Question Possible M.2 Slot or Chipset issue on X570S Aorus Elite AX ?

[ynsignia]

So I have this 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus since March 2022. Paired with Aorus X570s Elite AX. This particular drive is seated below the main M.2 slot since I have another 970 EVO Plus but a 500Gb one as my boot drive.

This 1TB one is where I install my Steam games.
One afternoon, I was trynna install Titanfall 2 and noticed that Steam installation is on halt. I thought that it was due to my internet but, the the disk graph is at 0% usage in it. I was able to access my 1TB through File Explorer tho.

I tested it through Samsung Magician and it says that it's OK. It's just that everytime I try to make it work hard like installing a game or just transferring a game that it would seem to stop that it even freezes my whole PC and it even disappears in File Explorer, Disk Management, Samsung Magician, and even in the BIOS.

What's weird is that when I swapped it with my 500Gb one is that it is okay.

So, is my mobo the culprit here?

I also upgraded to the latest BIOS as of this writing.

All help and tips is very much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you've swapped it out for a 500gb model using the same M.2 slot then it's very unlikely that the board is to blame. It's MUCH more likely there is a problem with the drive.

What is the currently installed BIOS version for your motherboard?

Have you checked to see if there is a firmware update available for your drive?

Are you running the Samsung NVME driver or using the native Windows NVME driver?

 

[ynsignia]

If you've swapped it out for a 500gb model using the same M.2 slot then it's very unlikely that the board is to blame. It's MUCH more likely there is a problem with the drive.

What is the currently installed BIOS version for your motherboard?

Have you checked to see if there is a firmware update available for your drive?

Are you running the Samsung NVME driver or using the native Windows NVME driver?

I did test it using the the last BIOS, F6, and retested everything when I updated to F7b.

As per Samsung Magician, I am currently running the latest firmware for both my NVMe sticks.

I am very much convinced that my mobo is the one causing issues. I replaced my OS drive, the 500Gb, with the 1Tb and I installed Starfield and it went through without a problem.

Perhaps the chipset is kinda getting overloaded when I put a strain to the drive?

The 1st M.2 slot is ofcourse handled by the CPU, but the 2nd and 3rd slot is handled by the chipset. But, it's been a more than a year now since I have been running 2 NVMe drives and there was no problem and I didn't even have to update BIOS also that 2nd slot of M.2 is where I store Steam games.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, if you're "very much convinced" then it's likely that nothing anybody here has to say is going to make much difference in what you decide to do, so why waste time?

 

[Math Geek]

i have the same mobo and have all 3 m.2 slots populated. haven't seen any such issues due to the drives all working at once. each has its own job and often all are running strong at the same time.

as others have said, i highly doubt it is the slot, but rather some issues with the drive itself.

i have a 2 TB 970 evo plus, a 4 tb crucial P3 plus and a 2 TB WD SN850x plus a few sata drives. i've not seen anything to suggest the chipset can't handle everything working at once.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I also have the exact same motherboard in my garage PC, and it has three M.2 drives installed plus a SATA SSD and several external USB drives, and no such issues. Like I said, if using a different drive in the SAME M.2 slot doesn't recreate the same issue, then it is almost certainly NOT the motherboard, regardless of what anybody might "feel" or "be convinced of". Does that mean it cannot be the board? Of course not. We've seen stranger things before, and not the TV show.

But if two different drives in the same slot don't produce the same results, then it is almost a certainty that it is not the slot or the board UNLESS there is a problem with recognition and support of a SPECIFIC drive model, and almost never does that become or remain an issue if you have the latest or at least the latest STABLE BIOS version installed. This is most likely either a drive issue, or you don't have the drive fully inserted into the slot even if you THINK you do. Make sure there are no tiny bits of plastic on any of the gold "teeth" contacts or any other debris on them or in the slot.

We've seen this fairly often though and it is almost ALWAYS the result of a problem with the drive. I'd be surprised, but not outrageously so, if it was a board issue so long as it does not have similar issues with other drives in the same slot. I'm not the greatest expert on very advanced storage tech, but you really don't have to be for this kind of issue.

