I just completed my new PC build using an MSI Pro X870E-P motherboard, paired with a Ryzen 9 9950X3D, and I installed a WD Black SN850X 1TB Gen 4 M.2 drive in the M2_1 slot. I made sure to flash the BIOS to the latest version and switched the M2_1 setting from auto to Gen 4. However, when I tried to install Windows, the BIOS intermittently recognizes the drive. It sometimes shows up during the install but then disappears, leaving me stuck at the Windows installer screen. After a few restarts without the USB drive plugged in, I found myself back in the BIOS without the M.2 drive being detected again. Interestingly, the drive does appear when I flash the BIOS, but it's not consistently recognized. I've checked for any m.2 slot settings in the BIOS but haven't found anything helpful. I had an unpleasant experience with MSI support when I reached out for help; the agent was rude and basically suggested I try a different M.2 drive if I had one. I'm really at a loss here. Could I be missing something?
4 Answers
Try going into the BIOS and loading the default settings. After that, save and exit, then check if the drive is visible. If you have another M.2 slot available, plug it in there to see if it gets recognized. Also, double-check that your BIOS version is correctly installed; sometimes re-flashing it can resolve weird issues. Make sure you didn’t accidentally install a beta version of the BIOS.
Have you tried reinstalling Windows with the USB installer? Something might have gone wrong during the installation process. Also, ensure the M.2 drive is seated correctly; simply reseating it might help too.
I've already reseated it with no success. The Windows installer doesn't recognize the M.2 drive at all, and the BIOS only sees it occasionally, which is really frustrating.
Check the advanced tab in your BIOS under system status. Do you see the drive there? If so, ensure that the PCI-Ex Lanes Configuration is set right.
I can’t see the drive in BIOS at all. I’ve been rebooting to try different things, and it’s frustrating that it only shows up very rarely.
A couple of my nephews had a similar issue, and I resolved it by formatting the drive to GPT. After that, I could repartition it to NTFS. It’s strange, but UEFI BIOS seemed to recognize it without issues once it was GPT formatted. Maybe give that a shot, and good luck!
That's a good idea. I will reset the BIOS to defaults and flash it again. It doesn't seem like it’s a beta version, but I’ll do a fresh download just to be safe. I’m willing to try another M.2 slot too, but I want to figure out if the Gen 4 slot may be defective.