[SOLVED] Cannot get to BIOS with nvme installed

[andob4]

Hi, my first PC build for many years and I'm stuck.
Gigabyte B550 DS3H
Ryzen 5 3600 with stock cooler
2 x 16 GB 3200 Ram
5600 XT
1 GB ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro M.2 nvme
750 W Antec PSU with two cables to MB and one to GPU

I built everything quick on the motherboard box and booted by shorting the power pins. CPU fan spins, Ram lights up but no post at all. Tried one ram stick and still no good in all slots. Removed M.2 ssd and it booted fine to Bios.

Updated Bios from shipping F2 which was way out of date to F11e (2‎020/10/29) , set Ram to XMP and loaded defaults. Rebooted fine. Tried Windows 10 boot USB stick and that is fine too.

Refitted the M.2 disk and same again - nothing at all on the screen. Tried the second slot under the GPU and the same.

Removed the M.2 and it boots fine.

Tried PCIEx 16 bifurcation from Auto to 1x8/2x4 after reading a forum
Tried CSM on and off

No joy - I simply cannot get to the BIOS - total blank with the M.2 drive installed - and I don't have another one to test! It's a new drive.

Any ideas much appreciated.

 

[Darkbreeze]

There is NEVER any reason to "try all slots". If you have one DIMM, it goes in the A2 slot. If you have two DIMMs, they go in the A2 and B2 slots. Some boards might call those two slots the DDR4_1 and DDR4_2 slots, but they are ALWAYS the second and fourth slots over from the CPU, with the fourth slot being the one closest to the edge of the motherboard. That is for ALL dual channel consumer motherboards with four DIMM slots. That is by design. It has to do with signal integrity. If it won't POST with a single DIMM in the A2 (Second slot from CPU socket) then the problem is either not related to the memory or the memory is bad or incompatible.

If it won't POST with two DIMMs installed in the A2 and B2 slots, then the problem is either not related to the memory or the memory is bad or incompatible. OR, you are using two DIMMs that did not come together and the system does not want to play nice with that disparate configuration.

That is just to let you know that there is no reason to try a bunch of different slots. Ever. You put the memory in the slot it goes in and if it doesn't work then the problem is either someplace else or the memory is bad. In 30+ years I've seen maybe three cases where an actual slot had failed. Certainly you can try other slots if one of them doesn't work, but if you've put the memory in the correct slot and it doesn't work, but it does work in a different slot, then either the motherboard is faulty or there is a problem with bent pins on the CPU or the CPU cooler is cocked in the socket because the CPU cooler is not evenly seated.

I've seen your situation happen exactly twice. With identical symptoms. In one case it was a bent pin on the CPU (Well, it was actually on the motherboard because it was an Intel platform, but same difference) and in the other case it was a faulty drive. I'd recommend that you pull the CPU and check using magnification if necessary, that there are no even slightly bent pins. If there are not, then I'd RMA or return the drive.

 

[andob4]

Many thanks. The plot thickens....

I have the RAM in slots 2 and 4, and as before it boots to the BIOS fine with no M.2 ssd, and nothing at all with the M.2 in either motherboard slot. No USB life either - the keyboard and mouse are dead and the only life is the CPU fan andthe lights on the Ram. It seems a high level incompatibilty.

Luckily, my Dell laptop has a Samsung PM961 NVMe drive - so I opened it up and removed the drive. With the Samsung drive in the Gigabyte B550 it boots to the BIOS fine and recognises the drive. If I put the XPG SX8200 into the Dell laptpop it also boots to the Bios and recognises the drive correctly as a 1 TB drive etc. So the XPG drive seems ok.

Putting the XPG drive into the second M.2 slot on the B550 with the samsung drive in the main slot, no boot. It seems that if I plus the XPG drive into the B550 it will not Post at all.

I take the point about CPU pins - but find it hard to believe that only stop s a particular nvme drive from not working - the samsung one is older. I'm wondering if it is the firmware of the XPG drive - am going to try and ask that of Gigabyte/XPG somehow?

Any other ideas? - I'm thinking of trying to install Windows (at least part way) on the XPG drive from within the laptop - and therefore partitioning it and seeing that it can be written to. Then swapping it back and seeing if it then can boot?

 

[Darkbreeze]

It MAY be a lack of BIOS support for that drive. I WOULD ask Gigabyte and also Adata about that. And now I'm going to be truthful. In my experience, Adata makes cheap quality products that are absolutely several rungs down the ladder in terms of quality and overall compatibility when compared to other products like those sold by Samsung, Crucial, Seagate, WD, Sandisk, etc. Obviously this is a drive related issue, whether it's because there's a compatibility issue with your BIOS or something with the drives own firmware, either way, obviously other drives work fine.

I'd return the drive as faulty and get something else if it were me. This is definitely not the first time we've seen this sort of thing from an Adata product, by far.

 

[andob4]

It MAY be a lack of BIOS support for that drive. I WOULD ask Gigabyte and also Adata about that. And now I'm going to be truthful. In my experience, Adata makes cheap quality products that are absolutely several rungs down the ladder in terms of quality and overall compatibility when compared to other products like those sold by Samsung, Crucial, Seagate, WD, Sandisk, etc. Obviously this is a drive related issue, whether it's because there's a compatibility issue with your BIOS or something with the drives own firmware, either way, obviously other drives work fine.

I'd return the drive as faulty and get something else if it were me. This is definitely not the first time we've seen this sort of thing from an Adata product, by far.

 

[andob4]

Thanks for the input. I've tried the earlier Bios versions but none work. I have messaged both Gigabyte and Adata - I'll give it a day or two and then return he drive and buy something decent! You live and learn.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Thanks for the input. I've tried the earlier Bios versions but none work. I have messaged both Gigabyte and Adata - I'll give it a day or two and then return he drive and buy something decent! You live and learn.

Absolutely. Every day you don't learn something new, you missed a great opportunity to have done so.