Asus Rampage 6 Encore Motherboard with the Intel 10980xe wont detect my onboard 2 tb western Digital m.2 drives

[HIGHLANDER58]

I just finished building my computer with the Asus Rampage 6 Encore Motherboard, Intel 10980xe processor,32 gigs Corsair Dominator 3600mhz ddr4 memory, Asus Radeon 6900xt video card and 4 onboard micro ssds. I am using a Samsung 1 tb 970 evo nvme drive in the top slot as my system drive and the motherboard detects it okay. In the lower slot I have a 2tb western digital micro ssd and then 2 more 2tb western digital on the add on dimm card by the DDR4 memory slot. None of the western digital drives are being detected in bios and I have tried every setting I dare try with absolutely no luck. Could someone please tell me exactly what needs to be set to what value in bios in order for my onboard drives to be detected. Thank you

 

[Caring1]

If you are using Windows install that on your primary drive before installing any others, then install the other drives and look in Disk Management to format the new drives and allocate.
Hopefully that works.

 

[HIGHLANDER58]

If you are using Windows install that on your primary drive before installing any others, then install the other drives and look in Disk Management to format the new drives and allocate.
Hopefully that works.

Hi, I have tried that. The issue is only my Samsung 970 is showing in bios and when I load windows onto it, it is the only drive that shows up in disk management. Since the motherboard was new, everything in bios came disabled and it seems that something has to be either turned on or configured in bios and I have tried everything I can think of, all that happens is I could make the Samsung drive also not show in bios but I just cant make the other ones show up. I am totally lost as to what course to proceed. I am hoping someone here has or had the same issue and was able to properly set up the bios.

 

[HIGHLANDER58]

Hi, I posted the huge issue I am having with my motherboard not detecting 3 of my onboard sata drives on my Asus Rampage Extreme 6 Encore and it appears that no one here knows what do you either but I really need to get this thing sorted out so is there anyone here that knows exactly how to contact Asus technical support. I have read that it can be a nightmare to actually get a hold of someone to talk too but it seems I have no choice. I also tried posting my issue in other forums with the same pointless results so I figure since Asus designed and built this board, they of all people should have the answers I require. I have spend hours a day for several days trying various bios settings and no matter what I try, nothing works or with some settings it does not even boot and I am not comfortable what so ever screwing around in bios, I never was. So if anyone here knows a direct way of getting a hold of someone from Asus, Please let me.

 

[duynguyenle]

I think you just managed to answer your own question with your most recent post.

You said SATA drives, indicating that at least one (possibly all) of your WD M.2 drives are SATA mode devices. Were you aware that only one of the M.2 slots on your motherboard supports SATA mode? I recommend you check your motherboard manual, page 1-19. Where it clearly states that only M.2_1 slot supports the use of a SATA device. All remaining slots must use PCIe drives.

I strongly recommend testing your WD drives by testing each with the one slot that allows SATA drives.

My best guess is that you bought the SATA drives not knowing you can't use them. If that is the case (and if they test fine using the M.2_1 slot) then I suggest you return them and buy actual PCIe NVME drives, which should work just fine.

 

[neopolaris]

Contacting ASUS is just a matter of going to the ASUS website and registering your board. I assume you have to do that before anything else. I know this because I'm currently trying to replicate a crash on my second machine. The video card is ASUS.
Anyways, I'm not certain about the rules on posting links here, so go to the asus site /support. I hope you have the SN handy. It's usually on the back of the mobo.

 

[HIGHLANDER58]

I think you just managed to answer your own question with your most recent post.

You said SATA drives, indicating that at least one (possibly all) of your WD M.2 drives are SATA mode devices. Were you aware that only one of the M.2 slots on your motherboard supports SATA mode? I recommend you check your motherboard manual, page 1-19. Where it clearly states that only M.2_1 slot supports the use of a SATA device. All remaining slots must use PCIe drives.

I strongly recommend testing your WD drives by testing each with the one slot that allows SATA drives.

My best guess is that you bought the SATA drives not knowing you can't use them. If that is the case (and if they test fine using the M.2_1 slot) then I suggest you return them and buy actual PCIe NVME drives, which should work just fine.

Hi, The drive in the upper motherboard slot is the Samsung 970 evo nvme 1TB drive and that one is recognized in bios and loads windows onto it with no issues. Then the drive in the lower motherboard slot is a western Digital BLUE 2TB m.2 drive and it isnt recognized in bios. I have two more of the Western Digital 2TB m.2 drives on the removable Dimm card and they also are not recognized and when I plug the Dimm card into the motherboard, red led lights come on them. Do you have any idea how to make any of the Western Digital 2TB drives show up? Thank you

 

[duynguyenle]

Hi, The drive in the upper motherboard slot is the Samsung 970 evo nvme 1TB drive and that one is recognized in bios and loads windows onto it with no issues. Then the drive in the lower motherboard slot is a western Digital BLUE 2TB m.2 drive and it isnt recognized in bios. I have two more of the Western Digital 2TB m.2 drives on the removable Dimm card and they also are not recognized and when I plug the Dimm card into the motherboard, red led lights come on them. Do you have any idea how to make any of the Western Digital 2TB drives show up? Thank you

Like I said, if they're SATA mode drives, then the only slot they will work in is the top slot (closest to your CPU).

 

[HIGHLANDER58]

Like I said, if they're SATA mode drives, then the only slot they will work in is the top slot (closest to your CPU).

Ok Thank you, although my video card cooling lines will make this extremely difficult, I will see if I am able to try and swap the drives. All the western Digital drives are Sata I believe.

I think you just managed to answer your own question with your most recent post.

You said SATA drives, indicating that at least one (possibly all) of your WD M.2 drives are SATA mode devices. Were you aware that only one of the M.2 slots on your motherboard supports SATA mode? I recommend you check your motherboard manual, page 1-19. Where it clearly states that only M.2_1 slot supports the use of a SATA device. All remaining slots must use PCIe drives.

I strongly recommend testing your WD drives by testing each with the one slot that allows SATA drives.

My best guess is that you bought the SATA drives not knowing you can't use them. If that is the case (and if they test fine using the M.2_1 slot) then I suggest you return them and buy actual PCIe NVME drives, which should work just fine.

The answer to your earlier question is,no,I had no clue that only one slot will support sata,I simply thought I could use the Samsung 970 as my system drive since its by far the fastest and then use the 3 2TB Western Digital m.2 Sata drives as onboard storage.
Do you know of a good brand of adapter I could buy that would allow me to plug these Western Digital drives into it and then into the sata ports on the motherboard to use as regular Sata drives? Thank You.

 

[duynguyenle]

Something like this should work: https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-2-5in-SATA-Adapter-Converter/dp/B00ITJ7U20/

 

[HIGHLANDER58]

Yes that looks exactly the part I need, Thank You, I have one question about it though, my Western digital drives have the ends where there are a few pins, a slot and then the long row of pins followed by another slot and then a few more pins. This photo shows only room for only one side of slot from the sdd. I hope you understand what I am attempting to ask. Do I need to find a holder/adapter that will allow a 2 slot m.2 sdd to plug in?

 

[duynguyenle]

What you mean is that your M.2 is 'B+M' keyed. And no you don't need any additional adapters. The Startech adapter I linked should work out of the box. The additional pins in the second 'slot' in the M.2 fingers are simply not used.

More information on M.2 connector keying here https://www.atpinc.com/blog/what-is-m.2-M-B-BM-key-socket-3