M.2 PCIe SSDs not visible on Acer Nitro AN517-51 laptop

Support
1

Hello,
when I boot on this laptop with live USB (Manjaro and Linux Mint) I can’t see the two installed M.2 PCIe SSDs. On each of them Windows 10 is installed and boots. The devices are also recognised by the UEFI firmware. I shut both Windows down with cmd shutdown command.
Secure boot and Fast boot are disabled.

[manjaro@manjaro ~]$ inxi -Fxxxz
System:    Kernel: 5.8.6-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.19.5 tk: Qt 5.15.0 wm: kwin_x11 
           dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro Linux 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Nitro AN517-51 v: V1.31 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: CFL model: Superb_CFS v: V1.31 serial: <filter> UEFI: Insyde v: 1.31 date: 06/29/2020 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 49.3 Wh condition: 54.9/57.5 Wh (96%) volts: 17.5/15.4 model: LGC AP18E8M type: Li-ion 
           serial: <filter> status: Charging 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-9300H bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Kaby Lake rev: D L2 cache: 8192 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 38408 
           Speed: 1101 MHz min/max: 800/4100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1100 2: 1100 3: 1100 4: 1100 5: 1100 6: 1100 7: 1100 
           8: 1100 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 630 vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           chip ID: 8086:3e9b 
           Device-2: NVIDIA TU117M [GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / Max-Q] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: nouveau v: kernel 
           bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1f91 
           Device-3: Chicony HD User Facing type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus ID: 1-5:3 chip ID: 04f2:b64f serial: <filter> 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: intel,modesetting,nouveau alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa 
           resolution: 1920x1080~120Hz s-dpi: 96 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.1.7 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 
           chip ID: 8086:a348 
           Device-2: NVIDIA vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10de:10fa 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.8.6-1-MANJARO 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 
           v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 06:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: enp6s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 07:00.0 chip ID: 8086:2723 
           IF: wlp7s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 3.75 GiB used: 109.6 MiB (2.9%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda type: USB model: N/A size: 3.75 GiB serial: <filter> rev: 2.00 scheme: MBR 
RAID:      Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 port: 5060 bus ID: 00:17.0 
           chip ID: 8086.282a rev: 10 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 8.65 GiB used: 109.6 MiB (1.2%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102 
Swap:      Alert: No Swap data was found. 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 58.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 30 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:      Processes: 237 Uptime: 6m Memory: 11.54 GiB used: 643.0 MiB (5.4%) Init: systemd v: 246 Compilers: gcc: N/A 
           Packages: pacman: 1196 Shell: Bash v: 5.0.18 running in: konsole inxi: 3.1.05 

[manjaro@manjaro ~]$ lsblk -f
NAME   FSTYPE   FSVER            LABEL           UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINT
loop0  squashfs 4.0                                                                         0   100% /run/miso/sfs/livefs
loop1  squashfs 4.0                                                                         0   100% /run/miso/sfs/mhwdfs
loop2  squashfs 4.0                                                                         0   100% /run/miso/sfs/desktopfs
loop3  squashfs 4.0                                                                         0   100% /run/miso/sfs/rootfs
sda    iso9660  Joliet Extension MANJARO_KDE_201 2020-09-11-16-53-07-00                              
├─sda1 iso9660  Joliet Extension MANJARO_KDE_201 2020-09-11-16-53-07-00                              
└─sda2 vfat     FAT12            MISO_EFI        9F5B-27E9

Any ideas how I can make the SSDs available for Linux?

2

Can you disable RAID mode?

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Change the SATA Operation mode to AHCI from either IDE or RAID in the UEFI?

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4

check also all disks are in AHCI & optane RST disable

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5

what is the output from:

sudo mdadm --detail --scan

e.g. mdadm --detail --scan 
sudo mdadm --detail --scan
ARRAY /dev/md/imsm0 metadata=imsm UUID=d4a1effa:db0b4960:caa029c9:af21f853
ARRAY /dev/md/RAID0IMSVolume1_0 container=/dev/md/imsm0 member=0 UUID=f9d2c063:94bc98e7:44495e14:8b12ab90

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/RAID#Mounting_from_a_Live_CD

HOOK mdadm_udev was added?

