M.2 NVMe SSD not showing up in BIOS (ZBook Studio G3)

[Thijsius]

I bought a 256 GB Micron NVMe SSD (M.2 2280 Gen3 x4) as a second storage unit for my Zbook Studio G3.

I have tried everything I could find online to make the laptop recognize the SSD, but no luck...

As far as I could find, the SSD should work in this laptop (unless a Micron controller is an issue, which I would find weird since the current (SATA) SSD is also a Micron, so HP is "in bed" with them).

What I tried:

- Add new SSD in second M.2 slot. Not recognized in BIOS, not found by Windows Disk manager.
- Put new SSD in first M.2 slot, current SSD in second SSD slot. It will still boot to Windows, new SSD not recognized by Windows or BIOS

- Remove current SSD, insert new. Not recognized in BIOS. No boot (of course), error 3F0.

- Disable secure boot, enable legacy boot. Not recognized in BIOS.

- Enable RAID, enter 3rd party UEFI tool. Not recognized by Intel rapid storage tool, not recognized by BIOS.

The system BIOS is updated to the latest version.

Unfortunately, I have no way of testing the SSD in another machine, this is the only machine I own with an M.2 slot...

-edit-

I had also already tested the so-called "hard reset" (disconnect main battery, drain by powering on)  and the CMOS clearing trick (disconnect CMOS battery for some time), but no difference

I can't think of anything else... Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[kozad]

The issue could be that your particular system only accepts SATA M.2 drives - I did a web search on the model and both NVME and SATA M.2 are listed as available storage options. SATA and NVME M.2 drives are usually not interchangeable, even though they physically use the same slot. Google the model number on your old drive to see if it's SATA rather than NVME (it might also just say SATA or NVME somewhere on the label). If this is the case, it's a long shot, but there might be an option in the UEFI to switch the M.2 mode from SATA/AHCI to NVME/PCIe - wouldn't hurt to look before returning the drive.

[erico]

Have you tried invoking the Windows Diskpart utility at the command line to view the drive and then initialize and give the drive a letter?

I explained how to use the Diskpart utility in an Notebook knowlegebase article I wrote a few years back. A hyperlink to the article is below.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebooks-Knowledge-Base/Notebook-SSD-upgrade/ta-p/6898561

[Thijsius]

Hi Erico,

Thanks for the link. I tried the Disk Management console, which is pretty much the same I think. But to be sure I tried DISKPART also, but to no avail. Only the booted SSD is visible, the SATA one...

[Thijsius]

Hi Kozad, thanks for your reply.

I had Googled in advance, my conclusion was that the G3 should be able to detect and use a NVMe drive since the HP "Z Turbo drive" is one of the spare parts (840949-001) mentioned in the Service Guide. It is actually a Samsung PM981 Series, I think. I have seen that the laptop specifications on the HP site mention the SM951 as the "generation" of the Z Turbo drive, which is also a Samsung NVMe series of SSDs.
I cannot find a lot in the BIOS options with regards to  the M.2 slots / modes, which is a bit strange.
I agree with you that the SATA option would have been safer, since the current drive also is a SATA SSD. But I was curious of course if I could get more speed out of the NVMe type...

[kozad]

Those HP parts guides cover each SKU using that chassis / case which were launched at the same time, so they are not always reliable.

You could look for a motherboard that will fit into the chassis of the laptop with a better CPU and NVMe support (you can find one on a site like Impact Computers by searching for your laptop's motherboard part number and then finding your laptop listed under the compatible systems tab and go from there), but that could be expensive, require an updated heatsink if you pick a board with a GPU, and very time consuming to tear the laptop down and get it back together. Might honestly be cheaper to buy another laptop *with* the better CPU vs. the board itself if that's at all tempting.

I actually just did this myself with a Dell AIO system I picked up for $50 locally - it had an i3 1115G4 CPU and I needed some more power. I tossed $150 at a motherboard with an i7 1165G7 and MX330, but had to rig together a heatsink to cover the GPU. It's not ideal, but it does work flawlessly.

In you case though, I'd just go with a larger SATA drive and save yourself a headache. 😃