# M.2 Boot Help



## Laquer Head

Have an MSI Gaming 3 Z97 mobo (fairly basic board, but decent enough)

I have a Toshiba XG3 M.2 I pulled from another rig that I wanted to install into this board and, ideally, use it as a boot drive.

I wouldn't be using any other devices in the rig as far as storage...so the 6 or so sata ports will all be unoccupied.

--fast forward to today--

I installed windows on the M.2, as normal and checked in BIOS ,,its on ACHI mode but I don't see any M.2 mode or anything that would make sense to toggle to.

When I arttemt to boot it gives me 'install boot media..operating system..etc etc' along those lines.

So I'm wondering, is this board probably just too basic to support M.2 booting?

Is it a BIOS limitation? (Using most current already)

Or is there something I may be missing that someone here could enlighten me on?

One thing, if it matter?? is that this XG3 is an NVME gen3 capable drive and the slot on mobo is only a gen2 slot) Would this be reason for a boot issue?

Thanks


----------



## Intel_man

Laquer Head said:


> but I don't see any M.2 mode or anything that would make sense to toggle to.


What other options are available? Was the boot mode changed after installing Windows 10? 



Laquer Head said:


> When I arttemt to boot it gives me 'install boot media..operating system..etc etc' along those lines.


Did you check which boot device is being used? 



Laquer Head said:


> So I'm wondering, is this board probably just too basic to support M.2 booting?


It should support nvme. 


Laquer Head said:


> Is it a BIOS limitation? (Using most current already)


Unlikely. 


Laquer Head said:


> is that this XG3 is an NVME gen3 capable drive and the slot on mobo is only a gen2 slot) Would this be reason for a boot issue?


It shouldn't, it'll just run slower than what its capable of.


----------



## Laquer Head

There is IDE mode, AHCI mode, RAID mode..  I was running 2 drives in RAID a long time ago on it, so then it was RAID mode.. but I changed it.

The BIOS for this board seems stripped down..but kinda expected as it was entry point in those boards lineup..

I know the board works, the cpu works, ram, and the m.2 device..I've tried them all on other rigs..

The M.2 worked as a boot drive in my MSI laptop prior, and it was briefly used as a regular storage device before I got this plan to try to make it the boot drive.

I got windows all loaded up on the drive but I'm clearly missing a step.. provided it can be done!


----------



## Intel_man

I know this video is for an Asus board, but you might have something similar on your MSI board.

Go to 3:46


----------



## Laquer Head

Thanks for that but yeah this MSI has nothing remotely like that..


----------



## Intel_man

So when you were installing Windows, it recognized the device? But when the installation's finished, it couldn't find the boot device?

Is your toshiba drive recognized in the BIOS at all?


----------



## Laquer Head

Intel_man said:


> So when you were installing Windows, it *recognized the device? But when the installation's finished, it couldn't find the boot device?*
> 
> Is your toshiba drive recognized in the BIOS at all?



Exactly.. 

and it doesn't appear as anything obvious.. this BIOS is kinda shit.


----------



## Intel_man

That's kinda odd...

You might want to dig around the MSI forums, or contact their support for any answers.


Did you unplug all the other drives in your computer and just have your m.2 in there?


----------



## Laquer Head

Intel_man said:


> That's kinda odd...
> 
> You might want to dig around the MSI forums, or contact their support for any answers.
> 
> 
> Did you unplug all the other drives in your computer and just have your m.2 in there?



I didn't... but I'm getting a feeling this board just can't boot from M.2 ...The BIOS just doesn't have much for options.


----------



## beers

Laquer Head said:


> Exactly..
> 
> and it doesn't appear as anything obvious.. this BIOS is kinda shit.


Probably obvious but did you flash the latest version?


----------



## Laquer Head

beers said:


> Probably obvious but did you flash the latest version?


Yup, you bet.. latest one is unfortunately over a year old now.. :/


----------



## Laquer Head

The M.2 drive I have is a unit that is usually shipped with oem devices...in my case it was stock in my msi laptop.

