Problem with Extreme4 x99 with m.2 Samsung 950 Pro

Just for Info, I did update to latest BIOS version 1.30 for this Motherboard

thetoons wrote: Let me just say that I did a lot of reading and research, which got me to a point that after first build (I read http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1236&PN=5&title=how-to-install-windows-on-a-pcie-ssd) After my very first boot, I was able to get to have 'nvme' drivers and have windows 7 boot cd install recognize 'samsung m.2' for installation, it starts to expand file, installs etc, however right at the end of first boot, here I see; ( see photo ) after this when I try once more, I see all these new partitions on the hard disk, long story short, I am stuck right here, I don't know what to change in UEFI Bios anymore before I try again, Would love to hear your opinions!  (I have ASRock Extreme4 3.1 motherboard, with 64gb ram, m.2 samsung 950 pro 512gb, Windows 7 pro oem cd to install from)

I'm sorry but your post is confusing IMO. You mention "booting" but what I assume happened is your Win 7 installation failed midway, correct? That would be once the actual installation started, after the 950 was formatted.

I don't understand what you meant by, "... I was able to get to have 'nvme' drivers and have windows 7 boot cd install recognize 'samsung m.2...".

In particular, the NVMe driver part of your statement. Windows 7 does not have a native NVMe driver, so unless one is installed during the Win 7 installation, the installation will fail. That is a basic problem with Win 7 and NVMe SSDs.

There are no options in the UEFI that will make any difference with this situation.

How are you providing an NVMe driver during the Win 7 installation, and what driver are you using?

I'm not including information pertinent to this topic at this point, in order to gauge how much you know about installing Win 7 on an NVMe SSD. I'll do that of course once I have a feel for your familiarity with this topic.

What UEFI options have you changed for this installation?

When you boot from the Win 7 installation CD, what is the entry in the boot order that you are using? Meaning the full text displayed in the boot order list of the entry you chose?

Do you have any other drives besides the 950 and the optical drive installed or powered on during the Win 7 installation?

thetoons wrote: NVMe drivers for Win 7 can be provided when you are on the installation screen, and if windows doesn't see the drivers to install, there is a button Disk Driver, and then it looks to browse to see if you have driver file,  I downloaded a driver file and put in on USB and make it browse that, and it finds it, so then it sees the driver in the list to install on to, this is Windows 7 pro install from cd so I don't know if it is different for other versions or etc.  My issue was not the installation itself, but after installation when it is time to boot, for some reason it can't figure out where it put boot file (my only guess) PS. FYI, I never have any ANY drives installed or connected besides just the Optical Drive any part of this process, reading the forums here I knew that I had to get the m.2 right before adding anything to the system. I tried so many different combinations over 6 hour period, 99% it didn't work always same error, but last try it worked whatever I changed at UEFI Bios, here is my summary about it at this post; http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2975773/asrock-extreme4-x99-time-installation-uefi-bios-setup-trouble.html However right now I am back in front of the computer with clean Win10, when I went back to UEFI Bios, even though m.2 has the windows and it boots, the section at UEFI says Ultra.m.2 is not detected, which is Really Really weird.... I will try to post some new screen shots if you are interested and have some experienced with installing this particular Samsung SSD m.2 950 PRO? Let me know,

I finally understand now that you are using an ASRock X99 Extreme4/3.1 board, given the hint you gave about the UEFI version (1.30) you are using. The UEFI versions for the earlier X99 Extreme4 board are numbered differently.

My question was what were you using for the NVMe driver during the Load Driver phase of the Windows 7 Installation? What is the source of that driver? What are the file(s) that you used?

The standard NVMe driver from Samsung, Samsung NVM Express Driver 1.1, is included in a Windows environment installation program, and cannot be used AS IS during the Load Driver option as an "F6" type driver.

You are right about the problem you had with Windows 7 not being able to find the appropriate boot loader file. Windows 7 cannot be installed in UEFI mode without a fix for the location of the EFI bootloader file. That is a known bug in Windows 7 that is mentioned in the guide you listed in your first post. Installing directly from a Win 7 CD/DVD, or one simply copied to a USB flash drive, will fail to boot when attempting to do a UEFI booting installation. That is what you experienced when Win 7 tried to boot after the installation.

Sorry, I could have told you that in my earlier post, but I was not sure where you were at with that installation. The picture you posted clearly shows "Install Windows", but I understand now that screen appeared from the Win 7 installation program after it found it could not boot from the installation it had mostly completed. I've never seen that error message myself.

Win 10 has a native NVMe driver, and no issue with the EFI bootloader file location, so it should and did work for you.

It is normal for a 950 Pro to not be listed in the Storage Configuration screen in the UEFI, IF that is what you are referring to. The reason is simple, that screen displays SATA drives or drives that use an AHCI driver. The 950 Pro is an NVMe type drive, unrelated to SATA. We are mixing two unrelated storage protocols on one mother board at this time, so confusion like this is to be expected. If you check the System Browser tool in the Tools screen, your 950 Pro will be shown there. You might also see an entry in the Advanced screen of the UEFI for NVMe drives, which is now included in ASRock Z170 chipset boards.

I guess you didn't notice that I wrote the guide you listed in your first post, about installing Windows on a PCIe SSD.

I've installed Win 10 several times on Samsung 950 Pros, as well as two of them in RAID 0. I've also installed Win 10 on Samsung SM951s, and an Intel 750 NVMe SSD that is the OS drive on my X99 Extreme6/3.1 board.

I am going to check out UEFI again after reading your last post and get back to you tomorrow. maybe I can take a screen shot and get back to you?

Edited by thetoons - 19 Feb 2016 at 1:34pm