IV Formula. It beeps the “VGA not detected” code and boots with no display. I rebuilt the entire PC after buying a new PSU and tried a different GPU but the problem still persisted. One day I discovered that after a CMOS reset, the GPU detects immediately and works fine for several hours or days until I shut it down for an extended period. Whenever it fails again I have to do a CMOS reset. I also found that the “Save Profile” function no longer works. The BIOS crashes whenever I try to load a saved profile. Thus I have to enter the settings again manually. We’ve already confirmed other hardware malfunctions like SATA not working occur due to the mod. GPU not detected could be another one. I reverted to the stock BIOS and the issue got fixed completely - even the Fast Boot SATA got fixed.

Given that the only two models of NVMe SSD are the 950 Pro and Intel 750 and both have OPROMs, I feel it may be better to stick to CSM Enabled mode (with only UEFI enabled) instead of modding.

I flashed the modded BIOS again today and started facing more serious hardware problems. After changing any BIOS settings and restarting, the PC would go into a boot loop. The LEDs would come on for 2 seconds and then shutdown for 5 seconds, and the process would repeat. The only way to successfully reboot after changing BIOS settings was to switch off the PSU. My GPU also started giving more problems. Even when it detected successfully (given the VGA not detected problem) at boot, the monitor would not switch on at all. I had to physically unplug and replug the DisplayPort cable and reboot to get a signal.

Again, after reverting to the stock BIOS and using CSM, all the problems were resolved. The only issue with CSM is the boot logo displays at a lot resolution, including the Windows loading dots. The problems could be amplified in my case because I have almost all the PCIe slots filled (GPU 1, 950 Pro, Sound Card, GPU 2, RAID Card).

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Im trying to add this nvme support for my Asus Z87-Pro - but Asus has stopped the .rom bioses and started with the .cap stuff. I can’t use the guide like it’s written because of this:( I want to use the newest supported bios for my motherboard + mod the nvme support in it, but ut seems its not possible? Would love some help on this :\


You need to use the USB BIOS Flashback method. Rename the file appropriately for your board.

I’m trying to modify my Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H. How did you modify the bios without error? I used MMTool but it gives me and error the nvme module exceeds the volume size. The nvmeint13 gives a duplicate guid error. Could you provide a copy of your working Z77X-UD3H bios? What was the model and bios did you get your modules from?

I suggest you to use Uefi Tool. :slight_smile:

Hi, thanks for the effort you all put into this.

I just installed Windows 10 x64 in UEFI mode on a SM951 attached to my old-but-gold ASrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3.

What I did:
1. Insert uncompressed NVMe module from first post into current ASRock beta bios (2.31), flash that & reconfigure BIOS (undervolt, adjust temp target/fan speed, RAM timings, fan rpm, enable vt-d,…)
2. Boot my Linux and created a GPT partition table on the SM951 (using parted)
3. Create a Windows 10 UEFI Install USB Stick (using winusb on Linux with some manual tweaks for UEFI, guide here)
4. Set the “UEFI: My USB Stick” as first boot device
5. Install Windows

My GPU (R9 290) now only has 8 PCIe lanes according to GPU-z, even though my CPU has 20 lanes (yes, read: twenty - Xeon E3-1235, Sandybridge i7 equivalent with locked multiplicator but some other features).
But I suppose that is a limitation of the Z68, so I have to live with that until I uprade to a new platform in a few years.

Crystal Disk Mark results (default config: 5, 1GB, C: 8% (20/238GiB)):
Seq Q32T1: 1494 Read, 1261 Write
4K Q32T1: 365.2R, 269.6W
Seq: 1342R, 1208W
4k: 39.85R, 135W

That’s not as fast as expected, but still better than any SATA based SSD.
A little bit better with Samsung 950 pro drivers:
Seq Q32T1: 1524R, 1228W [about equal]
4K Q32T1: 431.3R, 376.4W [that’s a lot!]
Seq: 1380R, 1255W [about equal]
4k: 45.46R, 171.7W [writing improved by a good chunk]

Anvil score is 7847.80 with the samsung drivers.

Open questions:
1. How the h*** do I boot Gentoo again… (yes, refind, but thats offtopic anyway ;-))
2. Does it still boot if I unplug the USB Stick? [edit: yes, MS is not always as stupid as I think]

Other remarks:
I contacted ASRock for a BIOS for the Z87 Extreme3 (b/c I am stupid and mixed up my board with one I bought for someone else), and they gave me a BIOS version L2.61 - with all the NVMe modules, so legacy booting should be supported there.
1. ASRock is awesome!
2. If there is interest in the BIOS, send me a PM and I will send it to you/attach it in the forums. That way you dont have to bug the nice people at their support :slight_smile:

I also asked for Z68, but I doubt they will recompile 2.61 with NVMe… But I will post an update once I get a reply.


You might want to add a note about better performance with better NVMe drivers to the 1st post :wink:

@archi :
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum and thanks for your interesting report!

Questions:
1. Have you tried to get the OS installed onto the Samsung SM951 NVMe without doing the step 2?
2. Why didn’t you use the tool Rufus for the step 3?

Yes, unless you have put the EFI boot sector onto it.

Why should I? The topic of this thread is "How to get full NVMe support for older Intel Chipsets" and not "How to get the best performance with an NVMe SSD."

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)