Aurora R4, boot from PCIe?

IIRC, the Aurora-R4 is UEFI-based, so it should work.

I don't know that anyone has ever verified it here though. Let us know how it goes. 

I don't expect it to be particularly easy so if it's not working, don't give-up too early. 

I have read that most pc's (especially Dell) wont boot from nvme while attached to a pcie card adapter. Will function as extra storage but that's about it.

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@PentatonicSteel wrote:

I have read that most pc's (especially Dell) wont boot from nvme while attached to a pcie card adapter. Will function as extra storage but that's about it.

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Years ago, back when XPS models first started shipping with (on motherboard) PCIe/NVMe slots and SSDs ...

Some knowledgeable users noticed lower-than-expected transfer rates . The consensus was that it was due to minimal PCIe lanes used on those early implementations.

They removed their PCIe/NVMe SSDs from the MB and inserted into generic PCIe x4 Addin-cards. The SSDs booted and worked fine (and even a bit faster).

This was just based on my research, specifically regarding the aurora r7.

I am far from a computer wiz, but still quite confident. The info I found when I was looking into it was very off putting, and I simply decided...nope...lol

Thanks for the answers and sorry for the late reply.

So youre saying that the minimal required to boot from pci is to have a UEFI based motherboard? I thoght that boot form pci-e is a dedicated option, so it change from bios to bios, even if it is UEFI.

Anyway, I will wait black friday to buy all the stuff, then I will let you know :)

I've also heard about that. Not for DELL in particular, but for those motherboards that doesn't have this option natively enabled in the BIOS. This is the reason why I've asked here. I would't buy it, and then find out that I can use it just as secondary storage.

But hey, in case that it don't work, I will return it back and switch it with a classic sata drive.

I saw a guide in the link below that you need to mod your BIOS to allow it to natively boot onto NVME via NVME PCIe adaptor https://www.win-raid.com/t871f50-Guide-How-to-get-full-NVMe-support-for-all-Systems-with-an-AMI-UEFI-BIOS.html I followed the instruction on modding downloaded A11 bios but I am hesitant to apply the mod at the moment as my Windows 10 is setup in Secure Boot.

I plan on getting the following though

NVME drive I plan is - Adata XPG SX8200 Pro
NVME PCIe x16 adaptor - https://www.lazada.com.ph/products/magideal-nvme-m2-to-pcie-adapter-pci-express-x16-to-m2-expansion-card-with-heat-sink-i277768414-s415499057.html

I have an Aurora R4 motherboard (x79) with BIOS revision A11. I am booting off a single SATA SSD (Samsung 840 Evo 1tb) via Windows 10 1903 in Secure Boot.

I am provisioning this when I upgrade my SSD to an nVME drive that I intend to do a fresh install of Windows 10 (which I can disable Secure Boot, Fast Boot, CSM later)

• NVME drive I plan is - Adata XPG SX8200 Pro
• NVME PCIe x16 adaptor - https://www.lazada.com.ph/products/magideal-nvme-m2-to-pcie-adapter-pci-express-x16-to-m2-expansion-card-with-heat-sink-i277768414-s415499057.html

UPDATE I was able to flash my modded Aurora R4 A11 BIOS using AFUWIN for APTIO4 (https://ami.com/en/?Aptio_4_AMI_Firmware_Update_Utility.zip - under \afuwin\64\afuwin64\AfuWin64\AFUWINGUIx64.EXE)

I just programmed the Main BIOS Image, checked Do Not Check ROM ID and Restart After Programming. 

• Link to original A11 BIOS file - http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=46604608996924655120
• Link to modded A11 BIOS file - http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=26078208478208490510

So far, I am still able to boot (in Secure Boot) Windows 10 using my SATA SSD.

Here's preliminary result of my Adata XPG SX8200 Pro NVME drive installed on my Aurora R4 (using modded BIOS) with a fresh Windows 10 install.

BIOS setting:

• Boot Mode : UEFI
• Secure Boot Control : Disabled
• Load Legacy ROM : Disable

I changed my CPU to Xeon E5-2670 to see if there's improvement in PCI bandwidth... So far, it appears to be none.

Video booting off an NVMe drive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mce3SOT25bo

Using UEFI BIOS Updater, I was also able to address the thing that Dell got lazy to address via BIOS update

- Fix Spectre bug

- Fix Intel ME bug

- Update NIC controller

The good guys here has a tool to fix it and it did!

Update of NIC controller BIOS

Update of CPU Microcodes fixing Spectre bug

Updating Intel ME bug via Intel's own tools

A11 stock Intel ME details

Updating Intel ME

Updated Intel ME

Confirmed on the BIOS

I also updated the storage controller to allow it to do TRIM in RAID

Link for the A11 modded firmware - http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=02614479157579325788

Run the above update in pure DOS mode (create USB flashdrive in Rufus)

Link for the Intel ME FW update - http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=35198791302204820694

This update can be run under Windows (x64) command prompt with Administrative Privileges