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Z77 Extreme4 & SM951 PCIe SSD
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secretagentguy View Drop Down
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    Posted: 04 Jun 2015 at 1:57am
Hello,
I know now that I should have done more research instead of impulse purchasing the 256gb SM951. I bought it and an Addonics PCIe to m.2 4x card. I have the latest bios for the z77 Extreme4 (2013 - which is a shame). I want to be able to boot to the drive and install Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 on it. I can see it windows, but I can't install windows on it or boot from it. I think what I need is a new BIOS to be released support a PCIe SSD. Has anyone else had luck with this? I have sent in a support request with ASRock and heard nothing back.

I have an i7 3770k, 16gb DDR 2400, 256gb SM951 PCIe SSD, GTX 670 etc.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks! 
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secretagentguy View Drop Down
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Anything?
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Xaltar View Drop Down
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Points: 24653 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Xaltar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2015 at 10:49pm
There are several posts about the SM951 being difficult if not impossible to get to work as a boot/OS drive. So far I have not seen anyone have success with it as yet. It is not restricted to Asrock boards either as I have seen similar posts on a number of other Tech forums I frequent. Hopefully someone with more knowledge on the matter can help you out.
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parsec View Drop Down
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Points: 4996 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote parsec Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2015 at 11:59pm
You will need a UEFI/BIOS update for your board before an SM951 will be bootable.

Even the latest Z97 and X99 boards from any manufacture required a UEFI update to allow the SM951 to be bootable. My Z97 Extreme6 board had a beta UEFI that added that capability, and then the change was incorporated into a standard UEFI update.

I have a SM951 on that board, my Win 8.1 OS drive. It works fine but runs warmer than a standard 2.5" SATA SSD, due to the lack of the metal case acting as a heatsink for the chips.



ASRock so far has added UEFI updates for the SM951 only on their boards that have the Ultra M.2 slot interface. That makes sense since it is the standard interface for the SM951.

I don't know how far back in their product line will ASRock provide support for the SM951. I'm sure no other manufacture has added this support on their earlier chipset boards.

The main problem or reality is the SM951 is not a standard SSD that was meant to be sold at the retail level. Samsung does not market the SM951 or XP941 at the retail level, you won't find it included on Samsung's website with their other SSDs.

I am not aware of anyone using an SM951 with an M.2 to PCIe adapter on a Z97 or X99 board that supports it. It is possible that earlier chipset boards like the Z77 may have compatibility issues that won't allow the SM951 to be bootable.

Beyond support in the UEFI/BIOS, in order to be bootable, the Windows installation media must be configured to use the EFI bootloader. That is easy to do with Win 8/8.1/10, but not with Win 7.

The Windows installation files must be copied to a USB flash drive formatted as FAT32. When the USB flash drive is connected to the PC, check the boot order in the UEFI/BIOS. You should see multiple entries for the USB flash drive, the one that is, "UEFI: flash drive name" is the one that must be selected to boot from. That will cause the target OS drive to be formatted as GPT, which is required for it to be bootable, and use the EFI bootloader.

A good guide about this can be found here: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html
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secretagentguy View Drop Down
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Points: 5 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote secretagentguy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jun 2015 at 4:38am
Hey Guys,
Good news! John at ASRock TSD got back to me and provided me a bios 2.90M for my z77 and now my board boots the SM951, I can select it in the BIOS or use the integrated Windows Boot Manager either works. I'm currently using with Windows 7 until I get the Windows 10 Upgrade.

Thanks ASRock, you definitely went above and beyond. My next board will be an ASRock too!
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Xaltar View Drop Down
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Awesome news Thumbs Up

Enjoy your snappy new OS drive Cool
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dbranger94 View Drop Down
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Originally posted by secretagentguy secretagentguy wrote:

Hey Guys,
Good news! John at ASRock TSD got back to me and provided me a bios 2.90M for my z77 and now my board boots the SM951, I can select it in the BIOS or use the integrated Windows Boot Manager either works. I'm currently using with Windows 7 until I get the Windows 10 Upgrade.

Thanks ASRock, you definitely went above and beyond. My next board will be an ASRock too!
 
Any chance you could send that BIOS to be?  Or host it somewhere so we can all download it?  If I can get a copy of the BIOS, I can host it for us also.  I sent you a PM.
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anthonyk59 View Drop Down
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Yes please share the bios update !! Smile
Thank you so much.
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Xaltar View Drop Down
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Points: 24653 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Xaltar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jul 2015 at 3:35am
Look at this thread, the bios is downloadable in the first post.
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