HP Pavilion Mini Desktop + M.2 SSD

[TecnicoKB]

DGroves, if You have a solution just post it and I wll be happy to try and thank you. Otherwise, have a nice day 

[Grzwacz]

Hi TecnicoKB,

You're very welcome.

I have never worked on this HP product.

HP products are proprietary. HP can, and does modify specifications.

If the MB M.2 socket is SATA compatible then the SATA drive you purchased should work unless there is a different problem; bad SATA drive or bad M.2 socket. Maybe HP has imposed a drive density limit. The BIOS can't see higher capacity M.2 SATA or PCIe drives. 

The following statements are facts:

HP now installs M.2 Key M sockets (x4 capable) that only provide x2 bandwidth. HP limits graphics card x16 slots on some gaming PCs to eight HSIO lanes from the processor. HP modifies MB dimensions, PSU connections to the MB, and chipset specifications. HP modifies MB CPU socket mounting points for heatsink/fan or AIO liquid cooling components. Do you see where this is going?

I can only provide educated guesses based on anecdotal experience with some HP products. We learn stuff by helping folks fix problems. Sometimes the problems can't be fixed.

Even low level HP Support cannot always correctly answer complex questions. Sometimes you need the ear of an HP engineer. 

Regards

[TecnicoKB]

Hi Grzwacz,
thanks for your reply.

I think the real answer to my problem is this:
<< Maybe HP has imposed a drive density limit. The BIOS can't see higher capacity M.2 SATA or PCIe drives. >>

The M.2 drive is ok, I've tested it on another pc just to be sure and it can be seen correctly. I also tried to install on it windows 10 and put it back in the Pavillion Mini, but it can't be read the same.

In this way, my problem can't be fixed (or maybe it would be after trying with a 128GB). Unfortunately, I don't have time to investigate more around the problem, so I think I'll go with a 2.5" SSD drive and forget the way of M.2 (really sad!)

I didn't know before of all the modification / limit made by HP to the hardware they use. In effect, I remember that a month I put 2 SO-DIMM RAM type 2R (2 ranks - 4 GB each) and the pc didn't start with them (just continuos beeping). After change them with 2 SO-DIMM RAM type 1R (1 ranks - 4 GB each) the pc start without problem. Speed of SO-DIMM was the same, just different manufacturer and ranks type.

So, coming to a conclusion....thanks again for Your effort, I'll leave this thread open so if anybody has some suggestion / experience can help me.

Many thanks again sir, have a nice day

[Grzwacz]

Hi TecnicoKB,

You're very welcome.

Maybe a HP system engineer will hit the forum, see this thread, and provide some answers!

Regards