NVMe SSD not recognized

[GlowSeeker]

Laptop: HP Spectre 13-3090ez

SSD: Toshiba KXG50ZNV256G

I've got a ventoy USB with multiple Windows and Ubuntu versions on it, none of them show the SSD in their installer (or even live Ubuntu). The BIOS called InsydeH20 itself is despite updating it (which already was hell) pretty meager concerning options and has no concise list of connected hardware.

The BIOS has one option that is Legacy: on/off, with it off Secure Boot becomes toggle-able; I've tried all combinations but it just wont show the SSD anywhere. This is my first time ever installing a non-SATA SSD. As long as the interface on the motherboard and the SSD itself match there can't be an incompatibility right? I mean, the slot has one notch and the stick has one notch, that means they're both NVMe and thus a match, unless theres some other mismatch involving NVMe standards I'm unaware of.

I've tried booting from an external hard drive (via a SATA-USB adapter) and the laptop boots just fine, but it still doesn't detect the SSD after multiple Windows Update runs. I tried installing HP's own drivers (Intel Rapid Storage) from their site (and even the infamous F6 folder from the forums here for another device out of desperation) by extracting it and loading them inside the Windows installer, but it only shows the long list of drivers if I uncheck the "Hide drivers that don't match this device's hardware option" implying there's a mismatch, even even installing all of those drivers one by one yielded no result. The only conclusion I can come to is that the SSD is broken, but I don't have any other device I can test it in and I have a borderline guarantee that the drive was cleanly formatted and works.

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

The hardware does not support an NVME M.2 SSD; SATA only and with a 4th gen Intel Core processor it was one of the very earliest machines to support any kind of M.2 SSD. You write:

As long as the interface on the motherboard and the SSD itself match there can't be an incompatibility right? I mean, the slot has one notch and the stick has one notch, that means they're both NVMe and thus a match, unless theres some other mismatch involving NVMe standards I'm unaware of.

All M.2 slots are "1 notch" and all M.2 SSDs whether single or double notch will "fit" but that does not guarantee the internal hardware can support NVME. There are many many models that support SATA M.2 only and it is not even unheard of to have a motherboard with an M.2 slot that supports NVME only. So get a SATA M.2 is unfortunately your only solution. 

[GlowSeeker]

Oh, I figured the compatibility between m2 SATA and m2 NVMe would be laid out in a way where manufacturers would use a 1 notch M2 port should the device support both SATA and NVMe, or keep 2 notches should it only support SATA, but in hindsight your statement does make sense, considering both the age of the hardware and the fact that my original assumption would require some sort of nominal distinction between 1/2 notch M2 ports which I didn't encounter.

Thanks for clearing things up!