I wonder if I need some sort of driver/software to make it viewable? I dont even know if that makes sense


----------



## Intel_man

Laquer Head said:


> I didn't... but I'm getting a feeling this board just can't boot from M.2


Try it.


----------



## Laquer Head

I reconnected a RAID volume to the pc and the m.2 doesnt show in device mgr. forget what i had to do last time..

I'm also looking for firmware upgrade..maybe if Toshiba has one


----------



## Intel_man

Did you plug into sata port 0 & 1? Usually 2 Sata ports get disabled when using m.2... Or the m.2 won't work if the ports are used.


----------



## johnb35

I have a feeling that board doesn't support nvme, only standard m2


----------



## Intel_man

https://www.msi.com/news/detail/1mA..._IFI44FMfr3iHmBMaMICrGDL2RxMJabjlLe-o-FSWPw~~

It should work...


----------



## Laquer Head

johnb35 said:


> I have a feeling that board doesn't support nvme, only standard m2


I think you may be right man..


----------



## Laquer Head

Intel_man said:


> Did you plug into sata port 0 & 1? Usually 2 Sata ports get disabled when using m.2... Or the m.2 won't work if the ports are used.



In the manual it says port 5 and 6


----------



## Laquer Head

Hmmm.. so where do I get this revision??? E7918IMS.260 It appears to be the revision that deals with NVME

Mine is most current on MSI site that I saw though...


----------



## Intel_man

You need to download minimum V2.6 from the site. I think the latest one on MSI's site is V2.A

Try V2.9 (release date 2015-09-02) for now first. 

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z97-GAMING-3.html#down-bios


----------



## Laquer Head

That Rev.  2.10 that I have installed currently is 2.A that's the one I downloaded.

You figure I should down grade?


----------



## Intel_man

See if 2.9 will work.


----------



## johnb35

Laquer Head said:


> You figure I should down grade?


No, because the newer revisions will already have the support for nvme added to it. You won't need to downgrade.

2.1 isn't the latest though.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z97-GAMING-3.html#down-bios


----------



## Laquer Head

So basically we are at a brick wall then as there are no newer Rev. then I currently have.


----------



## johnb35

If you upgraded to 2.a then it should show it but it only says 2.1.  Something isn't right.


----------



## Intel_man

Yea... which is why I was suggesting to go the 2.9 route and see if that will fix the problem.


----------



## Laquer Head




----------



## Intel_man

Freaking @Laquer Head ...


BIOS Mode Legacy. That **** needs to be in UEFI son.


----------



## Laquer Head

Bruh. don't work either way..

Also, just tried to downgrade BIOS.. it failed and kicked back.. tried to re-do 2A and it remain 2.10

I dunno boys..


----------



## Intel_man

Laquer Head said:


> Bruh. don't work either way..


Bruh, nvme only works in UEFI mode. Set your BIOS in UEFI mode. Restart, go to BIOS and see if it recognizes your Toshiba drive.


----------



## Laquer Head

If I switch to UEFI it does this:


----------



## Laquer Head

I know this Toshiba drive works on this machine as a storage device.. 100% so in that regard I know the physical slot is functioning and the device is functioning..


----------



## Intel_man

Laquer Head said:


> If I switch to UEFI it does this:


Is that before or after posting past the BIOS?


----------



## Laquer Head

right after..


----------



## Intel_man

Soo.... 


Intel_man said:


> Set your BIOS in UEFI mode. Restart, go to BIOS and see if it recognizes your Toshiba drive.


Did you do this ^^


----------



## Laquer Head

I thought we went through this alreadY?

When I switch it, I get that EFI Shell screen.. and still no change in BIOS,.. if I reconnect a RAID volume and get into windows - it doesnt show in Disk Mgmt either... but it used to show as a stand alone storage device.


----------



## Laquer Head

This board is horseshit..

