Print

Register Now!

To Get More Info and Daily Reward.

• Login
• Register

Please login or register.

[apmontgo]

This FB post by MSI seems to indicate that an XP941 would work well with a new X99S board, but I can't get my new Gaming 7 board to even recognize that it has the drive in the M.2 slot. Has anyone gotten this board/drive combination working? I'm trying to figure out if the drive or the motherboard is faulty or maybe if the bios just isn't compatible with it yet.

Before you ask, yes I have the latest bios available on the download page, which supposedly adds support for more m.2 devices. I assume that with the popularity of the Samsung m.2 drives, the XP941 must be tested/working by now. Anyone know?

[apmontgo]

Doh! The forum won't let me post the Facebook link, but the quote is, "All #MSI #X99 motherboards will come with Turbo M.2. Gen3 x4 which can deliver up to 32Gb/s data transfers which is 3x faster than a normal M.2 slot. Combine this with a Samsung XP941 M.2 SSD and your system will reach the speed of light."

[Ron Hu]

That SSD is PCIe, most the BIOS defaults to M.2 (SATA) NOT PCIe, so you need to change it.  Also that SSD is not a Gen3 , but Gen2.  I have not found an M.2 Gen3 SSD out there yet.

But testing I have found on the web, suggests about 1GB/sec off that little guy.  Also remember 32 Gb <--- bits, will be about 3.2GB <-- BYTES a sec, in perfect world.  But there is protocol overhead, etc.  2.5GB/sec would be man I think.

-R

[apmontgo]

Yeah, I'd love to put a gen3 drive in there, but as you said, there really aren't any available right now. I'm looking forward to the SM951 being released, but the XP941 will have to do for now. That all being said, the XP941 should be compatible with the MSI X99S boards, right? It's not even shown in my "bootable drive" list, which I hope means that the drive is faulty instead of just incompatible. I switched the only setting I could find in the BIOS to set the m.2 slot to PCIe instead of SATA, but it didn't help. A gen2 drive like the XP941 should at least run in this slot, right? If it doesn't, that FB post is more than a little deceptive!

[Kerana]

Hi,

As i've just bought the X99S Gaming 7 and the Samsung XP941 m.2 i would like to know if you've found a solution ?
I'm going build my new config in two or three days so i hope it will work... ^^

Kerana

[apmontgo]

I'm waiting for a replacement drive for the xp941 I bought. I'll post here once I get a chance to try the new drive and let you know the results. Please let me know whether i the xp941 works for you when you build your new box!

[Kerana]

Thx for the message,

I hope for you that was just a "little" problem and that the new one will work as intended. I've looked into the compatibility list here :  msi.com/support/mb/X99S-GAMING-7.html#support-hdd and in the section m.2 I didn't see Samsung... :'(

And If there is a BIOS compatibility problem people from msi dev team have 3 days max to solve it before I start building the new config ! ;-)

Hope to read good news from you.

Kerana

[apmontgo]

An update for anyone trying to get an XP941 to work with an MSI X99 board:

The drive technically works, it just isn't viewable in the bios. However, I did get the drive to be recognized using a linux install/rescue disc. I could partition the drive and even copy files on and off of it. However, since the bios will not recognize the drive, (at least in the several different setting configurations I tried), I cannot boot from the XP941 directly. This is obviously infuriating because:
1) I primarily bought a fast SSD to reduce my boot time
2) MSI specifically recommends the XP941 as a pairing to any of its X99S boards to "reach the speed of light"

I have a ticket in MSI support so I'm hoping that there's either an obscure set of settings or an experimental bios update that will make this drive bootable. I'll post in this topic when I know more.

[Kerana]

Hi apmontgo,

I've built my new config. Everything works well except the XP941... Same problem you describe...
So i tried to find a solution. It seems that the "problem" is covered by something which is described here :

dl.msi.com/download_files/mnu_exe/9s_M.2_SSD_guide.zip

Not tried for the moment, but as far as i know, should try to setup the motherboard in raid mode then enable the Windows 8/8.1 feature of the modetherboard.

After that point you should be able to install win 8/8.1 (be sure to have the raid driver available when installing windows) to your XP941 and boot up on this device.

I'm going to try that and keep you posted of the result.

Kerana

[apmontgo]

I tried using RAID and Windows 8 mode, but I still couldn't get my drive recognized in the bios, so I couldn't choose it to be a boot device. Please tell me if you (or anyone!) does manage to get any X99S board to boot to an XP941 drive. I hope MSI is working on a BIOS update right now. They should be embarrassed that they recommended a drive that they can't even boot to. ASRock boards have no problem booting to an XP941, so it shouldn't be that hard. I'm creating a new ticket with MSI support to see if they're actually doing anything to live up to their recommendations. Please let me know if (and how!) you manage to get the XP941 bootable.

Thanks!
-- Alex

[Kerana]

Here is a copy of the ticket created this weekend

Hello,

I've just bought this configuration and everything works fine except for
the part in which the SSD should be detected in the bios... I've read
the MSI guide about m.2 configuration
(dl.msi.com/download_files/mnu_exe/9s_M.2_SSD_guide.zip) but when I try
the solution explained in this guide I have the following problem :

1. When I switch "SATA Mode" to RAID Mode there is no way to choose the
"Pcie Nand Configuration" (this line is not visible in the BIOS, instead
of this line there is "sSATA Mode" which is set to UEFI)...

