Hi everyone!. I’m new here and i’m a little bit confused.
i have an Asus P9x79 PRO, and i want the nvme boot support, i read all the post and my question is. It’s safe to use the BIOS in the first post?, or i need to do all the steps described along the post?
Sorry for this awfull question, like i said i’m a little bit confused.
Thanks!
edit: I installed the first post Bios with no problema, i installed Windows 10 Supereasy!!! an here my numbers:
it’s a Samsung EVO 970 250GB, are these numbers ok?
Hi All, I downloaded the BIOS from mak387 (thanks by the way!) and installed a WD Black 500GB NVMe drive on a PCIe board (I forget the brand), in any case, it worked like charm with a Win10 install. I messed up the install after using it for about a month, so I figured I would just format and re-install - except now Windows installer says: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The computer’s hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk’s controller is enabled in the computer’s BIOS menu."
I cannot for the life of me figure out why it will not let me install again. I have cleaned the drive with diskpart, converted it to GPT, set the BIOS CSM to enabled, Boot Device control to “UEFI and Legacy OPROM”, Network Device to “Ignore”, Storage Devices to “UEFI driver first” and PCIe Expansion Devices to “UEFI driver first”. I even tried reflashing the BIOS, in case it had become corrupt somehow. It will not work. Secure boot is set to “Other OS”, by the way.
I can boot a SATA SSD with Win10 and read and write to the NVMe drive, but I cannot install to it. I can even run WD’s Acronis True Image and copy the SATA SSD to the NVMe drive, but not boot from it (though I had to format the SATA SSD as MBR, so it gets copied to the NVMe drive as MBR, then I can’t convert it to GPT, so it’s kind of pointless).
It’s frustrating to have a working drive, only to try to repeat what was once successful, only now I can’t get it to be a bootable drive. I don’t want to have to use a SATA SSD to boot and the NVMe to be only used as storage. Has anyone else run in to this or have any suggestions of what to try? I’ve even tried to change SATA Mode (Advanced\SATA Configuration\SATA Mode) to AHCI, RAID, IDE, Disabled - but cannot get my Windows 10 install USB stick to accept it as a bootable device. By the way, I’ve tried everything I can think of, spending at least 16 hours trying different BIOS settings, one at a time, trying to get Win10 install to accept it as a bootable drive.
I just tried again: - I performed a diskpart “clean” on the drive; - shutdown, removed battery and reset BIOS; - unplugged all SATA cables and USB devices (except keyboard & Win10 install key); - reinstalled battery; - powered up and set boot options: BIOS CSM to enabled, Boot Device control to “UEFI and Legacy OPROM”, Network Device to “Ignore”, Storage Devices to “UEFI driver first” and PCIe Expansion Devices to “UEFI driver first”, Secure boot is set to “Other OS”; - boot order: PATA SS first, USB key second.
I booted the install key and went through the setup with the same results: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The computer’s hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk’s controller is enabled in the computer’s BIOS menu."
Can you see anything wrong in my approach? Thanks for your help.
Nobody is able to boot off a device named “PATA SS”, because the required NVMe Option ROM is not present/available. You have to boot off the USB Flash Drive in UEFI mode and to install the OS onto the listed NVMe SSD by using the GUIMode Partition Table. Don’t forget to disable the “Secure Boot” and the “Fast Boot” BIOS options, before you start with the OS installation.
Thanks @Fernando - He’s trying to install though, so I think at this point boot order isn’t an issue/matter, correct? He first tried manually creating GPT partition, windows said no, so I suggested try giving it a RAW drive and let windows do the partition, same no Or, does he simply need to put USB UEFI First, before PATA SS in boot order?
@Lost_N_BIOS : 1. It doesn’t make sense to set the device named “PATA_SS” into the first position of the Boot order, because it will never be bootable. 2. The NVMe SSD has not to be “RAW”. The delition of the already present partitions (incl. the boot sector) and the creation of the new ones (incl. the required EFI partition) can be easily done by the Win10 Setup.
