M.2 SSD not showing up on BIOS or Windows.

Jo3yy · Oct 16, 2016

I'm kinda new to the 'PC building scene', a friend from university has helped me a huge amount. But we've come across an issue.
When we booted it up for the first time the 'Sandisk X400 256GB M.2-2280 SSD' wasn't detected in the slightest. It was as if nothing else but the Internal Hard Drive was present.

My motherboard is: 'MSI Z170A GAMING PRO CARBON ATX LGA1151'

Does anyone know what could fix this issue? We have already tried disconnecting the Internal HD to see if that would boot it into recognising it, but with no luck.)

We have decided to install Windows 10 on the Internal HD for the time being, so we can work out how to get the SSD to show up.

Again, I'm a total newbie when it comes to this kinda thing so I'm at a loss... anyone got any clues?

[Here's the complete list of parts - ]

Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
be quiet! PURE ROCK 51.7 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
MSI Z170A GAMING PRO CARBON ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
Sandisk X400 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
MSI GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card (We had yet to add this into the build, still awaiting its arrival)
EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter

Multipack · Oct 16, 2016

Does it show up in your BIOS? Have you tried allocating the space on it by creating a partition in Disk Management?

Jo3yy · Oct 16, 2016

Multipack :

It doesn't show up at all, it doesn't show up on the Disk Management either. I've looked all over the place for it, it's like it doesn't exist at all.

Multipack · Oct 16, 2016

In the BIOS?

Luminary · Oct 16, 2016

Some things to check from your motherboard manual:

1) Did you read through the manual to make sure you've physically installed the M.2 drive correctly (Page 32)?
2) SATA5~6 ports will be unavailable when installing the M.2 module in M.2 slot. You're not using those are you? If so you might be getting a conflict.

If you're not seeing it in the BIOS at all and you're SURE it is installed correctly it might be worth trying the M.2 drive in a different PC if you have one available.

Jo3yy · Oct 16, 2016

Multipack :

Not in the BIOS at all either.

Jo3yy · Oct 16, 2016

Luminary :

We have physically installed it correctly. It wouldn't be sitting comfortably if it wasn't I assume. But yes, we installed as instructed.
We aren't, we have made sure they're still unused.

We don't have one around which is irritating. I'm not really sure what we can do...

Multipack · Oct 16, 2016

Yeah, it shares bandwidth with the SATA 5 & 6 ports like Luminary said so make sure they are free.. and it's connected in the slot properly. They do take a bit more force than feels comfortable. Also, check you are booting in AHCI/UEFI modes. Does it appear in Device Manager?

Jo3yy · Oct 16, 2016

Multipack :

We unplugged the Internal HD to see if that helped, so doesn't that mean it can't be an issue with the SATA ports?
I'll give it another look at, take it out and put it back in again, just to check a final time. And yes, I'm booting in said mode. No it's not in there either.

Multipack · Oct 16, 2016

Jo3yy :

Well you can't boot from a blank disk so unattaching the HDD will free the ports, but you wont have an OS installed then. Check which port the HDD is using in BIOS instead. Clear CMOS and make sure it's in UEFI mode. I would be amazed if the BIOS really cant see it, if everything works and is connected.

Jo3yy · Oct 16, 2016

I've made sure that 5 + 6 aren't being used. So that's not the issue.
Okidokie I'll check in BIOS again.

Jo3yy · Oct 16, 2016

Multipack :

Jo3yy :

Well you can't boot from a blank disk so unattaching the HDD will free the ports, but you wont have an OS installed then. Check which port the HDD is using in BIOS instead. Clear CMOS and make sure it's in UEFI mode. I would be amazed if the BIOS really cant see it, if everything works and is connected.

Right. within BIOS I went onto the motherboard explorer thingy, and on there it's as if there's nothing in the M2 slot. (I also checked that it was in the right mode etc.)

Luminary · Oct 16, 2016

Since you have a backup HDD you can use in the meantime if it were me I would return the M.2 drive for a replacement and see if that does the trick. Ideally you would test in in another system, but barring that I'd make use of the return policy to be sure I got a good drive.

Jo3yy · Oct 16, 2016

Luminary :

That's basically what we've done. Just used that for now, I'll reinstall Windows once we sort this out.

Thank you both for your help. I think for now I'll go for a replacement.

If anyone else can think of anything I can do, let me know in the mean-time. Cheers!

Luminary · Oct 16, 2016

No problem, sorry there didn't seem to be a quick fix for you. Please let us know how the replacement goes once it finally arrives.

Jo3yy · Oct 16, 2016

Luminary :

Sure thing, thanks again!

Jo3yy · Oct 20, 2016

So, they're sending through a new one, I hope that means that the SSD was actually faulty. (I'm assuming they'd have told me once it was tested, which they told me they were doing, if it wasn't actually faulty.)
Shall post if I have any luck with the replacement!

Luminary · Oct 20, 2016

Sounds good, hope the new one does the trick for you!

M.2 SSD not showing up on BIOS or Windows.

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