solved! I can't get Windows to recognize my Intel X550-AT2 card.

[odlaw]

Hello,

 

I am at my wits end with this. I've bought 4 different NICs now to try and get this to work. But I still can't get Windows 10 to recognize the latest one. I have a second hand X550-AT2 card that I got off ebay. The seller assured me it was working previously before selling it. But I am getting nothing with it plugged in.

 

System:

Windows 10 Home Build 19045.4170 Version: 22H2
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
Mobo: MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK using the 2nd PCIe slot that is pinned for a 4x card

 

I have the card installed but network connections or device manager show up with nothing. I tried using a Linux OS on a USB drive to see if even Linux would be able to see the card. But it couldn't see the card either.

 

Please any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[Eigenvektor]

Have you tried downloading an installing the driver from Intel yet?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/84329/intel-ethernet-controller-x550at2/downloads.html

[manikyath]

1 hour ago, odlaw said:

The seller assured me it was working previously before selling it.

and the seller must be honest right?

 

honestly, if something else in the same pcie slot works, and you plug this card in without getting as much as an unknown device in device manager, you bought someone else's e-waste.

 

i did ofcourse toss in a quick google... and there's apparently counterfeit intel X550 cards out there.

[mariushm]

The second pci-e x16 is disabled if you have a nvme ssd plugged in the second m.2 connector, as both share the pci-e lanes from the chipset.

 

See manual, page 16 (29 of 357) : https://download.msi.com/archive/mnu_exe/mb/MAGB550TOMAHAWK.pdf

 

If you have a m.2 thing in your second m.2 connector, try plugging the ethernet card into the bottom pci-e x1 - yes, it's perfectly fine to have a part of the edge connector just floating in the air, pci-e is designed like that to be modular when it comes to lanes, and the physical slots don't have a wall at the end for this reason. The card should run at x1 but obviously you'd be limited to maximum theoretical of 985 MB/s that one pci-e 3.0 lane gives.  In practice, card would hover at around 900 MB/s combined through both ports, IF it works.

 

EDIT: even if you don't have something in the second m.2 connector, there may be an option in bios set to "Force M.2" instead of "Auto" or "PCI_E3 slot / x16 slot" for those 4 pci-e lanes. Have a look in the bios settings if needed.

 

The ethernet card  is pci-e x4.  It should work in slots with only one or two pci-e lanes as pci-e organization intended, but some manufacturers put stuff in firmware to block card from working on just one lane.

 

If you rule this out, all I can suggest is to get a multimeter, put it on DC voltage mode, put the black probe on a ground point (the bracket for example) and put the red probe in various places to measure voltages.

The fact that the card is not detected at all, points to bios routing the pci-e lanes to the m.2 connector.  Only other explanation is the card gets no power at all, and that would be strange, because the pci-e slot gives both 3.3v and 12v and I doubt the ethernet card is 3.3v only.  I would look for fuses near the edge connector to see if there's voltage on both side of fuse, and I would measure voltage on each side of inductors , the gray squares or the components marked with L<number>  ... for example parts with R56 and 2R2 written on them, and the L2 part in top right corner ... on one side you should have 12v or 3.3v and on the other side you should have smaller voltages (3.3v , 2.5v, 1.8v. 1.5v - these are common voltages for chips, ram chips, etc )

 

 

 

[odlaw]

21 hours ago, Eigenvektor said:

Have you tried downloading an installing the driver from Intel yet?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/84329/intel-ethernet-controller-x550at2/downloads.html

Yeah I was using the drivers from the intel website (Intel Ethernet Adapter Drivers). And I tried all sorts of different versions. I also tried the "Intel Driver & Support Assistant".
 

19 hours ago, mariushm said:

The second pci-e x16 is disabled if you have a nvme ssd plugged in the second m.2 connector, as both share the pci-e lanes from the chipset.

