A device which does not exist was specified.

I have a situation where between 1 and 3 of my Samsung SSD NVME storage devices give the error 'A device which does not exist was specified.' when I try to access them. 

The drives can be seen in the BIOS, they can be seen in Windows Explorer and can be accessed to show the top-level folder structure, but when trying to access those folders that error occurs. The number of drives failing at any given time is random, but it is always the same 3 drives.

Here is the Speccy link where just one drive is failing at the time it was created. - http://speccy.piriform.com/results/TbXw4dLN3VOL2LvVdKWtumH

Happy to provide any other information needed. 

Thanks! 

Hi. I did mention the Thunderbolt Down Grade.  Did you do it ??

Motherboards are strange as is their makers.  (My laptop has the Chipset in with Thunderbolt.) I would suggest you finish that off.

Do you have Samsung Magician Installed ?? Does it work for the NVMe 's ??  Have you gone and looked here for Drivers as they are there and Firmware which may or may not install.

https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/consumer-storage/support/tools/

Hi, ya as always I recommend to plug your parts into here : https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ adjust top right corner for country and then see what it has to say after as to any conflicts.

It is correct that it could be the M/B but then it could be the drives.

So using PcPartspicker sticking in parts I get this : When the motherboard M.2 slot M2_1 (M) is used, expansion slot PCIE_2 (x16 @x8) is disabled.

Some boards have if plug a NVMe into 1 slot it disables a other slot.     I can not figure out why you went for so many M.2's and are all 1tb or 2tb, It would have been best to buy a 1tb then buy big 5tb or what ever. 

Filling the slots the way you have done is not the best way to set things up.   Sorta trickle till you drop of 1 and 2 TB's.

Then complicating things even more :  Unplug this : 238GB TO Exter nal USB 3.0 SCSI Disk Device

From the Motherboard's ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO QVL Memory your Corsair Ram CMT64GX5M2B6400C32 is not listed.

It is always best to check the QVL to see what parts have been tested on the board and to Buy from the list.  Note : not being on the list does not mean it will not run.

The Ram @ 6400 is fine for the M/B but is not Compatible to your :  i9 13900K chip.  Lists it @ Up to DDR5 5600 MT/s so would need to be 5200 to be able to use XMP and still be compatible to the Chip. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230496/intel-core-i913900k-processor-36m-cache-up-to-5-80-ghz/specifications.html

So you can try in BIOS to lock the Speed in at 5200 and lock the timings in for the ram as well.  See Manual.

PSU would also factor in if bought a cheap brand and is not delivering constant voltages.

But ya....... some issues when look deeper into the parts you bought.

@jonuk76 when available can you check into this please. :=}

So a request has been sent out to have a look here.  Maybe late my time or so .......

Hi.  I'm not sure what the cause is, but could I ask have all of these M.2 drives been fitted from outset or have you added more to the PC over time?  Was there a time when you noticed this problem starting, or has it always done it? I have not come across a PC with five x4 PCIe drives fitted simultaneously, and I just wonder with the PCIe bandwidth available on desktop class motherboards and CPU's whether that is causing the drives to "clash" in some way.

EDIT Have you tried removing any of the drives and seeing if the problem occurs still?    The slots labelled M2_3, 4, and 5 all run through the motherboard chipset, and it's my understanding they all "contend" with each other for bandwidth, along with any other motherboard devices (LAN, USB, SATA) so one of those is perhaps where I would start.

EDIT2 Trying to make sense of it all.  This diagram shows how Z790 connects with components and the CPU.  The DMI 4.0 x8 link between chipset and CPU has a theoretical 16 GB/s connection speed (about equivalent to 8x PCIe 4.0 lanes).  I think it's possible some glitches etc. could be occurring when trying to run 3 x PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD's simultaneously, but I honestly really don't know for sure...

Edited by jonuk76, 28 June 2024 - 07:32 PM.

So, 3 of the drives were in my old board (Z790 Hero) and when I moved to a water cooled system, I bought a Z790 Dark Hero MB for the new build. I also added 2 new drives and updated the memory but kept the old CPU, GPU and the 3 original drives. 

I haven't taken out any of the drives yet but that is my next step this weekend. I will keep you informed of progress. 

As an aside, if the dark hero is the top of the Asus range, but still cannot support DDR5 6400, what MB can? 

Cheers

Will say again it is not the Motherboard that can not handle 6400 it is the Chip.

When buying Ram does not matter what speed the M/B can handle.  You look at what the Chip can handle.

