Question Motherboard fails to POST (stuck on DRAM light) after NVMe M2 8TB upgrade (Is it incompatible?)

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Seph13

Dec 7, 2024
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I recently bought an 8TB SSD to upgrade my 4 year old build. My plan was to remove my old 1TB SSD and install a fresh copy of Windows on the new drive. However, I cannot even get to the BIOS whenever the new drive is installed in either M2 slot on the motherboard.

Specs from my 2020 build:
*note: I've removed the GPU while debugging this for easy access to both M2 slots*

The new 8TB SSD I just got:
Whenever this new SSD (WD Black 8TB) is installed in either of the motherboard's two M2 slots, the PC fails to POST. It stays stuck with the red DRAM light on the motherboard. Nothing ever appears on my monitor.

If I remove the new SSD (WD Black 8TB) so that there is no SSD in the machine, the PC successfully POSTs making it past the red DRAM light stage and I get to the bios.

If I put the old SSD back in (Samsung 970 EVO 1TB), the PC successfully POSTs and makes it to the BIOS and I can still boot from there into my old Windows install.

I've used an external M2 NVMe enclosure to connect the new drive (WD Black 8TB) via USB and validated that it works (I can see it as a full working 8TB drive).

All of this makes me think that for some reason the new drive is incompatible with the motherboard, but I've checked and double checked and I can't see why.

Any ideas? Thanks!
 
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Did you clear the CMOS after verifying you BIOS was flashed successfully to version F13? Ideally, you're advised to disconnect from the wall and display, then remove the CMOS battery, press and hold down the power button for 30secs to drain any residual power, then reseat the battery after 30mins.
 
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Lutfij said:
Did you clear the CMOS after verifying you BIOS was flashed successfully to version F13? Ideally, you're advised to disconnect from the wall and display, then remove the CMOS battery, press and hold down the power button for 30secs to drain any residual power, then reseat the battery after 30mins.
Click to expand...
I'd already tried clearing CMOS a few times before upgrading the BIOS. I just tried clearing CMOS again including waiting a full 30 minutes before reinserting the battery. No change, still seeing the same behavior.
 
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Could it be the mismatch between PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0? Your M.2 NVME SSD is PCIe 4.0 while your motherboard/CPU can only support PCIe 3.0. If it's possible you might try locking the M.2 slot to PCIe 3.0.
 
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80251 said:
Could it be the mismatch between PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0? Your M.2 NVME SSD is PCIe 4.0 while your motherboard/CPU can only support PCIe 3.0. If it's possible you might try locking the M.2 slot to PCIe 3.0.
Click to expand...
I had thought about that, but all the research I've done on this indicates that a PCIe 4.0 SSD can work in a PCIe 3.0 slot (though it will only operate at PCIe 3.0 speeds).

What do you mean by "locking the M.2 slot to PCIe 3.0"? Is that an option I should see in the BIOS, I've looked around and I don't see anything like that.
 
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Seph13 said:
No changes after changing various boot order options.


I've also tried changing various other BIOS options (including disabling CSM). No matter what I do, the boot-up never gets past the red DRAM light stage when the new SSD (WD Black 8TB) is installed.
Click to expand...
You have WDS800T2X0E Gen 4x4 with motherboard

M.2 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe x4/x2 SSD support) (M2A)

1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA and PCIe x4/x2 SSD support) (M2M)

There isn't boot between these two
 
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triplex1 said:
You have WDS800T2X0E Gen 4x4 with motherboard

M.21 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe x4/x2 SSD support) (M2A)
1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA and PCIe x4/x2 SSD support) (M2M)
There isn't boot between these two
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I follow what you mean by "There isn't boot between these two". Do you mean there isn't compatibility between a 4x4 SSD and a motherboard with PCIe x4/x2 M2 slots? I really don't think that's the case.

Both the M2 slots on the motherboard say PCIe x4/x2 SSD support. As I understand things this notation means they support PCIe with either 4 or 2 lanes.

The motherboard uses PCIe 3.0 which just means PCIe generation 3. This is stated elsewhere in the manual (the previously mentioned x4/x2 notation doesn't imply anything about the PCIe generation).

Max Link Speed Allows you to set the operation mode of the PCI Express slots to Gen 1, Gen 2, or Gen 3. Actual operationmode is subject to the hardware specification of each slot. Auto lets the BIOS automatically configure thissetting. (Default: Auto)
Click to expand...

When you say that the new SSD is Gen 4x4, my understanding is that the two 4s in this notation mean:
  • PCIe 4.0 (PCIe generation 4)
  • 4 lane PCIe
So yes, I am using a PCIe gen 4 SSD with a PCIe gen 3 motherboard. However, everything I have researched on this indicates this shouldn't be a problem. The drive should be compatible and simply be capped to gen 3 speeds.

