I'mhaving problems installing a Samsung Ev0 970 inNVMe device in my xw8600 workstation

[DBrunnenmeyer]

Rereading the steps associated with the 2020 DUET/REFIND download, I realized that I failed to remove and reinsert the USB drive as instructed. I repeated the setup procedure and then took it back to the xw8600. This time, booting from the USB stick yielded different results. After a few minutes and a memory checkup, I ended up with a menu in the center of the screen. The "continue" selected was highlighted by default, but the up/down keys and the Enter key did nothing. I waited and waited. No luck. I tried each of the six USB 2 ports. No luck. All of the results were the same: the screen was the same but the Enter and up/down keys had no effect.

FWIW, the keyboard is a classic IBM 'clicky" keyboard with a PS/2 interface from the last century—the only keyboard around designed to replicate the electric typewriter ease-of-use keys.. I removed the wireless mouse transceiver. No luck. I left the Samsung 970 Evo in place and tried disconnected the other two SATA drives. No luck. Same results.

What should I try next?

[DBrunnenmeyer]

I've concluded that I need to use a USB-connected keyboard to get around this hurdle. I don't own one but I have contacts from which I hope to borrow one tomorrow (Friday) for the weekend.

It's not clear to me what to expect if-and-when I'm able to get the system to boot from the USB drive. Clearly I want to get the NVMe drive to be the boot drive. I assume that at some point in the process, I will be able to clone the current SSD to the NVMe drive. IF that's true, then how will it show up in Drive Manager?

[DGroves]

you do not need a usb keyboard,  a PS2 keyboard/mouse is preferred

to send a PM,..... login to the forum with your name/password then simply right click on my name  "DGroves" from any of my postings and select the "send Message"  option

[DBrunnenmeyer]

These screen images result from booting the xw8600 PC from USBSetup.exe configured USB device.  Nothing happens when attempting to scroll up or down using the arrow key. Nothing happens when using the Enter key. The same image appears with or without adding REFIND to the USB device.

What, if anything, should I try next? Should I give up and return the Samsung NVMe M.2 SSD?

[DGroves]

until HP admins release the picts they will not be visible

you must create a USB key with BOTH duet and refind , as the xw8600 is a non uefi system

i still have my xw6400, and will confirm duet/refind works on it

personally,  due to the age of the xw8600 and it's hardware i would seriously consider replacing it with a z400/600 or z420/620 system as these systems can be found used on ebay very very cheap and are significantly faster and the x20 hardware supports pci-3/usb 3

if you are set on keeping the xw8600, i would return the nvme and buy a SATA based 2.5in drive with a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter

[DBrunnenmeyer]

I think you're right about the xw8600. This one already has a 250GB SATA SSD, but there are the other limitations. I think I will return the NVMe SSD for a refund.

What are the significant differences between the z620 and z820, other than the obvious items: the number of processors, the number of cores per processor and the  amount of RAM?

Same question applied to the differences between the z640 and the z840?

[SDH]

Think about this:  The use of NVMe M.2 SSDs officially was added to the ZX40 generation of HP workstations via the Z Turbo Drive G2 PCIe cards.

The next generation back does not support use of NVMe M.2 SSDs.  The M.2 SSDs HP certified for those were AHCI-based controller M.2 SSDs, the Z Turbo Drive G1 cards.

Go back one generation more... The ZX00 workstations.  They did not support any of those HP cards.  I've posted in here about the hack-hell I went through to finally get a M.2 PCIe card that used an AHCI-based controller to boot reliably.  And it took exactly a single specific storage controller driver to allow it to work.

Now, go back one more generation.... the xw6600/xw8600 workstations.  M.2 SSDs did not exist in either AHCI or NVME forms when the hardware/BIOS for those were engineered.

Your fastest 2 slots are PCIe Gen II, the two "video card" slots.  That will give you about best speed of USB3 if you plug a miracle M.2 PCIe interface card into whatever of those two slots you choose.  Anywhere else your interface card speed would be even worse.

My advice is to get a HP Z620 or Z420 version 2 workstation, or a Z640/Z440 workstation (no v1 vs v2 issue) and move on.

You're going through hack-hell yourself right now.... a total waste of your time unless you enjoy that. 

Let me add.... when I made the breakthrough on our Z400 v2/Z600 v2 workstations getting the Kingston Predator AHCI-based M.2 form factor SATA drive working via the Kingston PCIe interface card in the proper PCIe slot (both no longer made by Kingston) I could hardly tell the difference between that and my favorite SATA II 2.5" form factor SSD for the SATA II Z400 v2/Z600 v2 workstations.  That drive is the Intel 320 series 600GB SSDs I buy off eBay, and we use that same SATA II SSD in our few remaining SATA II xw6600/xw8600 workstations.  I only keep those going out of affection.

Honestly, it is time to move on... for both of us.

[DBrunnenmeyer]

I started on this journey because I have an xw9400 to which I wanted to add a SATA SSD. When I discovered that NVMe M.2 drives were in the same price range, I though it would be a good idea to put one in my xw8600, thereby freeing up its SATA SSD for installation in the xs9400. Why not? It seemed like a logical way to go.

Stymied by my inability to make this work after a week or so of earnest tinkering, I'm believe I'm faced with one of two options:  1) Spend an hour or two at most to see if the DUET/REFIND installation method will work on a client's z820 workstation, or 2) Return the part to Amazon for a refund.

I'm certainly not going to waste any more time trying to get it installed on the xw8600.

It's tempting but totally unjustified to purchase a fully compatible workstation. For our applications, the xw8600 and the two xw9400s are satisfactory as-is, especially with SATA SSDs installed in them. Now it's just a question of what to do with the PCIe device.