There are a lot of people that have bought these fast chips in i-9 and i-7 and they only support Ram speed of 2666 though their motherboard supports 5600.

(It is a danger that I am all to familiar with,. My ASUS ROG Maximus VI Extreme was running ram too fast for the chip and I locked the speed in on the M/B and the end result was is that after years of running a 4790K chip it melted down with no warning. Is was shut down and next day was dead. It now runs a 4770K I had in a spare Hero Board. The same ram but is now throttled down.)

So my learning of that made me very aware of what was going on. https://www.crucial.com/support/articles-faq-memory/understanding-cpu-limitations-with-memory

& https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000094585/processors.html

As to the Drives.  Would suggest put some away.  Does any of the drives used have the OS still installed on them and do any still have the previous OS Partitions : System, UEFI on them.

If so the drive (s) would need the Partitions formatted out.

It is like why with all these drives and a small external that is of no need with thew other drives.    As well pull the small stuff and stick in a mega TB or 2.

Use the others back into the Hero (which sucks but lacks BIOS tools) or to a spare computer.

Still have my spare Hero and have my ASUS Rampage as another backup

The Maximus and Maximus Formula (Formula friends board, is nice) and  Rampage are still at the top of the ASUS M/B line-up before your Board comes in to the line-up as 8th or something.

Edited by Pkshadow, 28 June 2024 - 09:22 PM.

Am I wrong in thinking there isn't an Intel CPU yet available that can take advantage of the DDR5 6400 then? The Arrow Lake is the first, targeted for end of year?

Hi, if lock the speed of the ram and timings in the held.  Got to remember this ROG Maximus VI Extreme with the i-7 4790K from 2013 and was the top of the line $450.00 buck board and was a Overclockers dream, so said all the reviews and tear downs which I was just learning about.   

A ROG Hero I bought I think a year later that was intended to resell guy backed out and was stuck with the board. 

I put the same ram in as the Maximus and locked it and would see at boot that the locked settings took then after a few boots did not take,  it would throttle it back and the locked settings would disappear.

As for ROG Maximus VI Extreme being a faulty board I am not thinking it was. The CHIP did die but was 5yrs to the date I bought it and it ran with the ram locked in until it did not turn on one morning. 

It Is now running a i-7 4770K Chip from the Hero and on it's 2nd Cosair sealed Water Pump.  System did sit for 5yrs or more after no boot as lived in the boonies with no spare i-7 chips around to test if it was the chip.  Not till moved here 2 1/2 yrs ago did I get it up and running.

It may have been faulty and not known it but I am still using the thing now as I type though not using the ram speed locked in.

The Rampage was a killer and was $450.00 in 2008 (is still a killer but is limited now, runs circles still :=} with 24 gig of ram in 6 slots, SSD, new last year a AMD RX6600XT)  (Modern Rampage has 2 chips the last I looked it up. They do not make new Rampage's for years as they really pour the money into it. Last looked was over a 1000.0o and as mentioned with room for 2 Chips.  That put it out of my price range. :=}

I had at that time no idea why it was getting undone.  Would perhaps guess that it was the start of Modern Boards Throttling.

Well folks I think you nailed it on the head - the board is unable to support 5 NVME drives simultaneously.

I removed all the drives this morning apart from the C drive. I added them back 1 at a time and when I reached the fourth one, I started to get the missing device errors again. Removed the 4th drive and the errors went away. To eliminate the possibility of there been an issue with that drive I did the test again, this time starting with the 4th and 5th drives. Again no issue until the board had 4 drives physically attached. It didnt matter which drive or the order, it was 4 physically attached that caused the issues. In the end I settled on the three 2Tb drives and haven't had any issues all day. Fingers crossed this is the solution. 

Thanks again for all the help and direction. It is greatly appreciated! 

Cheers!

You're welcome, and glad you've been able to resolve it.  It still begs the question of why do they sell a board with five M.2 slots if using them all doesn't work properly.  That might be worth putting to Asus tech support.  Perhaps they will have some advice on what will work or what won't...

If there is no way to resolve it using them as internal drives, there is the option of putting them in an enclosure so you can at least use them external storage.

You're welcome, and glad you've been able to resolve it.  It still begs the question of why do they sell a board with five M.2 slots if using them all doesn't work properly.  That might be worth putting to Asus tech support.  Perhaps they will have some advice on what will work or what won't...
 
If there is no way to resolve it using them as internal drives, there is the option of putting them in an enclosure so you can at least use them external storage.