GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 wont regognize M.2 drives / Cant isntall OS

[Chaotic_Cannon]

Hi, This is my 6th or 7th build and I have switched to the gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 board and having all sorts of issues trying to just get to the start point.

This is a new build, all new items:
NZXT 410 case
GA-Z170X-Gaming 7
Intel i5 6600k with good cooler
2 x Samsung 950 Pro M.2 SSD's (NVME) (trying to install RAID 0, but cant get that far- see below). One installed in each of the M.2 slots. No other SSD's or HDs installed.
2 x 8 GIG of Corsair RAM
2 x XFX ATI 6950 GPUs (not installed yet).
WIN7 (trying to get to the point to install it)
BIOS ver F4

So I have assembled the entire system (without the GPU's since the MOBO has on board graphics). After a few issues trying to get a picture on the monitor managed to get to the BIOS. The Bios recognizes my CPU chip and my RAM with no issues.

When I go to the Peripherals tab, there is NO drive under the SATA configuration area. Currently on AHCI mode (but have tried RAID also).

Under the NVMe configuration area there is also NO drive shown.

Under the BIOS feature tab under Storage boot option control and other PCI device I have set as legacy only (not UEFI).

I CAN see one of the two SSD's under the Save and exit tab area under the "Boot Override" area. Also under the BIOS Features tab I can also see one of the two SSD's under the "BOOT options priorities" area.

Now, since this motherboard CANT read USB drives, I tried booting via a CDROM drive. Got Win7 to do the pre-install portion right up to the choose the drive to install on. Win7 isntaller wont recognize either SSD. So cant install Win7 that way.

Created a USB boot disk, tried that way. Wont recognize the USB drive. Created USB boot disk from gigabyte utility tool and now Win7 installer works from USB drive, but still wont show the M.2 SSD's. Tried opening all the updated drivers from gigabyte website:
- ntel SATA Preinstall driver (For AHCI / RAID Mode) 14.6.0.1029
Still wont recognize the drives

Taken the 2 SSD's out, tried one, then tried the other. Same results, MOBO BIOS see's only one at a time either way. No go in Win7 installer.

At my limit for this MOBO. I have submitted 2 separate tickets to Gigabyte and both ignored with no reply, just listed as new tickets after days.

Appreciate any insights here.

Thanks

[killis]

Hi, This is my 6th or 7th build and I have switched to the gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 board and having all sorts of issues trying to just get to the start point.

This is a new build, all new items:
NZXT 410 case
GA-Z170X-Gaming 7
Intel i5 6600k with good cooler
2 x Samsung 950 Pro M.2 SSD's (NVME) (trying to install RAID 0, but cant get that far- see below). One installed in each of the M.2 slots. No other SSD's or HDs installed.
2 x 8 GIG of Corsair RAM
2 x XFX ATI 6950 GPUs (not installed yet).
WIN7 (trying to get to the point to install it)
BIOS ver F4

So I have assembled the entire system (without the GPU's since the MOBO has on board graphics). After a few issues trying to get a picture on the monitor managed to get to the BIOS. The Bios recognizes my CPU chip and my RAM with no issues.

When I go to the Peripherals tab, there is NO drive under the SATA configuration area. Currently on AHCI mode (but have tried RAID also).

Under the NVMe configuration area there is also NO drive shown.

Under the BIOS feature tab under Storage boot option control and other PCI device I have set as legacy only (not UEFI).

I CAN see one of the two SSD's under the Save and exit tab area under the "Boot Override" area. Also under the BIOS Features tab I can also see one of the two SSD's under the "BOOT options priorities" area.

Now, since this motherboard CANT read USB drives, I tried booting via a CDROM drive. Got Win7 to do the pre-install portion right up to the choose the drive to install on. Win7 isntaller wont recognize either SSD. So cant install Win7 that way.

Created a USB boot disk, tried that way. Wont recognize the USB drive. Created USB boot disk from gigabyte utility tool and now Win7 installer works from USB drive, but still wont show the M.2 SSD's. Tried opening all the updated drivers from gigabyte website:
- ntel SATA Preinstall driver (For AHCI / RAID Mode) 14.6.0.1029
Still wont recognize the drives

Taken the 2 SSD's out, tried one, then tried the other. Same results, MOBO BIOS see's only one at a time either way. No go in Win7 installer.

At my limit for this MOBO. I have submitted 2 separate tickets to Gigabyte and both ignored with no reply, just listed as new tickets after days.

