Hero vii wifi won't boot without m.2_2 drive connected

[Drewchapman87]

Hey all, first time here. I've learned a ton from you all through my first PC build, but have not been able to find an answer to my current issue in the forums.

After several issues, re-installations, updates, etc. my PC is running great.
However, I've discovered that it is not recognizing the Nvme drive in the M.2_2 slot (above the GPU) in either Bios or Disk Manager/Device Manager.
It's a PCIe M.2, so I know it's compatible with the slot, and the drive itself is recognized and functions when plugged into the M.2_1 slot.
But if I remove the drive, or disable the slot in bios, my PC will not boot and gives a b2 qcode.
If I plug a PCIe Nvme drive in, it boots up perfect, but the drive isn't recognized anywhere, yet the PCIe_1 slot runs at x8 instead of x16.

Ultimately it's not the end of the world, but I'd like things to function the way they should, and am not thrilled about spending the $$ on the Nvme drive just to have the computer boot/run properly without being able to utilize the storage space and have it take away (albeit marginally) from the GPU.

Absolutely everything has been cleanly installed, and fully updated.
Everything is plugged in, and to the right locations.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Here's the basics:
Hero VII Wifi
AMD 7 2700
64gb Vengance RAM
ROG Strix RTX 2060 OC6
Corsair 850x PSU

Thanks!
-Drew