Cannot do clean Win 8.1/64 install to Intel P3600 SSD

[GBali]

ASUS motherboard X99 Deluxe. Running latest BIOS and defaults. Currently running OK with OCZ SSD. Intel 400gb SSD is visible in BIOS, Windows and disk management as healthy partition. Storage controllers in BIOS are set to AHCI. Did full format of SSD before Win install. Can write to and read from P3600. SSD firmware is 8DV1. Installed latest P3600 driver from Intel website. Run Intel SSD full read and write diagnostics with no errors. Intel tells me motherboard meets specs for P3600. No solution from ASUS either.

At early stage of clean Win install from a Win 8.1/64 CD before installation starts, get message "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. Computer hardware may not support booting to this disk. Insure disk controller is enabled in Bios". Tried formatting and then install and get same message. Tried installing driver and then install and get same message. Communicating with Intel and issue is still active. Don't think SSD purchased from newegg.com is defective. Newegg is willing to accept return but I am not optimistic replacement disk won't have same issue. Any ideas or thoughts are appreciated. George B.

[CChon3]

Since there is a partition in the Intel SSD, do the following:

1. With the system powered off, only plug the Intel SSD and the DVD drive into the PC.

2. Power on and enter BIOS settings, change the following to ensure no legacy boot options are present:

Boot device control is set to UEFI only.

Boot from storage devices is set to UEFI driver first.

Boot from PCI-E/PCI expansion devices is set to UEFI driver first.

3. After saving and reboot, press F8 and choose to boot from UEFI .

4. When it comes to the Windows partition setup screen, click "Drive Options", then select "Delete" and delete all the partitions on the Intel SSD, please ensure that there is only Disk 0 (with no partition and no other disk) on the partition setup screen.

5. Screenshot the partition setup screen if you got any error message after doing the above.

[GBali]

Clement: Great news! Followed your last instructions and successfully installed Win8.1/64 to Intel P3600 SSD. Here's what I did:

Removed OCZ SSD

Installed Intel SSD in PCIe 3.0x16 slot

Made following changes to BIOS:

Boot device control set to UEFI only.

Boot from storage devices set to UEFI driver first.

Boot from PCI-E/PCI expansion devices set to UEFI driver first.

Changed PCIe slot to Gen3

After saving and reboot, pressed F8 to boot from UEFI .

When it came to the Windows partition setup screen, selected "Delete" and deleted all the partitions on the Intel SSD. Did not need to format drive or install Intel driver.

Win 8.1-64 installed perfectly. I am a happy camper. Could not have done it w/o your help. Thank you! Thank you. Your patience and persistence in staying with me was fantastic. Help from ASUS was minimal. You deserve a medal! Intel SSD flies and boots in seconds. So glad I stayed with you guys and did not return the SSD to newegg or Intel although both offered to take it back but I would have had same problem with replacement drive. Took a lot of my time and yours but it was worth it! I learned a lot from this. If you need a reference, please use my experience.

Best regards, George B.

[CChon3]

Congratulations!

I recommend that you install Intel's NVMe driver as soon as possible, there are some bugs in Microsoft's NVMe driver that could cause data corruption (KB2897143).

Also, any firmware updates to the SSD can only be done with Intel's driver.