In fact, if you look at the motherboard's official M.2 Support List, you can see many Gen4x4 entries listed as compatible. Note that my new 8TB drive isn't on the list (presumably since it would have been released after 2021 when this PDF was uploaded)

I do wonder if there could be anything specific about the fact that it's an 8TB drive. I don't see anything on that official M2 support list above 4TB.
 
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triplex1 said:
Your motherboard doesn't support the disk, find another one and try it to see if it will boot.
Click to expand...
It does boot with the original drive Samsung 970 EVO 1TB (as stated in the OP).

There is nothing documented anywhere that would indicate why the WD_BLACK 8TB SN850X would not be supported by the motherboard.

Though it does seem very likely that it is actually incompatible for some unknown/undocumented reason.
 
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What I don't like is that you've put 8gb and 4x4 and I think the motherboard doesn't support it due to size and lanes
I can't think of anything else wrong.
Did you try starting with 1 stick of RAM?
Do you want to install Windows on this disk?
 
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triplex1 said:
What I don't like is that you've put 8gb and 4x4 and I think the motherboard doesn't support it due to size and lanes
I can't think of anything else wrong.
Did you try starting with 1 stick of RAM?
Do you want to install Windows on this disk?
Click to expand...
I haven't tried just 1 stick of RAM. I can try that here in a little bit.

Edit: just tried this, same behavior with only 1 stick of RAM

Yes, I do want to install Windows on this.

triplex1 said:
1. The disk, if it works, will never reach the speeds it supports.
2. It fits into an M2 slot that supports 4x2.
3. What format is the disk in when you put it back in?
Click to expand...
I understand that the disk won't be running at its max supported speed on this motherboard.

My plan here is to get a new motherboard and CPU in a few months. I would get a motherboard that supports PCIe gen 4 which would take better advantage of the full speed supported by the disk.

I was hoping to use the drive on this older motherboard in the meantime.

Using an external enclosure I configured it as NTFS:

unnamed.png

Same behavior before and after configuring it like this.
 
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I once tried plugging a PCIe 2.0 AMD 9700 into my z390 motherboard, it would only work when I set the PCIe slot to 2.0 mode in the BIOS. The system would not boot until I took this step. Maybe you could try contacting WD technical support or gigabyte technical support. Are you running the latest BIOS on your z390 Aorus Pro?
 
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Seph13 said:
I haven't tried just 1 stick of RAM. I can try that here in a little bit.

Edit: just tried this, same behavior with only 1 stick of RAM

Yes, I do want to install Windows on this.


I understand that the disk won't be running at its max supported speed on this motherboard.

My plan here is to get a new motherboard and CPU in a few months. I would get a motherboard that supports PCIe gen 4 which would take better advantage of the full speed supported by the disk.

I was hoping to use the drive on this older motherboard in the meantime.

Using an external enclosure I configured it as NTFS:

unnamed.png

Same behavior before and after configuring it like this.
Click to expand...
try to clean install win with disk and ''unlocated''
 
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80251 said:
I once tried plugging a PCIe 2.0 AMD 9700 into my z390 motherboard, it would only work when I set the PCIe slot to 2.0 mode in the BIOS. The system would not boot until I took this step. Maybe you could try contacting WD technical support or gigabyte technical support. Are you running the latest BIOS on your z390 Aorus Pro?
Click to expand...
I tried changing this bios setting:
Max Link Speed Allows you to set the operation mode of the PCI Express slots to Gen 1, Gen 2, or Gen 3. Actual operationmode is subject to the hardware specification of each slot. Auto lets the BIOS automatically configure thissetting. (Default: Auto)
Click to expand...
It was set to Auto and I changed it to Gen 3. Didn't fix anything unfortunately.

I am running the latest BIOS version (the issue occurs on both F11 and F13, which is the latest).

I do think my next step here should be putting in tickets with both WD and Gigabyte support.

triplex1 said:
try to clean install win with disk and ''unlocated''
Click to expand...
Even if the disk is "unallocated" before installing in the m2 slot, like this:

unallocated.png

I can't get past the red DRAM light on boot-up to start the windows installation process.
 
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triplex1 said:
Yes like this , put on your mb and try to clean install windows
Don't put any other disk in besides this one.
Click to expand...
When this is the only disk in the motherboard it won't get past the DRAM light in the boot process. Hence I cannot get to the BIOS and/or start the windows install process.
This occurs regardless of whether the disk is Unallocated or NTFS
 
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Seph13 has really come across a helluva hardware bug. I'm guessing even if Gigabyte knows what the issue is it either can't be fixed because it's a hardware issue or they won't fix it (e.g. if it's a BIOS issue) because your motherboard is far too old. I have a z390 board as well and I had wondered about what would happen if I tried to use a PCIe 4.0 pr PCIe 5.0 NVME/M.2 SSD w/this build.
It seems hard to believe no one else has had this issue. z390 boards are still in use out there. Then again not many people are going to be plugging the latest and greatest NVME/M.2 SSDs into such an old motherboard.
 
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