PCI-E ssd card adapter not recognized in acer AC100

[kojack]

I tried everything in bios to get this card to be recognized as the main boot drive.  Any ideas on how to make this work?

[Aaron44126]

If you have the SSD installed with an "adapter" in a slot that you normally wouldn't use for a drive, you possibly won't be able to boot it directly from the BIOS.

 

Windows doesn't technically require that the boot/EFI partition and the OS partition be on the same drive.  You will need to install the Windows boot loader on a drive that the BIOS can boot, and have it boot the OS partition on your desired SSD.  This will probably take a manual install of the bootloader using bcdboot, and possibly some mucking with bcdedit.  You can run both of these tools from the command prompt that you can access by booting install media and opening the recovery tools.

 

You could also probably use GRUB (Linux boot loader) installed on a BIOS-bootable drive to chainload to the Windows boot loader on a different drive.

[kojack]

It is not windows, but TrueNAS that I am trying to install.

[Reciever]

What kind of SSD? Bifurcation support? 

[kojack]

Just a regular 2280 512gb NVME ssd on a PCI-E expansion card.  The server is the acer AC100

[Reciever]

21 minutes ago, kojack said:

Just a regular 2280 512gb NVME ssd on a PCI-E expansion card.  The server is the acer AC100

Does it show up in the BIOS at all ? Those older systems have issues trying to boot from pcie

[kojack]

No, it doesn't. When I open up the loader for the software, it shows there but not in boot.  Could I use a eSata drive pluged into the back of the unit to run the OS?  I am trying to keep the 4 drives for storage only.

[Aaron44126]

If the system came with an eSATA port (i.e. it is not being added by an expansion card), something attached there "should" show up like any other SATA drive and be bootable.

 

(This is bringing me back to the days of trying to boot off of SATA expansion cards in like 2005.  I had to select the BIOS option to boot a RAID card in order to boot a drive attached to a SATA expansion card.)

 

You might also be able to boot off of just a USB drive, like a flash drive or USB hard drive.  Most BIOS allow this, and while Windows doesn't like to do it, Linux-type OS's typically have no problem.

[Reciever]

57 minutes ago, kojack said:

No, it doesn't. When I open up the loader for the software, it shows there but not in boot.  Could I use a eSata drive pluged into the back of the unit to run the OS?  I am trying to keep the 4 drives for storage only.

NVME ? likely not, wrong protocol

[kojack]

14 hours ago, Reciever said:

NVME ? likely not, wrong protocol

Sorry, I am posing two completely different setups.  

 

1. the drive on the PCI-E card is the small SSD that came in my dell notebook.  I bought the card to install the ssd in the open PCI slot on the motherboard.

 

2. the Esata port on the back of the system is showing in the bios.  So if I get a hard drive/ssd in an external case and plug in there, can I run the OS off that?

 

There are 4 hotswap HDD in my server and that's what I want to use for storage only, no OS if at all possible.

 

Sorry for the confusion. 

[Custom90gt]

Ahh can you post the model numbers for the SSD and the PCIE adapter?

[kojack]

On 12/1/2023 at 3:38 PM, Custom90gt said:

Ahh can you post the model numbers for the SSD and the PCIE adapter?

I will get them this morning after we get straightened away for the day.  I have to pull the case off the system. 

[Mr. Fox]

I read through all of the posts and I'm still not clear. Let me know if this is accurate.

 

• You have an NVMe M.2 that was pulled from a Dell laptop.
• You are attempting to use it on an Acer AC100 server and it is not recognized in the Acer's BIOS.
• The NMVe M.2 is installed in a PCIe expansion card designed to accommodate an M.2 PCIe (not M.2 SATA) SSD.

Correct?

 

Have you already tried using DIskpart to run a clean command on the NVMe? If you boot from a Windows installation USB media and run Diskpart from a command prompt (Shift+F10) and run the list disk command does Diskpart identify it? Sometimes running a clean command will make an NVMe that is not visible in the BIOS become visible. I'm not sure exactly why. If the drive is not visible using Diskpart then either the PCIe M.2 SSD, the PCIe card or the PCIe slot is having an issue. Do you have another PCIe M.2 you can test in the expansion card to see if it is visible in the BIOS?

 

You cannot select a data drive in the BIOS as a boot drive or choose it from a boot priority menu until is has an OS boot sector or a bootable EFI partition installed on it because it is not a bootable drive (yet). But, if TrueNAS setup sees it and allows you to install to it, it should then become available to select as the boot drive at that point because it has become a bootable drive. If it is the only bootable drive installed, then the BIOS will most likely configure itself to boot from it without any need for manual configuration.

 

Can you post a photo of the PCIe M.2 expansion card? Or, a link to the product listing from when you purchased it?

[kojack]

On 12/4/2023 at 3:50 PM, Mr. Fox said:

I read through all of the posts and I'm still not clear. Let me know if this is accurate.

 

• You have an NVMe M.2 that was pulled from a Dell laptop.
• You are attempting to use it on an Acer AC100 server and it is not recognized in the Acer's BIOS.
• The NMVe M.2 is installed in a PCIe expansion card designed to accommodate an M.2 PCIe (not M.2 SATA) SSD.

