I know the new Samsung 960 Pro M.2's are hard to come by right now. I was one of the first ones to be lucky enough to get one. But do yourself a favor if you want to get aboard the M.2 train. Research compatibility! This technology is too new to just place in your board and go. Seems to me EVGA is behind the 8 ball on this one.
There are lots of guides for BIOS updates, Overclocking help, troubleshooting ect. But nothing yet for M.2 SSD's. I should have recognized that. Even Googling the 960 M.2 compatibility for the X99 Motherboard is a hard find.
 
So, wrapping this up. If anyone wants to try to install this SSD on their X99 board and has success. Please let me know, I would appreciate it. In the mean time, I am returning this chip. Not gonna keep it in hopes that EVGA or Samsung comes up with a solution for compatibility!

the newer Samsung 960 m.2 drives will work on all of our m.2 M-Key supported motherboards.

brockkane
So. You're saying that my Micro 2 chip may be defective?

Sounds like that EVGA tech said that Samsung 960 m.2 drives work in all EVGA X99 m.2 (M) key slots. So, yeah man - looks like your motherboard was the issue. Unless you installed it in that other m.2 slot that isn't the (M) key slot.

I have the latest MB update (V2.03) installed, but there are some differences. Wish we could upload images, but see we can only give image URL's bummer. Anyway, under the "Advanced" tab I have "M.2 Sockets" "Enabled" but do not have the drop down that says...."Improved M.2 S3/S4 Compatibility" even listed. 
Nor do I have from the Boot Menu have and option for "Windows Boot Manager", only the usual suspects.... Hard Drive, USB Hard Drive, ect ect.....I've scrolled that menu up and down to the max. No, "Windows Boot Manager" after enabling UEFI! Then on the Boot Order screen, only shows Win USA key or Disabled, nothing else! "Windows Boot Manager" is nowhere to be found!
 
So these screen shots ( http://forums.evga.com/X99-Micro-2-Easy-to-follow-setup-guide-m2476830.aspx ) are before my update. Or I have a completely different BIOS update.
 
Again, I looked and have, for X99 Classified motherboard - version 2.03 installed!
 
Should I roll back to ver 2.02? Or, even can I?
 
 

Wow. That sounds like the issue then. Holy crap. So I have some work to do then. Backing up all my important files and such. Format and start over? No way to just reinstall and keep my files and settings with UEFI?

So then my next question would be. How then would I install win 10 from scratch to an M.2 SSD if I can not get the Windows Boot Manager menu?

Now wait! If I've pulled all my other drives. No other PCIe cards installed except my 980ti. Why can I not install from scratch onto my M.2 while in UEFI mode?

Go here and follow the steps up to the Windows Boot Manager picture:
 
http://forums.evga.com/X9...-BY-STEP-m2476830.aspx
 
Then try again. If you still can't get this to work just PM but keep in mind that I'm in Europe so I'm 6-9 hours ahead of USA time so there might be a delay in replying back.

Thanks rjohnson11. But as I said earlier.....

I have the latest MB update (V2.03) installed, but there are some differences. Wish we could upload images, but see we can only give image URL's bummer. Anyway, under the "Advanced" tab I have "M.2 Sockets" "Enabled" but do not have the drop down that says...."Improved M.2 S3/S4 Compatibility" even listed.
Nor do I have from the Boot Menu have and option for "Windows Boot Manager", only the usual suspects.... Hard Drive, USB Hard Drive, ect ect.....I've scrolled that menu up and down to the max. No, "Windows Boot Manager" after enabling UEFI! Then on the Boot Order screen, only shows Win USB key or Disabled, nothing else! "Windows Boot Manager" is nowhere to be found!

brockkane
No, "Windows Boot Manager" after enabling UEFI! Then on the Boot Order screen, only shows Win USB key or Disabled, nothing else! "Windows Boot Manager" is nowhere to be found!

Windows Boot Manager wouldn't show up without a UEFI OS installed on whatever drive(s) you have installed. 
 
If I remove my m.2 drive with UEFI Windows 10 - no Windows Boot Manager.
 
If I remove the m.2 drive and put my blank SSD back in - no Windows Boot Manager.
 
If I remove the m.2 drive and put my SSD back in and install Windows 7, 8, or 10 in Legacy mode (and not UEFI) - no Windows Boot Manager, just the drives are listed for the boot order.
 
Windows Boot Manager is the UEFI boot sector on the drive.
 
 
 
Now, can you even see the m.2 drive in Windows with your other drive as the boot drive? In the device manager/disk management? If you can't - it's either the motherboard or the m.2 drive, and it would be easier to RMA/replace at the point of sale the m.2 drive before RMAing the motherboard.
 
If you CAN see the m.2 drive in the device manager/disk management when booting from your other drive, then you can try this:
- backup your data
- reinstall Windows 10 after formatting the old drive while IN UEFI mode
- boot into Windows and install Samsung's Magician software
- clone the old drive to the m.2 drive
- power down, remove the old drive, reboot
- everything should work now (and this is basically what I did)

Ok. Now I've got this. Motherboard now shows something in the PCIe slot 5. 4X2 but looking to info on left shows it being dehighlighted or grayed out.

brockkane
Ok. Now I've got this. Motherboard now shows something in the PCIe slot 5. 4X2 but looking to info on left shows it being dehighlighted or grayed out.

That sounds like a 4X PCIE 2.0 m.2 drive!!!!!!
 
So, after you sort through getting Windows installed on the m.2 drive - the RAM can probably be run at 3200MHz, which will keep the Bclk at 100 (don't ask me why, EVGA X99 motherboards do this). You can probably set XMP settings, then set RAM speed to 3200 in the RAM speed drop down menu, and then (more importantly) set the Bclk back to 100. You might need to bump the voltage slightly and/or relax the timings a little - but I was able to get 2800MHz RAM running at 3200MHz with minimal tweaks, so with your 3000MHz RAM I'd expect needing to tweak it less.

arestavo

brockkane
Now i figured out how to get into BIOS using TAB then F2. Will not boot to bios using DEL key. Weird.

While having the drive installed in the M.2 slot. This seems to be the only way to get to BIOS. Still can not get to windows boot menu or even to windows install.

Are you set to UEFI mode, and do you have the USB key set to boot first?

Yes and yes

It will be X4 gen 2 for the X99 Classified, not gen 3.

They can get rather hot without any airflow over them or without a heatsink - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3GlInzvHr8

V84x4

arestavo
It will be X4 gen 2 for the X99 Classified, not gen 3.

 
Oops Sorry
Was just explaining it's grayed out and not Changeable........... Thanks
 

brockkane
Well now the drive got so hot I thought I cooked it. Even smelled bad. Pulled it out. Was thankful I didn't damage anything. I think I'm done with this. Thanks for your time guys. This just isn't working for me. I'll just stick to my sata drives

It sounds Like your using the WRONG Slot.........

Only one slot is M.2 NVME
 
The other slot is for Wifi and Bluetooth card

Sorry you haveing such a hard time

If you would like to call me I can walk you thru things
Im in Michigan USA

PM me if you want to talk and try one more time
 
Best Regards, Rick

Just a heads up Rick - since his PE5 was showing as occupied he does have it in the correct slot. The other m.2 slot would have disabled a USB 3.0 port (#3) instead of PE5.