New GPU installation issue with M.2 slot not starting up
New GPU installation issue with M.2 slot not starting up
Hello, Your RTX3080 installation on the MSI x99a sli plus motherboard isn’t working as expected. The M.2 drive disappears from BIOS even though it’s still present, and the system reports an invalid boot device. You mentioned a previous GTX 1080 worked fine, which suggests the issue might be related to PCIe lanes. Since your CPU supports up to 40 lanes and the M.2 uses four lanes, it could be a compatibility problem. The Samsung 980 Pro M.2 slot is using those lanes, but you’re not sure if that’s the cause. Consider checking the PCIe configuration, ensuring proper power delivery, and verifying the correct device name in BIOS. If needed, try removing the network card to see if the issue persists. Let me know what you find!
Always verify the power source. A few weeks back I began experiencing system freezes and a drive vanishing, which turned out to be a failing CR2032 battery on the 3-year-old motherboard—its voltage dropped to 2.3V, far below the expected 3V. It doesn’t make sense for such a small battery to cause these problems, but it did.
Review your motherboard's user guide for bifurcation details. Occasionally, motherboards block one of the PCIe x 16 slots when a M.2 PCIe socket is installed. This happens because Z790 boards use a simple hard cutoff for all 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes set by the CPU, without distinguishing between PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 usage.