Z97 Extreme6 questions

I'm really happy with my experience at Fry's Electronics today. I was outside their return policy, but they still went ahead and exchanged the item for me. It does help that I brought up a couple of other issues I had and showed a great deal of patience with the problem. They appreciated that. The new NVMe device works perfectly, and I also am getting a free game out of my trip!

Why a free game? I bought a video card right after the promotion ended for Tom Clancy's The Division, and they said that they would get me a game still if I bought that card that day. And knowing how EVGA does the 90 day step-up I thought it was a good deal for myself.

The other issue was that I simply needed a couple of receipts, and they gave me the information so that they would be sent to me. It's been a month since I sent off my request, and I still have not received them. I am needing them for warranty purposes for a couple of my devices. The USB hub on my G710+ keyboard has intermittent problems and Logitech requested a copy of the receipt for the warranty. I'm sure they don't REALLY need it if I contact them again. Regardless, Fry's felt bad about my whole situation, and that probably helped with getting my Samsung 950 Pro exchanged.

I tried re-downloading the Windows 10 USB creation tool and creating a fresh Windows 10 install. I did a custom install, not an upgrade. The NVMe drive did not appear so it was unselectable.

I made it so that it was the only device present. I have lots of storage devices (11) and 2 optical drives. In fact, for troubleshooting purposes I used a 12th storage device. I disconnected all of the other 10 storage devices and 2 optical drives, leaving only the NVMe present. Using the Windows 10 64-bit USB created image the NVMe device did not appear at all. Could it have anything to do with me not allowing it to get past the 0% during the copy phase? I'm pretty sure I waited minutes and not only seconds. I've worked, gone to school, slept, etc since so I forget the exact timeframe.

Interestingly it appears in the UEFI, but it disappears by the time I can even select to install Windows to it. I've also installed Windows to another device, and the 950 Pro won't appear in Device Manager or Disk Management. Beyond that I've tried out my SM951 AHCI in the same slot, and it can be read. I don't know if it is an NVMe issue with the board (unlikely) or a dead 950 Pro.

I am afraid I have nothing to offer by way of suggestions, aside maybe from trying the drive in another system.