 

[Flayed]

It has a 5-year warranty so just RMA it.

 

[ynsignia]

i have the same mobo and have all 3 m.2 slots populated. haven't seen any such issues due to the drives all working at once. each has its own job and often all are running strong at the same time.

as others have said, i highly doubt it is the slot, but rather some issues with the drive itself.

i have a 2 TB 970 evo plus, a 4 tb crucial P3 plus and a 2 TB WD SN850x plus a few sata drives. i've not seen anything to suggest the chipset can't handle everything working at once.

My boot drive is the 500Gb 970 EVO Plus and my game drive is the 1Tb 970 EVO Plus. I swapped my drives and the 1Tb is working good. Managed to download the whole Starfield without a problem.

The thing is, every test I did with both drives yield an okay.

 

[ynsignia]

I also have the exact same motherboard in my garage PC, and it has three M.2 drives installed plus a SATA SSD and several external USB drives, and no such issues. Like I said, if using a different drive in the SAME M.2 slot doesn't recreate the same issue, then it is almost certainly NOT the motherboard, regardless of what anybody might "feel" or "be convinced of". Does that mean it cannot be the board? Of course not. We've seen stranger things before, and not the TV show.

But if two different drives in the same slot don't produce the same results, then it is almost a certainty that it is not the slot or the board UNLESS there is a problem with recognition and support of a SPECIFIC drive model, and almost never does that become or remain an issue if you have the latest or at least the latest STABLE BIOS version installed. This is most likely either a drive issue, or you don't have the drive fully inserted into the slot even if you THINK you do. Make sure there are no tiny bits of plastic on any of the gold "teeth" contacts or any other debris on them or in the slot.

We've seen this fairly often though and it is almost ALWAYS the result of a problem with the drive. I'd be surprised, but not outrageously so, if it was a board issue so long as it does not have similar issues with other drives in the same slot. I'm not the greatest expert on very advanced storage tech, but you really don't have to be for this kind of issue.

I also have the exact same motherboard in my garage PC, and it has three M.2 drives installed plus a SATA SSD and several external USB drives, and no such issues. Like I said, if using a different drive in the SAME M.2 slot doesn't recreate the same issue, then it is almost certainly NOT the motherboard, regardless of what anybody might "feel" or "be convinced of". Does that mean it cannot be the board? Of course not. We've seen stranger things before, and not the TV show.

But if two different drives in the same slot don't produce the same results, then it is almost a certainty that it is not the slot or the board UNLESS there is a problem with recognition and support of a SPECIFIC drive model, and almost never does that become or remain an issue if you have the latest or at least the latest STABLE BIOS version installed. This is most likely either a drive issue, or you don't have the drive fully inserted into the slot even if you THINK you do. Make sure there are no tiny bits of plastic on any of the gold "teeth" contacts or any other debris on them or in the slot.

We've seen this fairly often though and it is almost ALWAYS the result of a problem with the drive. I'd be surprised, but not outrageously so, if it was a board issue so long as it does not have similar issues with other drives in the same slot. I'm not the greatest expert on very advanced storage tech, but you really don't have to be for this kind of issue.

I haven't seated my 500Gb yet in the other slots except on the topmost one. I will try to seat it there and see if it will be okay.

I seated my 1Tb in all slots and it only fully works (doesn't disappear and freezes the pc) on the topmost one, the one controlled by the CPU.

But, are drive issues or something like that really affects the entire PC when it's not a boot drive? I haven't had any issues before regarding drives so I am fairly new into this. I am really sorry for the newbie mistakes or if I sound like I know what I am doing or if I somehow offended you, good sir.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, it can affect the system in a handful of different ways when a drive isn't working correctly. A failing or failed drive can cause anything from the drive simply acts flaky up to system won't even remain powered on, if there is, say, a short in the drive or something, or anything in between. Errors, failure to POST, shut downs, restarts, unexplainable ghost type issues, lots of things that can happen with a questionable or outright faulty drive.

But if the drive works fine in the top slot, but not in the others, then it MIGHT be a motherboard problem which is why you need to try some of your other M.2 drives in those other slots to see if they have similar issues or if it's only the one drive.