PCIe x1 and PCI cards in slot will not let me enter BIOS

[shyam09]

Since I built a new main computer, I figured I would also shift the PCI / PCIe cards that I had in my old computer. The problem I ran into is that Windows wouldn't boot and I can't access the BIOS through either a USB keyboard or a PC2 keyboard.

The Specs:
MB: Asus Z97-AR
Processor: Intel i5-4690k
RAM: 2x4GB
GPU: GTX 750 Ti FTW

The PCI / PCIe:
7 Port PCI USB Card Adapter
2-port SATA III PCIe, x1, Revision 2.0; ASMedia Chipset

The Setup:
My system runs perfectly fine and I can boot up and access the BIOS when both of those cards are in the MB. However adding either one or both doesn't me connect to the BIOS since my keyboard doesn't respond. The numlock light turns on indicating it's on, but apart from that - I can smash the keyboard and nothing.

When both cards were in, the PCIe card (one with the extra SATA ports) got priority in that after the BIOS splashscreen (Press F2 or Delete to enter BIOS) disappeared it was replaced with:

Asmedia 106X SATA Controller Ver 0.93 AHCI Mode
S.M.A.R.T. Supported
Using PCIE Gen 2

I tried a few things like removing the SATA cables that were connected to it (they connected to empty, new out of the box SSDs -- again my OS SSD was connected to the MB).

Nothing else appeared after a few seconds to a few minutes. So I removed that card and left the PCI card (extra USB ports card) in. After passing the BIOS splashscreen since constantly pressing F2 and Delete wasn't getting a response, a grey screen with an underscore flashing just stood there. Nothing happened, the underscore just flashed.

I can enter BIOS without either one of these cards connected to the MB, but in the presence of either card, I can't get a USB or a PC2 keyboard to get into BIOS.

I would appreciate any help. Thank you!

 

[ko888]

Did you clear the CMOS to force redetection of hardware changes? It appears to be a resource conflict, possibly IRQ and/or I/O address range overlap. Clearing the CMOS forces re-enumertion of all hardware to resolve resource conflicts.

Consult your motherboard User's manual on how to properly clear the CMOS.

 

[shyam09]

I just cleared the CMOS but the same thing happened. BIOS wouldn't load until I removed the PCI / PCIe cards. After that I was able to get into BIOS and it was indeed reset to factory conditions

 

[shyam09]

I also noticed that my BIOS version was out of date by roughly 6 months of updates, should I update the BIOS too?

 

[ko888]

Not all motherboard BIOS' resource allocation routines work properly. Is your motherboard using the latest Z97-A BIOS 2012?

Your PCIe x1 card's Option ROM is what is producing the "Asmedia 106X SATA Controller Ver 0.93 AHCI Mode" splash screen. If you're not going to be booting from any SATA devices connected to that card you can change the BIOS setting to skip that card's Option ROM from the boot sequence:

ASUS UEFI BIOS Utility - Advanced Mode ===> Boot

Boot Devices Control [UEFI and Legacy OpROM] <=== change it to [UEFI only]

Boot from Storage Devices [Legacy OpROM first] <=== change it to [Both, UEFI first]

Boot from PCI-E/PCI Expansion Devices [Legacy OpROM first] <=== change it to [UEFI driver first]

 

[shyam09]

Not all motherboard BIOS' resource allocation routines work properly. Is your motherboard using the latest Z97-A BIOS 2012?

Your PCIe x1 card's Option ROM is what is producing the "Asmedia 106X SATA Controller Ver 0.93 AHCI Mode" splash screen. If you're not going to be booting from any SATA devices connected to that card you can change the BIOS setting to skip that card's Option ROM from the boot sequence:

ASUS UEFI BIOS Utility - Advanced Mode ===> Boot

Boot Devices Control [UEFI and Legacy OpROM] <=== change it to [UEFI only]

Boot from Storage Devices [Legacy OpROM first] <=== change it to [Both, UEFI first]

Boot from PCI-E/PCI Expansion Devices [Legacy OpROM first] <=== change it to [UEFI driver first]

I tried that and my OS SSD isn't detected as UEFI. So when I try to boot, it just takes me to the BIOS directly.

 

[ko888]

Is your SSD plugged into the SATA6G_1 port on the motherboard? Do you really have more than six SATA drives in your system where you would need an add-in SATA card?

You may be able to leave the "Boot Devices Control" setting at [UEFI and Legacy OpROM] and just change the "Boot from Storage Devices" setting to [Both, UEFI first].

Z97-A and Z97-AR both use the same BIOS.

The only difference, I can see, between the two motherboards are the DVI-D and D-Sub VGA ports that are on the Z97-A but not on the Z97-AR.

 

[shyam09]

Is your SSD plugged into the SATA6G_1 port on the motherboard? Do you really have more than six SATA drives in your system where you would need an add-in SATA card?

You may be able to leave the "Boot Devices Control" setting at [UEFI and Legacy OpROM] and just change the "Boot from Storage Devices" setting to [Both, UEFI first].

Z97-A and Z97-AR both use the same BIOS.

The only difference, I can see, between the two motherboards are the DVI-D and D-Sub VGA ports that are on the Z97-A but not on the Z97-AR.

So I plugged them into the MB, and I'm done with the PCIe card, but the PCI card does the same (the flashing underscore splash screen). For some reason or other though, I am running into random problems - for example when I tried to reboot my computer it would freeze at the BIOS splashscreen. Keyboard responses were not responsive. I fixed it by clearing the CMOS though

 

[ko888]

So I plugged them into the MB, and I'm done with the PCIe card, but the PCI card does the same (the flashing underscore splash screen). For some reason or other though, I am running into random problems - for example when I tried to reboot my computer it would freeze at the BIOS splashscreen. Keyboard responses were not responsive. I fixed it by clearing the CMOS though

The motherboard's Intel chipset's SATA controller is faster than the PCIe SATA card anyway.

The flashing underscore is usually seen just before the BIOS POST routine passes control to the boot device (e.g. SSD, HDD, USB flash drive, Optical Drive, etc.).

Did you flash your motherboard's BIOS to the latest version yet?

 

[shyam09]

So I plugged them into the MB, and I'm done with the PCIe card, but the PCI card does the same (the flashing underscore splash screen). For some reason or other though, I am running into random problems - for example when I tried to reboot my computer it would freeze at the BIOS splashscreen. Keyboard responses were not responsive. I fixed it by clearing the CMOS though

The motherboard's Intel chipset's SATA controller is faster than the PCIe SATA card anyway.

The flashing underscore is usually seen just before the BIOS POST routine passes control to the boot device (e.g. SSD, HDD, USB flash drive, Optical Drive, etc.).

Did you flash your motherboard's BIOS to the latest version yet?

ahh ok. Yeah I ended up flashing the latest BIOS version.