Question Motherboard / SSD compatibility ?

[Madjunac]

Hello everyone!

I recently bought a WD SN770 M.2 SSD for my ASRock AB350 PRO4 Motherboard.
It is not recognized neither by bios, nor by Device Manager/Disk Management. former Patriot scorch 128 gb works great, and is now moved to m2_2 slot (this one is SATA). SN770 is now in m2_1 (which is PCIe).
Today it was formatted in another (more modern PC) and a letter was assigned to it, which indicates that the device is not corrupted by any means. interesting fact: patriot isn't recognized by bios, either. it works nevertheless.

CPU is Ryzen 2700X,
Mobo BIOS is version 5.0

If I understood it well, the 5.9 version is the last one to support Pinnacle Ridge. I'm not sure if flashing would do any good?
so, any ideas would be much appreciated!
thanks in advance!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

If I were you(and if you read through most/all threads here) I'd update the BIOS to the latest before dropping in any memory, storage or device as an upgrade.

To also add, your motherboard can't take advantage of a PCIe4.0x4 drive. You could've looked at a Samsung 970 Evo Plus or a TeamGroup MP33.

interesting fact: patriot isn't recognized by bios, either.
M2_2 only supports STA based M.2 drives, so that is why your drive isn't showing up in BIOS.

IMHO, you went backwards with your upgrade path. I'd return the SSD to pick up something that's PCIe3.0x4, unless you can flash the BIOS using a latter CPU, since A.EG.E.S.A code 1.2.0.0 enabled support for all sorts of memory on the market and by doing so, allowed you to work with processors from 2000 series all the way up to the 5000 series.

On a side note, all other motherboard makers don't nullify prior processors as you move upwards, which is confusing for me reading ASRock's support page.

 

[Madjunac]

Thank you for your kind reply
what bios version should i use in your opinion?

 

[evermorex76]

There is no need to return the drive due to the PCIe version. Devices and slots are backward compatible with each other. A PCIe4 drive will work in a PCIe3 slot (at the speed of 3), and a PCIe3 drive will work in a PCIe4 slot (at the speed of 3). Of course, that doesn't mean this particular drive isn't just faulty and needs to be returned. BIOS versions should also be irrelevant, since this system was designed from the start to support the drives as @Madjunac is attempting to use them. PCIe3 drives at this point are sometimes more expensive than the newer PCIe4 models.

If you flash your BIOS higher than 5.8 (the last version on their site), your CPU won't be recognized or supported by the BIOS. I don't think it will even boot at that point, without putting a newer CPU in to downgrade the BIOS. SOME BIOS versions and motherboard makers had to eliminate the identifier information for the oldest CPUs in order to allow them to support newer models, because the NVRAM size couldn't accommodate all that data. Others might still support the full range if they used larger NVRAM chips. If the brand says it won't support an older processor, trust them.

I'm unclear on how you were using a Patriot Scorch in the M2_1 slot if it's a SATA model (which doesn't exist as far as I can tell), or how a PCIe model of the Scorch would be working at all in M2_2 which only supports SATA drives according to their specs. A PCIe drive won't even have the wires available to communicate. What is the model of the drive? How do you know it is working in that slot? If the BIOS doesn't indicate a drive is in the slot, it's not working.

I have a suggestion: remove the Patriot drive and see if the SN770 works.

 

[Madjunac]

thanx for an extensive answer. however...

There is no need to return the drive due to the PCIe version
oh, but there is...asrock costumer service were explicit. some pcie lines in the m2_1 slot are incompatible with sn770. it is already tested and they gave me the list...
I'm unclear on how you were using a Patriot Scorch in the M2_1 slot if it's a SATA model
scorch works in both slots like a charm. although it uses pcie connection, it works on both pcie and sata m2 slots. further more, bios doesn't recognized either slot as "in use".
I have a suggestion: remove the Patriot drive and see if the SN770 works.
i've already tried all the combinations. in everyone, scorch works and wd doesn't.

Costumer service suggested pcie adapter for pcie4 slot, but i think it just isn't worth the bother, because even then i have the perform all sort of gymnastics to make all the components currently installed to work together as they do now.
so...thanks to all of you for kind answers

 

[evermorex76]

thanx for an extensive answer. however...

There is no need to return the drive due to the PCIe version
oh, but there is...asrock costumer service were explicit. some pcie lines in the m2_1 slot are incompatible with sn770. it is already tested and they gave me the list...
I'm unclear on how you were using a Patriot Scorch in the M2_1 slot if it's a SATA model
scorch works in both slots like a charm. although it uses pcie connection, it works on both pcie and sata m2 slots. further more, bios doesn't recognized either slot as "in use".
I have a suggestion: remove the Patriot drive and see if the SN770 works.
i've already tried all the combinations. in everyone, scorch works and wd doesn't.

Costumer service suggested pcie adapter for pcie4 slot, but i think it just isn't worth the bother, because even then i have the perform all sort of gymnastics to make all the components currently installed to work together as they do now.
so...thanks to all of you for kind answers

It's absolutely impossible for the second thing to be true if their specs are true. There is physically no way for a PCIe drive to work with a slot that only has SATA pins because the two do not connect to each other nor does an NVMe controller on a drive understand the SATA protocol. The only explanation is that the second slot DOES support PCIe even though their specs say it doesn't. (You can use Crystal DiskInfo to display what protocol is being used. Maybe their translators just didn't do a good job with the marketing text or manual, and their intent was to indicate that it supports SATA in addition to PCIe where slot 1 does not.)

As far as the first, looking at the specs, it seems like they've wired that slot in weird ways to get around the limited PCIe lanes of some processors. I'd bet your M.2 traffic gets pushed through the chipset rather than through the CPU. (The fact that the PCIe4 x4 slot is disabled if you use M2_1 makes that clear.) So technically, no, the PCIe version itself isn't the issue, it's their flaky design which switches the versions and the BIOS code that handles it.

I don't think there would be any gymnastics required to make the drive work in an adapter, unless you have things in the slots that would have to be moved around. They're plug and play, and since it's not having to do the gymnastics that ASRock does to make the M.2 slot work, there should be no problems and it ought to perform just as well. Either way, both of the drives' data will be passing through the chipset bus to the CPU so there will be a bottleneck if you're reading/writing to both at the same time.

 

[Madjunac]

It's absolutely impossible for the second thing to be true if their specs are true. There is physically no way for a PCIe drive to work with a slot that only has SATA pins
Engaging in further conversation exceeds my knowledge on this topic. I'm not trying to be right or smart, just trying to present the situation as I remember it, in order to solve my problem. It is entirely possible that you have a better grasp of the situation than I do, sitting at my own PC.

Unfortunately, you cannot continue to use your current M2 SSD in M2_1 (if i opt for pcie card, that is)
But also not in M2_2 because this can only control SATA M2 SSD and you also have a drive connected to SATA3_3.
M2_2 and SATA3_3 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the other one will be disabled.
If M2_1 is occupied, PCIE4 will be disabled.

That's what they've written. I'm just a simple veterinarian with too many drives attached to an old PC, and I've lost too much time with all this. I'll do what I do best. Fixing PCIe versions is not where I shine
Nevertheless, thanks a lot for the effort. Much obliged.