Question PCIe slot3 disables PCIe slot4... how to make them both work?

[Michal13]

I admit that I know just enough to be dangerous and get into trouble. I have a PC tower with on-board audio. This PC is a hand me down, I didn’t build it. The audio has never worked. Wether I disable HDA in the Bios or not seems to make no difference. I want audio so I bought a PCIe Creative Audigy 5.1 soundblaster card.

My MoBo is XFX w/ Nvidia SLI... It has a BFG GeForce GTX285 vid card in PCIe 1 & the vid card covers PCIe2. There was a TP-link WiFi in PCIe4 when I got the PC. The wifi works. I put the new Sounblaster in open slot PCIe3, booted Windows10, set up drivers from the CD and I have sound, but the WiFi isn’t found by Windows. I swapped the WiFi into PCIe3, soundcard in PCIe4. Wifi works but no soundcard. Thus PCIe3 overrides PCIe4.

in the Bios PCI is set to Automatic... I assume there is a conflict between PCIe3 & PCIe4 with PCIe3 as the “winner”. It’s an American Megatrends Bios.

How can I get both PCIe slots to work simultaneously?
I’m happy to provide more spec info. Thank you, Michal

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

"My MoBo is XFX w/ Nvidia SLI "

Not enough info -- we need specific motherboard model.

 

[Michal13]

Here is the info from the sticker on the bottom of the MoBo
MD - X581 - CH MD - X581 - CH09 VP.0
XFX X58 Intel 1366 Motherboard
S/N KWW 000685
Thank you!

 

[Andyme177]

have you got an M2 drive sometimes the M2 uses PCIe lanes to operate disabling a PCIe slot it is nearest to. check your Mobo specs to find out

 

[Michal13]

Hi, yes, it has an SSD C: drive @ SATA Port 3A. SATA port. 1B is WD 2Tb D:

However, the cards (wifi or sound) work when one is in PCIe3 or one is in PCIe4, but if cards are in both PCIe3 & PCIe4, PCIe4 doesn’t work.

in the Bios, Offboard PCI/ISA IDE card is set to [auto]. Should an IRQ be assigned to one or both of the PCIe slots 3&4?
Thank you!

 

[beers]

Per the manual they should just split out to x16(PCIE1)/x8(PCIE3)/x8(PCIE4)

https://motherboarddb.com/media/manuals/XFX/X58i/X58i.pdf

have you got an M2 drive sometimes the M2 uses PCIe lanes to operate disabling a PCIe slot it is nearest to. check your Mobo specs to find out

X58 predates M.2 by quite a bit.

 

[Michal13]

Hi, yes i see that the x58 manual lists:
3x PCIe 2.0 x16, at x16 (PCIe1) / x16(PCIe4) mode
or x16 (PCIe1) / x8 (PCIe3) / x8 (PCIe4)

So why does vid card in x16 (PCIe1) / TP-link wifi in x8 (PCIe3j / sound card in x8 (PCIe4) = sound card not found by windows?

Can I move the vid card to PCIe4, the Tp-link wifi to PCIe1, and put the sound card in PCIe X1 slot?

“X58 predates M.2 by quite a bit.”
Can you explain this? Is the SSD causing the PCIe4 to not be seen by Windows?