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February 22nd, 2023 15:00
m15 R7, second SSD disappearing and freezing
Alienware m15 R7
Hi,
I recently installed and formatted a Samsung 980 PRO ssd in my M15 r7 second ssd slot.. However, it seems to be disappearing during certain tasks ex: moving files, installing games etc.. I am not sure what the cause of the issue is. From the forums and other online posts I read that others had issues with the same product. I have also seen people mention that the second SSD slot does not support gen 4 although it states in the manual that it does. There is a possibility of a faulty motherboard however, its very rare and to test I am thinking of purchasing another SSD which is known to be compatible with M15 r7 and doesn't really have any issues. I am not sure, if it needs to be gen3 or not. I don't mind as long as I can get a reliable SSD which is fully functional, installing games, storing data etc.. Please, if anyone can suggest some SSD options that are compatible it would be really helpful.
P.s: I have my BIOS updated to the latest firmware and the SSD as well.
crimsom
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February 22nd, 2023 16:00
Hi @Anbu_Killx welcome to this free user-to-user Alienware laptop discussion forum.
The Crucial System Advisor database is a good source of information: Alienware m15 R7 | Memory RAM & SSD Upgrades | Crucial.com.
Support for Alienware m15 R7 Storage says M.2 slot(s) have PCIe Gen 4.0 x4 NVMe interface.
Please remove Base cover and check that second SSD is correctly installed within PCIe socket with good electrical connection.
Anbu_Killx
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February 22nd, 2023 17:00
Thanks for replying. So, I actually checked again to make sure the SSD is installed correctly within the socket and it is. As it did not work I went ahead and removed it after transferring my data... I have heard that in past there was a firmware which destroyed the board so just incase, plus it wasn't reliable. I am going to look at the link you shared. Do you know if crucial SSD's work? and if so which particular model is the most reliable and good. I still haven't eliminated the thought that the motherboard my need replacement if the slot came damaged stock. Please, let me know your thoughts on this and if I should further debug using different methods
crimsom
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February 23rd, 2023 18:00
Hi @Anbu_Killx the Crucial System Advisor database is a good source of upgrade information. Most of the SSD reviews place the Samsung SSD as their best gaming drive.
The 2TB Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD and the 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD are both highly recommended for Alienware m15 R7 internal drives.
The 2TB 980 PRO and 4TB 990 PRO both have parts on one side only and use nickel coating to help manage the controller's heat level and a heat spreader label to deliver effective thermal control of the NAND chip. The M.2 2280 SSD Thermal Shield is DP/N 26X1Y, Example: Amazon.com: Slot 1/Slot 2 M.2 2280 SSD Heatsink 26X1Y 026X1Y 29GT8 029GT8 for DELL Alienware M15 R5 R6 R7 / Dell G15 5510 5511 5515 5520 5521 5525 Gaming Laptop SSD Bracket.
The CPUID HWMonitor will capture system heat sensor information, including drive temperatures. HWMONITOR | Softwares | CPUID.
Please try to improve/debug the Windows operating system using my Windows PowerShell post in Alienware m17 R3. Screen flickering and occasionally going black whilst awake - Dell Community.
crimsom
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February 23rd, 2023 19:00
@Anbu_Killx the 2TB 980 PRO and 4TB 990 PRO SSD format, shall have the modern GUID Partition Table (GPT), and enable the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). GPT is also required for SSD capacity larger than two Terabytes. Another advantage of GPT drives is that these can have more than four partitions on each drive.
Anbu_Killx
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February 24th, 2023 07:00
So I ordered a crucial p5, to see if its really the SSD that's causing the issue or the slot itself. If it works then I can return the 980 PRO, which is disappointing but optimum choice. I will try to debug more with the Samsung 980 PRO. Oh I did try fixing it using powershell DISM.exe commands, but that did not fix the issue.
Anbu_Killx
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February 28th, 2023 16:00
I installed the crucial p5 plus, seems to be running fine so far. However, I need some more time to be definitive. I will keep everyone updated here, just incase someone is having same issues.
Anbu_Killx
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March 2nd, 2023 15:00
Crucial p5 works perfectly fine, I did not see any issues with it while testing. Partly, I do think its because the SSD supports backwards compatibility so, even works with gen3 which is awesome. Thanks for the help @crimsom
crimsom
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March 2nd, 2023 20:00
Hi @Anbu_Killx thank you for sharing update.