(image)

2. If I try to only set SATA Mode to "RAID Mode" then enabling "Windows
8/8.1 Feature", when I reboot the only thing I get is a black screen and
3 beeps... Nothing more... The system won't boot up anymore and the bios
is no more aceesible. I've to make a safe boot to revert a good BIOS
configuration...

/I have to mention that when I'm under windows the SSD is visible &
usable, the motherboard BIOS is the last available from the support site
: H.02 (2014.08.29)

Is there a known solution to that problem ? Or maybe the problem is
already taken into account and a new version of the bios will solve that ?

Thanks by advance

I'll inform you of any answer.

Kerana

[apmontgo]

I called MSI and finally talked to someone helpful. They sent me a beta version of a new BIOS, but it didn't help me. Specifically, the drive still wasn't listed in the System Status, and the PCIe Nand option was still missing. Honestly, other than the version number changing, I didn't see any difference at all. They said that they would tell MSI headquarters that there were issues with XP941 support, but I'm not sure if and when they're going to do anything about it. If anyone else has made any progress on getting any X99S board to boot to an XP941, please post!

Thanks,
Alex

[tskiller]

I have the X99S XPOWER AC and I have the same problem you guys are having. I'm going to try to contact support, the more people we have contacting them the better of a chance we have of them fixing it.

[apmontgo]

Yes, please file a support ticket with MSI and maybe mention the fact that they specifically recommended this SSD that they haven't bothered supporting. The more tickets the better. It turns out that they were offered and probably received free samples of XP941 drives to test with waaaaaay before this board came out, so they really have no excuse. See this comment here:
https://www.ramcity.com.au/blog/m.2-ngff-ssd-compatibility-list/189#comment-1592833083

All the other X99 board manufacturers have UEFI support for this drive, get it together MSI!

[Kerana]

Unfortunately for me, for the moment the only answer my ticket received in 3 days is (translated from french) :

Dear Customer,
Are you using this SSD for system installation or for simple storage ?

Sincerely
...

And with this answer the status of my ticket was switched to closed which upset me a little bit... So i reopened my ticket... Now waiting.

Hope to havec better news soon...

[tskiller]

Out of curiosity, has anyone tried to use an M.2 PCIe SSD to PCIe 3.0 x4 adapter? I'd bet it probably wouldn't work, but if someone happens to have one around it would be worth a shot.

[mikecly]

I'm having a similar problem with this board, but with a Kingston drive (SSDNow 120 GB SM2280S3).

This is a bit of a long story and it doesn't have a happy ending  - I'd love any advice if it rings any bells for anyone.

At first I had only the Kingston m.2 drive connected and it was never recognized in the bios.
I then added a second SSD attached to the SATA #2 port.  On the first boot the bios recognized both drives... happy me.  After a reboot the m.2 drive was lost again for good.

I've found that every time a 'new' drive is attached to a different SATA port, the Kingston drive is found on the next boot, then lost afterwards.
Powering off and clearing the CMOS has the same effect.

I finally gave up and bought another 'normal' SSD drive (Crucial Extreme II) and plugged it into SATA 1.  The Kingston drive was found again in bios and this time it wasn't lost on reboots.

I assumed it something to do with the Crucial drive also being in the system, or else simply the fact that something was plugged into SATA #1 port or not plugged into #2.

Everything worked fine for two days with loads of reboots and power cycles - I installed everything on the drive.

This morning I switched on and I'm back to square one - the drive is only recognized after a power off / clear CMOS and then is lost on reboot.

I've made no hardware changes, I've tried unplugging all usb devices except for keyboard (getting desperate), I'm running bios version E7885IMS.H31.

I'm thinking of getting another m.2 drive to try if anyone knows one which should work?

[RemusM]

None of the current X99 boards are mature enough (BIOS issues).

Having that said, update the BIOS to 17.3 and try again.
http://www.msi.com/support/mb/X99S-GAMING-7.html#down-bios
If that doesn't help, report your problem to MSI (including the exact model of your M.2 SATA/PCI-E drive).
 

[Kerana]

Having that said, update the BIOS to 17.3 and try again.

No joy for the moment with bios 17.3... The problem still there, people from french support told me that they have no XP941 to try to confirm the problem... So they report to headquarter in Taiwan to make the test. Waiting them now ^^

Kerana

[mikecly]

I can now get my drive to be recognized by unplugging and clearing CMOS a few times, but it'll will usually fail after any time from a few minutes to hours.

Please share any bios update news.

[Smalto]

Same with me. I cannot see in the bios the XP941  but the boot CD of W8.1 sees it perfectly. Only on the reboot, it won't start.
I submitted a request to MSI.

MSI X99S SLI PLUS - latest official bios
XP941 256Gb

Hope we can find a solution for everybody.

Smalto

[claude.rivet]

I have x99s SLI PLUS and same problem but it goes one step further, I don't even see the drive with my system (win7 64bits), at all.

