this bios modification applies to Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3 (rev. 1.0) (/www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/G1Sniper-3-rev-10/support), bios version f7
modified f7 bios with nvme support
this modification followed the instructions from [HowTo] Get full NVMe Support for all Systems with an AMI UEFI BIOS (/winraid.level1techs.com/t/howto-get-full-nvme-support-for-all-systems-with-an-ami-uefi-bios/30901) by @Fernando.
it was used UEFITool v0.22.4 from Releases · LongSoft/UEFITool · GitHub , released in 2018, but probably v0.28.0 would’ve worked as well. as explained in the instructions, NE variants do not make the required insertions.
it was also used the file NvmExpressDxe_5.ffs (from the original instructions). no other changes were made.
the seemingly existent modification for this board, from /www.tweaktownforum.com/forum/tech-support-from-vendors/gigabyte/48290-gigabyte-modified-bios#post694681 (G1.Sniper 3 BIOS F8n mod), had no effect on nvme drive. despite installing this bios, the nvme drive would remain unrecognised. no attempts were made to add the driver to this modification.
it was attempted to update the latest bios version f8j, but there were pad discrepancies (as warned in the instructions). using version f7, there were no such pad discrepancies.
the bios was upgraded using the utility directly from the bios. the USB had to be formatted with FAT32 file system. upon restarting after upgrading the bios, the nvme drive would be recognised/shown in the boot options. unsurprisingly, the nvme drive appears on the bios boot menu list.
the system seems stable, although it has not been used extensively yet. Qubes OS (/www.qubes-os.org) was successfully installed on/booted from the nvme drive.
system definition:
QuadCore Intel Core i7-3770K, 3700 MHz (37 x 100)
Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3 (1 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 4 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR3 DIMM, Audio, Video, Dual
Intel Panther Point Z77, Intel Ivy Bridge
8 GB DDR3-1600 DDR3 SDRAM (10-10-10-30 @ 800 MHz) x 4
Samsung 990 Pro pcie 4.0 nvme m.2 SSD MZ-V9P2TO
Volans VL-P4M2 m.2 nvme to pcie 4.0 x4 expansion card
Edit by Fernando: Thread title shorte