aarock Z97 extreme 6 and SM951 issue

hi guys

i have got a z97 mobo and purchased a new sammy sm951 pci-e ssd. i've only got that on the mobo, bios version 2.30 installed but can i get it to boot and load windows 8.1. no.

tried lots of guides, rufus iso creation with GPT for uefi , normal bootable windows 8.1. it hangs and does not get past the bios screen, asking for bootable media to be inserted.

i have changed the bios settings on the CSM tio eufi and the boot drive which is detected as the usb drive, as uefi mode. nothing.

used back usb's and the one on the mobo.

really frustrating. any ideas?

system is:

asrock mobo z97 extreme6 on bios 2.30
i5 4690k
256gig pci-e sm951 ssd in ultra m.2 port
16 gig of kingston hyper x beast 2400 ram
550 wt seasonic gold psu

nothing else is plugged in

When creating the bootable drive with Rufus did you select the file system as FAT32?

I guess you can check this on another machine by checking the USB stick has a GPT partition table and FAT32 file system.

Also, there will be a boot override option in the BIOS (F8 and F12 are common)....when you select that and it enumerates the list of bootable options, does it offer the USB drive with a "UEFI" prefix, without the prefix or both?

yes, fat32 and GPT.

F11 brings the boot menu and both USB and UEFI options appear, but clicking on the eufi one does nothing. the usb options black screens and then asks for a bootable drive.

In that case the problem is certainly the UEFI implementation on the motherboard. Black screen/insert bootable media when selecting the non-UEFI option is correct as that would require MBR partition table and NTFS file system.

I just checked and you have the latest BIOS, might be worth running it through UBU (UEFI BIOS Updater) and updating all the modules.

Might also be worth trying an older BIOS version to see if the symptoms are the same. Also, try disabling CSM so that there is zero legacy support (something I always like to do when installing an Operating System in UEFI mode anyway).

well i just downgraded the bios to 2.10 and windows is now installing thank fully, so it seems 2.30 has issues. fingers crossed it works, windows 7 is installing. will update to windows 8.1 soon after if stable.