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Will check all suggestions as soon as I get back to the laptop, thanks!

7

Fellas, you’re some freaking geniuses!
I took the route disabling Intel Optane RST and enabling AHCI.
But who would know that you need to press Ctrl+S in BIOS to see the option.
Now I see the SSDs on Manjaro Live USB.
Thanks everybody!

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10

I finally found the time to move my M.2 SSD to this laptop.

I had to chroot from live USB and reinstall Grub to make the laptop recognize the SSD as boot device.

I also installed
mhwd -i pci video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-450xx-prime

Then I forgot the the naming/numbering of the device changed: nvme0 became nvme1, but I had not adjusted it in /etc/crypttab
crypto_LUKS /dev/nvme1n1p4 none luks,timeout=180
and /etc/default/grub
cryptdevice=/dev/nvme1n1p4:crypto_LUKS

Did it then and updated grub.

Now everything works, but thanks again for the helpful hints in dealing with this monster laptop.

~ >>> inxi -Fxxxz                                                                                                         
System:    Kernel: 5.9.0-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.19.5 tk: Qt 5.15.1 wm: kwin_x11 
           dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro Linux 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Nitro AN517-51 v: V1.31 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: CFL model: Superb_CFS v: V1.31 serial: <filter> UEFI: Insyde v: 1.31 date: 06/29/2020 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 54.8 Wh condition: 54.8/57.5 Wh (95%) volts: 17.5/15.4 model: LGC AP18E8M type: Li-ion 
           serial: <filter> status: Full 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-9300H bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Kaby Lake rev: D L2 cache: 8192 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 38408 
           Speed: 1081 MHz min/max: 800/4100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1000 2: 1010 3: 1064 4: 1000 5: 1038 6: 1000 7: 1000 
           8: 1000 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 630 vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           chip ID: 8086:3e9b 
           Device-2: NVIDIA TU117M [GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / Max-Q] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: nvidia v: 450.80.02 
           bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1f91 
           Device-3: Chicony HD User Facing type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus ID: 1-5:2 chip ID: 04f2:b64f serial: <filter> 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: modesetting,nvidia 
           alternate: fbdev,intel,nouveau,nv,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~120Hz s-dpi: 96 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.1.8 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 
           chip ID: 8086:a348 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.9.0-1-MANJARO 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 
           v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 08:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: enp8s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 09:00.0 chip ID: 8086:2723 
           IF: wlp9s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 150.65 GiB (15.8%) 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Micron model: 2200 MTFDHBA512TCK size: 476.94 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 
           serial: <filter> rev: P1MA003 scheme: GPT 
           ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Intel model: SSDPEKNW010T8 size: 953.87 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> 
           rev: 002C scheme: GPT 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 183.31 GiB used: 24.51 GiB (13.4%) fs: f2fs dev: /dev/nvme1n1p2 
           ID-2: /home size: 468.73 GiB used: 126.11 GiB (26.9%) fs: f2fs dev: /dev/dm-0 
Swap:      Alert: No Swap data was found. 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:      Processes: 264 Uptime: 4m Memory: 31.20 GiB used: 1.12 GiB (3.6%) Init: systemd v: 246 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 
           Packages: pacman: 1332 Shell: Zsh v: 5.8 running in: konsole inxi: 3.1.05
11

This is not really off topic so I will leave that here. I had an issue for my NVME SSD to be visible in Bios or in Manjaro, to solve it I had to ‘initialize’ the SSD from Windows. I never encountered this situation before buying a NVME SSD so in case your solution doesn’t work for someone else, this might be something to look at.
Before doing the ‘initialization’ I had no way of having the SSD to be visible in Bios or Manjaro (no way to create a partition table or anything then), but I could do this initialization on Windows 7.

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