MSI GE73 vs. 2 SSDs

[Gwyn]

Dear all. Recently I have encountered the following problem.
I bought a Crucial P5 M.2 2280 SSD drive, and after installing it in my laptop (MSI GE73 Raider RGB 8RF) the Windows doesn't boot, with just the BIOS window popping up. The deal is that once I install the new additional drive in the free socket, the first one that has the OS on it disappears from the bios menu (as if the port gets disabled by the motherboard when the additional drive is attached or smth). Thus, the factory Kingston SSD 120Gb that the laptop has is inaccessible when the new one is equipped. The laptop manual doesn't give any explicit installation and troubleshooting guidelines, telling the customers to consult authorized retailer or service centers. The SSD is fully operational, it shows up in the storage information menu in Bios (find the BIOS screenshots attached), and it's also compatible with the laptop (listed in the following link: https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/msi-(micro-star)/ge73-raider-rgb-8rf). Along with the 120 Gb SSD, the laptop also has 1Tb HDD installed. Could anyone advise me how to make the drive work? I suspect it has something to do with the RST technology (maybe, I'll have to setup raid mode somehow), or the fact that the first drive is set in SATA mode, while the new M.2 operates in NVMe mode... Anyways, thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Caring1]

Is the NVME going to be used for storage or as the boot drive?

 

[Gwyn]

I was planning to use the new drive solely as an additional storage device, keeping my OS on the older SSD.

 

[Gwyn]

Could anyone please help? I cannot afford the time to waste on this issue, and I need to decide whether these two SSDs are compatible and can work together or I should return the new SSD (or buy one more M.2 PCIe to replace the older M.2 SATA drive (the first slot is a combined SATA/PCIe), so to have both M.2 PCIe drives, maybe that's the issue). The techsupport isn't much help yet.
On a side note, I have installed W10 on the new drive, hoping to detect the old ssd through Disk Management, but obviously, it didn't show anything other than my HDD and the new SSD, since the M.2 SATA port appears to be disabled in BIOS when the new PCIe drive is on... And there are no other slots accessible, so I can't place it somewhere else. I went through some BIOS setting looking for something that might help, and there are a couple of setting that caught my eye, maybe, I need to toggle something out of those?

 

[yotano211]

Put everything on the GE73 bios to default. I had the same model laptop last year. I filled all my slots with SSDs or HDs. Maybe the SSD you have went bad. One time I had x2 samsung 970 on both slots, it worked on the ge73 that I had.

 

[Gwyn]

Yeah, I did that, all the BIOS settings are in default, and my old drive works fine as well, unless I plug the new one in the second slot... You had two identical SSDs, maybe that's why they worked fine (two PCIe, I suppose), but my old drive in the first combined slot is M.2 SATA, and the new one is PCIe, that's why I thought of buying a new PCIe P2 Crucial (250 Gb) to replace the old one and have two PCIe drives.

 

[yotano211]

I did once had the 970 and in the other slot an intel 660p that I'm currently using on a MSI ge75 model. Both are nvme drives.

Maybe try with advanced bios.
The ge73 might have advanced bios.
At the BIOS screen Hold ALT, Hold Right Control, Hold Shift, And Press F2 while holding those 3 buttons, Advanced Menu will show up.

 

[Gwyn]

Yes, I did access the advanced mode in BIOS, that's basically the reason why I was able to put up the screenshots above, these are advanced mode settings. What should I be looking for?...

 

[yotano211]

Yes, I did access the advanced mode in BIOS, that's basically the reason why I was able to put up the screenshots above, these are advanced mode settings. What should I be looking for?...

I dont really know what to look for. The bios settings on the ge75-9sg are alot different.
Is there anyway you have another laptop or friend so that you can test out the SSD if its working correctly. I've gotten bad SSDs in the past.

 

[Gwyn]

I already installed W10 on the new drive and I managed to boot the system from it, it works perfectly fine, but the old one disappears from the BIOS when I use it, as if it's not there anymore. Once I pull out the new drive, the old one appears again, and I can boot the system on it as usual, it's just I can't use them both, only either of them can work...

 

[Caring1]

Might be related to different formats used in the boot sectors of the drives.
If you have already installed W10 on the NVMe drive, remove that and format the Sata drive, it should then appear once the NVMe is reinserted.

 

[Gwyn]

Well, I formatted the SATA drive and reinstalled W10 on it, then added the new drive, set the default BIOS settings again, and still no luck... The laptop boots from the new drive, which also has a W10 installed, but the old drive still disappears from BIOS menu...

 

[yotano211]

Go into disk management and format the drive. Maybe its not formatted so it wont show.

 

[Gwyn]

Not sure if I haven't stressed that enough. When two SSDs are plugged in, the old M.2 SATA drive, where I had my OS initially since I bought the laptop, practically DISAPPEARS, both in BIOS and in Windows, I cannot access it in any way, and the laptop recognizes only, and only the new SSD, which is PCIe/NVMe P5 Crucial, where I also installed a W10 using a flash drive just to see if it's working and not damaged or something. So, only ONE SSD works when both are plugged in, namely, the new one, which is PCIe. When I enter the Disk Management window in the OS that's installed on the new drive, the old Kingston SSD 128 Gb does not appear there either, except for the 1Tb HDD and this new SSD I booted the system from. So I can't format or do anything with the old drive, it's just "not there" unless I unplug the new drive from the second PCIe slot.

 

[yotano211]

Then I dont know what to say, only thing I can say is go over to notebookreview.com forums and ask in the MSI section. I've never heard of an issue like yours.

 

[Caring1]

Well, I formatted the SATA drive and reinstalled W10 on it, then added the new drive, set the default BIOS settings again, and still no luck... The laptop boots from the new drive, which also has a W10 installed, but the old drive still disappears from BIOS menu...

The whole point of formatting the Sata drive as I suggested, was so it was empty and unformated when you installed the NVMe drive, to see if it would then appear.
You went in a circle installing W10 on it again, then replacing the new drive back into the system.

 

[Gwyn]

Tried that too, and no, still nothing... When both drives are inserted, and the first one is just formatted, the system still boots from the new drive and the SATA doesn't appear anywhere.
I hope that the support line will help me somehow, otherwise I have absolutely no idea what to do. I ordered one more Crucial M.2 NVMe drive to replace the old one (https://www.crucial.com/ssd/p2/ct250p2ssd8/ct17270988), it could be that two drives can't work together if one is a M.2 SATA and the other one is M.2 NVMe. Or maybe a group of BIOS settings is responsible for making two drives run together.

 

[louspawn]

Tried that too, and no, still nothing... When both drives are inserted, and the first one is just formatted, the system still boots from the new drive and the SATA doesn't appear anywhere.
I hope that the support line will help me somehow, otherwise I have absolutely no idea what to do. I ordered one more Crucial M.2 NVMe drive to replace the old one (https://www.crucial.com/ssd/p2/ct250p2ssd8/ct17270988), it could be that two drives can't work together if one is a M.2 SATA and the other one is M.2 NVMe. Or maybe a group of BIOS settings is responsible for making two drives run together.

Hello, I am having the exact same issue but with an MSI Ge63. Did you manage to find a solution or is it just impossible to have them both? Thanks!