Question Z490 I Gaming - is someone here with her and two NVMe SSD's on board?

[uplink-svk]

Hey there

Is there anyone here around with Z490 I Gaming [iTX from Asus] with actually working NVMe SSD drives in the board? I have two Samsung Evo drives in her [970 Pro 1TB and 970 Evo 2TB] and I'm unable to make em work, I can get past by installation of Windows 10 with NVMe drivers from Samsung, but when I try to load Windows, I'm just stuck on loading screen.

I tried old installation of Windows too, it worked for a little while and than it got stuck. It's not like hard freeze, it's just I can't click anything, stuff is working on the background.

I also tried external ROG NVMe M.2 enclosure with OS, I can install it, but as soon as I install updates and/or NVMe Samsung drivers, I'm back where I was in the beginning.

I'm packing 10900K on this mobo, 64 gigs of ram and them two NVMe drives :/

Pleae advise

With kind regards

uplink

 

[rgd1101]

latest bios? test with 1 stick of ram?

 

[uplink-svk]

Thank You kindly for Your superfast reply @rgd1101!

I tried one stick, two sticks, I also ran Memtest [I purchased it] for 10 wall runs for two days, also self tested both SSD drives from within UEFi [self test long space + controller] multiple times. I tried older BiOS/UEFi [0403] and newer/st [0607].

I'm getting a new board, just to figure out whether it's some Z490 issue with Samsung drives, don't wanna remove my existing Corsair from my main rig to find out, and will update the thread.

Although, my personal guess, it's the "contraption" on the motherboard, that holds the two M.2 drives. It's indeed a marvellous engineering perk [keeping both drives cool and houses a soundcard ], but I'm afraid that those two custom ports and controller of them [both on that M.2 / sound adapter and on board] is posing some issues, it may not be only a bridge, but also something more, like connector with controller :/

Anyway, also the ARGB LED's ain't working [without OS, I never managed to install full Crate with updates, nor Aura], and the M.2 shield doesn't light up. There's quite a lot of space compared to original confiugraiton between the heat shield with RGB and the PCB, due to present M.2 drive :/

Please see the gallery. But the drives are detected correctly and self test even the long one taking about an hour on 2TB NVMe SSD and 1 hour on 1TB NVMe SSD passes.

With kind regards

Bryan

 

[OrsonAround]

I've had issues with two of the same board. The first board I could not install Windows if there was any ram in slot B. Sent that to ASUS for them to investigate. With the second board I am getting a random hard freeze and then automatic reboot. I've got the same CPU and do have two NVMe drives both are 1TB Samsung 970 EVOs.

The freeze happens so rarely it's really hard to diagnosis; however, it's also happened while installing Windows and when running Clonezilla, so I guess it's a hardware or BIOS problem at this point.

 

[uplink-svk]

Thank You @OrsonAround! Well, tomorrow I'm getting GA, so I'll try with more standard layout. Anyway, kudos for Asus for this "m.2 contraption", but damn, it's not working right 🙁

 

[OrsonAround]

Can I ask what RAM you were using? I've just discovered my 2x32GB kit is not listed on the QVL. So I guess I have to decide if I want to get different RAM or a different mobo. Thanks.

 

[uplink-svk]

@OrsonAround I just purchased two QVL kits today, since I used only non-QVL memories, I purchased one 2 x 16 GB QVL G.Skill and one QVL 2 x 32 GB G.Skill memory kit, so if You'll wait till Friday, I'll test both of them and will update the thread. Btw. there are only old memories, that are supported on this mobo, and what's worse, there's not flagship G.Skill DC memory kit, that was specially made for Apex, Gene and I-Gaming for Z390. Got them for 800e, bi**h expensive memory. This is a big fail from Asus, really huge, that they discontinued their own flagship memory kit from their same memory generation platform.

 

[OrsonAround]

Great, looking forward to your results! The QVL was non-existent when I ordered everything for this build, so it's pretty frustrating. And since I've bought two of these boards now, I'm not too keen on dropping any more cash. Wondering if this is something they can fix with a BIOS update or not...

 

[uplink-svk]

Great, looking forward to your results! The QVL was non-existent when I ordered everything for this build, so it's pretty frustrating. And since I've bought two of these boards now, I'm not too keen on dropping any more cash. Wondering if this is something they can fix with a BIOS update or not...

@OrsonAround AFAiK, memory compatibility tends to rise with newer BiOS versions, so iMO they could fix it.

One more question. Does the M.2 heatsink RGB work for You? I'm having one Phanteks Halo connected on that M.2/soundcard hybrid module, but both Phanteks Halo and heatsink RGB are completely dead, never managed to get to the system, so I just wonder. Because on Z390 [had more than two dozens of these boards and 4 of my own] everything always worked like a charm :/

 

[OrsonAround]

Yeah, it does light up. If I remember correctly when I first installed my drives I was able to screw the module down with one row of pins offset and not connected. Caught it before I closed up the case though.

 

[uplink-svk]

Well, "great", so mine is effed up extra :/

Mine looks like this 🙁

 

[OrsonAround]

Yeah, that sucks :/

I'm sure you checked, but I know I had a hard time making sure all the pins went in. I'm guessing the connector towards the edge of the board is for pcie and the pins toward the center are for the rgb).

 

[uplink-svk]

I made that okay, but I'm afraid about this part.

I can't seem to hit it deeper into the pin array, due to fatness of SSD, or I don't know what. It's really annoying :/. Did You manage to get the pins deeper to the pin array? [RGB pins from the top heatsink?]

 

[OrsonAround]

I can't get a good view of it right now, but ASUS want's me to "rebuild from scratch" so I'm going to tear everything apart tomorrow and put it back together, I'll take a look then.

Looking at this video it might not be fully seated...

 

[uplink-svk]

I can't get a good view of it right now, but ASUS want's me to "rebuild from scratch" so I'm going to tear everything apart tomorrow and put it back together, I'll take a look then.

Looking at this video it might not be fully seated...

Saw that one b4 and yeah, but it's like one mil, maybe less, mine is like half centimeter 😀. I'm running NH-U12A, but I can't service the M.2 combo module with the cooler on. That's crazy. So I'll have to put temporary AiO there and will tinker with it on Friday :/. I just...why didn't they leave the second damn M.2 at the bottom? I don't get it. Asus is doing some weird moves recently...

 

[uplink-svk]

Hey there @OrsonAround. So, it didn't help at all, it wasn't memory, at all. I tried two QVL kits, and none worked. All's like before.

 

[OrsonAround]

That sucks. Were you able to get those pins in all the way?

 

[uplink-svk]

Hey there @OrsonAround. I actually never had to, the plastic thingie moves up and down. I even reconnected it as a whole, didn't help. Now I'm on Aorus Z490I Ultra, and damn, mobo won't eat any 2 x 32GB DDR4 memory 😀 so I 'm stuck on 2 x 16 GB [duh 😀]. This Z490 launch is a sligh clu***k I'd say