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SM951 as OS boot device information

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IanJM View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote IanJM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Aug 2015 at 11:11pm
Hi I am a newbie on the site
I have just recieved a SM951 NVMe 256Gb and cannot get it to boot on my Z97 Extreme6
Pre ordered it after excellent review at http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7181/samsung-sm951-nvme-2-pcie-256gb-ssd-review/index3.html

I have latest BIOS 2.3 installed - I have set fourcing of M.2 but the BIOS says there is nothing in the slot
Windows 10 sees the card and I have used Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 to clone my old Sansung 840 onto the SM951

Am I missing a setting so that the card shows and I can select it in BIOS as a boot device

I have sent technical support an email and then found this forum
Any help would be much appreciated

Ian
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parsec View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote parsec Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Aug 2015 at 12:32am
Hopefully cloning your 840 to the SM951 NVMe will work getting the Win 10 NVMe driver working with the SM951. You'll be one of the first doing that experiment... Thumbs Up

Otherwise, since your 840 Win 10 installation is probably not a UEFI booting Windows installation, with the SM951 formatted in GPT, try this:

In the UEFI, Boot Order screen, scroll down to find the CSM option. Click on that and find the Launch Storage OpROM Policy option. Set that to UEFI Only. Then click Save and Exit in the Exit screen.

On the restart, go right back into the UEFI, and check the Boot screen. If you then see an entry for the SM951 with the prefix "UEFI:", select that as the first boot device. You may instead find the entry, "Windows Boot Manager". If you do, select that as the first boot device. Then save and exit, and see if you boot into Win 10 with your SM951 NVMe.

If that does not work, remember what you did see in the UEFI about the SM951, and we'll take it from there.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote IanJM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Aug 2015 at 1:07am
Thanks for the reply Parsec
I went back and relooked at the boot screen - No CSM option - but I looked in "Hard Drive BBS Priorities"
The Samsung NVMe drive was in this list - changed to first (sorry should have looked here first pass through)
Rebooted fine from the SM951 NMVe drive - I could tell that its quicker than the 840 drive

However
1 - BIOS is still not showing any device in the M.2 slots
2 - The Samsung SM951 NMVe is using Microsoft drivers and doesn't appear in the Intel Rapid Storage list

Thanks for your help
Ian
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote robman1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Aug 2015 at 2:52am
Can you post the url where you preordered that NVME please?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote IanJM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Aug 2015 at 3:26am
I am in the UK and bought my SM951 NVMe 256Gb form the link below
They do post world wide - for the UK I had free next day before 1Pm postage - excellent service

http://www.flexxmemory.co.uk/categories/solid-state-drives-ssd/samsung-sm951-m-2-ngff-pcie-solid-state-drive-ssd/nvme-version.html?sort=pricedesc
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote parsec Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Aug 2015 at 12:18pm
Originally posted by IanJM IanJM wrote:

Thanks for the reply Parsec
I went back and relooked at the boot screen - No CSM option - but I looked in "Hard Drive BBS Priorities"
The Samsung NVMe drive was in this list - changed to first (sorry should have looked here first pass through)
Rebooted fine from the SM951 NMVe drive - I could tell that its quicker than the 840 drive

However
1 - BIOS is still not showing any device in the M.2 slots
2 - The Samsung SM951 NMVe is using Microsoft drivers and doesn't appear in the Intel Rapid Storage list

Thanks for your help


The CSM option is at the bottom of the Boot screen, you must scroll down to find it. It is clearly shown in your board's manual. You said you have a Z97 Extreme6, correct?

Regardless, if it boots for you now, that's fine.

It is completely normal for any SM951, whether AHCI or NVMe version, to NOT be shown in the Intel Rapid Storage list of attached drives.

You're using an NVMe SSD, not a SSD connected to a SATA port using the Intel SATA controller with the IRST RAID/AHCI SATA driver.

There is no reason for the IRST software to recognize or list an NVMe SSD. Both versions of the SM951 (AHCI and NVMe) have their own controller built into the SSD. SATA SSDs do not have their own controller, so they must use the Intel SATA controller in the Z97 chipset.