Appreciate any insights here.

Thanks

[absic]

Hi,

Have you actually tried to create the RAID array? If not, give it a go and see if both M.2 cards are visible at that stage.

If you have tried setting up the RAID Array and had no luck then it might be worthwhile updating the BIOS to the F5 or the F6j beta version to see if that helps.

[Chaotic_Cannon]

Hi,

Have you actually tried to create the RAID array? If not, give it a go and see if both M.2 cards are visible at that stage.

If you have tried setting up the RAID Array and had no luck then it might be worthwhile updating the BIOS to the F5 or the F6j beta version to see if that helps.

As stated above, the bios does not show the M.2 ssd drives at all in the normal place but does see 1 drive in the boot override menu. I cannot create a raid setup since the bios nor Win7 installer see the drives correctly....

Also how does one update bios if you cant install the OS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I run the BIOS update utility and the utility DOES NOT detect the USB drive since the board does not read anything from the USB ports unless you have the flipping OS installed.

WORST DESIGN I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED. Cant install the OS cause board does not detect the drives, cant detect the drives without getting the OS installed.

[dmdilks]

These are from the book. You can setup a Raid with those drives. 

M2D_32G/M2H_32G (M.2 Socket 3 Connectors)
TheM.2 connectors supportM.2 SATA SSDs andM.2 PCIe SSDs and support RAID configuration through
the Intel® Chipset. Please note that an M.2 PCIe SSD cannot be used to create a RAID set either with
an M.2 SATA SSD or a SATA hard drive.

To create a RAID array with an M.2 PCIe SSD:

You must set up the configuration in UEFI BIOS mode. Refer to Chapter 3, "Configuring a RAID Set," for instructions
on configuring a RAID array.

Plus to do that with the M2 drives you have to use windows 8/10. Look on Page 67.

Look in here to see if there are there. If there are there than make one of them the first boot:

Hard Drive/CD/DVD ROM Drive/Floppy Drive/Network Device BBS Priorities
Specifies the boot order for a specific device type, such as hard drives, optical drives, floppy disk drives,
and devices that support Boot from LAN function, etc. Press <Enter> on this item to enter the submenu that
presents the devices of the same type that are connected. This item is present only if at least one device
for this type is installed.

When you are setting up to install windows Use the UEFI DVD. You have to make that drive the first boot in the boot option 1.

Boot Option Priorities
Specifies the overall boot order from the available devices. Removable storage devices that support GPT
format will be prefixed with "UEFI:" string on the boot device list. To boot from an operating system that
supports GPT partitioning, select the device prefixed with "UEFI:" string.
Or if you want to install an operating system that supports GPT partitioning such as Windows 7 64-bit, select
the optical drive that contains the Windows 7 64-bit installation disk and is prefixed with "UEFI:" string

Look on Pages 85 & 86 it will tell you how to use Quick Flash using a USB drive and not in USB-3 too.

Understand something else if you do want to run Raid with other drives. You have to use that controller through out the whole setup. You can't use AHCI & Raid together.

[absic]

Also how does one update bios if you cant install the OS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

You should be able to update the BIOS using the QFlash utility. If yo uare not sure how to do that, check this thread: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=2441.0 which should help guide you through the process.

[Chaotic_Cannon]

Hi,

In response to both the 2 previous posts, perhaps you did not read everything but the BIOS does NOT detect the M.2 drives no matter what combination I choose in the BIOS settings. It DOES see 1 of the 2 ssd's in the boot options but does NOT display them in the peripheral area and not shown in the Win7 installer area and the manual states to set up a raid you need to hit ctrl+l during POST and that does nothing.... no utility starts. Even if it did it does not see 2 drives to make the raid array

Q-flash is useless as well as it does not detect any usb drive, sata ssd or any other drive I attach to the PC.

[dmdilks]

At this point return it to where you got it or RMA it. If the board doesn't detect any drives then it is broken.

[sparki]

GA-Z170X-UD3 (and other Z170 motherboards)
i7-7600K
Samsung SM951 NVMe (MZVPV512HDGL-00000)

Trying to install windows 10, receive a message saying something like 'missing driver'

GigaByte Support ticket, 7 day response time that didnt help!!
I wish I could run my IT support company like that!!

The issue also occurs for me with JUST a SATA 500Gb HDD, so not a driver/NVMe issue

I used vLite to integrate the HP NVMe driver and GigaByte util to add the USB drivers to the USB stick


The issue was resolved by:

 - boot from the windows 10 (or windows 7, both have the same issue) USB stick.

