Bizarre issue with B360 motherboard

[Mazer]

Been having a problem with my B360, when I go into the bios and save and exit, I get this M.2 Genie error at startup it prevents me from loading into windows, here is the strange part I don't have any M.2 nvme installed. I only have two 2.5 SATA SSDs, I have tried to turn off the m.2 port in the pcie settings in bios but it then I restart and get BSOD saying invalid boot device. I had to take out the CMOs battery and after all that I was able to boot back into windows on my SSD. I want to know is there a way I can just go into my bios without it having that error at startup? I really don't want to buy a nvme drive unless it's the only option.



The mobo is MSI B360 A-Pro

 

[bonehead123]

Well, a couple of quick & easy things you could try before going into deeper troubleshooting:

A) You said you removed the CMOS battery, but how long did you leave it out ? Some boards reset quickly (2-5 minutes), others take significantly longer (10-15 minutes)...
B) After replacing the CMOS battery, did you press & hold the BIOS reset button for approx 5 minutes before starting up the machine ? If not try that..
C) Remove the SATA drive that is NOT your boot drive, making sure the boot drive is connected to the either the SATA #1 or #6 connector and see if it will boot correctly without any errors..
D) With only 1 drive installed, re-install a fresh copy of windows onto it (making sure to reformat it in the process).... if it boots normally, then shut down & install the 2nd drive & see what happens... if installing the 2nd drive causes a BSOD, then that drive is probably near death, or already dead..

Good luck & please post back any progress

 

[Mazer]

Well, a couple of quick & easy things you could try before going into deeper troubleshooting:

A) You said you removed the CMOS battery, but how long did you leave it out ? Some boards reset quickly (2-5 minutes), others take significantly longer (10-15 minutes)...
B) After replacing the CMOS battery, did you press & hold the BIOS reset button for approx 5 minutes before starting up the machine ? If not try that..
C) Remove the SATA drive that is NOT your boot drive, making sure the boot drive is connected to the either the SATA #1 or #6 connector and see if it will boot correctly without any errors..
D) With only 1 drive installed, re-install a fresh copy of windows onto it (making sure to reformat it in the process).... if it boots normally, then shut down & install the 2nd drive & see what happens... if installing the 2nd drive causes a BSOD, then that drive is probably near death, or already dead..

Good luck & please post back any progress

No no no you don't understand it's BSOD because it wants to read from M.2 slot hence the m.2 error but I only have 2.5 sata SSDs installed one with windows and other is games and running off it now, if I go into the bios at any point and back out it throws up the "m.2 genie error press F2 for setup" then it gets stuck in a boot loop where I have to remove the CMOs for a few mins just to get back into windows again. It is possible to clear it from reading the M.2 or do I have to buy and install one to clear it? The boot priority is messed up when I go into the bios and somehow it doesn't save it.

I did get in touch with msi on this they told me it's "normal" the board must have a nvme drive as the OS drive or else it won't work right I seriously doubt that..

Here is the OS SSD it's fine.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Did you get an "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE" Windows kernel error? Note: That error code is rare with post-XP.

 

[Mazer]

Did you get an "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE" Windows kernel error? Note: That error code is rare with post-XP.

Yes, only when I disable the M.2 slot in bios under the pcie intergraded peripherals.

 

[bonehead123]

I did get in touch with msi on this they told me it's "normal" the board must have a nvme drive as the OS drive or else it won't work right I seriously doubt that

I'm callin BS on that nonsense...your board was built back when nvme's were early in the adoption cycle for new tech, so what they said is clearly just a lame-assed excuse to get you to go away without any further responsibility on their part...

I've had/built numerous computers from the same generation (1150-1151 etc) and have NEVER, EVER heard of anything even close to that silly crap....

Also, you said you removed the CMOS battery, but have you REPLACED it with a fresh new one, and made sure there is no dust or other crud built up in & around the socket ? A weak battery and/or dirty socket could be causing the bios issues too

 

[Mazer]

I'm callin BS on that nonsense...your board was built back when nvme's were early in the adoption cycle for new tech, so what they said is clearly just a lame-assed excuse to get you to go away without any further responsibility on their part...

