m.2 NVME won't finish Windows install

[trents]

I have this very weird problem with a 3rd gen m.2 PCI-e drive. It 's a 500gb drive made by Avant with micron chips. I ran it for about three years in my main system without issues under both Windows 10 and Windows 11. This drive was most recently paired in that system with an ASRock B550M Pro4 and Ryzen 3700X without issue.

I recently upgraded this main system storage to a gen. 4 PCI-e 1 TB drive. I then tried moving the old 3rd gen Avant drive over to a spare system running an ASRock B350M Pro4 board with a first gen Ryzen 1600 CPU.

The problem is when I try a fresh install of Windows 10 or Windows 11 on the spare system with the Avant drive the installation will not complete. It completes the first stage of the install but upon the first reboot the system tries to load but can't. It goes into a continuous boot loop.

However, I replaced the Avant drive with a gen 3 PCI-e m.2 product made by TEAM and Windows, both 10 and 11, installs just fine.

So, I put the Avant drive back in and installed a Linux distro without issue. So odd! If the Avant drive is flakey, why will Linux install but not Windows? And if the problem is with the motherboard or bios, why will Windows install on the TEAM drive but not the Avant drive?

Any ideas?

 

[The_Jizzler]

I'm guessing driver issue in win10. Are you using latest iso from Microsoft? Are there any bios updates available? It's definitely a software issue if it's working fine in Linux

 

[dejo]

I have an Inland M.2 that wont boot in an HP laptop without hitting the enter key when booting. The older bios does allow it to boot but runs hotter than the later bios.

 

[trents]

I'm guessing driver issue in win10. Are you using latest iso from Microsoft? Are there any bios updates available? It's definitely a software issue if it's working fine in Linux

Yes, this is a fresh, from scratch install attempt using the Microsoft Media Creation Tool. Just built the installer a week ago. And I get the same issue whether I try Windows 10 or Windows 11. But if it's a driver issue, why would Windows install on one 3x4 PCI-e but not on another one of the same generation of m.2 PCI-e technology but different brand?

Post magically merged: May 29, 2022

I have an Inland M.2 that wont boot in an HP laptop without hitting the enter key when booting. The older bios does allow it to boot but runs hotter than the later bios.

I updated the bios on the board to the latest but have the same problem. On the install reboot you can see it tries to load Windows (the whirly gig pattern on the screen is spinning arround) but then it goes into a boot loop.

 

[The_Jizzler]

Different brand, different controller, different timings, different driver. Think of it more like this.... The hardware is fine, it works, you have proven that with Linux. It's windows that's not playing nice, so either it's a flaw in the OS or the driver, with the driver being most likely.

 

[trents]

Well, for whatever reason, after the umpteenth attempt at installation, it worked this time. There were no changes to settings. The only thing different was I did not remove the USB installer during the process and left it in until the install was complete and it booted into the Windows desktop.

 

[EarthDog]

Premature usb stick withdrawl.

 

[trents]

Premature usb stick withdrawl.

I've installed Windows 10 and Windows 11 many times and know when the USB stick can be withdrawn. It gives you a countdown progress bar as it is preparing for the first reboot in the install cycle and that is when I have always pulled the USB installer without problems up until this situation. And even though I finally got the install to complete in this situation, the install seemed to take much longer than it usually does. I wonder if it was searching for a driver it was having a hard time finding.

 

[don256us]

I checked the specs of your CPU and MB. Using the 1600 which is a Summitt Ridge you should have full compatibility with your board. Indeed, installing different OS and different NVMe drives prove that it works.

This really comes down to how much you trust the low cost brands that you're using. I have no personal experience with Avant Tech but I have seen them around. It could be chaulked up to incompatible driver vs chipsets. Not sure now to square that away. Maybe look in the BIOS to ensure that the M.2 is set to ACHI instead of RAID or something?

 

[wagex]

Sounds like it might have been using the usb as a temp boot source for the reboot to finish the install, usually this is done on the internal drive but who knows with new os's

 

[xrror]

long shot, when the win11 installer comes up from the USB stick, at the very first screen that boots from the USB stick in the installer UI. SHIFT + F10 (i think) command prompt should pop up.

diskpart
list disk
select disk # (pick whatever isn't the usb drive OR any other data drive you don't want nuked)
"disk # is now the selected disk"
<<<BE VERY SURE THIS IS THE CORRECT DISK BEFORE...>>>
clean

exit
exit

now continue setup

Edit ADD:

Well, for whatever reason, after the umpteenth attempt at installationn, it worked this time.

And now just seeing this... nevermind oof

 

[EarthDog]

I've installed Windows 10 and Windows 11 many times and know when the USB stick can be withdrawn. It gives you a countdown progress bar as it is preparing for the first reboot in the install cycle and that is when I have always pulled the USB installer without problems up until this situation. And even though I finally got the install to complete in this situation, the install seemed to take much longer than it usually does. I wonder if it was searching for a driver it was having a hard time finding.

FTR, I dont pull it until windows boots, always. 100% success rate.

I'd occasionally run I to problems of booting off the USB instead of the drive after install though.

Being serious, hard to tell what happened or when since there isn't much info when installing these things. Being w11, you have to imagine most drivers for hardware are there... but can't dismiss it either. If the only thing you did different was not to pull the drive...

What version of w11? Is the 22h2 available for the public? Maybe something in that changed? Or possibly 21h2? I assume you update/recreate the the stick frequently (so you get the latest version) right?

Edit: w10 too... hmm. That drive is finicky, I guess. Lol

 

[trents]

Installer was created from the latest version of Windows 11 on Microsoft's Media Creation Tool website. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe I was pulling the USB too quickly or for some reason this drive needed some extra time with the USB because of driver searching. Thanks for your input guys. All's well that ends well.

 

[ihrsetrdr]

Premature usb stick withdrawl.

I almost drowned in my coffee,sry I have a mental graphic imaging affliction.

 

[EarthDog]

Installer was created from the latest version of Windows 11 on Microsoft's Media Creation Tool website.

That doesn't directly answer which version. But seeing as how this was a couple of weeks ago, it was likely still 22H1. I think 22H2 just recently became available (June?) to the public (been on it as an insider for a bit).