NVMe on Intel S2600CP

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mrjayviper

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Jul 28, 2017
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anyone care to reply here (for everyone to see) what's the process/steps needed in getting an NVMe device as a boot device?

Thank you! :)
 

zackiv31

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May 16, 2016
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Not going to be helpful to you, but I gave up trying to get Ubuntu booting from NVMe. I now have /boot on an SATA drive, and the rest installed on the NVMe one. Definitely not how I'd have liked it, but I could never get it to work properly. If anyone else has I'd love to hear how.
 

mrjayviper

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Jul 28, 2017
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Not going to be helpful to you, but I gave up trying to get Ubuntu booting from NVMe. I now have /boot on an SATA drive, and the rest installed on the NVMe one. Definitely not how I'd have liked it, but I could never get it to work properly. If anyone else has I'd love to hear how.
Dominick Han supposedly has a way of doing it. though I'm not sure why he didn't decide to just post the steps/answer here so people don't need to message him in Facebook.
 

Seyon

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Mar 3, 2016
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How to boot NVMe on Intel S2600CP

* Update firmware/bios to latest.
Downloads for Intel® Server Board S2600CP Family
BIOS version 02.06.0006 or 02.06.0007

* Download OS image ISO.

* Download Rufus utility.
Rufus

* Insert blank USB.

* Execute Rufus utility and make USB install media.
Select ISO image and set
partition scheme : GPT
target system : UEFI(non CSM)

* Boot your computer and go into CMOS/BIOS setup(F2 key).

* Set Boot options -> EFI optimized boot to Enabled.
Set first boot device to USB Media(UEFI).
Save and reboot.

* Boot from USB install media.

* Install OS to NVMe drive.

* After OS installation is ended, remove USB install media and reboot.

* Go into CMOS/BIOS and confirm first boot device to Boot Manager(which is in a NVMe drive partition).

* Save and reboot into OS.

(I'm not a native English speaker.^^)
 

Roy68

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Apr 13, 2016
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Been trying for a few weeks to get Linux Mint 19.1 to run from NVME on PCIe (Mobo S2600CP, 2 x E5-2680-V2).

Just wanted to highlight this link because following this method works for me:
System Boot When Using NVMe

Not a true boot of NVME but at least the complete OS except /boot runs from NVME.

I installed /boot on a tiny 16G USB stick, partioned as BTRFS and located in USB socket on Mobo near to main power socket.

Works for me with a 960GB Corsair MP510 drive, I get 3GB/sec read and 1.9GB/sec write based on benchmark included with Disks utility on Mint.

The NVME is in top PCIe socket (longest one for riser card), and GPU (GTX 1070) is in next one down.

With this method there is no need to boot with UEFI.

Up and running since last night, so still early days, anyone aware of any negatives with doing it this way that I should be aware of?

No major revelations in terms of noticeable speed difference yet compared to SATA SSD, but I least I know I'm now getting best possible performance from this system, should be great when I get around to trying some 4k video editing.

Thanks!
 
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mrjayviper

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Jul 28, 2017
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this is what I used to get Windows/Linux to "boot"

1. download NVMExpressDxe-64.efi file (NvmExpressDxe-64.efi download - Google Search)

2. copy refind USB image to a USB (I did this on my Mac using the dd command). The rEFInd Boot Manager: Getting rEFInd

3. copy the NVME driver to the x64 folder in the USB stick

4. install OS as normal. In both Windows and Linux, I was able to install the OS into the NVMe drive. (During installation, the refind USB should NOT be inserted)

5.configured the Intel bootloader to select the UEFI USB stick as the first selection

6. once the USB stick boots up, select the correct partition to boot. For Windows and Linux, there are several options that shows up. Just pick 1 until it boots correctly.

7. On my refind config (I have the stick somewhere and will attach my config later), I have configured refind:
- to auto-select the last partition I booted
- reduced the timeout to zero. This means that I cannot see the partition selection at all. If I am booting the OS for the first time, I only need to send some keyboard presses (in my case I was pressing the cursor keys) to refind so that it is forced to display the partition selection screen.

Notes.
1. I have not tried the suggestion by Seyon since I haven't updated my bios to the latest. I didn't know there's an update.
2. when using refind, my boot partition for both Windows and Linux is located on the NVMe drive.
 
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jerimyah yancarlos

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Dec 5, 2019
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After banging my head to the wall for the last two days, I was NOT able to boot from the NVMe drive (I am having a Sabrent Rocket NVMe 1TB)

I have upgraded and downgraded the bios including all the utilities and don’t even get me started with the FRU and SDR settings because the fans will go crazy at full speed, however, I was not able to boot from the NVMe.

My motherboard (S2600CP) regardless of the bios version is not recognizing the NVMe drive.

So I ended up with the latest bios (at the moment is version 02.06.0007) and the same as zackiv31 and Roy68 I am using my old hard drive as boot and I have the root directory (/) on the NVMe drive (I use Ubuntu Mate 19.10)

I have also tried to boot with Clove Bootloader but without any success.

