©ASUSTEK COMPUTER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Angry_Pirate · ‎08-23-2015

I feel like I've read every post on google on this matter and still have had no success at loading windows 7 UEFI on a usb stick to the SM951. Any help or ideas would be greatly apperciated! Here are some of the steps I have tried so far:

The Motherboard came out of the box with BIOS 1103 and the SM951 showed up after I plugged it in. After no success at installing windows 7 in UEFI I updated the bios to 1401, 1502 and 1601 after that the SM951 can no longer be seen in the bios. When I try to install Windows the SM951 is listed but its says windows cannot be installed to this drive due to bios settings. I have formatted the drive created partitions and still no luck.

I've tried many different settings in the bios as listed in the forum posts I have read (ide, raid, Secure boot,CSM switching from auto to M.2 in the pch configuration, clearing cmos) I have tried many different bios releases and the drive still doesn't show up in bios but if I try to go back to 1103 that was downloaded from the Asus site it won't load and says it's not a compatible bios.

I also removed and reinstalled the SM951 before and after updating the bios that also didn't change anything.

I did install windows to my Samsung 850 SSD and the SM951 shows up in my computer and I can transfer data to it so I don't believe it's a hardware issue. But I didn't purchase the SM951 for storage it's useless to me if I can't run my OS off it.

Should I try removing 1 or 2 of the video cards or installing windows 8.1 instead?

I can't help but wonder if I'm missing something simple here. Thanks for any help or ideas!

Menthol · ‎08-23-2015

Is your SM951 an AHCI or Nvme version? If it is the Nvme version you may need bios 1502 or 1601. Do you have a CD/DVD drive? There several guides to install windows on a USB drive for UEFI install around the web and on these forums here. I have installed both Win 7 and 8.1 on my SM951 AHCI drive on the RVE without changing anything in the bios from a USB stick and from a USB CD/DVD drive. You don't have a Video card in the bottom pcie slot do you? You can only have a 4xpcie card in the bottom slot as it shares lanes with the M.2 slot. You don't need to remove Video cards as you can switch them off with the pcie lane switch on the upper right hand corner of the motherboard. If you have the option to boot your USB drive as UEFI you should be good to install from it, otherwise you can install from a CD/DVD drive in UEFI

Angry_Pirate · ‎08-23-2015

Menthol wrote:
Is your SM951 an AHCI or Nvme version? If it is the Nvme version you may need bios 1502 or 1601. Do you have a CD/DVD drive? There several guides to install windows on a USB drive for UEFI install around the web and on these forums here. I have installed both Win 7 and 8.1 on my SM951 AHCI drive on the RVE without changing anything in the bios from a USB stick and from a USB CD/DVD drive. You don't have a Video card in the bottom pcie slot do you? You can only have a 4xpcie card in the bottom slot as it shares lanes with the M.2 slot. You don't need to remove Video cards as you can switch them off with the pcie lane switch on the upper right hand corner of the motherboard. If you have the option to boot your USB drive as UEFI you should be good to install from it, otherwise you can install from a CD/DVD drive in UEFI

Thanks for your reply, My Sm951 is the ACHI version. I do have a DVD/CD drive and have tried installing that route and unplugging it completly.

I used Chino's guide to to try to install and have tried to install on a formatted FAT32 USB stick in UEFI mode but couldn't get my DVD drive to show up as UEFI.

No video card in the bottom PCI slot it's empty. I should've known that abou the PCI lane switch :-).

I can get to the install of windows but it lists the drive and tells me I cannot install windows on this drive due to the bios settings. I have tried multiple bios settings with no results. But since it doesn't show in the bios after I updated the bios I think that may have something to do with it. I'll keep working away at it

Vlada011 · ‎08-23-2015

Yes need to change some settings and to format USB before that with rufus. (MBR Partition Scheme for BIOS or UEFI CSM.
But SM951 must be visible in BIOS before installation OS. I had problem before installation OS from USB to SSD too.
And need to change some options in Boot Device - UEFI Only.

