Question B450 tomahawk - unable to get to bios whilst nvme drive is seated

[gazza1988]

It links into this post from the other bmday but after help from all over the place I've determined the issue only occurs with the nvme drive in its slot.
https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...gb-has-stopped-working.3579817/#post-21613228

Basically, with the m2 drive in the slot I turn on the pc and the gpu outputs a blank screen like its about to show the bios screen (where you press f2/del to enter bios) but shows nothing.) and the board has 4 LEDs to indicate a problem and what that is. In this case its saying vga meaning the gpu (hence my initial post thinking it's graphics card) but I found that it works fine if I take out the m2 card. So that rules out all but the drive itself or the mobo

I have a b450 tomahawk, 16gb ram, ryzen 5 2600, a SanDisk ssd (boot drive) and WD SN550 1tb nvme drive. Also my psu is a EVGA 750w GQ 80 plus.

This is a brand new 5 day old nvme drive. I've tried booting the computer without the boot drive attached (only nvme) and it's the same story.

I can't test only the m2 because my cpu doesn't have built in graphics. And the other pc the kids use doesn't have an m.2 slot. So I can't test that way. I do understand that this is a legitimate test I just don't know how I could test if the drive is faulty without access to another slot.

I have searched for this problem and I've cleared CMOS with it in. I also saw some having success. Oving the gpu to another slot, which was unsuccessful in my case.

I am using the latest bios, although I might flash the latest version again just in case (I mean it can't hurt, right?)

 

[Obakasama]

Not much to add. Reading through the available information you've mentioned so far (here and the thread you linked) it looks like the graphics card itself hasn't been ruled out as being part of the problem?

Were you able to borrow a graphics card to test on this current system?

 

[gazza1988]

Not much to add. Reading through the available information you've mentioned so far (here and the thread you linked) it looks like the graphics card itself hasn't been ruled out as being part of the problem?

Were you able to borrow a graphics card to test on this current system?

Hi, no I am unable to get hold of a 2nd graphics card for few more days at least.

My gpu works perfectly until I insert the nvme drive

Here's the full spec of the mobo. https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450-TOMAHAWK/Specification

It says the m2 slot supports PCIe 3. 0 x4 with my 2nd gen ryzen.

It's almost like they are fighting for same pci lanes?

 

[Obakasama]

PCIe lane conflict was my initial thought, but I checked the manual before my original response. The only conflict for the M.2 port is with two SATA ports.

Insofar the graphics card doesn't work in the second PCIe slot, I do wonder whether there's something wrong with the motherboard itself (as you suspect). I'd like to think another graphics card to double check would help confirm either way.

 

[gazza1988]

PCIe lane conflict was my initial thought, but I checked the manual before my original response. The only conflict for the M.2 port is with two SATA ports.

Insofar the graphics card doesn't work in the second PCIe slot, I do wonder whether there's something wrong with the motherboard itself (as you suspect). I'd like to think another graphics card to double check would help confirm either way.

Yeah, I did try the gpu in a 2nd computer and it worked fine in there. But that computer doesn't have an m2 slot to confirm whether it is the m2 or not.

Also amazon have sent me a replacement card (just as an off chance it was faulty and I've no other way of testing it) and it's doing it with the new new one as well. Although it is possible I got 2 faulty ones in a row I very highly doubt it, I've probably got more chance of winning the lottery.

I could get a pcie to m2 adapter and try that but it's not really a fix to something that should just work. If you get my meaning.

 

[Obakasama]

I must have missed the graphics card in the second PCIe slot. In which case, I would lean towards an issue with either the M.2 port or the SSD itself.

Is it possible to get a replacement from whoever sold it to you? Would be the simpler option, I think.

 

[gazza1988]

A simple re flash of the bios has fixed everything. Thank you for your help.