Correct?

 

Have you already tried using DIskpart to run a clean command on the NVMe? If you boot from a Windows installation USB media and run Diskpart from a command prompt (Shift+F10) and run the list disk command does Diskpart identify it? Sometimes running a clean command will make an NVMe that is not visible in the BIOS become visible. I'm not sure exactly why. If the drive is not visible using Diskpart then either the PCIe M.2 SSD, the PCIe card or the PCIe slot is having an issue. Do you have another PCIe M.2 you can test in the expansion card to see if it is visible in the BIOS?

 

You cannot select a data drive in the BIOS as a boot drive or choose it from a boot priority menu until is has an OS boot sector or a bootable EFI partition installed on it because it is not a bootable drive (yet). But, if TrueNAS setup sees it and allows you to install to it, it should then become available to select as the boot drive at that point because it has become a bootable drive. If it is the only bootable drive installed, then the BIOS will most likely configure itself to boot from it without any need for manual configuration.

 

Can you post a photo of the PCIe M.2 expansion card? Or, a link to the product listing from when you purchased it?

 

I have not tried diskpart (I don't think).  I basically formatted the drive, created the boot usb from TrueNAS website, and then did the "installation" on the ssd. 

 

This is the Card I am using.  Thanks for the help!

 

GLOTRENDS M.2 PCIe NVMe 4.0/3.0 Adapter with M.2 Heatsink for M.2 PCIe SSD (NVMe and AHCI), PCIE X 4 Full Speed, Desktop PC Installation (PA09-HS) : Amazon.ca: Electronics

[Mr. Fox]

On 11/28/2023 at 11:45 AM, kojack said:

No, it doesn't. When I open up the loader for the software, it shows there but not in boot.  Could I use a eSata drive pluged into the back of the unit to run the OS?  I am trying to keep the 4 drives for storage only.

I'm not familiar with the options available in your BIOS, but what you describe sounds as if the PCIE slot itself is not being initialized during POST. Have you already poked around for options to designate the slot the card is installed in as being bootable? You may have to choose between that slot or eSATA, for example. 

4 hours ago, kojack said:

 

I have not tried diskpart (I don't think).  I basically formatted the drive, created the boot usb from TrueNAS website, and then did the "installation" on the ssd. 

 

This is the Card I am using.  Thanks for the help!

 

GLOTRENDS M.2 PCIe NVMe 4.0/3.0 Adapter with M.2 Heatsink for M.2 PCIe SSD (NVMe and AHCI), PCIE X 4 Full Speed, Desktop PC Installation (PA09-HS) : Amazon.ca: Electronics

That card should work nicely. I have several like it.

 

The fact that the drive is visible once you load windows and you can install TrueNAS to it, but it does not show during POST suggests a BIOS configuration option is either missing or not toggled for it to become bootable.

 

If you have Secure Boot enabled that could also be complicating matters. You would need to register it in Secure Boot as a boot device if the device supports it. I do not know if TrueNAS supports it. You can try disabling Secure Boot if it is enabled. At least for troubleshooting.

 

Secure Boot introduces numerous functionality complications and this may be a manifestation of one of them. Everything works out better for me and there are fewer headaches to deal with it when it is disabled.

[kojack]

4 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

I'm not familiar with the options available in your BIOS, but what you describe sounds as if the PCIE slot itself is not being initialized during POST. Have you already poked around for options to designate the slot the card is installed in as being bootable? You may have to choose between that slot or eSATA, for example. 

That card should work nicely. I have several like it.

 

The fact that the drive is visible once you load windows and you can install TrueNAS to it, but it does not show during POST suggests a BIOS configuration option is either missing or not toggled for it to become bootable.

 

If you have Secure Boot enabled that could also be complicating matters. You would need to register it in Secure Boot as a boot device if the device supports it. I do not know if TrueNAS supports it. You can try disabling Secure Boot if it is enabled. At least for troubleshooting.

 

Secure Boot introduces numerous functionality complications and this may be a manifestation of one of them. Everything works out better for me and there are fewer headaches to deal with it when it is disabled.

When the wife is at work tomorrow, I will crack open the system again and see what I can come up with UEFI and secure boot is enabled I do believe. 

[Mr. Fox]

1 hour ago, kojack said:

When the wife is at work tomorrow, I will crack open the system again and see what I can come up with UEFI and secure boot is enabled I do believe. 

If may be as simple as needing to register it in Secure Boot or disabling Secure Boot so it will work. I hope so.

 

You can run in UEFI mode with no CSM support with Secure Boot disabled just fine. I do that on all of my system because Secure Boot will prevent certain types of Windows software from functioning and often does not play nice with Linux. It also was not supported by Windows 7 and I was still using Windows 7 until I could no longer get working drivers (4090 and Arc A770 have no drivers). 

[Custom90gt]

Did you ever figure this out?

[kojack]

On 12/11/2023 at 5:59 PM, Custom90gt said:

Did you ever figure this out?

Not yet. I have been super busy with other things in life. I am hoping to get the little job I have to today, and get at it and see if I can get working.  I will report back when I get the system back on the kitchen island and setup ha ha.