 

See manual, page 16 (29 of 357) : https://download.msi.com/archive/mnu_exe/mb/MAGB550TOMAHAWK.pdf

 

If you have a m.2 thing in your second m.2 connector, try plugging the ethernet card into the bottom pci-e x1 - yes, it's perfectly fine to have a part of the edge connector just floating in the air, pci-e is designed like that to be modular when it comes to lanes, and the physical slots don't have a wall at the end for this reason. The card should run at x1 but obviously you'd be limited to maximum theoretical of 985 MB/s that one pci-e 3.0 lane gives.  In practice, card would hover at around 900 MB/s combined through both ports, IF it works.

 

EDIT: even if you don't have something in the second m.2 connector, there may be an option in bios set to "Force M.2" instead of "Auto" or "PCI_E3 slot / x16 slot" for those 4 pci-e lanes. Have a look in the bios settings if needed.

 

The ethernet card  is pci-e x4.  It should work in slots with only one or two pci-e lanes as pci-e organization intended, but some manufacturers put stuff in firmware to block card from working on just one lane.

 

If you rule this out, all I can suggest is to get a multimeter, put it on DC voltage mode, put the black probe on a ground point (the bracket for example) and put the red probe in various places to measure voltages.

The fact that the card is not detected at all, points to bios routing the pci-e lanes to the m.2 connector.  Only other explanation is the card gets no power at all, and that would be strange, because the pci-e slot gives both 3.3v and 12v and I doubt the ethernet card is 3.3v only.  I would look for fuses near the edge connector to see if there's voltage on both side of fuse, and I would measure voltage on each side of inductors , the gray squares or the components marked with L<number>  ... for example parts with R56 and 2R2 written on them, and the L2 part in top right corner ... on one side you should have 12v or 3.3v and on the other side you should have smaller voltages (3.3v , 2.5v, 1.8v. 1.5v - these are common voltages for chips, ram chips, etc )

 

 

 

Ultimately this worked...I removed my SSD from the 2nd M.2 drive and windows finally detected the NIC! When I read the manual on the mobo I just thought the expansion slot wouldn't work if you did it at the same time, but if you installed them properly one after the other it wouldn't be in issue. I thought wrong.

Attached you'll see my BIOS settings. I tried to play around with the "Chipset Gen Switch". But I still couldn't get the NIC to show up. I tried "Auto" and "Gen 3". Still nothing. It wasn't until I removed my SSD that Windows saw the NIC. I was then able to install the drivers no problem and it all works.

 

But now I'm stuck in a dilemma of not being able to use my second M.2 Slot...This mobo has been a nightmare.

 

EDIT: found a better explanation of all this on the MSI forum B550 Tomahawk - M2_2 and PCIE_3

Quote

They didn't explain it properly.
In fact M.2_2, PCI_E2 & PCI_E3 share the same 4 PCIe lanes.
So ...
something in M2_2 ---> PCI_E3 not available
something in M2_2 + something in PCI_E2 ---> PCI_E3 not available + M2_2 downgraded from x4 to x2
nothing in M2_2 ---> PCI_E3 available at full speed
nothing in M2_2 + something in PCI_E2 ---> PCI_E3 downgraded from x4 to x2

Looks like I either need to replace my NVMe SSD that I had in the M.2_2 slot with a SATA SSD. Or get a bigger Boot drive/NVMe thats in the first M.2 Slot....what a fucking pain in the ass. I guess that's what I get for getting a B550 board.

 

Edited April 7 by odlaw
found more clarification on my issue.

[mariushm]

You could just get one of those m.2 to pci-e x1 adapter card, and at least you'll get the SSD working but at <1 GB/s

 

Amazon.com : m.2 to pci-e x1 adapter card

[odlaw]

7 hours ago, mariushm said:

You could just get one of those m.2 to pci-e x1 adapter card, and at least you'll get the SSD working but at <1 GB/s

 

Amazon.com : m.2 to pci-e x1 adapter card

Oh that's not a bad idea. I'll just get a Crucial MX500 SSD. I need more storage anyways and I'll repurpose the m.2 in another build. Thank you for all your help, I wouldn't have figured out the second m.2 was the issue without you. And a learned lesson...just get a better mobo haha