Curious about drive Read/Write speed in your Alienware m15 R7, Windows 11, Gen4.0 slots.
Please install Samsung SSD Magician Download | TechSpot and in Drive Management, run Performance Benchmark.
My 2TB SSD 970 EVO Plus Gen3.0 NVMe | Samsung US is advertised to have Read/Write performance with speeds up to 3,500/3,300 MB/s. Samsung Magician says Sequential Read/Write 3269/3039 MB/s. Evidently running Performance Benchmark in Safe Mode, will give the advertised Read/Write speeds.
17 R4, Windows 10, Samsung 970, slow - Dell Community
Anbu_Killx
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March 4th, 2023 13:00
So, here are results from running the performance benchmark. But keep in mind that I was outside and my laptop was low on battery when I ran it.. idk if that changes anything. Thank you though for the help.
crimsom
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March 4th, 2023 15:00
Hi @Anbu_Killx thank you for sharing that Crucial P5 NVMe SSD is running at PCIe Gen 5 Sequential Read/Write speed.
D3adSteve
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March 13th, 2023 05:00
Sorry, I'm not seeing a solution to this issue. I'm having the same issue with my m15 R7 running Windows 11, except I'm using the Samsung 990 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD 1TB. I have twice checked the connection and installation of the SSD, along with updating all available drivers/firmware for the laptop and the SSD, but it still "randomly" freezes and/or drops the drive. SMART isn't reporting any issues with the SSD, so I'm thinking it's something else. Would changing the storage setting in the BIOS from "RAID On" to "AHCI/NVMe" help?
crimsom
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March 13th, 2023 09:00
Hi @D3adSteve welcome to this free user-to-user Alienware laptop discussion forum.
Intel says BIOS/UEFI default should always be RAID irrespective if OS (C:) boot drive is single or dual NVMe drive.
The Alienware m15 R7 documentation should provide clarity about the issue with laptop being unable to handle two gen 4 SSD even though it infers it should in the manual.
D3adSteve
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March 13th, 2023 09:00
UPDATE - I plan to give this a try.
Per DHSteeze on the Alienware Reddit forum...
I'm actually leaning towards the fact these laptops seem to ship with the NVMe slots set to RAID mode, not AHCI. After my second drive disappearance and subsequent reboot to bring it back, I changed to AHCI mode and haven't had a recurrence yet after 2+ months.
Note: in order to change from RAID to AHCI, you can't just change it and it's good to go. First you have to launch msconfig, go to the boot tab and change to Safe boot-Minimal, hit OK. Then reboot, but go into the BIOS and change the mode to AHCI. Save and exit the bios, which should then boot you into Safe boot-Minimal mode. Launch msconfig again, then boot tab, deselect Safe boot, hit OK. Reboot again and Windows should now load the proper drivers for a standard NVMe controller (instead of RAID drivers).
Anbu_Killx
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March 13th, 2023 09:00
You are right, by default the m15 r7 have default mode set to RAID. I have personally never tried switching it from RAID to AHCI. I was too concerned with something going wrong and I would have to re-install things... however, I had the same issue you are mentioning. Like the Samsung magician tool wasn't recognizing any issues. I also had latest drivers installed but from what I have researched I think its the issue with laptop being unable to handle two gen 4 ssd even though it says it should in the manual. The reason why I say it because crucial p5 worked for me, which is gen 3 and gen 4 compatible. Oh and it runs smoothly, no issues. I did not even need to change the mode from RAID to AHCI/NVme. Perhaps changing it might fix for you, I hope that's the case. However, Samsung's 980 - 990 seems to be having lot of issues working with m15 r7. It is one of the fastest SSD's so its kind of sad that it does that plus 980 had a firmware issue some time ago.
D3adSteve
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March 13th, 2023 12:00
Hello Anbu_Killx,
Thanks for your feedback. I was able to switch from RAID to AHCI/NVMe per the instructions without issue and to my surprise, the laptop is running, dare I say, faster than previously. Per Crimsom, it appears SSD slot #2 may not have been intended for gen 4 NVMe SSD drives. I'll give the current setup a try and if needed, downgrade to a gen 3.