[Motherboard] How to troubleshoot when the hard drive is not recognized in the system
The current mainstream hard drive interfaces in the market are SATA and M.2. If you encounter a situation where the motherboard cannot recognize the hard drive, please follow the steps below for troubleshooting:
- Check the hard disk status
- Check the hard drive compatibility
- Confirm hard drives in BIOS
- Confirm hard drives in the operating system
Check the hard disk status
M.2 SSD
Please verify if the gold fingers of the M.2 SSD are correctly inserted and if the screws are tightened properly.
Check the SATA 3.0 hard disk cable
1. Please verify that the SATA data cable is correctly connected on both the motherboard side and the hard disk side. Alternatively, you can try replacing the SATA data cable to confirm.
2. Ensure that the SATA power cable is properly connected.
Check the hard drive compatibility
1. Go to MSI Official Website and click on the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner. For example, select the "search" icon in the top right corner and enter "MEG Z590 ACE" in the search bar. Press the "Enter" key to initiate the search.
2. Find "MEG Z590 ACE" and click on "Manual".
3. In the user manual, refer to the sections that provide information about the motherboard's supported hard drive specifications and installation precautions.
Note: Some M.2 slots share channels with SATA interfaces, which means you cannot use the shared slots or interfaces simultaneously. Taking MEG Z590 ACE as an example, when the M2_2 interface has a hard drive connected, SATA2 will be unavailable. Similarly, when the M2_3 interface has a hard drive connected, SATA5 and SATA6 will be unavailable.
This limitation is due to the motherboard's circuit design. It is recommended that you refer to the user manual of your current motherboard to confirm these details.
4. On the aforementioned product page, click on "Support" → "Compatibility Report" → "Storage Devices" to view the list of motherboard's supported storage devices.
This list includes hard drives that have undergone compatibility testing by MSI specifically for this motherboard. MSI recommends using hard drives from the list for optimal compatibility.
Confirm hard drives in BIOS
1. Repeatedly press the "Delete" key when your computer is powered on to enter the BIOS setup page. Select "Settings" → "System Status" to check if the motherboard can detect the hard drive.
2. If the BIOS doesn't recognize the hard drive and you have already gone through the troubleshooting steps mentioned above, please refer to the guide on [Motherboard] How to update BIOS. After updating the BIOS to the latest version, recheck if the hard drive is recognized in the BIOS. If the BIOS can detect the hard drive but it is not recognized in the operating system, please continue with the following troubleshooting steps.
Confirm hard drives in the operating system
1. Right-click on "This PC" in the operating system → "Manage."
2. Select "Disk Management" and check if there is any disk displayed as unallocated space.
3. If there is unallocated space shown, it means that the computer has correctly recognized the hard drive. Right-click on the unallocated disk → "New Simple Volume." Follow the steps to complete the configuration of the hard drive space. Afterward, you should be able to find the hard drive within "This PC".
If you have followed the steps and the issue persists, please contact the MSI's customer service center for further assistance.