Because I am having V1 CPU’s I only get PCIe X2 speeds :(

My next project is to upgrade my CPU’s to v2 and I will give it another go... this motherboard is just a complete nightmare.

If the project is successful I will post here my results.
 

marv

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Apr 2, 2015
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I have also tried to boot with Clove Bootloader but without any success.
can you specify how far did you get? I had to install windows elsewhere first and then when I booted clover with default settings (regardless whether from USB or SATA) on S2600, it offered windows boot manager option and when I picked that, Windows started booting.

edit: I installed clover using BDU
 
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jerimyah yancarlos

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Dec 5, 2019
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can you specify how far did you get? I had to install windows elsewhere first and then when I booted clover (regardless whether from USB or SATA) on S2600, it offered windows boot manager option and when I picked that, Windows started booting.
I have only tried Clover in Linux, I added Clover to a USB and edited the config files by adding the NVMe path and ID to the file. Clover was booting fine but it was unable to detect the NVMe drive. So I just abandoned the idea and used the old drive.
Maybe we should start a separate thread on how to configure Clover from start to finish :)
 

marv

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Apr 2, 2015
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Clover was booting fine but it was unable to detect the NVMe drive.
then you have to first install windows on that nvme drive, either on another computer which supports booting from NVME, or if you dont have that, install it manually from command line using diskpart, dism, bcdboot utilities. Only then will Clover show "Windows boot manager" as boot option, and it doesnt even has to have configured nvme path or partition ID (at least thats how it was working for me)
 
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mrjayviper

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Jul 28, 2017
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jerimyah, did you follow my directions above? seems I already listed the steps. to get windows to install into the NVMe drive, you need to yank out the USB which contains refind once you get to the Windows portion where you are formatting/repartitioning the drive.
 

wjpcoop

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Apr 14, 2020
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Oh also going to add there is a 16x PCIe slot(8x electrical), but I couldn't use it because it bumps right up to the memory. Its designed for a riser. It does function without a riser, but your card can't really be any longer than the slot.
Im about to get the s2600cp4 board with E5 2680 V2 CPUs. I have 2 gpu cards i) geforce gt 740 (runs at 65 watts and takes power from a pcie slot) and ii) geforce gtx 1660 ti (120 watts and takes power from psu). Both are small form gpu and pcie 3.

I was going to put the gt740 into slot 3, and the gtx1660 into slot 6 - but worried about your comment regarding 16x slot having 8x electric. Can you help and explain the 8x electrical reference you make for the 16x card.? Does it matter and what / how would it impact
 

wildpig1234

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Aug 22, 2016
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Im about to get the s2600cp4 board with E5 2680 V2 CPUs. I have 2 gpu cards i) geforce gt 740 (runs at 65 watts and takes power from a pcie slot) and ii) geforce gtx 1660 ti (120 watts and takes power from psu). Both are small form gpu and pcie 3.

I was going to put the gt740 into slot 3, and the gtx1660 into slot 6 - but worried about your comment regarding 16x slot having 8x electric. Can you help and explain the 8x electrical reference you make for the 16x card.? Does it matter and what / how would it impact
what it really means is that the physical size of the slot is x16 but really only 8x in bandwidth. But as long as space and clearance from surrouding components permiting is good to allow the card to seat properly, they will run fine. And i wouldn't worry about the fact of 8x bandwidth. still enough for your gtx1660ti.

Also i would put the primary card or gtx 1660 ti to go with the pci slot that goes with cpu1 if possible.

Because I am having V1 CPU’s I only get PCIe X2 speeds :(

My next project is to upgrade my CPU’s to v2 and I will give it another go... this motherboard is just a complete nightmare.

If the project is successful I will post here my results.
I hear ya. I had it for a year then just sold it off for an asus z9ped16 because i need oem cpu support (e5-2696 v2) which this intel board doesn't. The asus is so much easier to deal with. There is no white list or black listed hardware. No PCIe handicap. No FRUSDR to mess with to get fans to run properly. the asus board is a little more expensive but not that much (less than $50 extra) when i got it back a few yrs ago. You just have to watch for the reasonable price one to show up on ebay which goes very fast!

Might as well get some v2 cpu now since they are going down in price. definitely get 2696 or 2697 v2 (for intel board) if you can. They are beasts still in dual cpu mode.

Intel Xeon E5-2696 V2 OEM SR19G 2.5GHz 12-Core 120W Max 3.5GHz CPU Processor | eBay

$130 per cpu is not bad but the shipping from china does take a little time.
 
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wjpcoop

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Apr 14, 2020
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what it really means is that the physical size of the slot is x16 but really only 8x in bandwidth. But as long as space and clearance from surrouding components permiting is good to allow the card to seat properly, they will run fine. And i wouldn't worry about the fact of 8x bandwidth. still enough for your gtx1660ti.Also i would put the primary card or gtx 1660 ti to go with the pci slot that goes with cpu1
Thank you for the help

On the thread, there are some references to 'frying' cpu with the wrong gpu in. If I put the gtx1660ti in any of the pcie slots for cpu1 (ie slots 1,2,3,4 or 6) and attach power from the psu to it - is it possible to 'fry' the pcie slot or the cpu?
 
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