ROCK on internal 2.5" SSD

I don’t know what else to try. I have this other open thread: NUC failed to reboot

I have re-seated the M.2 SSD multiple times, then ordered a new one and that also won’t recognize after re-seating it multiple times. The NUC was fine until I issued a Reboot command to ROCK…it never came back online after that. I can get to the BIOS no problem … it sees my 16gb RAM, etc. … it just won’t recognize the M.2 SSD. I don’t think installing another OS would do anything to help recognize it? Seems fundamental to the hardware that the BIOS should recognize it without any OS being installed (unless I’m wrong on this point). So the only other thing I can think of trying is to use the 2.5” SSD drive bay for ROCK (I already store my music on an external USB drive).