NVMe Drive Not Booting on Older Motherboard: Solution
If you've recently bought an NVMe drive and attached it to your ASUS P8H77-I motherboard via a PCIe-NVMe (PCIe-M.2) adapter, you might have encountered issues when trying to replace your HDD with the new NVMe drive. This article will provide a detailed explanation of the problem and a step-by-step solution.
Understanding the Issue
The ASUS P8H77-I motherboard is an older model that doesn't natively support NVMe drives. When you attach an NVMe drive via a PCIe-NVMe adapter, the motherboard's BIOS might not recognize the drive as a bootable device. This issue arises due to the motherboard's firmware not being updated to support newer storage technologies.
Solution: Using an M.2 to SATA Adapter
To solve this problem, you can use an M.2 to SATA adapter instead of a PCIe-NVMe adapter. This will allow you to connect the NVMe drive to the motherboard as a SATA device, which the motherboard can recognize and boot from.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Remove the NVMe drive from the PCIe-NVMe adapter.
- Attach the NVMe drive to an M.2 to SATA adapter.
- Connect the M.2 to SATA adapter to a SATA port on the motherboard.
- Power on the system and enter the BIOS settings.
- Change the boot order to prioritize the NVMe drive as the primary boot device.
- Save the BIOS settings and exit.
- Restart the system. The motherboard should now recognize the NVMe drive as a bootable device and boot from it.
Code Block: BIOS Settings Example
Here is an example of how to change the boot order in the BIOS settings:
1. Power on the system and press the appropriate key to enter the BIOS settings (usually F2, F10, or DEL).
2. Navigate to the "Boot" tab.
3. Locate the "Boot Device Priority" option.
4. Use the arrow keys to move the NVMe drive to the top of the list.
5. Press F10 to save the settings and exit.
References
- Type: Online Resource Title: "How to Install an NVMe SSD in a Desktop PC" URL: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/how-to-install-an-nvme-ssd,36794.html
- Type: Book Title: "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" Author: Scott Mueller Publisher: Que Publishing
By following the steps outlined in this article, you should be able to use your NVMe drive as the primary boot device on your older ASUS P8H77-I motherboard. Happy computing!