Issue with samsung magician software after optane memory install

[Omegalazer]

Hey guys,

I've got an interesting dilemma that I haven't been able to find anywhere online.

I've got a Samsung 970 pro 512gb for the boot drive, and WD Black 4TB Hdd for storage, and intel optane 800p 58gb set to boost my 4tb drive.

My mobo is the asus maximus x hero with i7 8700k cpu.

I'm able to setup everything properly.

I am not pairing my optane memory with my m.2 boot drive. Just to be clear.

It's not a huge issue, but whenever I switch from AHCI to RST w/ optane support, my samsung magician software breaks and says my 970 pro is not supported.

I'm still able to boot with my samsung m.2 SSD, in RST w/ optane support mode. I tested the speed of the samsung ssd, and didn't notice any performance loss, however, I don't want my samsung SSD to not work properly simply because the samsung m.2 driver and samsung magician software becomes all screwy.

I reverted it back to AHCI (using the safe mode trick so that it doesn't become unbootable) and my M.2 was recognized in samsung magician software again, and I could see the health status and firmware version of the samsung m.2.

So my question is, is it possible to use optane memory in AHCI mode? I'm not using the optane with my boot drive, only for secondary drive.

Should I just deal with samsung magician not working, if I want to keep using optane memory for my secondary drive?

Any thoughts and help is appreciated!

[idata · Accepted solution]

Hello Omegalazer,

Thank you for contacting Intel Technical Support. As we understand you are using an Intel® Optane™ SSD 800P Series 58GB, M.2 80mm PCIe 3.0, 3D Xpoint to accelerate your WD Black 4TB HDD secondary/data drive and your operating system is set up on your Samsung 970 pro 512gb and you are having issue with the Samsung* magician software at the moment that you switch from AHCI to RST w/ Optane support. If we inferred correctly please review the information below:

• The Intel® Optane™ SSD 800P Series 58GB, M.2 80mm PCIe 3.0, 3D Xpoint is an SSD product and you are using it out of the specs since this device was designed for storage and not to accelerate any other drive. The https://ark.intel.com/products/family/99745/Intel-Optane-Memory# @Intel-Optane-Memory Intel® Optane™ Memory products are the ones designed for this purpose and in case that you experience any problems with your product your warranty request may be denied based on your current configuration.
• A basic requirement in order to use device acceleration with the https://ark.intel.com/products/family/99745/Intel-Optane-Memory# @Intel-Optane-Memory Intel® Optane™ Memory products is to have your BIOS setup to work with RST w/ Optane support.
• This issue seems to be completely related to the Samsung* magician software that does not seems to be compatible with the RST on your current configuration and we advise you to contact Samsung to get further support about this 3rd party software.

We hope you find this information useful. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Best regards, Josh B.Intel Customer Support

[BHarr8]

To echo what was posted above, this is not an Intel issue at all.

I ran into the same issue with a Dell upgraded to a 970 Pro. Without changing the system to AHCI Magician could not interact with the 970 and I was unable to install the dedicated Samsung NVMe driver.

[MBarn21]

i have the same problem, but i have 32 GB intel optane to boost my secondary drive

[Omegalazer]

I appreciate the insight, thank you!

[MBarn21]

how it was going? did you contacted samsung? did they answered?

[Omegalazer]

I returned my 58 GB and got a 32gb optane module after I learned all the information above.

I didn't contact Samsung because it seemed like more trouble than it was worth.

I just lived the Samsung SSD being my boot drive without the Samsung magician software which was fine.

A couple months later, ASUS released a BIOS update that allowed me to switch off the RAID support on one M.2 Slot.

This allowed me to use the Samsung NVMe driver and the intel RST chipset driver simultaneously.

I don't think it was intended to allow me to use 2 different Nvme Drivers, it just happened on a whim.

Before (when I created this question) , it was either RAID support on or off for both slots

My motherboard is the ASUS maximus X hero.

So I did eventually get the Samsung Magician software and Intel Optane Memory software to both work in harmony.

It's just a matter of whether or not your motherboard can disable RAID on one m.2 slot and have RAID enabled on the other slot for Optane Memory.

[MBarn21]

Wow... that is very nice.

I am using Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master. I am wondering if it is the same as your maximus x hero... Or can you help me to find the answer?

I am using latest version of BIOS

[MBarn21]

Hmmm... I can not find the setting in BIOS  to switch off the Intel RST on one M.2 Slot.

Can you please give me a screenshot of the setting  to switch off the Intel RST on one M.2 Slot on your bios? Maybe be I can find something similiar.

Thanks, I really appreciate it.

[Omegalazer]

I made some corrections to my answer to your question.

Intel Optane is on as the Primary SATA controller mode.

What did the trick was disabling the RAID support for the one slot that my samsung SSD was using.

M2.1 is where my samsung SSD resides.

Optane memory relies on the RAID support to be enabled for PCIE.

Here's the setting I flipped to allowed this.

Here's what device manager looks like after installing the NVMe driver.

I think I had to install the samsung software and driver first, and then the intel optane software after.

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_z390-aorus-master_1001_190219_e.pdf

The closest I could find for your situation was referenced on page 70 in step 1.

It says:

"Then depending the M.2 connector you use, set the corresponding PCIe Storage Dev on Port XX item to RST Controlled."

It refers to setting a Port to "RST Controlled", perhaps you could verify that the this RST Controlled feature is disabled on the slot your Samsung SSD uses.

If that doesn't allow you to install the Samsung NVMe driver, then I don't know what else you could try.

[MBarn21]

thank you very much...

I tried what you sugested... but now my samsung ssd become not bootable... and I got blue screen..

I will try to reinstall windows then

[Omegalazer]

Did you make sure to set it to boot to safe mode before you made the BIOS change?

You can set this in msconfig

a Windows reinstall shouldn't be necessary.

When I switch off RAID support, I had to make sure that it would boot into safe mode with networking first, that way it could install the generic driver.

If I didn't set msconfig to boot into safe mode with networking automatically first(prior to switching Raid support off), it would blue screen because it would be using the incorrect driver to boot to windows.

Safe mode with networking the first time after the change allows it to correct this.

Then it would boot up normally after that and I was able to install the Samsung magician w/ driver first then the optane software after.