Intel® Optane™ Memory
Support for Issues Related to Intel® Optane™ Memory
Announcements
Want to learn how Intel® Optane™ Memory can help your business? Talk to our Expert!

Looking for our RealSense Community? Click HERE

The Intel® SSD Toolbox and Intel® Data Center Tool are now End-Of-Life, see for more information and replacements tools here
1343 Discussions

Intel H10 SSD's Optane cache not detected in BIOS (or anywhere). Looking to force a firmware update

yammy
Novice
2,038 Views

Hello,

 

I have an Intel H10 OEM (a "dirty" pull from a Dell, which apparently wasn't properly removed) SSD with a 32GB Optane cache and 500GB NAND storage. The drive is on the latest firmware version and I can't update the firmware to make the 32GB optane portion of the drive visible in BIOS.

The NAND portion of the H10 is visible and usable. However, the 32GB Optane cache is not visible in any environment, including Linux, BIOS/UEFI, Windows diskpart, or from within Intel's bootable firmware update tool. I've also tried (on a wing and a prayer) to use an M.2 to PCIe adapter in hopes that the PCIe port could read the Optane cache, but this too failed to work.

I've tried everything from low-level formats to plugging the drive into laptops that have specific compatibility with Optane's H10. My computer's motherboard (Asrock B660M-ITX) officially supports the H10 drive so I'm completely clueless as to how to resolve this issue. They even have instructions for how to use the H10 with the board.

So here's my question: Is there some way to force a firmware update using Intel's bootable SSD update tool? Because it's already on the latest version of the firmware, the update tool won't run.

I don't have the drive on me at the moment, but I will include the relevant screenshots and information in a couple days when I get access to the tools.

0 Kudos
1 Solution
BrusC_Intel
Moderator
1,967 Views

Hello, yammy.


Good day,


Going back to your firmware-related question. It is not possible to modify OEM firmware or "force" the installation of Intel firmware.


If the unit was removed from the system without disabling acceleration first, it should be possible to just clear the old metadata in the Optane Memory and Storage Management or reset the unit to non-Optane in BIOS, but if these options are not available and the Optane portion of the SSD is not visible, there are no other recommendations we can provide beyond reviewing the BIOS settings, and you have already covered this part.


Warranty for this type of OEM unit is also tied to the original system where it came preinstalled, meaning that if the original system is still under warranty, it could be a good option to reach out to them for a replacement in case this is an actual hardware failure and not a firmware limitation set by them.


If you have other questions or comments, please let me know; I will keep the thread open and will follow up on January 31st.


Regards,


Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician


View solution in original post

6 Replies
BrusC_Intel
Moderator
2,015 Views

Hello, yammy.

 

Thank you for posting on the Intel Community Support forums.

 

I received your ticket regarding this particular Optane H10 not being properly recognized, and I will be reviewing this with you.

 

Units that come preinstalled in different systems (DELL, HP, Lenovo, and other) have customized firmware provided by the same system manufacturer, and cannot be updated using the Intel tools that you would generally use for boxed/regular drives. Additionally, this OEM firmware is rarely provided or updated by them.

 

With the drive being partially recognized, it is possible that this is not related to firmware but to system configuration.

 

1. What processor are you currently using?

-13th Gen processors do not provide support for H10, so maybe the motherboard supports the Optane H series only using 12th gen processors, but I cannot confirm if this could be related.

 

2. Have you tried checking the RST section in BIOS? or checking if there is an option to reset the Optane or clear metadata?

- BIOS settings and locations are different depending on the board manufacturer, so we cannot be specific here, but generally, you should have an RST section where you can manage the Optane Memory or RAID configurations.

 

3. Are there bifurcation settings in BIOS for the M.2 port and is this enabled? is VMD enabled?

- You can review these settings and, in Windows, install the Intel RST driver along the Optane Memory and Storage Management application, then review how the Optane is recognized there and if you have any options to clear metadata.

 

I will follow up on January 27th just in case.

 

Regards,

 

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

 

yammy
Novice
2,003 Views

Hi Bruce, thanks so much for the brilliant and insightful response. I believe your suspicion is correct and that it's likely that Dell's OEM drive has custom firmware on it. The H10 is essentially two drives in one. Could it be that Dell only wrote custom firmware for the Optane portion of the drive and that the NAND portion functions as any other SSD?

 

To answer your questions:

1. It's a 12th gen Alder Lake (I'm sorry for leaving this out of the problem description).

 

2. I've checked in four (three) BIOS's RST's sections and none have been able to detect the drive's optane segment.

 

3. My Asrock B660M-ITX motherboard does not have a PCIe bifurcation setting for some reason for the M.2 slot, nor does it have bifurcation for the PCIe. I've read online that it's set to automatically bifurcate but it's not clear to me whether this is true. 

I did install with VMD enabled and with the Optane hybrid storage feature enabled.

Asrock's official instructions were to install with the RST driver with VMD enabled. Unfortunately, this does not work as the Optane cache is never recognized.

Do you know if it's possible to force install Intel's official firmware onto an OEM drive?

0 Kudos
yammy
Novice
1,974 Views

Hi Leon, thanks for the reply!

I did use ASrock's instructions for the B660M-ITX but the option to enable Teton Glacier wasn't available in the B660M-ITX board's BIOS settings, although I did enable it on a laptop that offered that option. Unfortunately, the laptop didn't recognize the Optane cache, either. I also tried on a Comet Lake platform but it didn't offer the option to enable Teton Glacier (Optane) drives.


I think the Teton Glacier option is basically rolled into the Hybrid Storage setting that's available on 600-series chipsets. So enabling it is essentially the same thing.

I have to give ASRock credit here for doing a fantastic job with their tutorial guide on a relatively niche scenario. Unfortunately, I think something is going on at the firmware level that makes the drive unavailable on anything but a Dell system. But I could be wrong about that.

0 Kudos
BrusC_Intel
Moderator
1,968 Views

Hello, yammy.


Good day,


Going back to your firmware-related question. It is not possible to modify OEM firmware or "force" the installation of Intel firmware.


If the unit was removed from the system without disabling acceleration first, it should be possible to just clear the old metadata in the Optane Memory and Storage Management or reset the unit to non-Optane in BIOS, but if these options are not available and the Optane portion of the SSD is not visible, there are no other recommendations we can provide beyond reviewing the BIOS settings, and you have already covered this part.


Warranty for this type of OEM unit is also tied to the original system where it came preinstalled, meaning that if the original system is still under warranty, it could be a good option to reach out to them for a replacement in case this is an actual hardware failure and not a firmware limitation set by them.


If you have other questions or comments, please let me know; I will keep the thread open and will follow up on January 31st.


Regards,


Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician


yammy
Novice
1,962 Views

Thanks again for your outstanding answer.

I hope that others who have had the same issue as myself (there are several similar queries online and few have managed to get the H10's optane cache recognized) read this thread and understand that it may not be possible to get an OEM drive working on a non-OEM system due to Dell's custom firmware.

Thanks again to you and LeonWaksman for your excellent assistance and advice. I hope you have an excellent day.

Reply