Does anybody know if the Gateway GWTN141-5BK NVMe SSD in 128gb?

JackE

Please post a phone photo of the BIOS opening tab if possible.

ger1986

BIOS Openning Tab? Do you mean what button/key to tap on when you are rebooting or starting up to access the BIOS? If so it is the Escape Key (Esc) to enter the BIOS, upper far left key.

JackE

Yes. Tapping F2 or Esc or Del keys on startup should open the BIOS menu. Try F2 first or whatever the Gateway startup logo indicates near the bottom of the logo screen to enter setup.

billsey

We don't have access to service guides for any of those Gateway models that are done specifically for Walmart, so we are going to need more details from you such as pictures of the BIOS tabs in order to figure out how they work. Many of the M.2 slots are NVMe/SATA co-lays and will work with either type of SSD.

ger1986

It is the "Aptio AMI BIOS (Core Version 5.13)", American Megatrends Inc.

JackE

Please post a phone photo of the opening BIOS menu screen if possible

ger1986

Aptio AMI BIOS Core Version 5.13.jpg

Aptio AMI BIOS Core Version 5.13

JackE

OK. Now go through each tab till you find an option or description of the peripherals. Probably in the Advanced or Chipset tab. Then post a photo of that too.

ger1986

I have been told by Walmart Gateway Support it is a M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD Card and then told it was a M.2 SATA III SSD Card. I have ordered and tried both with no luck getting it to show up in File Explorer, Disk Management, Device Manager, or BIOS. Depending on who you get at Gateway Support (support@gatewayusa.com) you get different answers! So if anyone on the site can tell me which it actually is then I can get the right one, then trouble shoot the BIOS to see if I can get it to be recognized I hope? (See Attached PDF File with an actual picture of the expansion slot on my Gateway GWTN141-5BL)

Gateway GWTN141-5BL M.2 Slot Identification.pdf

JackE

That looks like an older single B-key bump SATA3 m.2 socket, not an M-key. Furthermore, this particular mainboard's drive buss only supports SATA3. A single M-key slot NVME card shouldn't even fully insert properly a B-key bump socket. A double B+M key slot SATA3 card should physically fit but not necessarily work. The reason being that to save production costs on budget models like this, expansion sockets are often inactive dummies not actually soldered or connected to the buss as they might be on more expensive models that use virtually the same base mainboard.

This is why I asked you to go through each BIOS tab till you find an option or description of the peripherals. Probably in the Advanced or Chipset tab. Then post a photo of that too. In particular, I'm looking for evidence that the second card is actually recognized and identified by the BIOS. I'm gonna guess it won't be. If I'm right, it's likely a dummy m.2 B-key bump socket. If so, you're only option for more storage capacity is to replace the current boot media with a higher capacity drive. Sorry.

ger1986

yea, I kind of thought it may not actually connected to the motherboard, but I did find the motherboard on eBay and it looked to be soldered in, but the firmware may not support it. I ordered a cheap 128gb SATA III M. 2 and will see if I can get it recognized, if not I can mount up to a 512GB SD card, which I already did once, but I mounted it so as to have no conflicts with adding the M. 2 card. Gotta love Walmart Gateway Support ( NOT)!

I Thank You for some direction and will keep you in the loop, whereas others need to know the final outcome.

JackE

Well, yeah, the SD card & USB ports are OK if you don't mind slow transfers. But if it was mine, I'd cut bait instead of continuing to beat my head against the wall nickel-diming a $60 Walmart clearance special. I'd simply replace the existing boot drive (if not a soldered emmc chip) with a 1TB SATA3 SSD which are less than $50 these days.

ger1986

yea it’s a soldered emmc and the RAM is as well. I just got it to play with. I have two towers and three other decent laptops. Something to play with is all it is, then I will probably give it to Granddaughter. After I’m tired of playing with it.

JackE

OK. This seems similar to a low-end emmc boot Aspire 1/3 laptops. Believe it or not, these mainboards often have a 2.5" HDD/SSD SATA3 expansion socket. And it might be actively connected to the drive buss. Check carefully around the fan enclosure.

ger1986

Yea, I have an Acer Aspire One 10.1” display that I put a 2.5” SSD in and doubled the RAM to the Max 2GB; lol, and put a tiny 10 32 bit build on it and it actually works pretty well with the Atom 450:)

JackE

No, the older AspireOne netbooks (for example AO532) are completely different from the newer Aspire1 & Aspire3 laptops (A114-32, A314-32) How's that for confusing folks? There's a slim chance your gateway has a 2.5" socket that's not a dummy. If so, a $35 1TB Leven SATA3 SSD from Amazon will fit right in there.

ger1986

Yea, that what I have is an older Acer Aspire one 532h-2406 (NAV50), I use it to try little test builds on for the most part. Well built unlike these slim line clam shells that you have to split open with a guitar pick and hope you don’t break any plastic clips. I haven’t given up on the Gateway just yet, but like I said, worse case scenario I will just mount an SD card onto the ( C:) drive.

billsey

Open it up, remove the battery and then take pictures… We don't have access to any service guide for those Walmart machines so have to actually look at things to make guesses.

ger1986

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1211181#Comment_1211181

Well this is all 6 pictures of the BIOS, and Walmart Gateway Support now says the expansion port on the bottom is a M.2 SATA III Internal SSD Card? I have purchased and returned 4 differant ones; two M.2 PCIe NVMe GEN 3x4 2280 SSD, and Two M.2 SATA III 2280 Internal SSD's and none were showing up at all anywhere? So they said not all brands are equal; lol and to try some other brands!

[Edited the content to hide sensitive information]

JackE

In the Advanced tab, there's NVME socket and PCI subsystem configuration options. Expand them to see what's available. Like enable, disable, etc.