Missing NVME support on MSI A320M Pro-VH with A320M-A BIOS setup
Missing NVME support on MSI A320M Pro-VH with A320M-A BIOS setup
I purchased a brand new MSI A320M Pro-VH motherboard. The model number listed on the box is MS-7C52 v1.2. Initially, everything seemed okay after four months of use. However, when I connected an NVMe drive and inserted it into the M.2 slot, it didn’t appear in the BIOS or on the Windows boot media. I checked the drive directly—it worked. It appears to be a Kingston NV2 1TB. I have two units; one was plugged into a PCIe adapter and displayed on another system (an Intel i3 2nd gen). It showed up in the Windows Disk Partition Manager troubleshooting tools. I cleaned the port, tried another drive, updated the BIOS via M-Flash, but nothing changed. The error message kept appearing: “the bios you selected is not for this MB.” I looked up the current BIOS version and saw it was E7C51AMS.171, which doesn’t match the Pro-VH version. This suggests a compatibility issue. The A320M-A PRO does not support an NVMe slot, while my board does. It seems the firmware might be confused about the M.2 presence. I tried flashing the BIOS with E7C51AMS.171, which worked—like it was for an A320M-A PRO. I’m considering using a different BIOS file from the A320M-A version to fix this. I’m also noting a mismatch between the system product name and the board’s listing. Please note: if you attempt to flash with E7C51AMS.171, it should work as if the motherboard were an A320M-A PRO. I’m using a CH341 programmer for testing FM2 boards, but I don’t want to risk damaging the BIOS. I’m borrowing the adapter for troubleshooting purposes. There’s a discrepancy between the product names shown here. For more details, see the fallback image: https://i.imgur.com/A6gbBl4.png. Questions: - Is it possible to force a BIOS flash for an unsupported version like A320M PRO-VH? I have a CH341 programmer ready for FM2 boards, though it could damage the BIOS if used incorrectly. - Has the manufacturer or retailer released an updated BIOS for this model? - What steps should I take next to resolve this compatibility problem?
Hello there! With your bios programmer in hand, I thought we could load the proper bios right away. But if that doesn’t work, just refresh the old one—it might be the solution.
I've tested this setting now, but before I began I looked up the BIOS chip location and matched it with the model number. It's a Winbond W25Q128FW. I reviewed its specifications and confirmed it operates at 1.6-1.8 volts, which is below the 3V required for flashing. This means the BIOS programmer can't write to the chip safely.
You're looking for a converter socket, similar to what's shown in that video. It might not look perfect, but it functions.
Thanks for the assistance. I’ve discovered a simpler and more effective way. After some adjustments, I fixed the problem. My assumption was accurate—the shop or manufacturer was able to flash the BIOS from another model. I resolved it by using the A320M Pro-VH BIOS via the UEFI Shell flashing tool from the MSI forum, which helped bypass the error message. Following that, the NVME drive was detected.