Hey there! I installed Windows 10 on my 1TB M.2 Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe drive. Sometimes when I power on my PC it works perfectly, but other times I get a warning about needing a boot CD or USB. I verified the BIOS settings and made sure it’s set to boot from the 970 Evo Plus first. Even after reinstalling Windows again, the problem keeps happening. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!
Verify the devices connected at startup. USB drives or memory cards linked during POST may trigger this issue.
I haven’t connected any USB drives recently and my CD/DVD drive is actually a USB one that I only use when necessary. The rest of the time my PC doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive either. In the BIOs, I’ve set the boot priority to start from the 970 Evo Plus first.
It seems the board isn't connecting properly with the SSD. The issue might be with the SSD itself or the socket on the board. To determine the cause, you'd need to test another NVMe SSD on your board or use a different SSD on another board.
I was considering a replacement board for my setup. My NZXT Kraken M22 120mm AIO isn’t performing well with the temperatures of my overclocked 8700K, so I’m planning to switch to an EVGA CLC 280 280mm AIO. I believe it will manage the heat better. The SSD seems fine and is running as advertised, though starting up from it has some issues. It does boot occasionally, especially when I manually press F11. I bought this system prebuilt in 2018 mainly because GPU prices were high, and I’ve mostly swapped out components except the CPU and motherboard (MSI z370a pro). I’m thinking about installing an MSI z390 MEG ACE board once everything is moved to a new case. Right now I haven’t finished the relocation yet.
No, you don't have to reset the boot order each time. Sometimes just swapping the BIOS battery can fix the issue.
Your BIOS indicates "UEFI & Legacy," suggesting a mix of technologies. That's how you usually see it.
UEFI hard drive should be prioritized. Or switch BIOS to UEFI exclusively.