(The controller I'm referring to is not the standard SSD controller found in all SSDs.)

You'll find an independent entry in Device Manager for your SM951, whether AHCI or NVMe. Your SM951 is using the Win 10 native NVMe driver, that is normal. You sure don't want it to be using an AHCI driver, since it is an NVMe device. Not that it could use an AHCI driver.

The AHCI SM951 is also not recognized by the Intel SATA controller for the same general reasons.

Your board also has four SATA ports provided by two ASMedia 1061 SATA controllers. Would any drives connected to those SATA ports be shown in the IRST list of drives? No, they are separate SATA controllers.

The only thing that seems off is the SM951 not being seen in the Ultra M.2 slot. My AHCI SM951 is shown in the UEFI on my Z97 Extreme6 board, so perhaps it is the NVMe aspect of your SM951 that causes that... if that really is the case.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote IanJM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Aug 2015 at 3:49am
Thanks for the reply

I have discovered why I cannot see the CSM option
On the Boot screen the Fast Boot option is set to FAST
When this is selected the CSM option disapears
Changing Fast Boot option to "Disabled" the CSM option appears
Since everything is working well I have left the option at FAST

You are correct about the Device managers
Under Storage controllers is a Microsoft Standard NVM Express Controller
Not sure if there is any advantage/disadvantage in keeping Intel Rapid Storage (I wont be using RAID)

Shame Samsung Magician doesnt support SM951 better as it does not show health or usage info

thanks again


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote parsec Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Aug 2015 at 11:18am
I keep forgetting that if CSM is Enabled, using Fast Boot will remove the CSM option.

The Intel Rapid Storage package has a SATA driver and the IRST UI that runs in Windows. The IRST driver is both a RAID and AHCI driver, Intel considers AHCI to be a feature subset of RAID. Is your SATA mode set to RAID in the UEFI/BIOS?

If you are using AHCI mode, then the IRST UI does not do much for you, except provide information about your drives. The IRST SATA driver is known to perform better than the standard generic Windows AHCI driver, which is msahci in Win 7, and storahci in Win 8 and beyond.

If you use even one standard SATA drive with that board and PC, keeping the IRST driver will provide better performance. You might have noticed in the Performance option in the IRST UI, the Dynamic Storage Accelerator (DSA) setting, which should also be a setting in the UEFI/BIOS Storage Configuration screen, to enable or disable it. DSA works as a performance and a power saving option. You may find the DSA option useful for power savings most of the time, and to increase storage IO performance at other times. DSA does not affect a SM951.

Samsung does not consider either type of SM951 or the earlier XP941 as standard retail products, and they really aren't. Warranty support for these products is normally the responsibility of the seller rather than Samsung. These SSDs are meant for use in high performance laptop PCs, and the laptop manufacture provides warranty support for them to the customer.

Since these SSDs are not retail products (try and find them among Samsung's SSD information on their website) Samsung does not believe they should be supported by the Magician software. The same goes for Samsung's enterprise SSDs, like the 845DC EVO or 845DC Pro, which are also not supported in the Magician software. The 845DC (Data Center) SSDs have their own software similar to the Magician. But the SM951 and XP941 do not.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote IanJM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Aug 2015 at 4:38pm
My Extreme6 is set to AHCI for SATA - I think I will leave the Intel Rapid Storage installed for now

All I would like from the Magician software is health and wear information - I've not found an alternative, but as this is new hardware I'm sure as NVMe use takes off something will become available.

Thanks again parsec
Ian
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote robman1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Aug 2015 at 5:04pm
My SM951 (NVMe) is in the mail (thank you to IanJM for the good URL) and now I hope to do a little future proofing and find either a x8 or x16 PCIe 3.0/M.2 adapter card without software bloating or drivers. So far I've just seen x4 with Addonics and Lycom but I figure this tech may have a little more to offer later on than even the current 2150 read speed benches. If you have clocked yours at 2K and have 4,8, or 16 lane M.2 to PCIe 3.0 adapter card I'd love to check that gear. Any opinions or knowledge on this would be cool too. 
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