Author: parsec
Subject: NVMe SSD not recognised in ASRock X99-WS
Posted: 09 Sep 2016 at 10:32am
The UEFI 2.3.1 mentioned in the Intel SSD manual is a UEFI specification number, and in no way related to the UEFI/BIOS version on your board. The UEFI version numbers for a mother board are completely arbitrary, and have no meaning except to differentiate the various versions.
You need at least UEFI/BIOS version 1.70, while I would suggest at least 2.10.
I highly doubt the Intel SSD is the problem. I have used Intel SSDs in many forms for years, never once had one that was bad. My old G2 SATA II Intel SSD still work.
BTW, the link in your post to the Intel page of your SSD does not work.
I don't trust that adapter card at all. Never seen one before, I know of no one that uses one. Do you have it connected to your power supply, as it says on the adapter card product page? The page you linked to has a picture where the card must be connected to "U.2 HDD power". It's the fifth picture from the top, the picture in the upper left in general. How do you even do that?
Our drive require both 12V and 3.3V connections, although the latter is barely used. The cable Intel provides with the 750 must be connected to a SATA power cable.
I have the 2.5" Intel 750, and use an U.2 to M.2 adapter, a tiny card. Works perfectly.
IMO, the problem is that adapter card, or it is not receiving the correct power.
One other possibility is the PCIe lane allocation. Notice I said lane, not slot. Your CPU has 40 PCIe lanes, so normally more than enough, but I don't understand the PCIe lane usage of your other cards.
Subject: NVMe SSD not recognised in ASRock X99-WS
Posted: 09 Sep 2016 at 10:32am
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  CMG wrote:Hi Parsec, thanks for your quick response. So, I have the 2.5 inch version of the DC P3500 400Gb drive (http://ark.intel.com/products/82847/Intel-SSD-DC-P3500-Series-400GB-2_5in-PCIe-3_0-20nm-MLC ) and have installed it into a PCIe slot using one of these adaptor boards, just like in the picture of the item in Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/JZLL-SFF-8639-PCI-E-Adapter-Intel/dp/B01D9G03LW/ It was in the 2nd PCIe slot of the X99-WS, although I have now also tried reseating it and moving it to slot 3 and slot 6 with the same results. The green LED that is illuminated is on the adapter card. Yes, I have seen that PDF and was attempting to follow it. I have Windows Server 2012R2 already installed and working on a SATA SSD (happens to also be Intel brand). Note that this drive is MBR / Legacy BIOS boot. I powered off the machine after settling on BIOS 2.10. Installed the drive on the adapter card into PCIe slot 2. I then followed these instructions as in section 3.1.1. of the PDF. I downloaded version 1.7.0.1002 and ran the SetupNVME exe. The setup screen shown in 3.1.1 shows the message 'device not detected' in red. I then also tried the older version - 1.5.0.1002. Same result. Whilst I am planning to install an OS on this drive later, I was first attempting to get it working as a non-system drive (I can see there are further complications with making it bootable!). In order to use the drive as a data drive, I'm not sure (a) which BIOS revision is required, (b) if the system needs to have booted through UEFI anyway (I believe NOT ??it doesn't say this in the Intel doc for instance). I see in the PDF it says: 'The P3700, P3600 and P3500 Series is bootable and supports installation of an operating system on platforms that support UEFI* 2.3.1 BIOS'. I'm not sure if the revision number they quote matches ASRock's but this is somewhat suspicious as I'm on 2.10. I have also now checked the system explorer in the UEFI. If i hover over the PCI slot in which the SSD is present, this says 'Empty'. I've also checked using SiSoft Sandra and there is no sign of it there either. I've read some other posts and it seems that it should work as a data drive following the steps i have taken. So my view is either: - BIOS issue - Faulty hardware ( an Intel enterprise grade drive... ) Thanks again CMG |
The UEFI 2.3.1 mentioned in the Intel SSD manual is a UEFI specification number, and in no way related to the UEFI/BIOS version on your board. The UEFI version numbers for a mother board are completely arbitrary, and have no meaning except to differentiate the various versions.
You need at least UEFI/BIOS version 1.70, while I would suggest at least 2.10.
I highly doubt the Intel SSD is the problem. I have used Intel SSDs in many forms for years, never once had one that was bad. My old G2 SATA II Intel SSD still work.
BTW, the link in your post to the Intel page of your SSD does not work.
I don't trust that adapter card at all. Never seen one before, I know of no one that uses one. Do you have it connected to your power supply, as it says on the adapter card product page? The page you linked to has a picture where the card must be connected to "U.2 HDD power". It's the fifth picture from the top, the picture in the upper left in general. How do you even do that?
Our drive require both 12V and 3.3V connections, although the latter is barely used. The cable Intel provides with the 750 must be connected to a SATA power cable.
I have the 2.5" Intel 750, and use an U.2 to M.2 adapter, a tiny card. Works perfectly.
IMO, the problem is that adapter card, or it is not receiving the correct power.
One other possibility is the PCIe lane allocation. Notice I said lane, not slot. Your CPU has 40 PCIe lanes, so normally more than enough, but I don't understand the PCIe lane usage of your other cards.