I think @johnb35 is right..this thing just cant boot from M.2 I've tried everything and nothing works. 

I'm guessing its just too basic of a board to support booting from it.


----------



## johnb35

There should be a support forum you could ask on for help, maybe they have an answer.


----------



## Laquer Head

I've been trying, but nobody seems to have the Gaming 3,.. most have gaming 5, 7, 9..etc

Anyhow, is what it is..I've spent enough thought on this.. thanks for the help guys..


----------



## beers

Clearly upgrading to Ryzen is the only true solution.


----------



## johnb35

Go into the bios and enable Hybrid Hard Disk support. Not sure if that will help or not.  Also, do you see a Compatibility Support Mode?  If so, enable it.


----------



## Laquer Head

beers said:


> Clearly upgrading to Ryzen is the only true solution.


I've actually considered it..but my heart can't do it.



johnb35 said:


> Go into the bios and enable Hybrid Hard Disk support. Not sure if that will help or not.  Also, do you see a Compatibility Support Mode?  If so, enable it.


Yeah, I read about these things, this BIOS does not have either of these.

Only other thing I see is PC Nand Configuration on/off (neither setting does anything)

I think this board is just incapable of M.2 booting...unless its some drivers/software needed at windows setup.. I tried a OCZ/Toshiba NVME driver/installer but same results.

As mentioned, attempting anything in UEFI results in going to EFI Shell screen,,,and that's beyond my level of knowledge.


----------



## Intel_man

The EFI Shell screen shows up because the BIOS is set to boot from another disk that doesn't exist. Probably due to unplugging all the drives except the toshiba one. What you need to do once you've set up UEFI, is to plug in your Windows Creation Tool USB (Windows 10 installation USB), and boot to it and do a full clean install of Windows 10 to your Toshiba drive (with ONLY your toshiba drive being plugged into the mobo, don't have any thing else hooked up via SATA).


----------



## Laquer Head

I've tried this brother.. every time the shell come up, black screen, or post loop... I'm not crazy.. this shit isnt working. I really appreciate your help man, but this board and its BIOS are just basic junk!


----------



## Laquer Head

I can't set the BIOS to boot to M.2 cause it doesn't show up.

And nothing else is plugged in, i only re=connected RAID volume after trying a ton of other crap


----------



## Intel_man

Laquer Head said:


> I really appreciate your help man, but this board and its BIOS are just basic junk!


Time to buy EVGA right? 



Laquer Head said:


> I can't set the BIOS to boot to M.2 cause it doesn't show up.
> 
> And nothing else is plugged in, i only re=connected RAID volume after trying a ton of other crap


Yea I'm not sure what's going on... I have a feeling is MSI screwed up with the latest BIOS firmware.


----------



## Laquer Head

So I'm trying this one more time and there is nothing else connected and i installed the XG3 driver from ocz/toshiba with the fresh windows 10 install.. if this fails..screw it..im done..lol


----------



## Intel_man

You could flash older BIOS using this method... Except you boot to USB to start. 

https://service.msicomputer.com/msi_user/support/techfaqdetail.aspx?formid=3046


----------



## johnb35

To be honest, I've never liked MSI boards, always felt they were subpar along with Asrock and others.  I've only used Asus and Gigabyte boards.


----------



## Laquer Head

johnb35 said:


> To be honest, I've never liked MSI boards, always felt they were subpar along with Asrock and others.  I've only used Asus and Gigabyte boards.


Fair enough, to each their own.I'm a big MSI fan... that being said, like all vendors they make some poop..

This board is leaning towards poop..


----------



## Intel_man

Time for Skylake-X right?


----------



## beers

Intel_man said:


> Time for Skylake-X right?


Why ponder a lake in the sky when you can epycly rip through threads?


----------



## Intel_man

beers said:


> Why ponder a lake in the sky when you can epycly rip through threads?


Because maybe it'll end up being as slow as a Bulldozer.


----------

