How can I use a Samsung 980 1TB SSD in an HP Pavilion 14-bk064na

[jowyta]

I have fitted a Samsung 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD in a Pavilion 14-bk064na and it is not being recognised, not even by the system diagnostics.  The Debian install USB works fine up to the point when the SSD is not found.  I have seen suggestions about disabling SATA in the BIOS in order to get this to work but I can't find any mention of SATA in the BIOS settings on the Pavilion 14-bk064na.

Any suggestions as to how to get this to work?

[Huffer]

It should work but you are using advanced hardware on an older system. The PCIe on your laptop is Gen 3 and that SSD is Gen 4 so you will never get the full value out of it. A 970 Evo or Evo Plus would be a better choice. SATA in the BIOS has nothing to do with the NVME bus. Have you tried to see if the SSD shows up in the BIOS or perhaps try to see if it is seen by a Windows installer? The problem might be with Linux is what I am suggesting. 

[jowyta]

OK, thanks.  I understand about the capability, a 980 was what was available.  I don't understand how the operating system would mean that the drive would not connect, the SSD does not show up in BIOS before it has even started to load the operating system.  I will try to get the memory checked on a different machine with a windows OS.

[jowyta]

I have had the Samsung 980 1TB SSD checked in another computer and it is OK.  I have also had the BIOS in the HP Pavilion 14-bk064na updated to version F.41 rev a using an external Windows 10 drive.  The computer still will not connect to the drive.  This is not an operating system problem as the computer does not recognise the drive from switch on.  A system check, hardware diagnostics F2, indicates that no hard drive is connected.

I think the problem may be that the original 128 GB memory is SATA whereas the 1 TB Samsung 980 PRO memory is NVMe (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2).

So my question is, is it possible to modify the HP Pavilion 14-bk064na (e.g. the BIOS) so that it will work with NVMe memory cards?

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

The Manual reflects that only SATA M.2 SSD is supported:

Manual 

This goes way beyond the BIOS to the design of the motherboard. No way to make a system not set up for NVME M.2 into one that is. 

[jowyta]

OK, thank you.  That seems to be the answer.