Z170x Gaming 7 no SSD/HD

[n0qlq]

ok here we go,

I have just built a system with the Z170x-Gaming 7 board
i7 6700k
2 GTX 980's from Nvidia
1 -- Samsung 950 Pro M.2 in M2H-32G Slot
1 16x Blu Ray drive
6 TB Hard drive
2- 240 SSD drives
64 Gig memory

Bios Version F7g

In the Bios I do have the following setup in the bios.  Please see pics to see what is what.


Now here is the main trouble.   I can see the M.2 Drive perfectly, I can see the Blu Ray in any SATA location.  I can not see the Hard Drives, or the SSD drives that is currently formated.  I even looked under the Admin tools to see if they are there.  Nope.  BIOS agrees nothing there.  I put in USB Drives up to 64gig and it is found.

I am at a loss, I did  the bios update to see if it would fix the problem.  NOPE

I have even tried to use only one drive and move it from SATA location to location.  NOPE  Que laughing joker

Suggestion folks for some one who for the first time has had two things never seen by me in 30 years of computer work.
 
1. Hard drive cought fire and went up in flames.
2. This is HDD/SSD issue that I can't find the answer too.

Thanks in advance to all that can help

[shadowsports]

In the Bios I do have the following setup in the bios.  Please see pics to see what is what.

I'm not seeing any images?

Mounting the single m.2 in M2H-32G slot would be the best choice for AHCI or RAID modes leaving more connection options available.  Shut down, remove your boot drive.  Now connect one of the SSD's.  Start, enter BIOS, what do you have now?   

What controller operate mode are you using?

[xMAGWAJx]

If are using m.2 port it disables some sata connectors. Check manual...

[n0qlq]

ok seems that the files that I wanted did not show up, go figure.

[n0qlq]

Boot Option #1 does show the Windows Boot Manager (Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB).  And yes it is FAST...

I  know that if you use the SSD in M.2 one of the ports will stop working.  I counted on this.  Left the #0 spot open I think it was. 

I will try to remove the 950 to see what happens but have my doubts on this.

The controler is Set for AHCI since I have a NAS Drive with Raid 1 going at the moment.

Back to the grind stone, now where did I put the Screwdriver... Not the Liquid one

[n0qlq]

ok, Update folks on the attempts so far.

1.  DON'T Remove the M.2. Bios doesn't like it.  Had to do a hard reset on the bios to get it to find it again.

2. When the M.2 was removed, I could only still see two devices.  HD and one other, didn't matter what it was.

At this point no matter what I do I can Only see 2 devices.  Almost to the point of crying since I got this board over the Asus one.  Now I wished I stayed with my normal boards from Asus.

me

[shadowsports]

Boot Option #1 does show the Windows Boot Manager (Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB).  And yes it is FAST...

I  know that if you use the SSD in M.2 one of the ports will stop working.  I counted on this.  Left the #0 spot open I think it was. 

I will try to remove the 950 to see what happens but have my doubts on this.

The controler is Set for AHCI since I have a NAS Drive with Raid 1 going at the moment.

Back to the grind stone, now where did I put the Screwdriver... Not the Liquid one

Greetings,
Based on the post above and your photos, (helpful thanks  Can you look at the following? 

Controller operate mode set to AHCI
Have BIOS set to UEFI only
Peripherals Tab - SATA Operate mode set to AHCI
But you state above you have a RAID1 set configured
I assume this is in the Legacy Option ROM?

I believe if you change the operate mode of the controller on the Peripherals Tab to RAID and configure the set in the Z170 BIOS you will see these RAID members as well as you other HDD's/SSD's. Minus the 1 port you lose when the M2H-32G is populated.  May need to review page 32 again to confirm.  This might break your OS install / m.2 boot disk as it will not have the driver needed for the correct operate mode of the controller.  You cannot use the Legacy RAID ROM with AHCI operate mode.  Please take a closer look at this for us. 

[n0qlq]

OK...after much nashing of teeth, on the phone with tech support for over 1 hour.  I have come to the following, THIS BOARD SUCKS for storage. 

Better for the moment... ok where is what I found out.  Where my M.2 sits it takes out 0-3 not 1 port like the book says.  Takes the WHOLE row.  You Loose 4 ports right off the bat.  Next is even stranger, with 12 HD's in hand, 5 SSD in hand, I could only get 2 to be found on the top row of 5,4,7,6.  Put a Blu Ray in the mix.  OH CRAP... now it got really messed up.  Lost my 6tb drive for a blu Ray, but wait I said I Have 2 plus the Blu Ray.  YEP..Thats right folks, this board is messed up.

So now I am getting a 4 to 6 port controller so I can put the rest of the stuff in there.  WHY...I don't know Gigabyte didn't have a good answer.

So it comes down to M.2 or not.  Knowing now what I do, yea I will take that hit.  But only to loose ports that don't like but a few things.  I have OCZ, Intel SSD drives, and not once did any computer not love them.  NOW... Gigabyte said get lost.  Don't like yea.

I got only two devices inside on the board, and the rest on a controller card. 

My personal thoughts on this board.  They need to take the disigner out back and shoot him.  This could have been done a bit more with thought.  I tried for the first time a Gigabyte board, not going to try one again. 

OH and Remember up top I said I had something happen for the first time in 30 years.  FIRE FIRE FIRE....yep, did it again don't know how but tossed the cables.  Another set out the window.

SO hope all of you learned something, I sure did. 

Now where is that number again to the seller.

Me

[Ice returns]

I just finished my build with this board yesterday, I returned an Asus maximus 8 hero (the equivalent priced board) to get this, because the Asus did not allow raid 0 with 2X Samsung 950 pro.
The maximus 8 extreme can do it but it costs too much. By the way the Asus was the same, using the m.2 port cost you in SATA ports. Both boards have an alternative 2 x ASmedia SATA ports that are unaffected by M.2s.

Besides, you can just use the G slot, then you won't lose any SATA connectors, but you will lose your last  PCIe slot, the one nearest the PSU

[dmdilks]

By the book one of the M2 slots will do that not letting you use the sata ports. The other should let you use all the slots. Plus by the book you will lose 4 slots. To me it looks like the one near the CPU is the one that you would lose those slots.

The one between the PCI Express is the one you should be able to use on the sata ports. Plus I'm only going by the book.

[techie101]

I'm not exactly sure what you are doing, but i have built a storage machine using this board without issue. The m.2 drive (Samsung 950 Pro in my case) needs to go into the lower m.2 socket (H) to save losing any sata ports (though you will lose the lower pci express slot). I have attached 8 sata drives (3.5") to the onboard ports and 8 sata drives (3.5") to an extra sata controller card in my mid pci express slot, with a blu-ray drive on their too. I have not used any RAID. Taking the m.2 drive out and using an SSD boot drive was also no issue. Note that the channel limitations are primarily down to the intel processor/chipset.