Hello,

Here is my build.
ASRock H270M-ITX/ac Running the 2.01 Beta Firmware
16GB Gskill F4-2400C15D-16GVR

Intel Core i5-7600

WD Black 512GB Performance SSD - M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive - WDS512G1X0C

The system boots fine and I can get in the BIOS.  The problem is no matter what settings I change I cannot see the WD Black nvme drive.  Here is what I have tried already.

1. Followed all the settings in this thread:

http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1236&title=how-to-install-windows-on-a-pcie-ssd

Drive does not show up in windows even if I install the f6flpy-x64 driver.

-Tried disabling CMS - no luck

-Tried setting the storage oprom policy - no luck

-Changed to raid mode and installed the RST driver - no luck

2. Took the drive out and tested it in a HP all in one.  It shows the Western Digital without issue and even brings it up after installing the driver for windows 10 installation.

3.  Took the drive that was in the All-In-One which is a: SK Hynix SC300 M.2 2280 128GB

Put that in the ASROCK H270M-ITX and it saw it without any issues.

So I am at a loss here.  When you use the System Browser it does not see the WD drive but it does see the SK Hynix drive.  So that tells me the Western Digital Drive is working fine, but the Asrock is not seeing it.

Its even on the Storage QWL:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H270M-ITXac/index.us.asp#Storage  Its the last one in the list:

WD

512GB

PCIe3 x4

2280

WDS512G1X0C-00ENX0 (NVME)

As a last resort I updated to the beta 2.01 bios, but no changes.

Any help? Anyone have this drive working on their ASROCK 200 based chipset board?  I even logged a ticket with Asrock last night, but have not heard anything.

peiffer83 wrote: Hello, Here is my build. ASRock H270M-ITX/ac Running the 2.01 Beta Firmware 16GB Gskill F4-2400C15D-16GVR Intel Core i5-7600 WD Black 512GB Performance SSD - M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive - WDS512G1X0C The system boots fine and I can get in the BIOS.  The problem is no matter what settings I change I cannot see the WD Black nvme drive.  Here is what I have tried already. 1. Followed all the settings in this thread: http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1236&title=how-to-install-windows-on-a-pcie-ssd Drive does not show up in windows even if I install the f6flpy-x64 driver. -Tried disabling CMS - no luck -Tried setting the storage oprom policy - no luck -Changed to raid mode and installed the RST driver - no luck 2. Took the drive out and tested it in a HP all in one.  It shows the Western Digital without issue and even brings it up after installing the driver for windows 10 installation. 3.  Took the drive that was in the All-In-One which is a: SK Hynix SC300 M.2 2280 128GB Put that in the ASROCK H270M-ITX and it saw it without any issues. So I am at a loss here.  When you use the System Browser it does not see the WD drive but it does see the SK Hynix drive.  So that tells me the Western Digital Drive is working fine, but the Asrock is not seeing it. Its even on the Storage QWL: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H270M-ITXac/index.us.asp#Storage  Its the last one in the list: WD 512GB PCIe3 x4 2280 WDS512G1X0C-00ENX0 (NVME) As a last resort I updated to the beta 2.01 bios, but no changes. Any help? Anyone have this drive working on their ASROCK 200 based chipset board?  I even logged a ticket with Asrock last night, but have not heard anything.

I'm not sure what is happening with the WD Black NVMe SSD, but it should be recognized in the System Browser tool, and the Storage Configuration screen, with any UEFI/BIOS version in your board. An NVMe SSD should be recognized in the UEFI/BIOS without installing any drivers, NVMe or otherwise, or configuring the CSM option. CSM configuration is only related to installing Windows.

Just FYI, NVMe is not related to SATA at all, and uses its own driver. So the Intel f6flpy-x64 RAID driver will not be used by an NVMe SSD, or be used during a Windows installation. RAID mode also won't do anything with a single NVMe SSD. Intel RAID can be used with multiple NVMe SSDs, which is actually supported by your H270 chipset. RAID mode is also used with Optane SSDs, which may be a factor, more about that below.

I don't own your board, so can't check the UEFI myself, and updates are not always done to the manual to match UEFI updates. In the Storage Configuration screen (Advanced Mode), do you have an option called Force M.2, or something similar to that? That option is used to give the M.2 slot priority, since the resources it uses are shared with the chipset's SATA III ports.

The specs for your board are not as clear as other ASRock 200 series chipset boards about the sharing of resources between the M.2 slot and SATA III ports. For example for my Z270 board, two SATA III ports are disabled when an NVMe SSD is used in an M.2 slot. I know your board's specs only mention losing the SATA3_0 port if a SATA M.2 SSD is in the M.2 slot. Are you using any of the SATA ports currently?

One small hint about what is happening is related to the Hynix SC300 SSD. That SSD is actually a SATA M.2 SSD, not an NVMe SSD:

http://ssd.skhynix.com/ssd/en/about/m_2.jsp

Of course that does not explain why the WD Black SSD was recognized in the HP PC. The M.2 slot in the H270 board seems to be working since the SC300 was recognized.

I'm left with wondering about the resource sharing between the M.2 and SATA ports, and possibly the Force M.2 option in Storage Configuration, which should be enabled if it exists.

Otherwise if you have any SATA drives connected to the board, for a test, disconnect all of them, put the WD Black back into the M.2 slot, clear the UEFI/BIOS with the board's jumper, and see if the WD Black is recognized. Do not enable RAID mode, and check if the SATA mode is set to AHCI and not RAID after the UEFI/BIOS clear. The SATA mode is not being set back to AHCI (the default) anymore, to preserve NVMe RAID arrays on other boards. Yes I know I said the Intel RAID driver normally does not apply to single NVMe SSDs, which is true, but Optane support adds an exception to that. Optane SSDs are all M.2 NVMe drives. Which is why at least to start, don't set the SATA mode to RAID. If you need to change it to AHCI, you must Save and Exit the UEFI before it is applied. The only purpose of this is to truly disable RAID and any potential interference by Optane support. Doing a Load UEFI Defaults in the Exit screen may reset the SATA mode to AHCI, but you must Save and Exit for it to be applied.

The only other thing I can think of is if you installed the Intel Optane driver instead of the IRST RAID driver, whose version number is identical to the IRST RAID driver, 15.5.0.1051. Actually, both of those drivers might interfere with the WD Black, but you would think that would only be in Windows. Do you have an IRST RAID utility option in the UEFI/BIOS, Advanced screen (near or at the bottom of the list of screens) when RAID mode is enabled? Optane support can cause odd things to happen, so be sure you do not have RAID mode enabled.

I do not recall any other threads in this forum about issues with the WD Black SSD and any ASRock board. Please do not skip the test of disconnecting any SATA drives from the board, you only need to check in the UEFI/BIOS for detection of the WD Black when they are disconnected. It might result in nothing, but we really need to dismiss the resource sharing with the SATA ports. That is how the M.2 slots are connected in the 200 series chipset boards, instead of the PCIe lanes from the CPU.

Please let us know what happens, I am interested in determining what the issue is about.

Dear Peiffer83,

 

Thank you for choosing ASRock and contacting us.

 

Regarding your case, we have tested in our lab, WDS512G1X0C can be detected.

This is our system configuration.

MB: H270M-ITX/ac

CPU: Intel i5-7600

SSD: WD Black 512GB WDS512G1X0C

We also received the Technical Support ticket, and we will reply the email to you. 

Thank you!

Yours truly,

ASRock TSD

Thanks for the update. You must be correct, the M.2 slot or board was defective. Sorry for the problem, and glad it's working now.