I thought about using addonics M2 x4 PCIe adapter card in my PCIe6 slot in the meanwhile but I was wondering if the problem would still be present, basically has anyone tested an M2 adapter to circumvent the problem?

As far as I am concerned I don't care if I can install my system on it, I just want windows to see it and use it as my media server storage drive.

[claude.rivet]

HALF-FIX found!

But another problem rises

Alright here goes: disable XMP

I bought two MSI x99s SLI PLUS, in part because I wanted to use the XP941 and it was recommended by MSI

One of the board strangely was not offering any XMP settings, on the first one when booting to UEFI it would display an XMP button, on the first board I activated it, on the second one it was just not available even if the exact same ram was used (Corsair vengeance DDR4 2800). When installing windows I noticed the XP941 was showing up, I was very happy and basically assumed the other one was defective.

The RAM thing kept being annoying me though and I noticed in MSI Intel extreme utility that when running the RAM stress test it would just fill 3112MB of memory rather than the whole 16GB, I thought maybe my RAM was defective in some way so I plugged the first workstation back and turned it on and ran the stress test on it again only to notice it would not fill the RAM on this system either. Happy that this was normal I rebooted disable XMP and entered 2666 as the speed leaving the processor at base value, this way both station would be identical.

That's where the magic happened, the XP941 suddenly showed up in the disk management utility and I was able to format it.

I still cannot booth from it though but as far as my needs are concerned using it as a data drive is all I wanted.

the 2nd problem remain; why is one board offering me an XMP option and not the other, should I worry about having defective RAM? (BIOS version are identical 1.10, the latest).

[apmontgo]

MSI sent me a new beta bios which does allow me to see XP941 and boot from it. Hooray. However, as someone else mentioned, there are definitely issues with "Extreme Memory Profiles" (XMP), because enabling XMP1 stops the BIOS from seeing the drive. So the solution for now is to bug MSI for a beta bios and then disable XMP until they get them playing nicely together. Good luck.

[Smalto]

That's great news  . I'll insist for the Bios. Can you share the version with us ?

To continue about XMP, I have the option but didn't activate it so far. So it doesn't make a difference for my X99S SLI PLUS because it can't see the drive. And XMP is just a set of data to speed up the RAM. You can still modify the corresponding settings manually.

[RemusM]

MSI sent me a new beta bios which does allow me to see XP941 and boot from it.
Hooray.

 

[apmontgo]

The bios version is H42 Beta, but I don't think I'm allowed to distribute it to others. I'm sure that if you file a ticket with MSI and say that you need the latest beta bios to boot to your XP941, they'd be happy to oblige. Good luck!

[mikecly]

Happy days! The H.42 bios version seems to work for me too (Kingston SM2800 drive + x99s gaming 7).

Got the update just before I ordered a Gigabyte board to try instead.

[Svet]

For future readers .H42 is now available at:
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=183589.0

[Boyerizm]

Is there a beta for the X99S SLI Plus board? I'm having the same issue, thanks!

[Nichrome]

For future readers .H42 is now available at:
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=183589.0

The only one currently 
Since it's new chipset, MSI will probably release at least another 5 within few weeks/months until they get to the point where no longer updates is required for best possible stability and performance.

[Boyerizm]

Careful H42 is the gaming mb bios, you need 133 here https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=183560.msg1317348#msg1317348

Not sure what would happen if you tried the other, but I'm sure nothing good...portal to another dimension?

Now I just need to figure out why the dual sli is running at x8 each instead of x16....

The only one currently 
Since it's new chipset, MSI will probably release at least another 5 within few weeks/months until they get to the point where no longer updates is required for best possible stability and performance.

[Nichrome]

As far as I know SLI should work at x8?

[Boyerizm]

Well it works but I've got 40 lanes on my 5930k so I'd like to be running these gtx 980s at x16. That should be 32 + 4 for the m.2 for a total of 36.

[Sea Dog]

M.2 runs off the X99 chipset's 8 available PCI-E 2.0 lanes.

[silenttim]

I installed the beta bios but I still can't see the xp941 as a bootable drive.  Is there anything else I need to change?

[Svet]

I installed the beta bios but I still can't see the xp941 as a bootable drive.  Is there anything else I need to change?

which one bios exactly?

[silenttim]

which one bios exactly?

H42.  Update: Fixed.  I had to reboot another time and it now shows as a boot drive. 

[Svet]

oki, if problem persist you may want to try .H43:
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=183589.msg1319976#msg1319976

[apmontgo]

For the record, even using the .H43 bios, enabling XMP still stops the motherboard being able to see / boot to the XP941.

[Svet]

try official .H40:
http://www.msi.com/support/mb/X99S-GAMING-7.html#down-bios

which is newer and latest version

[ketma]

Hi, Does the official 17.4 BIOS allow booting from an m.2 ?

[rchiileea]

having the same issue with the x99s xpower not showing up the m2

[darkhawk]

having the same issue with the x99s xpower not showing up the m2

The post is nearly a year old. Make a new post for yourself, explaining your computer specs. >>Posting Guide<<