Angry_Pirate · ‎08-23-2015

I will try with Rufus I haven't tried that yet. I did change the boot to UEFI only but I had other settings changed also so I will try to just chage that setting. Thanks!

skypine27 · ‎08-23-2015

Sorry OP, I cant help you exactly because I originally installed Windows 8.1 (never used Win 7) onto the Samsung XP941 (also an m2 drive, the predecessor to the SM951). When I got my SM951, I made a drive image of the XP941 using free backup software, and then I booted from a USB recovery drive and copied the XP image over to the new SM951. Worked fine and windows 8.1 booted like a champ.

But this is the install guide I used originally for installing Win 8.1 onto the XP941:
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?53091-Rampage-V-Extreme-M-2-Setup-And-Windows-Installation...

This was the important part:
Should I install Windows in UEFI mode or legacy mode?
For Plextor M6e owners, you can go with either install. Nevertheless a UEFI installation would be ideal since you get faster boot up times, better integration with hardware and a few extra features.

For Samsung XP941 owners, you're stucked with UEFI. Since the UEFI driver is embedded into the firmware itself, you will have no problems installing in this mode. The problem arises when you want to do a legacy installation because it requires a driver to be loaded during the installation process. With the XP941 being an OEM product, there are no drivers available to install in legacy mode.

How do I install Windows in UEFI mode?
As soon as the ASUS logo pops up during post, spam the F8 key. You will then be presented with a window to choose your boot device. Select your installation media that has the UEFI prefix.

Once I did that, I had no problems. You should try that out. Also, forget win 7. If its giving you problems, step up to win 8.1 or 10

*CPU: Intel 10980XE @ 5.0 ghz (by Core usage) w/ EK monoblock
*Mobo: Asus Rampage VIE
*RAM: 64GB DDR4 3000 G.Skill TridentZ
*Graphics: Gigabite 3090 Waterforce
*Monitor: Dell Alienware AW3418DW @ 120hz
*Storage OS: Samsung SM970 Pro (2TB) Windows 10
*Storage Games Internal: 4TB 850 EVO RAID0
*Storage Extermal: 48TB Raid0 (External USB 3.1 Box)
*Case/PSU: Thermaltake V71 TG/RGB + 3 Rads (120mm, 360mm, 420mm) + Corsair AX1200i PSU

Angry_Pirate · ‎08-23-2015

Thank you! This is the guide I used to install but I've tried several since so I'll give this one a shot again. I'll try Windows 8.1 and see if the results are different.

I feel like if I could roll back to BIOS 1103 when the bios originally saw the SM951in the bot list I could get this to go btu I've downloaded it twice and both times I try to rollback and flash the bios it syas it's not a useable bios. I will try to search for BIOS 1103 from another source or go even older to see if the 951 shows back up.

Dumb question: If I pull the battery out of the Mobo wil it restore the bios to the original? At this point I'm willing to stand on my head if it helps. I've been battling this since Wednesday.

Thanks!

Thanks!

GoNz0- · ‎08-23-2015

Angry_Pirate wrote:
Thank you! This is the guide I used to install but I've tried several since so I'll give this one a shot again. I'll try Windows 8.1 and see if the results are different.

I feel like if I could roll back to BIOS 1103 when the bios originally saw the SM951in the bot list I could get this to go btu I've downloaded it twice and both times I try to rollback and flash the bios it syas it's not a useable bios. I will try to search for BIOS 1103 from another source or go even older to see if the 951 shows back up.

Dumb question: If I pull the battery out of the Mobo wil it restore the bios to the original? At this point I'm willing to stand on my head if it helps. I've been battling this since Wednesday.

Thanks!

Thanks!

swap BIOS to BIOS2, that will be original unless you changed it.

The latest modded R5E BIOS can be found at win-raid by clicking this sig

Angry_Pirate · ‎08-23-2015

GoNz0- wrote:
swap BIOS to BIOS2, that will be original unless you changed it.

Alright I switched to bios 2 now the sm951 is showing back up in the bios. I created a UEFI Bootable usb with windows 7 and set it as primary boot. Now when I reset it goes straight to the bios. I changed on board devices to m 2 from auto, changed csm boot to pci to uefi drivers first, and tried secure boot in both Windows uefi and other os.

I'm going to go back through Chino's guide and try it again to make sure I didn't miss any steps.

If that doesn't work I'm going to try windows 8.1 next.

Angry_Pirate · ‎08-24-2015

Windows 8.1 did it thanks for the help!

* Help!* Samsung SM951 M.2 windows 7 install Rampage V extreme