Highest End Z400 Build

[K19]

This is my SM951 AHCI 256Gb Boot Drive installed on my Z400 via PCIe adapter in a 16x PCIe slot

[theOne77]

I have already a 24GB RAM, if I remove 2 pcs of my RAM and change it to 8GB will it be fine?

[K19]

More on the go. My Z400 boots from a RAID0 with two SM951 x 256Gb = 512Gb boot drive Mac OS 10.13.6

[TimothyPZ600]

Hello K19,

I am curious as to which PCIe adapter you are using. I have a generic one and I cannot see my sm951 AHCI drive in my second x16 slot. I have tried almost everything. Am I limited to to only buying a "Lycon DT-120"? If so, great, i'll buy one today but I feel like it should see the card. In the Bios is your configuration set to "RAID + AHCI". I was leaning on that as being my issue but based on this thread it might not be the issue at all. I am about to throw in the towell because I cannot figure out what it going on. The drive does work in my other computer "at least it is visible". Would you happen to have any insight?

I have a Z600 with 2x5675, 48gb RAM, WD Blue 500gb SSD as Boot Drive, GTX 970 Gaming 4gb, and a PCIe to USB 3.0 Adapter.

Hoping to get the SM951 as a boot device, but obviously need to see it before that can happen.

Thanks,

[K19]

Hello TimothyPZ600.

You are right: our machines (Z series with X58 NB + ICH10 SB) can't "see" SM951 as bootable volume in their bioses.

I'm able to boot the system from that AHCI SM951 via Clover bootloader (it's free and you can download it from the net).

I'm running Mac OS Mojave on my Z400 as my everiday' system but I've got two other HDDs the one with Linux and the other with Win7 Pro. When Clover loads I can choose the boot volume from the startup window (at Clover startup) and it lists even the SM951 as Mac OS Mojave start up disk, despite the Bios can't detect it. So if you want to boot your system from the 951 you HAVE to install Clover in order to start your machine from that HD (if you can't install it with a real Mac or a Hackintosh it will be possible even with a Virtual Machine running Mac OS within Windows environment, otherwise you can Google for "installing Clover from Windows). You can clone your Windows system to the SM951 and then install Clover on a USB pendrive and boot from it to check out everything's fine. Once you're sure the Z600 boots normally from the USB you can install Clover on the internal HD but even leaving it on the USB will be fine.

Finally the Lycom DT-120 is NOT mandatory at all, actually I have a chinese (very) cheap adaptor and it works flawlessly.

Feel free to ask me more if needed and forgive my clumsy English (I'm Italian)

BTW you have a great rig!

Rob

[TimothyPZ600]

I am at a loss. I have a SM 951 AHCI version and I cannot access it on any machine. I can see it in other machines under "Storage Controllers" in device manager in Windows 10 but when I install the driver or use the microsoft driver it just keeps a "yellow triangle" saying the device cannot start. (Secure boot is disabled). I genuinely think it is related to "Raid", "Raid Drivers", the oprom that is on the SM951, AHCI/Raid... I have tried it on my work computer, HP Z240 in the on board M2 Slot, an older Lenovo, with the Lycom PCIE adapter, my Z600 and failed all along the way. 

My last attempt was to unplug all my drives from my Z600, insert a windows 10 installer flas drive, load the appropriate x64 controller driver, to hopefully show the drive in the PCIE slot, then install Windows 10. No Go. Am I just failing, and not following something properly? 

Is clover really my only avenue? Should I just install clover on my Z600, Which then might see the drive? Do you have any advice? I am using Windows and running Windows 10. There is a lot of talk about Raid and disabling it, but Raid and AHCI are one on the Z600. The only other option is IDE. If I go the IDE route would it see the drive then? My guess is I select IDE, reinstall windows without RAID andthen it will see the drive. But won't that limit me when I am running my other SATA drives? I dont know. I am struggling and nearing the end of my rope. I may just go with RAID 0 and 2 WD 500 SSDs. 

Thanks in advance.

T

[K19]

AFAIK Clover Bootloader is your only way to go. Install it on a USB pendrive and try booting from it. Z600 can't list a M2 HD into a PCIe slot via an adaptor as a bootable volume. Booting from a USB drive you can't mess up your system so why not giving a try?

[DGroves]

please post the model number listed on the SSD

3rd letter determines if AHCI or NVME  

MZHPvxxxxxxxxxxxxx  = AHCI

MzVPxxxxxxxxxxxxxx= NVME

[K19]

Yes I got SM951 MZHPV 256Gb. I have two of these, the one on my Z400 and the other ona Gigabyte X58 build.

[DGroves]

AHCI SSD's do not require any new drivers for for the OS, and yourPCI-e  AHCI ssd should work as long as the BIOS is set for RAID/AHCI please check that it is set for this

and some related information

windows 10 has nativeAHCI/ NVME ssd driver support

windows 7 x64 requires MS hotfixes to be applied to the OS for SSD NVME support

these hotfixes are not part of the normal MS updates and must be manually installed

google for windows 7 SSD hotfox if you have a nvme SSD and windows 7 and wish to boot from a nvme ssd