 - once into the setup and have a mouse pointer, before clicking anything, remove the USB drive from the computer.

 - click next/continue, the installation wizard will run through until a pop up saying something like 'missing driver'

 - plug the USB stick into a DIFFERENT USB port

 - Wait for the USB drive to be found by the system (60 seconds or so)

 - hit the 'rescan' button and the installation continues


I am a 3rd line Hardware Systems Engineer with over 25 years experience and have never seen this before. This took me over 20 hours to just to get windows installed, with NO help from GigaByte... VERY POOR.

[shadowsports]

While I think we all agree this is not intuitive, for whatever reason it seems that NVMe support with the z170 chipset requires UEFI boot and a storage controller driver for proper device detection during windows setup.

This is a throwback as most have become accustomed to native RAID controller support with windows 8/10 with x58 > z97 chipsets.  Throw a NVMe device in and you must ensure UEFI boot and iRST for detection.  Oh, and lets not forget RAID Config setup within the BIOS as the Legacy option ROM doesn't work with NVMe either based on what we continue to see from others here.

Cheers All   (for everybody's contributions and helpfulness)

[jp615]

I used vLite to integrate the HP NVMe driver and GigaByte util to add the USB drivers to the USB stick


Could you explain exactly how to use "vLite to integrate the HP NVMe driver"?  I'm having this exact issue with my 950 pro and I'm almost to the point of returning it I'm so frustrated.  Also, I was wondering, since this piece of hardware is so new (the 950 pro), are there any known compatibility issues with anything else such as software, hardware, programs, etc??  I'm just wondering since it's so hard just to install the damn thing as a bootable drive if I'm going to encounter any other issues in the future because if so, it's not even worth it for me.  I'm real close to just getting an 850 pro and relieving this headache.

[shadowsports]

Based on the experience of others (I don't have a Z170 board), m.2 NvME disks require UEFI boot and iRST drivers for proper device detection during windows setup.  **If you are running RAID, the controller operate mode should be set in BIOS as well with set up of the RAID set under the Peripherals Tab.  If you don't boot you windows setup (USB or DVD) from a "UEFI:prefixed device" and then supply controller drivers prior to selecting your install destination, your  m.2 NvME device will not be properly detected.  This is what we keep hearing from those installing to this hardware on Z170 based boards. Afraid all of my experience with this is based on the feedback from others here, as I haven't moved off my Z97 as yet.

[jp615]

Based on the experience of others (I don't have a Z170 board), m.2 NvME disks require UEFI boot and iRST drivers for proper device detection during windows setup.  **If you are running RAID, the controller operate mode should be set in BIOS as well with set up of the RAID set under the Peripherals Tab.  If you don't boot you windows setup (USB or DVD) from a "UEFI:prefixed device" and then supply controller drivers prior to selecting your install destination, your  m.2 NvME device will not be properly detected.  This is what we keep hearing from those installing to this hardware on Z170 based boards. Afraid all of my experience with this is based on the feedback from others here, as I haven't moved off my Z97 as yet.

Thanks for the response.  I made a bootable usb (Windows 7 pro), integrated all the drivers via the gigabyte usb installation tool (including the NVMe drivers), integrated the standalone NVMe drivers from Samsung's website (specifically for the 950 pro) with NTLite, finally got it to be recognized, and then it tells me it cant install to the drive because my hardware may not support booting from it.  I tried with the 950 pro unformatted, formatted to MBR, and I tried with GPT format.  No go.  So needless to say, it's on its way back to the seller.  A weeks worth of troubleshooting is my breaking point. 
[/quote]

WORST DESIGN I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED. Cant install the OS cause board does not detect the drives, cant detect the drives without getting the OS installed.
[/quote]

TERRIBLE design!! (considering one is trying to install windows 7 onto an m.2 NVMe SSD as a bootable drive)

[SkydiverFL]

This is going to sound ridiculous, but it worked for me when I had the same problem...

1. Use Rufus to create the bootable media with the following settings...

- GPT partition scheme for UEFI
- File System: FAT32
- Cluster Size: 4096 bytes

2. In the BIOS, set the following...

- Load the Optimised Defaults
- Change the OS to Windows 10
- Set the SATA configuration to ACHI

3. Boot to the thumb drive as normal.

For some reason, the combination of having a GPT/UEFI thumb drive worked for me.