HP Elitebook 650 g9 second SSD in wwan slot 4D168AV

[MichalS78]

Hello, there is conflicting information in the documentation.

In QuickSpecs from 23.01.2023 there is note "Second storage is only available with non-WWAN base Unit AND Primary M.2 storage". What does it mean? What for is second storage if there is no primary storage installed? 

Maintenance and Service Guide - "2nd solid-state drive, only available on models without WWAN" probably from 10.2022.

I tried Western Digital SN520 256GB M.2 PCIe Gen3 x2, bios doesn't see it, sometimes it is visible sometimes not under Windows from primary SSD, don't know why.

Any ideas?

[TzortzisG]

 Hello MichalS78.

It's true that HP hasn't exactly flooded the internet with information about installing a nvme storage device in the WWAN slot on these G9 business models. You'd think that something like this would be advertised..... But no. However, if you know where to look (and especially WHAT to look for) you can find the necessary data.

Actually, second storage in the WWAN is a very popular subject, and a very problematic one where HP laptops are concerned. The G9 business series is the FIRST model line where HP OFFICIALLY supports a smaller second SSD in those (often) unused m.2 slots. Previous models, whenever tested with this config, had little to no compatibility with the new drive, and the intermittent behaviour you're describing (the disappearing-reappearing drive) was a common symptom. With the G9s, most Probooks and the 6xx Elitebooks (formerly probooks themselves until G8) were given this option by the laptop designers  at HP. How do we know that? 3 different ways:

1) The datasheets and manuals. That's a good place to start anyways, and I see you read the relevant parts yourself. The 650 G9 actually has ALL the correct info in these documents. Some of the other models sometimes lack the data in the manual, but it's mentioned in the datasheets, and vice versa. Let's take a look at what the 650G9 docs have to say about this issue:        datasheet1        datasheet2       Manual

We see that this model only has the ability for second storage (as you correctly pointed out) only if it comes lacking the mobile networking card. In that case, it also has a different MOTHERBOARD than if it were fitted with the wwan card. Why? The wwan card isn't soldered on, it's a regular plugged in Bkey card. I'll get to that in a bit.

We also see the part numbers for the small (2230) second SSDs and their specs (capacities and speeds). Information on these small drives can be found here M11040-001 and here M11042-001. According to these pages, the drives are M keyed Gen 3.0 x4 2230 drives. If we go to the official HP partsurfer page and enter these part numbers,

https://partsurfer.hp.com/partsurfer/?searchtext=M11040-001
https://partsurfer.hp.com/partsurfer/?searchtext=M11042-001

we get these photos:

If I read your post correctly, this is the drive you tried, and HP claims that it's the one they use. However, it's not a M key 2230 4 lane PCIe ssd at all. It's a dated B+M 2 lane (max), that isn't being manufactured by Western Digital anymore, and has (along with all the other B+M PCIe drives) become "Unobtainium". It's completely impossible that HP aims to distribute these drives for all these models that support WWANssds, since nowadays you can only find them used on ebay and such. Plus, the speeds that these drives offer are about half what the 4 lane Mkey drives achieve.

Since  I actually have a 650G9 for work, and I had it fitted with a 256GB second drive before purchase (by HP), I can tell you that it was fitted with a plain 2230  Mkeyed dirt-cheap KIOXIA, and not a SN520.

2) The Reviews online....

There have been many reviews online about this series, and they mention the ability to support second storage on the WWAN slot. Remember when I said that I'd explain why there are different motherboards depending on the use (or not) of a mobile networking card? Well.......the reason is that IF there is NO wwan, the laptop is sold with a motherboard that has a SECOND Mkeyed slot. If the laptop has the networking adapter, it is sold with the necessary Bkeyed slot, that doesn't accept Mkeyed ssds, and if B+M keyed ssds are fitted, they are unsupported by the BIOS and have many issues (like the one you described).

I'll just post some images from reviews comparing the previous G8s with the Bkeyed WWAN slots and the G9s with the Mkeyed empty slots:

450 G8 B key

450 G9 M key

650 G8 B key

650 G9 M key

You can read the review of the 650 G9, and see that the second storage config is mentioned and explained.

HP EliteBook 650 G9 review (laptopmedia) 

There IS something on these reviews that puzzles me. The 640 G9 which, according to the manual and datasheets, also supports a wwan 2230 SSD, has been reviewed to have an empty B keyed wwan slot, one that can't be fitted with the proper drive.

HP EliteBook 640 G9 review (laptopmedia) 

640 G9 B key

In fact, you can see my comment at the end of this review, hoping to get a response from the author (Alex Iliev).

Is HP shipping out models meant to support a mobile broadband adapter, even without one installed? According to the manual this shouldn't happen, since in that case the second storage option isn't available..... Is it possible your laptop has a B keyed slot?

3) HP's customizable 650 G9 page: https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/ConfigureView?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&catEntryId=30744...

You can order the laptop with a second ssd, as I've already done.

So, to sum it all up, your laptop should have an Mkeyed "wwan slot". This is not a wwan slot at all, it's a m.2 slot for pcie 2230 Mkeyed ssds. I've never heard of Mkeyed (or even B+M keyed) wwan adapters. They might exist, but they're very rare. If you have this slot, second storage is already enabled on a BIOS level, and you shouldn't have any of the problems you described on your post. If I were you, I'd try a plain 4 lane Mkeyed (recent) ssd to see if, perhaps, your old 2lane B+M ssd is causing the issues. If that doesn't work, you should take it to your nearest HP service center and see what they have to say. Perhaps the (hidden) option for a WWANssd was left disabled by mistake and they can somehow enable it. If it's true that some of these laptops are sold with a Bkeyed wwan slot (even when no mobile broadband adapter is installed), and yours is one of them, then I'm afraid you're out of luck. With these kinds of setups, it's almost impossible to get the SSDs to work properly. Read these discussions and you'll see what I mean:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/HP-Elitebook-840-G6-SSD-in-WWA...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/HP-Elitebook-855-G7-SSD-in-WWA...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/elitebook-840-g9-ssd-in-wwan/t...