VGA error with nvme drive installed

[Galvinator]

Today I received a gigabyte 512gb nvme drive (free with promo) and after installing it into the motherboard my PC will no longer boot (powers on fine but wont enter bios or windows, just shows a black screen) and just shows a VGA error code on the MSI EZ debug LED. Removing the drive fixes the issue and it returns to functioning normally. I've tried reseating the drive and GPU 

Would this be some kind of issue with the mobo or drive (i would have thought that this would just lead to the drive not being detected though)? I dont believe that it is a compatability issue, however the msi page for the mobo is a little vague on whether the m.2 slot supports nvme but however multiple other sources suggest that it does.

 

Any thoughts on what the issue could be are appreciated

 

 

For reference the system specs are: 

nvme drive: https://www.gigabyte.com/au/Solid-State-Drive/GIGABYTE-NVMe-SSD-512GB#kf

AMD R5 3600 

MSI B450m gaming plus mATX (https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450M-GAMING-PLUS) 

16gb Gskill 3200mhz 

gigabyte 5700 xt Gaming OC

 

[paddy-stone]

43 minutes ago, Galvinator said:

Today I received a gigabyte 512gb nvme drive (free with promo) and after installing it into the motherboard my PC will no longer boot (powers on fine but wont enter bios or windows, just shows a black screen) and just shows a VGA error code on the MSI EZ debug LED. Removing the drive fixes the issue and it returns to functioning normally. I've tried reseating the drive and GPU 

Would this be some kind of issue with the mobo or drive (i would have thought that this would just lead to the drive not being detected though)? I dont believe that it is a compatability issue, however the msi page for the mobo is a little vague on whether the m.2 slot supports nvme but however multiple other sources suggest that it does.

 

Any thoughts on what the issue could be are appreciated

 

 

For reference the system specs are: 

nvme drive: https://www.gigabyte.com/au/Solid-State-Drive/GIGABYTE-NVMe-SSD-512GB#kf

AMD R5 3600 

MSI B450m gaming plus mATX (https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450M-GAMING-PLUS) 

16gb Gskill 3200mhz 

gigabyte 5700 xt Gaming OC

 

Not vague at all

 

Quote

AMD^® B450 Chipset

• 4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports
  • Supports RAID 0, RAID1 and RAID 10
• 1 x M.2 slot (Key M)
  • Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 (1st, 2nd and 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™/ Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics and 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Graphics) or PCIe 3.0 x2 (Athlon™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics) and SATA 6Gb/s 2242/ 2260 /2280/ 22110 storage devices

 

Don't know the issue, try unplugging the drive you already had with windows on, then seeing if it boots  [edit: sorry I meant POSTs]. You may have to reset CMOS too maybe.

 

[edit] If it POSTs, you should then be able to install windows [if that was your next move?].

[.Apex.]

32 minutes ago, Galvinator said:

Would this be some kind of issue with the mobo or drive (i would have thought that this would just lead to the drive not being detected though)? I dont believe that it is a compatability issue, however the msi page for the mobo is a little vague on whether the m.2 slot supports nvme but however multiple other sources suggest that it does.

I believe the SSD is causing a short, do you have another NVME drive that you could test with? it's also possible the M.2 Slot itself is defective/shorting, it should never cause your PCIe Slot to stop functioning even if the SSD isn't compatible.

[Galvinator]

@paddy-stone Thanks for the suggestions, I will give that a try in the morning (1am currently) and let you know.

 

@_Syn_ The only other m.2 drive I have is in a laptop and i don't want to have to fish that out if i dont have to and i dont believe it is nvme anyway. Might still give that a try if all else fails though

[paddy-stone]

7 minutes ago, Galvinator said:

@paddy-stone Thanks for the suggestions, I will give that a try in the morning (1am currently) and let you know.

 

@_Syn_ The only other m.2 drive I have is in a laptop and i don't want to have to fish that out if i dont have to and i dont believe it is nvme anyway. Might still give that a try if all else fails though

Updated previous comment above. What are you planning to do BTW?

[Galvinator]

@paddy-stone @_Syn_ I ended up trying the drive from my laptop (sata m.2 not nvme) in the mobo and that posted normally, however I also tried the nvme drive in the laptop and that posted perfectly as well so the issue seems to be only with the nvme drive in that mobo. 

Any suggestions? Would a bios update potentially be a solution?

 

Edit: The other option of course is that I just switch the two drives and use the nvme drive in my laptop but i would like to avoid that if its possible.

[NewMaxx]

2 hours ago, Galvinator said:

@paddy-stone @_Syn_ I ended up trying the drive from my laptop (sata m.2 not nvme) in the mobo and that posted normally, however I also tried the nvme drive in the laptop and that posted perfectly as well so the issue seems to be only with the nvme drive in that mobo. 

Any suggestions? Would a bios update potentially be a solution?

 

Edit: The other option of course is that I just switch the two drives and use the nvme drive in my laptop but i would like to avoid that if its possible.

Yes, a BIOS update could help. The most recent literally says it improved PCI-e device compatibility. Normally this would not be an issue, but you're using a Zen 2 CPU which had some NVMe issues.

[Galvinator]

No luck with the bios update @NewMaxx, thanks for the suggestion though. Starting to think it must be a defective m.2 slot

[NewMaxx]

I'm pretty much out of ideas, unless you can run the GPU at x8 in the BIOS. No reason that should work or help but neither should you be getting a VGA error...

[Galvinator]

That seems like a bit of a stretch, might try and get onto MSI abut it

[NewMaxx]

10 hours ago, Galvinator said:

That seems like a bit of a stretch, might try and get onto MSI abut it

It is. But you said VGA error. On AMD boards, both the GPU and primary M.2 socket get direct CPU lanes. Although I still think the use of the Zen 2 chip is the source of the issue, this might be a workaround. Take it from me, somebody who has tried a lot of weird settings over the years to get things to work...

[saaws2]

Hate to bring this back from the dead. But same Mobo and CPU with same black screen after install and works fine with out it. M.2 is a nvme drive pci 3.0x 4 i think . M.2 are new too me. Just coming off pile-driver. 

[NipunMalhotra]

Hi Galvinator, I have exact same issue with 1TB Gigabyte NVME 2280 on MSI B450 Pro M2. Just checking in case you found the solution to this.

I also tried updating bios, changing the PCI lane configuration but the issue persists.

[Yoshua Dwiputra]

I have the same problem too with 256gb xpg nvme 2280 on asrock b450 pro4. 

[heizuse]

Hey so i am having this problem also... So i had a Crucial MX500 1TB in my previous rig, i built a whole new PC and of course transferred over my M.2, however no post and same VGA error. I realized after waiting 3-5 mins or so i could get into BIOs. I did all the troubleshooting to determine it only happens with the M.2 installed(unfortunately for me i couldn't get mine to work in any other system, including the one i removed it from). So i bought a new M.2(Silicon Power 1TB) and it worked fine up til last week. I booted up my system and deja vu. Honestly I don't have a concrete answer for this but i'm assuming it is a faulty MOBO. I have RMA'd mine will have to wait for it to return to know anything for sure. But i have lost 2 1TB M.2 SSDs to this issue and the only common factor was the MB. I would recommend RMA/replace MB to prevent possible failures to replacement drives. 

[Olitoni]

Hello, sorry for the old thread bump, but after nearly 2 years, MSI finally released a new bios update (may 30 i believe), just tried it - and it works

 

Only took them 2 years to make NVMe work...