ASUS Prime Z390-A Sata ports 5 and 6 disabled with M.2 connected

[iamacyborg]

Hi, trying to debug a frustrating issue with my new motherboard.

I've installed a PCIe M.2 drive in the first M.2 port available and have a total of 4 SATA devices I need to connect. I've worked out that for some reason, ports 5 + 6 on the motherboard appear to be disabled, presumably as a result of the M.2 drive being in place.

The motherboard manual mentions that if a SATA M.2 device is connected this disables one of the SATA ports however my drive is PCIe. I'd also like to make use of the second M.2 slot in the very near future, will this disable additional SATA ports?

This is pretty frustrating as it seems ASUS are being incredibly misleading in their system specs about the compatibility of this motherboard. https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/PRIME-Z390-A/specifications/

Is this a known issue or have I got something setup wrong?

[LukeSavenije]

that is actually normal. depending on the setup it will either disable one or two ports. ask consumer support, they can probably provide a clear way how you should use them to have as little as possible disabled

[Windows7ge]

If you have more drives you want to connect you can buy a SATA or SAS/SATA expansion card.

[iamacyborg]

16 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

that is actually normal. depending on the setup it will either disable one or two ports. ask consumer support, they can probably provide a clear way how you should use them to have as little as possible disabled

I guess, but the lack of clear information in the manual is incredibly frustrating. 

 

15 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

If you have more drives you want to connect you can buy a SATA or SAS/SATA expansion card.

Good point, I'd forgotten those were a thing, thank you. 

[LukeSavenije]

Just now, iamacyborg said:

I guess, but the lack of clear information in the manual is incredibly frustrating

i can sure believe that

 

i recall it only because I've seen some of those from MSI boards, which disable either one or two depending on the config, so it might be worth to take a look into

[Dedayog]

2 minutes ago, iamacyborg said:

I guess, but the lack of clear information in the manual is incredibly frustrating. 

 

Good point, I'd forgotten those were a thing, thank you. 

Manual isn't that clear.  Under Expansion Slots last line, as well as Storage last line.

 

Other manufacturers are clearer, sorry.

 

 

 

[iamacyborg]

1 minute ago, jstudrawa said:

Manual isn't that clear.  Under Expansion Slots last line, as well as Storage last line.

 

Other manufacturers are clearer, sorry.

 

 

 

Yeah, that'd what has me confused, I don't have a SATA M.2 device connected and I have nothing plugged into the specified PCI port.