Windows 11 starts just once when using a NVME drive from the Gigabyte Aorus B450 Elite. That’s unusual.
Windows 11 starts just once when using a NVME drive from the Gigabyte Aorus B450 Elite. That’s unusual.
I've encountered some unusual situations but am struggling to figure them out. My system uses a Gigabyte Aorus B450 Elite with the latest firmware (version 63c). I attempted to install Windows 11 and followed the setup steps carefully—enabling Secure Boot, turning off CSM, and using the official installation media. After removing the old Windows 10 partitions in the installer, the PC restarted and displayed the Aorus logo before returning to BIOS. During the NVME settings check, the drive disappeared entirely. I spent several hours troubleshooting and found that powering off the PC, disconnecting the PSU, removing the CMOS battery, and then restarting helped restore the drive. Once it booted back into Windows 11, everything seemed normal.
What I’ve tried so far:
- Swapped the NVME to a different slot; both behaved identically.
- Restored BIOS to an older version; it didn’t work.
- Some users suggested the drive was configured as a Storage Pool or Space, preventing booting.
- Verified the presence of a 100MB FAT32 EFI partition; confirmed it’s just a standard partition.
- Confirmed the drive is a regular Primordial partition.
Questions remain:
- Is this BIOS setting affecting bootability?
- Could there be a hidden configuration preventing the drive from being recognized?
- Was there a missing or incorrect setting in the installation process?
- Are there any undocumented BIOS features I should enable?
Also, just for fun—are vegetables healthy? Probably!
Your motherboard's UEFI could include a "drive secure erase" feature, attempt to utilize it for complete data removal and reinstallation.
It looks like you're trying to find a way to securely erase a drive using a USB bootable tool. You mentioned challenges with the MBR and BIOS settings, which are common when trying to wipe a system. Consider exploring tools that support full disk formatting or boot from a custom image if available.
The partedmagic distribution I rely on for maintenance includes a secure erase tool, though it requires payment. It probably uses an NVMe format that you can manage via the command line on an active Linux system. https://tinyapps.org/docs/nvme-secure-erase.html
I've been experimenting more with an older HDD. After installing Windows 11, things have become a bit smoother. When the system boots with the HDD installed, everything works initially. After a clean boot in Windows, all partitions and data are removed. Still, during a soft reset it stalls briefly, but after about 30 seconds it resumes. A hard reset stops the hang entirely, though the NVME drive isn't shown anymore. I suspected a PCI-E lane conflict, so I updated the GPU firmware (fixed display port for versions 1.3/1.4), but that didn’t help. Changing the output to DVI didn’t make a difference either. Relocating the GPU in another slot also failed. Since the drive still functions occasionally as a regular storage device, I think the issue lies with the BIOS settings rather than the hardware itself. Previously, it worked perfectly when running Windows 10.
I exhausted many hours trying to fix things and ended up replacing the SSD (Samsung 980 500GB). Now it functions perfectly. If the Kingston unit is defective or the Aorus motherboard has a problem, I’m unsure. I should note that Gigabyte Support provided a list of compatible M.2 drives, but my Kingston model wasn’t included. It’s still puzzling since it worked before. Perhaps a BIOS update resolved the issue.