Samsung 960 Evo M.2 NVMe w Asus X99-A (USB 3.1 version) - not recognizing in BIOS

[kobe80]

Hi friends,

 

I just got a Samsung 960 Evo NVMe SSD (500 gb). 

I put it in my Asus X99-A M.2 slot and it won't even show up in BIOS settings. I have the most current BIOS version installed (3402 as of today).

It's not showing up anywhere. When i put my Samsung XP951 in the M.2 slot it works just fine, but the 960 Evo won't. 

I also tried 2 separate 960 Evos, bc i thought the first one was defective. 

Any insights?

[Mike Ranger]

The way I did it was to use a window partition and boot from there.

You will need it anyway if you follow the following guide:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/312803-patch-for-using-nvme-under-macos-sierra-is-ready/page-29?do=findComment&comment=2322636

 

Following that guide helped my also get a functional system now booting from the 960 Evo.

 

cheers, Michael

Edited January 2, 2017 by Allan

[osmacx86user]

In the original posting, it seems the SSD is not showing up in the BIOS.  Is this still an issue for you @kobe80?

[ieatrocks]

I'm seeing the 960 evo drives having weird compatibility issues on x99 boards.

 

tested:

2x asus X99-A II boards, updated to latest 1401 bios

2x Samsung 960 evo 500gb m.2 ssds

1x intel 600p 512gb m.2 ssd

1x gigabyte z170mx-gaming 5 board

 

All 3 m.2 ssds work great on the gigabyte, even with a heavy OC.

The intel 600p works perfectly on all 3 boards.

 

The Samsung ssds both display problems on both the asus x99 boards though. On a cold boot they recognize 75% of the time. On restart they recognize only 25% of the time.

 

Nothing plugged in to any other pcie ports, nothing in the u2 port, removed all peripherals down to kb/mouse only, and default settings (no oc or xmp, ddr4-3200 @ 2133) and nothing seems to help it. One of the power supplies is a evga 80+gold 650W and the other is a 1200W Corsair. Tried bios settings for hours, no dice.

 

 

I cannot for the life of me see anything other than a firmware/bios incompatibility being the cause.

 

OP is your board an X99-A or an X99-A II ?

[kobe80]

It is. :/

 

In the original posting, it seems the SSD is not showing up in the BIOS. Is this still an issue for you @kobe80?

Thanks for sharing. It's good to get other insights, even if we don't have the exact same hardware.

I have an X99-A, not the X99-A II.

And I agree. I'd imagine it's just a bios update away but there's no telling when that'll come. Asus we're of absolutely no help whatsoever on the phone, as usual.

I like their boards but their customer support is abysmally terrible.

 

I'm seeing the 960 evo drives having weird compatibility issues on x99 boards.

tested:
2x asus X99-A II boards, updated to latest 1401 bios
2x Samsung 960 evo 500gb m.2 ssds
1x intel 600p 512gb m.2 ssd
1x gigabyte z170mx-gaming 5 board

All 3 m.2 ssds work great on the gigabyte, even with a heavy OC.
The intel 600p works perfectly on all 3 boards.

The Samsung ssds both display problems on both the asus x99 boards though. On a cold boot they recognize 75% of the time. On restart they recognize only 25% of the time.

Nothing plugged in to any other pcie ports, nothing in the u2 port, removed all peripherals down to kb/mouse only, and default settings (no oc or xmp, ddr4-3200 @ 2133) and nothing seems to help it. One of the power supplies is a evga 80+gold 650W and the other is a 1200W Corsair. Tried bios settings for hours, no dice.


I cannot for the life of me see anything other than a firmware/bios incompatibility being the cause.

OP is your board an X99-A or an X99-A II ?

How do you do that if the bios doesn't even see it?


Also, what board are you using?
 

The way I did it was to use a window partition and boot from there.
You will need it anyway if you follow the following guide:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/312803-patch-for-using-nvme-under-macos-sierra-is-ready/page-29?do=findComment&comment=2322636

Following that guide helped my also get a functional system now booting from the 960 Evo.

cheers, Michael

[ieatrocks]

Do you have any other model of mainboard or ssd you can test with kobe?

[xenophex]

Mines now showing up on my X99 Deluxe.  My HyperX Kingston works at about 900-1100MB/s read/write.

I put mine both in the onboard m.2 slot and in the Hyper PCIe card and neither spot showed the Samsung EVO 960 500GB.

 

There is like no way to tell if this chip is ok and $250 is a lot to wait on a BIOS update or some other magic.  Think I might just return/exchange mine. 

[kobe80]

I tried it in an X99 Deluxe also. it would show up in BIOS but then KP on boot. 

I ended up sending it back and got a 950 Pro for now. Once it's doable, I'll get the 960 again.