Z370 Taichi - PCI-e issue

[Vario]

I have been running this board since 2017.

Since December 2021, I have run it as follows with no issues:

PCIE2: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB
M.2_3 Samsung 970 Pro 512GB
M.2_2 Old Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB
M.2_1 Inland Premium NVMe 1TB

In June 2022, I swapped the Inland for a second Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB to increase my storage. Since doing so, I have had issues with stability when running 3 NVMe. The newest Evo Plus was RMA'd to Samsung and no issues were found. The newest Evo Plus was then run stand alone in two different systems with no issues for several weeks. I re-added the Inland to the system and ran it with just Inland and newest Evo Plus for 2 weeks without any issue. I have found that the system will rapidly have IO errors and crash if a drive is installed in M.2_1, but if that slot is kept empty, I can run any two of the four NVMe drives fine.

PCIE2: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB
M.2_3 Samsung 970 Pro 512GB
M.2_2 Old Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB
M.2_1 New Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB

This week, I purchased a PCI-E 3.0 x4 to M.2 NVMe adapter card and installed my old 970 Evo Plus 2TB into it. I then installed it into PCIE4 under the graphics card. The system fails to boot. Removing the graphics card will cause the system to boot. Reinstalling the graphics card and removing the PCI-E to M.2 adapter card will allow the system to boot. Reinstalling the PCIE to M.2 adapter card with no drive in it and having the 3060 will also allow the system to boot. I also have another M.2 Adapter card, and same problem occurs.
The system is now
PCIE2: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB
M.2_3 Samsung 970 Pro 512GB
M.2_2 New Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB
PCIE4 Old Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB


I then moved the adapter card to the lowest full size PCIE slot, PCIE5.

That brings us to the latest configuration.
PCIE2: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB
M.2_3 Samsung 970 Pro 512GB
M.2_2 New Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB
PCIE5 Old Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB

The system appears to be working for the time being as it will actually boot, which is an improvement, but I am not sure that it is stable, as I had it reboot on me in this configuration already once without warning. Clearly, I am thinking there is an issue with the PCI express on the board. Does anyone have any tips? I am on the latest motherboard BIOS. I am thinking remounting CPU might be the next step.

 

[dirtyferret]

What's worrisome is now the PC has crashes with any drive in the M.2 slot so the original configuration is no longer stable so it may not be the PCI express or it may be.

If it was me and I was happy with the setup minus the PCI issue, I would get NVMe to SSD adapter and just bite the bullet on the second 970 evo performance just so you can use it. I use a similar adapter for my USB SATA dock on old drives.

 

[Vario]

What's worrisome is now the PC has crashes with any drive in the M.2 slot so the original configuration is no longer stable so it may not be the PCI express or it may be.

If it was me and I was happy with the setup minus the PCI issue, I would get NVMe to SSD adapter and just bite the bullet on the second 970 evo performance just so you can use it. I use a similar adapter for my USB SATA dock on old drives.

Well, it can be stable with 2 drives. Additional drives = unstable. So I may just run 2x2TB and only two drives, shelving the 970 Pro 512 and the Inland 1TB for another system. I really don't want to buy another board or processor at this point because I want to upgrade when DDR5 is more mature (another CPU generation probably)

I pulled the CPU, cleaned it, pins look fine, contacts look fine, reinstalled CPU and heatsink and got a boot loop. So now I pulled everything and I am reinstalling everything, likely I will arrive at the same point of only two working SSD and one graphics card.

Edit: as an update, it took a few remounts of everything, but strangely everything is working for the time being. The PCI-e adapter card with the Old 970 Evo 2TB is now operating in the slot under the graphics card (PCIE3). So I pulled the Old 970 Evo Plus off of it and threw it in the unlucky M.2_1.

Presently configuration is back to the ideal (but possibly unstable):
PCIE2: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB
M.2_3 Samsung 970 Pro 512GB
M.2_2 Old Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB
M.2_1 New Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB

Right now, it is in Windows. Time will tell if it starts having the IO issue again. Wonder if reseating the ram, graphics card, and CPU somehow got the lane working again.

7/29:
As an update, I am able to get the NVMe to PCIe riser card working now, don't know if it was reseating the CPU or graphics card that fixed that... the M.2_1 slot remains unstable, but at least for the time being the system seems stable with 3 NVMe by using this riser card.
so I am now running
PCIE2: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB
M.2_3 Samsung 970 Pro 512GB Operating System
M.2_2 New Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB Games
PCIE4 Old Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB Data