CPU and motherboard just installed—BIOS isn't recognizing any storage devices.
CPU and motherboard just installed—BIOS isn't recognizing any storage devices.
I’ll start by noting that I’m not very experienced with PC construction. Previously, my partner helped me put everything together. Now, since my friend is away this summer, I had to handle the upgrade myself. I installed a fresh motherboard and CPU. I managed to get everything set up as well as possible, and the system boots and loads into the BIOS. But it doesn’t recognize my boot drive. On the BIOS screen, it shows both M.2 drives and one SATA drive, but not the Windows installation. I should mention that I didn’t specify which SATA slot each drive was connected to on the motherboard, only that slots 2, 3, and 4 were used, so I matched them accordingly on the new board. The motherboard I used is a Gigabyte Z690 AORUS ELITE AX DDR4.
You might have disabled a SATA port by using one of the M.2 NVMe connections. Check your manual. Four M.2 ports exist, but you’re still using the one that shares with the SATA controller. Since SATA reaches 600MBps, read/write speeds are limited. NVMe Gen4 is significantly faster—Gen3 is about ten times quicker, and Gen4 is over tenfold. If you only have Gen3, it’s still five times faster. For better performance, install Windows on the NVMe drive in the first slot; it should be Gen4. Disconnect all drives except the top one, then mount the remaining M.2 drive in the second or third slot. Afterward, connect the other drive and mount it in the next available slot. Knowing your system drive location will help later.
Hey there, thanks for the reply. I wanted windows on the SATA SSD because I wanted to reserve the faster M2 drives for games. But, I'll definitely check which ports are disabled. I inserted the M2 drives into what looked like the first 2 slots (left to right).
That sounds similar to crafting a high-performance machine... since you rely solely on SATA for your main storage, you’d discard the premium V10 and swap in a powerful 4B engine. For loading programs for PrGames, I usually have two NVMe drives in a RAID 0 configuration as the system drive, while keeping fast games on SSDs due to their ample space. The rest of the titles reside on SSDs. However, I prioritize quick boot times and rapid program launches—it all depends on what’s available. If your CPU and RAM are correctly installed, place it in the lower two slots. Typically, the IO output panel is at the back, the CPU side up top, and PCIe ports at the bottom. 24-pin connectors are on the front or right side. The fastest M.2 slots near the CPU are ideal. I didn’t verify your setup, but most Z690 boards support Gen4. For Windows installation, consider Gen4 drives; if not, save your work and use the next two. The final drive is managed by the chipset and isn’t directly controlled by the CPU. That’s why it often shares bandwidth with the SATA controller on the same chipset. You can proceed, but keep in mind that future SATA ports may become outdated.
All functions rely on your primary storage device. Even applications on a separate drive. For optimal speed, your system should run on the fastest available drive.