I've had/built numerous computers from the same generation (1150-1151 etc) and have NEVER, EVER heard of anything even close to that silly crap....

Also, you said you removed the CMOS battery, but have you REPLACED it with a fresh new one, and made sure there is no dust or other crud built up in & around the socket ? A weak battery and/or dirty socket could be causing the bios issues too

I haven't tried a new cmos battery yet, will see on getting one and trying that.

 

[Edwired]

Ah the classic inaccessible boot error is pointing to the drive that don't have the os installed on one SSD drive but it available on the other drive what happening here that the bootstring is misconfigured in the bios you have to set the os main drive as number 1 as you may need to repair the start up on the os using safe mode with cmd or USB recovery and using the scanos and rebuildbcd method. Had the same problem multiple times using the dell optiplex 790 with the inaccessible boot when swapping drives where it don't detect the main operating system even it was there. Have you tried updating the bios to the latest one available for the board incase it have issues with the older bios. Beginning to think it something to do with the boot order that is responsible for booting in a numbered order like example USB is 1 then DVD drive is 2 then the SSD drive that contains the OS is 3. It not needed or nessarary to have the nvme drive installed to boot from normal ssd

 

[Mazer]

Ah the classic inaccessible boot error is pointing to the drive that don't have the os installed on one SSD drive but it available on the other drive what happening here that the bootstring is misconfigured in the bios you have to set the os main drive as number 1 as you may need to repair the start up on the os using safe mode with cmd or USB recovery and using the scanos and rebuildbcd method. Had the same problem multiple times using the dell optiplex 790 with the inaccessible boot when swapping drives where it don't detect the main operating system even it was there. Have you tried updating the bios to the latest one available for the board incase it have issues with the older bios. Beginning to think it something to do with the boot order that is responsible for booting in a numbered order like example USB is 1 then DVD drive is 2 then the SSD drive that contains the OS is 3. It not needed or nessarary to have the nvme drive installed to boot from normal ssd

Put in a new battery for cmos and it still happens

Is there any steps to doing this in windows? I have the latest bios and no way of downgrading.

 

[Edwired]

What is the motherboard that you have I know it b360. And you are on the latest bios no point downgrading it. Seems like the bios is not saving the changes after you exit the menu have you tried clearing cmos to reset it to default and do the changes again and this time setting the SSD with the OS on the first boot order and deselect all other boot options and clicking on save then exit.

suppose Windows does not boot when you disable "M2/optane Genie" because OS was installed when it was enabled: in that case, "SATA Mode" was set at "RAID/Optane Mode" so that AHCI driver was not installed. You have to force its installation! Do that:
- Disconnect all drives except this with Windows 10.
- In "SETTINGS \ Advanced \ Integrated Peripheral", enable "M2.Genie" and verify that "SATA Mode" is set at "RAID/Optane Mode".
- Start Windows then open CMD as Administrator. In the CMD window, enter:
bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal
- Restart and enter in BIOS Setup. In "SETTINGS \ Advanced \ Integrated Peripheral", disable "M2.Genie" and verify that "SATA Mode" is set at "AHCI Mode".
- Restart so that Windows will boot into safe mode and automatically load the AHCI driver.
- Open CMD as Administrator. In the CMD window, enter:
bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
- Now connect all drives and start Windows.

 

[Mazer]

What is the motherboard that you have I know it b360. And you are on the latest bios no point downgrading it. Seems like the bios is not saving the changes after you exit the menu have you tried clearing cmos to reset it to default and do the changes again and this time setting the SSD with the OS on the first boot order and deselect all other boot options and clicking on save then exit

Oh it's a msi b360 a-pro. The OS SSD only is installed I did remember this was from a different PC before so maybe it's that? Yeah it's like it doesn't want to save the changes for some reason.

