I have tried this and it bricks the motherboard, after rebooting it reboots again and black screen, showing 04 on Dr debug progress which is pch initialization... Have tried clearing cmos and retrying but still no luck... :(

@Fwb73- Thanks for heads up!

It must be how I replaced ucodes then, sorry about this, I assumed the original brick right after unlock was due to the ME FW hassles.
I just compared all ways of doing the NVME insert, and it's all hex match, that leaves only the ucode method and it looks like I did manually instead of MMTool previously (my norm)
So, here is tested and confirmed OK Unlocked BIOS + NVME Mod + Ucodes done with MMTool this time instead
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...869058679874511

@BlazingJ & @Jen - Please wait, do not use BIOS in #60 due to above ^^
Once Fwb73 tests this one and it's OK I will tag you again and let you know

@Lost_N_BIOS

I flashed before fwb73 did. I also gave him a heads up that it bricked my bios.
I'm getting a programmer later today. So i'm also trying the bios in post#62. Will keep you all posted.

@BlazingJ - Sorry to hear Thanks for heads up, yes, please let me know how #62 is, if that fails too, I will make another with NVME mod only, and then we'll have to figure out what's going on with the ucodes (it can only be done so many ways)

@Lost_N_BIOS

I flashed the original bios from the asrock site. Had a 1394a error, fixed that too (updated it). So i had no error codes while booting to windows on my mobo display.

Then i flashed it with the bios in the post#62. Windows started up, but had a lot of codes coming and going on my mobo display. The codes i saw were 60 67 69 68 67 68 5A 98 60 69 70 79 9A 96 62 99 64 62 A2. I video recorded it. After al those error codes it started windows up. Note: every time i start windows up the error codes are in the same order. I attached the asrock x79 extreme9 manual if you need it for the codes.

Restarted it. Went in the bios, see attachment for pictures.
If you are asking why only 4 gb ram, is because i had some trouble flashing to original bios. Made the proces a bit easier with one ram module in it. Normally I have 4x4gb (quad channel config).

The bios runs, but is there a way too eliminate all those error codes?

- Also can't test it with pcie NVME ssd, because have none at the moment.
- I included the bios that is now installed.

@BlazingJ - Those are not error codes, all boards with debug display show all those codes normally as a board goes through POST. It's only used for debug purposes if it's stopping on a certain one, or stalling on one then rebooting etc.
All sounds normal to me, are you saying your debug LED doesn't show codes normally? If not, then previous BIOS must have been messed up, please test a few other previous BIOS to confirm.

@Lost_N_BIOS

I tested it with the original bios from the Asrock site (3.70 and 4.00) and i see that there are a few codes (3 or 4) through POST. Not as many as with the modified bios. But if that is normal then the next step is PCIE to NVME SSD testing without bifurcation and with bifurcation.

I need your advice in this. Will a non-brand pcie-nvme adapter with 2-4 slot work with any NVME SSD. Or do you recommend a brand like Asus or Asrock adapter with samsung NVME SSD. i'm going for compatiblity(cheap) not read/write max speed.
I also have read that it's recommended to use x4x4 not x4x4x4 or x4x4x4. Is this because limited pcie lanes of specific CPU's?
Is there a thread for the questions above on the Forum, cause i can't find it.



For extra info:
Running a Asrock x79 Extreme9, Intel 4960x (40 lanes), Corsair Dominator Platinum 4x4GB 1866MHz, AMD Vega64 LC edition, Creative Soundblaster Z, (PSU) Corsair HX1000i.
CPU is also cooled with the AIO Corsair H115i. At the moment slowly upgrading the system with a Corsair Commander PRO and will expanding the H115i to include a reservoir (150ml), 240mm radiator and the southbridge (with a waterblock). The X-fan on the Southbridge is not fun to listen.

@BlazingJ - There should be WAY more than 3-4 POST Codes as any system goes though boot/POST Process, usually at least 15-20 before it loads to windows, possibly more but it's hard to say because some go by so quickly

Yes, I use cheap $4-5 adapter like this for any single NVME - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PYHVXJS
You can find these on ebay cheaper too

The cheap ones you see with 2-4 are NOT for multiple NVME, but rather a single NVME and more SATA Type NVME.
The only cheapish multiple NVME cards are the Asus Hyper, the Supermicro AOC-SLG3-2M2, and the Asrock (something, not sure model, but it's the most expensive)

4x4x will only allow two NVME to work, for three you have to use 8x4x4x or 4x4x8x, for four you have to use 4x4x4x4x (And that does not work on either X79, or maybe only Asus x79, not sure)

Sounds like BIOS is fine, thanks for testing so far, and sorry again for previous bricking BIOS!

