Question No GPU/Monitor Signal after M2 SSD install

[The_Milkman]

No GPU/Monitor Signal after M2 SSD install. I have an MSI Z270 SLI Plus motherboard. https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z270-SLI-PLUS/Specification
It has two M2 slots. I found this post on reddit.
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/frmn0i/monitor_no_signal_after_m2_install/

The first problem is that I do not seem to have an option to set my x16 slot to x8. I tried to physically remove my GPU from the x16 slot and put it in the x8 slot. That worked as long as I did not have the M2 card installed. The moment I installed it, there was no signal to my monitor.
If anyone has any tips I will be glad to hear them.

 

[rgd1101]

test the m.2 on another working pc?

 

[Nemesia]

What is the full system specs including the M.2 drives and the PSU brand and model?

 

[The_Milkman]

CPU: i7 7700k
RAM: 16GB Corsair
GPU: GTC 1080
HDD: WD Black 2 TB SATA
M2SSD: Adata xpg sx8200 pro (works fine, has the OS on it)
PSU: Enermex 600 W I think

The new M2 SSD is the SanDisk SDSSDXPM2-1T00-G25 Extreme Pro

But just to clarify, it is not that one of my SATA ports gets deactivated, I know about that. I literally get no signal to the monitor, I do not even see a bios screen. My one SATA HDD is connected to a port that will not interfere with the M2 drives.

 

[Nemesia]

CPU: i7 7700k
RAM: 16GB Corsair
GPU: GTC 1080
HDD: WD Black 2 TB SATA
M2SSD: Adata xpg sx8200 pro (works fine, has the OS on it)
PSU: Enermex 600 W I think

The new M2 SSD is the SanDisk SDSSDXPM2-1T00-G25 Extreme Pro

But just to clarify, it is not that one of my SATA ports gets deactivated, I know about that. I literally get no signal to the monitor, I do not even see a bios screen. My one SATA HDD is connected to a port that will not interfere with the M2 drives.

Let's forget the M.2 SSD for the moment. Is your system booting if you remove all drives from it?

 

[The_Milkman]

Let's forget the M.2 SSD for the moment. Is your system booting if you remove all drives from it?

Before I do that I would like to know if it could [language] up my boot drive. Suppose I disconnect the M2 card with my OS and the 2TB SATA HDD, boot the system, then reconnect them, will everything work just fine? Or is there some security thingy that will mess with me.

 

[The_Milkman]

The issue has been resolved, it was the SATA ports after all. I unplugged my HDD and everything worked, then I plugged the drive in to SATA 1 and it worked again. This may seem trivial. But the manual explicitly states that SATA 3 and 4 should also work when both M2 cards are plugged in, in fact SATA 3 and SATA 4 are the only ones that are never affected, where as SATA 1 will be unusable if one or both of the M2 slots are set to SATA. Also when I switched my GPU from x16 PCI to the x8, I did reposition my plug from SATA 3 to SATA 1 and it still did not work.

But now it does work when plugged in to SATA 1. I did not try to replug it back in to SATA 3. As the problem may have been fixed by disconnecting my HDD one time, and not by the repositioning.

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[The_Milkman]

Unfortunately the problem resurfaced today, even when I removed the HDD entirely from any SATA port. It is fine now that I have removed the M2 drive from the bay. I'm just going to sent the drive back, even though I think the problem is my motherboard. But at this stage it is pointless to do anything about it, as it is 4 years old.