NUC10i7FNK not detecting Samsung PM981 NVMe SSD

[hades_canyon]

My NUC10i7FNK does not detect a Samsung PM981 NVMe SSD I installed in it. It's an SSD I pulled out of a laptop of mine, in which it was working perfectly. In the BIOS Advanced page, the M.2 Slot field shows "[Not Installed]". I've tried updating the BIOS to the latest. I booted Windows and Linux from a USB to see if they would be able to detect the NVMe drive, but they can't detect it either. Is there any hope of getting this to work?

[LeonWaksman]

Hi @hades_canyon 

1. Enter BIOS and press F9, followed by "Y" to set BIOS to default settings. Then click F10, confirmed by "y" to save BIOS settings and exit.

2. Enter BIOS again and verify that the the Boot is set to UEFI and in Advanced > Storage > M.2 port is enabled.

Leon

[hades_canyon]

I tried this and it didn’t work.

[LeonWaksman]

1. Try Bios Recovery from the Power Button Menu: 

2. Prepare USB stick fully formatted to FAT32 (disable quick format option during format). Format your USB on Windows machine (rather than Linux or MAC).  Download the FNCML357.0045.RECOVERY.zip. Unzip the archive and transfer the EFI directory to this USB stick. Insert it into rearUSB slot.
3. Press and hold Power Button for about 3 seconds. Count 1001, 1002, 1003,1004. Release the Power Button. NUC should reboot into Power Button Menu. You should release the Power Button before 4-sec shut down override or when the Power Button LED changes color from blue to amber.
4. Press F4 and the recovery shall start (it can take up to 30 seconds for messages to appear on the screen). When the recovery finishes, press on Power Button and hold it, until NUC switches OFF. Pull out the power cord. Remove the USB stick.
5. Replace the power cord and press Power Button to switch the computer to ON. Let the NUC fully reboot.

Leon

[hades_canyon]

Nope. No luck. BIOS still doesn't detect anything in the M.2 slot.

[LeonWaksman]

1. Please attach an image of BIOS page: Advanced > Storage.

2. The SATA mode should be set to AHCI rather then: "Intel RST Premium with Intel Optane System" or "RAID"

Leon

[hades_canyon]

This is an NVMe drive. I didn't think the SATA mode is applicable. Regardless, it is set to AHCI, which was the BIOS default. See attached.

[LeonWaksman]

1. The SATA mode is applicable. If the SATA mode is set to "Intel RST...." the lines "M.2 Slot" and "M.2 Slot Vendor ID: Device ID" are not shown in BIOS.

2. I'm assuming that your SSD is working (since it is working in your laptop) and also that you have correctly installed the SSD in the M.2 slot (see the attached image). If this is the case, probably you should replace your NUC which is has three years warranty coverage. The best way is to return in the place you bought it or open an RMA request.

Leon

[hades_canyon]

I tried a Samsung 970 EVO Plus and that works fine; BIOS was able to detect it correctly. I put the Samsung PM981 back in my laptop and that works fine there. Prior to that I had tried reseating the PM981 just in case it was loose or incorrectly installed. That didn't help. So my conclusion is that this is incompatibility with the NUC. Does that seem sound?

I understand that the PM981 isn't on the compatible parts list and the 970 EVO Plus is, but I thought it reasonable to expect that it would work (maybe I can try the PM981 on another PC when I get a chance).

Any chance this could be a firmware bug that could get fixed in a future version? Is there a reporting channel for that?

[LeonWaksman]

The PM981 SSD is not a consumer drive, it is an OEM version, however I saw already in this forum somebody  reported that he had installed it on NUC (if I remember correctly it was NUC BE). Any way it is not working for you and it wasn't verified by Intel.  I'm glad that you found the solution.

Leon