Author: parsec
Subject: SM961 support for Z97 Pro4
Posted: 01 Jan 2017 at 2:26am
First, an NVMe drive does not need to be listed in the support list to work in a board. No drive needs specific, special support to make it work. I use NVMe SSDs that are not listed in the support list of several ASRock boards, and they work fine. There won't be an update for the SM961 since that is not necessary.
What you do need for any board when using an NVMe SSD like the SM961, is NVMe support in the UEFI/BIOS. What UEFI/BIOS version do you have in your board now? You must have the version 2.50 UEFI/BIOS installed in your board that provides the latest NVMe support, that will work with any NVMe SSD. But that is only needed if you want to use it as the OS drive. Otherwise, NVMe support is not needed if it will only be used as a data drive.
You said the SM961 "does not work". You'll need to explain that better than that. How is the SM961 connected to your board? The M.2 slot? If it is in the M.2 slot, that slot shares resources with two SATA ports, the SATA3_4 and SATA3_5 ports. If you have a SATA drive in one or both of those SATA ports, the M.2 slot will not work. That is explained in your board's specifications.
Or do you have an M.2 to PCIe adapter card? If you are using an adapter card, which PCIe slot are you using? You've told us nothing about how you have configured your SM961.
We also don't know what version of Windows you are using, which matters. You must have an NVMe driver when using an NVMe SSD like the SM961. Windows 7 does not have an NVMe driver in it, so you must install one yourself, for example.
You won't see the SM961 shown in the Storage Configuration screen, since it is NOT a SATA drive. The only place you will see an NVMe SSD like yours shown in the UEFI/BIOS is in the System Browser feature in the Tools screen. Did you check for it there?
An NVMe SSD like the SM961 does not work like a SATA drive does, and you will need to do different things if you want to use it as the OS drive.
Subject: SM961 support for Z97 Pro4
Posted: 01 Jan 2017 at 2:26am
ixix018 wrote:First, an NVMe drive does not need to be listed in the support list to work in a board. No drive needs specific, special support to make it work. I use NVMe SSDs that are not listed in the support list of several ASRock boards, and they work fine. There won't be an update for the SM961 since that is not necessary.
What you do need for any board when using an NVMe SSD like the SM961, is NVMe support in the UEFI/BIOS. What UEFI/BIOS version do you have in your board now? You must have the version 2.50 UEFI/BIOS installed in your board that provides the latest NVMe support, that will work with any NVMe SSD. But that is only needed if you want to use it as the OS drive. Otherwise, NVMe support is not needed if it will only be used as a data drive.
You said the SM961 "does not work". You'll need to explain that better than that. How is the SM961 connected to your board? The M.2 slot? If it is in the M.2 slot, that slot shares resources with two SATA ports, the SATA3_4 and SATA3_5 ports. If you have a SATA drive in one or both of those SATA ports, the M.2 slot will not work. That is explained in your board's specifications.
Or do you have an M.2 to PCIe adapter card? If you are using an adapter card, which PCIe slot are you using? You've told us nothing about how you have configured your SM961.
We also don't know what version of Windows you are using, which matters. You must have an NVMe driver when using an NVMe SSD like the SM961. Windows 7 does not have an NVMe driver in it, so you must install one yourself, for example.
You won't see the SM961 shown in the Storage Configuration screen, since it is NOT a SATA drive. The only place you will see an NVMe SSD like yours shown in the UEFI/BIOS is in the System Browser feature in the Tools screen. Did you check for it there?
An NVMe SSD like the SM961 does not work like a SATA drive does, and you will need to do different things if you want to use it as the OS drive.