Laptop doesn't see M.2 SSD in Bios or anything for that matter(Nitro 5) AN515-42

Hello all. Yesterday I bought a brand new Acer Nitro 5 AN515-42 Ryzen laptop. It came with a 1TB Toshiba HDD. However, no SSD. So today, I went out and bought a Kingston A1000 M.2 NVMe SSD 240GB.
I have opened up my laptop and put the SSD correctly in the motherboard m.2 slot without problems. However, after closing the laptop and starting it up, the BIOS in my laptop (ver. 1.11) doesn't see the SSD at all. I even tried to put a bootable USB with windows on it just to see if the laptop sees it, and it doesn't even see the USB, so it's obviously a BIOS/software/firmware problem.

This laptop only has UEFI as boot mode and I have tried many online fixes for the problem but my SSD simply wont show up and my BIOS doesn't have LEGACY which would probably help me to find my SSD, it only has UEFI, and I read that Acer removed legacy and only left UEFI as boot mode in these latest versions. Tried disabling Secured Boot, adding a Supervisor password and playing with the settings, nothing seems to work to find my SSD which is connected to the motherboard.

My question is, how do I fix this problem and let the laptop see the SSD, is there a way to add legacy or simply a way to allow the laptop to see the bootable devices connected to it other than the HDD, since, like I said, the bios sees nothing bootable, not an inserted USB nor my SSD.

Help would be very appreciated.

Accepted answers

All comments

Redfan

You need a Sata 3 m.2, MVNe is not compatible, I asked, either return the ssd and get a sata 3 m.2 up to 2TB (Acer told me that on phone) or keep the nvme use an external iCan adaptor and get an up to 2TB m.2 SATA 3 ssd.

edit: I see you bought it today, return it to the shop and get a Sata 3 m.2 ssd as NVMe is not compatible.

p.s. There’s a video on YouTube on how to enable Freesync on this laptop.

ven98

Can you enter in BIOS and from the main tab set the sata mode to ahci? See if that will help.

LjoVe97

Redfan said:

You need a Sata 3 m.2, MVNe is not compatible, I asked, either return the ssd and get a sata 3 m.2 up to 2TB (Acer told me that on phone) or keep the nvme use an external iCan adaptor and get an up to 2TB m.2 SATA 3 ssd.

edit: I see you bought it today, return it to the shop and get a Sata 3 m.2 ssd as NVMe is not compatible.

p.s. There’s a video on YouTube on how to enable Freesync on this laptop.

How can an NVMe not be supported? I've seen countless people on YouTube with this exact model upgrade their laptop with an NVMe like the EVO 970 etc..

EDIT: Even the factory versions have NVMe SSD's in them.. that it's not compatible is just crazy-talk IMO..

ven98

It supports NVMe. Did you try my suggestion?

LjoVe97

ven98 said:

It supports NVMe. Did you try my suggestion?

I believe that option is grayed out for me. Is there a way to make it accessible? Also, do you think trying to boot a Windows 10 UEFI bootable device install would make the SSD show in a Windows 10 setup?

ven98

The option to set between AHCI and RAID should be available in the 'MAIN' tab in BIOS.

If the SSD is not detected in BIOS, then it won't be detected by windows 10 setup.

Jandus

LjoVe97 said:

How can an NVMe not be supported? I've seen countless people on YouTube with this exact model upgrade their laptop with an NVMe like the EVO 970 etc..

EDIT: Even the factory versions have NVMe SSD's in them.. that it's not compatible is just crazy-talk IMO..

This is a topic that's been talked about a ton on the forums here.

Turns out that with your specific Nitro 5 model (AN515-42-XXXX) - the slot doesn't seem to support NVMe.

The reason I say that is because there have been quite a few people that have bought NVMe drives and they simply aren't seen by any version of the BIOS.

If you can point to ONE person that has gotten an NVMe drive to work with YOUR model (AN515-42) then please, link it for us. You'd be doing all of us a favor by providing that information.

But as it stands now, it seems the m.2 slot in the 42 variant of the Nitro 5 only supports SSD devices.

Jandus

ven98

All AN515-42 are the same. The last 4 digitis show the different storage, RAM and display panel(in some cases) configurations.

I think the reason why the M.2 SSD is not detected is because in some models the storage is set to RAID by defult and I think AHCI the BIOS will recognise the SSD, but we are yet to find this.

LjoVe97

ven98 said:

Can you enter in BIOS and from the main tab set the sata mode to ahci? See if that will help.

