Dell Latitude not recognizing M.2 PCIe SSD

I thought that I would get cute and purchase an M.2 PCIe and install it after purchasing the Latitude E5570. It has been a hassle from the start because I didn't realize that the system doesn't come with the bracket that holds the PCIe down against the motherboard. I figured that there would be a screw hold and just plug in and screw down. Not so. You have to buy a special bracket part, and naturally not even Dell knew the part number since this is a relatively new system.

Now that I have the PCIe in place and want to install Windows 10, I'm having more problems. I have an ISO on a USB and am booting to it on startup. But when I get to the Windows 10 screen, the PCIe isn't recognized and it's not showing up on the listdisk. Interestingly, when I initially put in the PCIe and turned on the system, the Setup immediately recognized the PCIe and the 16 GB of RAM that I also installed.

Am I missing something obvious to get up and running here? I have done this before with SSDs but never M.2 PCIe

 

Might this help?

John

 

Yes, thank you. I went through the instructions, though it's Supermicro Server, not a Dell Latitude. The BIOS changes can be pretty much aligned. Looking through the BIOS and devices, I can see that the Dell does indeed recognize the PCIe, right down to the manufacturer and serial number.

For some reason, when I go to install Windows, the Latitude just can't see it's there.

EDIT: A Dell "Expert" is telling me that this system requires an mSATA. That confuses me because I'm well aware that the PCIe is bootable. Maybe this is a limitation of the motherboard?

If that were true, why then does Dell offer the following options for customizing a new e5570:


Hard Drive


1TB 7mm 5.4krpm HD


Help Me Choose



1TB 7mm 5.4krpm HD [Included in Price]


500GB 7mm 7.2krpm HD [subtract $42.00]


512GB Solid State Drive M2 2280 SATA3 [add $364.00]


256GB Solid State Drive M2 2280 SATA3 [add $140.00]


128GB Solid State Drive M2 2280 SATA3 [add $35.00]


256GB Solid State Drive M2 2280 PCIe [add $224.00]


512GB Solid State Drive M2 2280 PCIe [add $420.00]


Intel 180GB M.2 SATA Solid State Drive [add $84.00]

I believe that the 512GB SSD M2 PCIe that Dell offers is identical to the one that I purchased separately....

So I'm still stuck.

 

I would check the innumerable BIOS options. Maybe try moving the PCIe drive to the top of the list if that is possible. I presume you have no other drive connected when you are trying to do the Windows installation.

It's possible that there's a switch somewhere to make Windows realise that there is PCIe drive in the M.2 slot and not SATA, since the slot supports both (although this should be sorted out automatically at the BIOS level).

Initially I wondered whether Windows 10 didn't have a driver to support PCIe, but I think it has. It might be informative running the Windows installer console and see if it detects the drive.

John

 

Right, so I'm trying to sort out how to move it to the top of the list, so to speak.

In the BIOS system information, under device information, I see:

Primary Hard Drive = {none}
SATA-0 = {none}
M.2 PCIe SSD-0 = (serial number of my PCIe)
Dock eSATA device = {none}

Boot Sequence
I have UEFI: SanDisk Partition 1 checked
Then under Boot List Option, I have Legacy unchecked, UEFI checked

In System Configuration, I have these options:
SATA-0 checked
SATA-2 checked
SATA-3 checked
M.2 PCIe SSD-0 checked

I suppose I could try toggling the SATA to unchecked?

Secure boot is enabled

That's really what I see as far as the hard drive in the BIO.

 

When I boot to the USB, I select English, select US, click Troubleshoot, and click Recover from a Drive. I get this message:
"Unable to reset your PC. The system drive cannot be found."

If I go to Reset this PC and click "remove everything", I get this message:
"Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing."

When I go to "Advanced options" I get six options. System Restore (1), Go back to previous build (6) are not really applicable. Command prompt (4) lists only the USB when I call up listdisk. System image recovery (2) wants a backup hard drive. UEFI Firmware Settings (5) sends me back to the BIOS. Startup repair (3) just reboots back to the Choose the language screen.

 

Secureboot needs to be disabled when installing an OS then re-enable it afterwards.

See if that fixes the problem. If it doesn't, do some research on what settings are needed for a UEFI machine when installing Windows.

John

 

What drive did you have before and what OS? You might be able to install Win10 on your HDD/SSD, then clone ug to the M.2 drive, remove the HDD/SSD, and eeboot.

 

Thank you. I tried that and it unfortunately made no difference. I think that I will try a newer build of Windows 10.

 

You may have to give me some advice on this. The Latitude came with a Seagate 500GB 7200RPM SATA 6Gbps 2.5-inch HDD. It was supposed to have Windows 10 Pro preloaded, but it's actually Windows 7 Pro. The OEM disk that I have is Windows 10 Pro.

It is physically impossible to have the HDD and the PCIe in the same machine. Dell did not make the bay area large enough to fit both of them. I'm kind of reluctant to operate the machine with the case open the hardware exposed to a short. This machine does not come with an optical drive and I do not have access to one.

How do I accomplish this task?