New SSD drive compatability with Acer Aspire 3 - A315-31-POYK

Gosut
Gosut Member Posts: 12

Tinkerer

edited October 2023 in 2020 Archives
I have a Acer Aspire 3 - A315-31-POYK. The factory fitted SSD drive has failed so I bought a V-NAND SSD 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2. 
I am trying to do a clean install of windows 10 from a usb drive but this new SSD drive is not showing up. Is this new SSD drive compatible with this laptop. 
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Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 45,189 Trailblazer
    The NVME card should be compatible but limited to SATA3 speeds due to your mainboard. The card probably needs to be initialized. From the Win10 installation USB, can you access the command prompt X :\windows\system32? Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Do you know if the ssd appears in the bios information tab? 
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                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
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  • Gosut
    Gosut Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    Hi JackE
    I'm only at the first step of Windows set up asking me where I want to install windows unfortunately there are no drives showing. I'm afraid I do not know how to access the command prompt at this point.
  • Gosut
    Gosut Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    JackE
    just googled it...
    "The system cannot find the path specified"
  • Gosut
    Gosut Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    Serial number: NXGNTEK0128310091A7600
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 45,189 Trailblazer
    Did you try to get into the BIOS as @egydiocoelho recommended? First press and hold power button till the machine completely shuts off. Then press and hold the F2 key. Then press the power button to turn the machine back on. The BIOS menu should appear. Is the EVO detected in the BIOS Information tab? Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Gosut
    Gosut Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    JackE
    ive been in the bios & the Evo is not listed which from different things ive been reading the drive needs to be initialised before it can be seen. is that correct?
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 45,189 Trailblazer
    edited July 2020
    No. It should be listed in the INFORMATION tab before initialization.  It would NOT be listed in the BOOT tab before initialization. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Gosut
    Gosut Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    gone back into bios & no drive there either
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 45,189 Trailblazer
    The EVO NVME drive should have a single keyslot that fits into a single key bump in your m.2 socket. See M keyslot and M key bump in lower image below If your m.2 socket has two key bumps (B+M key bumps) nstead of one as was the case with some SATA3 m.2 sockets, the NVME will not fit properly into the socket. Please check your socket for a single M key bump. Jack E/NJ


    Jack E/NJ

  • Gosut
    Gosut Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    Its the bottom picture, I bought the same type as the one that I took out. I doubled the capacity to 256gb but neglected to check the relevance of "NVMe". This laptop is only 14 months old so not very happy that its packed up already.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 45,189 Trailblazer
    The NVME should be OK  ****ONLY IF**** the mainboard m.2 socket has the single M-key bump. If the socket has two B+M key bumps, then it won't fit properly and you'll have to exchange it for a SATA3 m.2 card like the WD with two key slots. The SATA3 cards are usually cheaper and more reliable than the NVME in SATA3 capable mainboards. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Gosut
    Gosut Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    I just said its the bottom picture "M-KEY ONE BUMP".. I'm not blind & I'm not stupid so please do not insult my intelligence. So please can we move on. The ssd drive does not show in the command prompt so I cannot see how I am able to format it.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 45,189 Trailblazer
    Sorry, I didn't realize that you had already checked the socket itself. Well, all I can suggest at this point is to try to reseat the card in the socket again. Maybe clean up its contacts with a soft cloth. The EVO must show up and be detected in the BIOS Information tab before we can do anything with it. If the BIOS Info tab doesn't detect it, then it won't work in your machine. This sometimes happens with NVMEs in a SATA3 mainboard bus. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Gosut
    Gosut Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    I've removed it & put it back so many times now I've lost count. Just done it again & cleaned the terminals as suggested but alas still no Evo....I'm guessing that maybe my motherboard doesn't like the NVMe version of ssd.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 45,189 Trailblazer
    >>>The factory fitted SSD drive has failed>>>

    The NVMEs are bleeding edge tech that can be finicky even in mainboards designed to handle their theoretical 2x and 4x speed advantages over SATA3  m.2 SSDs. The latter are better bets for your system. As an aside, did you somehow confirm it was in fact the factory SSD that failed by testing it from another machine? The mainboard SSD bus to the CPU &  its controller could also be an issue here. It's rare that BIOS Info can't identify an SSD or even an HDD even if its read/write capabilities are shot. Do you still have the old SSD to see if it shows up in the BIOS info? Jack E/NJ 

    Jack E/NJ

  • Gosut
    Gosut Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    This laptop also has a 1tb HDD which shows in the bios when I plug it back in. The original problem I had was the computer froze on a google search, so I shut it down when it restarted got black screen with drive symbol with magnifying glass with "No bootable device". I took the SSD drive a local computer shop who said they have run several tests on it & can't recover it. that cost £20 for the privilege. They still have it, I'm going to get it tomorrow & shove it back in to see if it shows itself in the bios, if it does I now have a bootable USB with windows 10 on which might encourage it back to life......
  • I think the model A315-31 is not compatible with nvme, see:

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • Gosut
    Gosut Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    Hi egydiocoelho 
    I have this unfortunate feeling that might be the case. Just cost me £75 for that Evo, looks like that will be for sale then.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 45,189 Trailblazer
    In theory, NVME cards are supposed to be backward compatible in a PCIe 1X bus fitted with a single M-bump SATA3 socket. In practice, however it's safest to use a SATA3 m.2 card. And once loaded into fast RAM and up & running with the CPU/GPU, apps & games won't seem to perform that much differently whether an NVME or a SATA card or a mechanical HDD. Jack E/NJ 

    Jack E/NJ