In the bios, the SATA mode is not in the Main tab for me, there is no option to choose at all. Only way I can find out which sata mode it is is in the information tab where it says SATA MODE: ACHI already set and it's completely grayed out. So I guess the only sata mode available is AHCI?

ven98

If the SATA mode is already AHCI, then the SSD isn't detected because of something else. When you connected the SSD did you put a screw at the end to hold it. If not, it might have moved and therefore not making a good connection.

ggcaruso

Thanks! It may be the graphic drivers....

_______________________________
Marijuana Packaging

LjoVe97

ven98 said:

If the SATA mode is already AHCI, then the SSD isn't detected because of something else. When you connected the SSD did you put a screw at the end to hold it. If not, it might have moved and therefore not making a good connection.

Ofcourse I put the screw on the back... I'm dreading opening up my laptop again because of this. Maybe the SSD itself doesn't work at all? But what are the chances of a brand new SSD not working....

ven98

I don't know what the chances for an SSD to be DOA, but I think they are very slim.

There are 3 possibilities. For some reason the motherboard is not compatible with this SSD or maybe the motherboard supports SATA M.2 only, which I really doubt, since the Intel variant Nitro5 supports NVMe. The 3rd is the SSD is DOA.

The only way to find out is to try the SSD on another device that has an M.2 port or contact the retailer and ask for a replacement, because the SSD doesn't work.

Kruno

LjoVe97 said:

Hello all. Yesterday I bought a brand new Acer Nitro 5 AN515-42 Ryzen laptop. It came with a 1TB Toshiba HDD. However, no SSD. So today, I went out and bought a Kingston A1000 M.2 NVMe SSD 240GB.
I have opened up my laptop and put the SSD correctly in the motherboard m.2 slot without problems. However, after closing the laptop and starting it up, the BIOS in my laptop (ver. 1.11) doesn't see the SSD at all. I even tried to put a bootable USB with windows on it just to see if the laptop sees it, and it doesn't even see the USB, so it's obviously a BIOS/software/firmware problem.

This laptop only has UEFI as boot mode and I have tried many online fixes for the problem but my SSD simply wont show up and my BIOS doesn't have LEGACY which would probably help me to find my SSD, it only has UEFI, and I read that Acer removed legacy and only left UEFI as boot mode in these latest versions. Tried disabling Secured Boot, adding a Supervisor password and playing with the settings, nothing seems to work to find my SSD which is connected to the motherboard.

My question is, how do I fix this problem and let the laptop see the SSD, is there a way to add legacy or simply a way to allow the laptop to see the bootable devices connected to it other than the HDD, since, like I said, the bios sees nothing bootable, not an inserted USB nor my SSD.

Help would be very appreciated.

Kruno

And I have same problem with same laptop and same SSD right now, anyone managed to sort it out?

Zemez

Hey all,

Unfortunately I am saddened to tell you that the AMD models do not support NVME Drives in the M.2 slot, only SATA M.2 work. Acer has a crude Insyde Bios running on these laptops that do not have the ability to unlock the feature as well as fine tuning the over or under clock ability of the Ryzen Chipset. it is downright unfortunate.

Knighthawk49

still super confused about all this i have a sata 3 ssd in my Nitro 5 AN515-42 right now. but the the bios is not recognizing it . and i cant find any info on it . can someone help me ?

Zemez

Knighthawk49,

I will try to help you a bit. The AMD Nitro models do not currently support the "NVME" Storage drive in M.2 Slot. You can only use a SATA 3 SSD in that slot. I have personally been having the same issues you are having in this regard. I have found out that the support for the NVME drives is locked out in the bios and the only way to unlock it is to wait for Acer to have a bios update that unlocks it or if you mod your bios.

I am currently running a 500GB Samsung 860 EVO SATA 3 M.2 SSD in my 42-R5ED model. It took me 5 times of re-seating the drive in the M.2 slot but it finally recognized it.

Tell us what the exact model of your M.2 SSD is.

Zemez

Let us know what bios version you are running.

Krishna68

Acer Nitro 5, Does support NVME, but after installation you can't see NVME in file manager(Because NVME is not initialized yet). I have installed gigabyte 256gb m.2 pcie nvme ssd,It is working fine. You need to use some disk cloning software to copy your OS and other partitions into NVME( I used Macrium Reflect 7 Free Edition). Macrium will detect NVME and you can copy all partitions into NVME.