 

[Edwired]

Oh it's a msi b360 a-pro. The OS SSD only is installed I did remember this was from a different PC before so maybe it's that? Yeah it's like it doesn't want to save the changes for some reason.

Look at the previous post it might be a clue why it behaving strangely about the genie m.2 error.

As it might appear that the bios is complaining about m.2 not installed due to the mode that is used as for regular SSD it requires ahci = sata for it to work if it was on raid or optane mode it refuses to boot the regular SSD regardless. It may need the genie m.2 to be disabled to stop popping the error on screen and halting the system as this maybe the reason why
Had a read at the manual found this

 

[Mazer]

- Restart so that Windows will boot into safe mode and automatically load the AHCI driver.
- Open CMD as Administrator. In the CMD window, enter:
bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
- Now connect all drives and start Windows.

I got to this part and got the same bsod when it tries to boot into windows INACESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE

 

[Edwired]

Yeah that what is going on what happening there is the BCD file that got corrupted that is responsible for booting the os it needs to be repaired by using windows 10 or 11 on the usb memory stick you let it load to the menu where it said install or repair this computer, click on repair it should bring up a menu and find cmd. I guide you to fixing it

 

[Mazer]

Before I do this and mess up my data, would it be easier just to reinstall windows?

 

[Edwired]

Your data will be safe as long it on the drive. I only guide you throughout the steps to fix the BCD file as this only fixes the booting issues. Reinstalling windows can pose a risk if something goes wrong during the process.
Have you the windows 10 or 11 on USB ready

 

[Mazer]

So I did all that and I'm not sure if it changed anything at all, I looked in device manager and it's a raid controller

Not AHCI

I want to try one more time I didnt have the correct USB drive inserted. I'm ready for the help @Edwired

 

[Edwired]

So I did all that and I'm not sure if it changed anything at all, I looked in device manager and it's a raid controller

Not AHCI
View attachment 326262

So you got back into the OS without losing data or was it a reinstall? Yeah it seems strange to see that. Whatever the bios was doing with the storage it was to set to raid where it suppose to be ahci for regular SSD so it explains the boot issues you were experiencing including m.2 genie error

@Mazer have you checked in the bios that it located in settings menu which sata mode is set to?

 

[Mazer]

Its still coming up optane in the bios as if it's not saving, am I correct to assume that the x (top light hand corner of the screen) in BIOS is to save and quit?

 

[Edwired]

Its still coming up optane in the bios as if it's not saving, am I correct to assume that the x (top light hand corner of the screen) in BIOS is to save and quit?

Yes that would be ideal to save and quit

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

I got to this part and got the same bsod when it tries to boot into windows INACESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE

Looks like the kernel loaded, but the kernel got an unexpected response.

 

[Edwired]

Looks like the kernel loaded, but the kernel got an unexpected response.

That because the sata mode was in raid mode when he is using just regular SSD as main operating system therefore inaccessible boot device popped up it should have been in ahci mode including configuring windows registry to boot from Microsoft driver not the controller driver

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

That because the sata mode was in raid mode when he is using just regular SSD as main operating system therefore inaccessible boot device popped up it should have been in achi mode including configuring windows registry to boot from Microsoft driver not the controller driver

Usually means wrong/bad storage controller driver. The last time I saw such, was when tried XP on my Sabertooth 990 FX R 2.0 and FX 8350 rig for a very short time, before going back to 8.1 at the time, because I accidentally connected the SATA SSD to an ASMedia controller! (IIRC) I was hoping those two beige ports were the native ones.

 

[Edwired]

Usually means wrong/bad storage controller driver. The last time I saw such, was when tried XP on my Sabertooth 990 FX R 2.0 and FX 8350 rig for a very short time, before going back to 8.1 at the time, because I accidentally connected the SATA SSD to an ASMedia controller! (IIRC) I was hoping those two beige ports were the native ones.

I know that feeling done that on Asus P6x58d-e didn't take much notice which ports I was using ended up banging my head off the wall till I copped it it was connecting to the Marvell controller when it should have been in Intel controller took me three days to figure that out but the operating system survived the ordeal