ROG MaximusXI Hero M2 issues

[RedTitan13]

I have had issues with this motherboard since December 2019. I installed 2 Samsung 970 Pro and 970 EVO M2 SSD's. When I put this together I put the 970Pro in the M2-1 slot and had nothing but issues, so i installed in the m2-2 slot and worked ok. I read on here that I should have the primary SSD in the M1-1 slot. So I switch and did a fresh install Window 10 Home. I installed the second SSD in the M2-2 slot. Eveything seemed to work good until today and the computer just give me a black screen or hangs. I have I7 9700K, 32GB1 G Skill 2X16 3600, Corsair Hydro H1151, Corsair 850 power and Asus 1660Ti. I put in another 970 1TB drive in the M2-1 slot all was good and it did it again, hangs wont boot, so I installed in the M2-2 and works perfect. I decided to put the second 970 in the M2-1 slot and the issues came back, So, i think the M2-1 slot is just bad. Di i need to do a RMA this board? I need help thanks

[GObonzo]

are your BIOS and other motherboard system drivers updated to the latest versions?

[RedTitan13]

yes all updated, this has been an issues since i bought it

[eziocin]

yes all updated, this has been an issues since i bought it

Hi,
if you see my issue, a couple of threads below, I am having issues on my Maximus XI Hero in installing a second OS on an M.2 in the M2.1 slot while the M 2.2 is working flawlessly. I don't think you have a faulty Mobo, I' d rather think that we are overlooking some basic setting. I am not in front of my PC right now, but as soon as I have time I will try the procedure that is in the link in the last post of my thread and will advise the result.

Ezio

[RedTitan13]

yes i read your post, i'm not doing a dual os, just one and have the other M2 for my drone and gopro files. I did notice that the pci express 1 slot is not being supported in the bios but the #2 is. I decided to put my video card in the #2 pci express slot and seems to be working fine now. I did submit a ticket for the board.

[RedTitan13]

now one issues i did fine is my video card in bios in showing for the PCIX 16 1 slot not supported, why is that?

[GObonzo]

this seems to be a pretty "high-end" board. i haven't read the documentation yet, but hopefully it does not require sacrificing PCIe slots or degrading from x16 for use of multiple M.2 slots.

[RedTitan13]

yea, when I installed my card into the PCIX 16 2 slot it sees the video card but shows in the 4x mode, weird. I put the card back into the PCIX 16 1 slot and all seems good so far and then in bios says the PCIX 16 2 slot is supported. I've been building gaming rigs since the mid 1990's and never seen this issue. I know this has to be with these M2 slots.

[GObonzo]

i have seen some boards where NVMe M.2 cards do sacrifice available PCIe bandwidth or entire slots even, and others where SATA M.2 cards sacrifice available SATA ports.
i would just guess/hope that a $400+ higher end board would not require these sacrifices considering the large usage of M.2 these days.

hopefully you can determine that it is just a BIOS setting that's needs changing or something similar.