I thought “PATA SS:” showing up in the BIOS was a sign that the NVMe driver was successfully added? If I remove the PCIe card with the NVMe drive in it, “PATA SS:” is not an option to boot from, so I assume that the “PATA SS:” entry IS the NVMNe drive. I figured that putting it first would cause the BIOS and Windows installer to consider it a boot device.
Setting the NVMe drive to “RAW” (clean, no partitions, default MBR) or converting to GPT with or without NTFS partitions makes no difference. It seems to be a challenge to just get Windows install and/or the BIOS to see the NVMe drive as a bootable drive.
If it shouldn’t show up as “PATA SS:”, what should it be called?
I should add, this worked the first time through - a month ago. For some very odd reason, it’s not working now, when I thought I was using the exact same steps I recall doing the first time (unless my brain is blocking a critical step, which could be possible).
The only thing different that I recall, was that out of interest and false hope, I tried to install on the NVMe drive before updating the BIOS with a patched version, but that shouldn’t have made a difference.
@xmetalloid : Nobody said, that you should try to remove the entry “PATA_SS:” from the list of “bootable” disk drives (although it is not bootable). I only said, that it doesn’t make any sense to set the “PATA_SS:” onto the first position. Have you ever tried to follow the chapter “Installation of the OS onto the NVMe SSD”, which is within the start post of >this< thread? If yes and you got the message, that it is not possible to boot off this disk drive, I suspect, that you haven’t completely disabled the “Secure Boot” option within the BIOS.
Technically, you can’t turn off the secure boot option in the P9X79 Pro BIOS, you can only set it to “Non-Windows OS”, which, to my understanding, effectively turns it off - which I’ve done. I guess the first time through it was too easy, as I haven’t read the chapter “Installation of the OS onto the NVMe SSD”. I’m off to read that now.
Thanks Lost_N_BIOS, I followed the first link in step 8 and now have Secure Boot disabled. Unfortunately I don’t have any difference for installing - Windows installer still sees it as an unbootable drive. In fact, Windows installer won’t even let me create a partition on it. I can do it in diskpart, and the installer recognizes the GPT drive and NTFS partition, but still won’t install into it.
Are you using modified ISO? Does what you mentioned here, go along with the advice on the main guide >> BIOS CSM to enabled, Boot Device control to "UEFI and Legacy OPROM", Network Device to "Ignore", Storage Devices to "UEFI driver first" and PCIe Expansion Devices to "UEFI driver first", You may get quick help if you explain the issue in full and your attempted processes on that NVME thread, usually several users reply there to help others.
I’m using the same USB image I used originally, but it’s not “modified”. I’ve been reading about using rufus to create an EFI image, but I’m struggling to re-find that info. I’m not confident it will make a difference, as the USB stick worked the first time through. Maybe I’ll try the DVD ROM drive - I was trying to limit my SATA devices. Would this be worth trying?
I do have BIOS CSM set to enabled, Boot Device control to “UEFI and Legacy OPROM”, Network Device to “Ignore”, Storage Devices to “UEFI driver first” and PCIe Expansion Devices to “UEFI driver first”, as outlined in post #124.
I can ask on the NVMe thread - my concern is that I expect I’ll get suggestions that are not possible with the P9X79 motherboard (with it’s board-specific settings), but it’s worth trying, I guess.
It should work then, was trying to think of things that could be causing issue. On SATA, yes, if you mean hard drives, there should be none attached other than your NVME. I know how you had those settings set that I quoted, since I quoted your comment, I asked if those are in-line with what the guide says to set for each
Finally, the magic happened! I formatted the USB stick as GPT and recreated the install media from the original installation DVD (both with Rufus) and booted off it. The USB stick shows up in boot options as a UEFI drive.
The first install screen (32bit vs 64bit install) shows up as a small window on the monitor - a noticeable difference from booting before, but once the graphical installer is running it goes full screen. I definitely had to let the installer create the partition(s) and not diskpart, but that was easily figured out when it stopped complaining that the NVMe drive wasn’t a bootable drive. I have no idea why it had to be a GPT USB stick the second time, but that was the deciding change. Win10 is now happily booting on my NMVe drive.
Many thanks to Fernando and LOST_N_BIOS! Your help was much appreciated!