@Fwb73 - looks like you can go ahead with #62 BIOS (unlocked BIOS + NVME + uCodes updated and not a brick BIOS )

Good news, just waiting for new bios chip or programmer to arrive and hopefully I'm set

@Fwb73 - Sorry, I thought you already recovered, so sorry about the bricking!! Once you get programmer, dump your old chip and send me the BIOS, then I can make you new BIOS to program back in to put your MAC ID back in there.
When you do this, tell me your BIOS chip ID, so I can tell you which software may be best to use to dump and or write with, so writes do not fail.

Looks like my programmer will be delayed :( I have ordered a couple of replacement preprogrammed chips as well, is there any disadvantage to using one of these instead of dumping the old chip etc?

@Lost_N_BIOS

I know this is for another thread and category, but at the moment the troubleshooting will be very usefull for Jen and Fwb73. If we get it to work.

Today i got a asus hyper m.2 x16 card with a 970 evo plus 250GB. so i could test my system. Unfortunately the bios would not recognize the PCIE-NVME SSD. At the device boot option you could see PATA, so the NVME drivers are installed in de BIOS. but you could not choose windows boot manager(NVME SSD).
I tried couple of things, putting the asus card in different slots, playing with CMS and secure boot, removing the sata SSD and then play with the settings. In the end when installing Windows it gave a message that i could not install it because it's probably not bootable.

On the plus side in windows the 970 EVO Plus was recognized. I formatted with a disk manager and had acces to the drive (D:) I even cloned it and tried so boot form the 970 EVO, but no luck. At the moment the ASUS hyper is installed in PCIE 2, port 2a (Hardwareinfo). Windows as well as Hardwareinfo show the 970 EVO Plus by name.


Part 1: Get bios to recognize PCIE SSD as windows boot manager or something similair.
Part 2: Install windows 10 and make sure it is bootable.
Part 3: Add an second PCIE SSD on the ASUS hyper and get bifurcation working.

So any suggestions for what i can do to get part 1 working?

@Fwb73 - Yes, you can't use those, well it's not ideal, only maybe to get dead board into working state.
They wont have your board specific details in there, but I'm not 100% sure what all Asrock put intox79 series, maybe just invalid UUID and possibly MAC ID if it's not store in chip on these models.
I'd have to see a dump of your old chip to be 100% sure, all the dumps I have here are from broken BIOS and or BIOS people dumped after trying to recover with stock BIOS, so no system details in these and I can tell they're built from stock BIOS or have not ran on board before etc,

@BlazingJ - You may need to do a clean install to that NVME, especially if it was not installed on this system before. I'm not sure how easily you can move around NVME with OS installed though.
CMS should be disabled and you should initilize as GPT. Then do a clean install following all steps in this guide at post #4 of the "This is what you should do section" - [Guide] How to get full NVMe support for all Systems with an AMI UEFI BIOS
This solves step #1, and I do suggest the clean install to a RAW NVME (ie no partitions and not even initialized). This is how we do all NVME Mod BIOS OS installs, unless you want to go some clone route, methods linked below for this.

Clone SSD to NVME
[Guide] How to get full NVMe support for all Systems with an AMI UEFI BIOS (330)
Installing Clean Win7x64 on M2.2280 PCIe Gen3x4 SSD A-DATA SX8200 Pro << My way, can be used for any OS, clean or used, but would need steps skipped or adjusted for Win10 (ie, just start at #5)
[Guide] How to migrate Windows 7 64bit boot drive from MBR SATA to UEFI NVMe without data lose

How to make NVME Raw via CMD Prompt from a spare drive, or from troubleshooting at Win10 installer pre-install (On region and language selection screen, press SHIFT + F10 to open Command Prompt:)
Diskpart >> List Disk (identify NVME by size, name or if in already install OS environment by identifying in disk management by it's #, it will be same # here)
Diskpart >> Select disk # (make sure you correctly select your NVME!!)
Diskpart >> Clean
Done >> Shut down OS and remove main OS drive, and all drives except USB install and NVME, then make your BIOS changes and try again.

@Lost_N_BIOS

So i got everything working Part 1, 2 & 3.
The steps you provided worked well. One thing I like to add for @Fwb73, after installing the NVME drives, make sure you convert the NVME drives to GPT. Make the desired bootable USB-stick(windows image) with RUFUS. Change bios setting (disable CSM). Install Windows and DONE!

After i installed a second NVME drive on the Asus hyper M.2 v2. I switch bifurcation from auto to x8/x8. I discovered that i had to use slot 3 and not 2 on the HYPER M.2 card in order to get windows to detect the second NVME drive.


Now i want to go a step further if possible. I want the NVME SSD's in Raid 0. Can that be done? It worked in windows (striped volume), but couldn't install windows on it. Something about NVME being dynamic.
What are my options for RAID 0 setup.

@BlazingJ - Great to hear you got it sorted out finally!!
Try creating RAID from within BIOS. It may not be possible to have bootable array on such an old board, due the modern RST BIOS modules that allow this and can see NVME are not compatible with X79.

@paranoid_android @JackSted - I believe you both have played with multiple NVME on X79, do you know if Bootable RAID array is possible on X79, or is it not due to what I mentioned above?