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$40,000 Work station - Request ASUS to help complete it.

pwpau
Level 7
Hello Team ASUS,

I am writing here to obtain help about a system I am building as the replies to the customer support are polite but slow, each reply is taking days and
it is not reaching the level of support that is needed for this project.

my existing number is: U2201001056-0002

The reason why I am trying to get this resolved is because I purchased this board a number of months ago, and due to covid and delays with the global shipping crisis
i have lost over 4-5 months of warranty time as I have just started putting the work station together - which is not my fault and is not fair if I run out of warranty.

Components
===============================================================================================================
Mobo:
Manufacture: ASUS
Model: WRX80
Link: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/Workstation/Pro-WS-WRX80E-SAGE-SE-WIFI/

Ram:
Manufacture: KINGSTON
Model: KSM32RD4/64HAR
Link: https://www.kingston.com/dataSheets/KSM32RD4_64HAR.pdf

Processor:
Manufacture: AMD
Model: 3995WX
Link: https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-threadripper-pro-3995wx

Video Card:
Manufacture: ASUS
Model: ASUS EKWB GeForce RTX 3090
Link: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Graphics-Cards/ASUS/RTX3090-24G-EK/

Hard Drive:
Manufacture: SAMSUNG
Model: 980 PRO PCle 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD
Link: https://www.samsung.com/au/memory-storage/nvme-ssd/980-pro-pcle-4-0-nvme-m-2-ssd-1tb-mz-v8p1t0bw/

PCIE Expansion card
Hard Drive:
Manufacture: ICYDOCK
Model: MB840M2P-B
Link: https://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=309

Story
===============================================================================================================

I am putting together the above system with water cooling.

* The bios has been updated to the latest version - version number: v1701 x64
* The nvme is detected by the bios - this has been tested as 'installed on the motherboard, m.2 slot' or 'installed on the PCIE expansion card' independently installed testing.
* only 1 nvme drive is installed at a time, in one position or the other for testing purposes (as above bullet point)
* The nvme drive installs and runs windows 10 WHEN inserted directly to the motherboard (no issues) - and appears to be working correctly
* The nvme drive does not install or run windows when the nvme is inserted to the PCIE expansion card
* I would like to be able to install and boot to the PCIE nvme ssd <--------------this is the most important point of this whole thread
* the motherboard freezes and goes into F3 bios code mode at different/random times.



Worthy notes
===============================================================================================================
* the keyboard is randomly detected when the pcie expansion card is installed - but when pulled out of the usb port and reinserted, it is detected.
* when installing the cpu - i could NOT get the screws to click as per instructions and tightened the cpu fairly tight but did not want to crack the $9,000 CPU
* the board freezes and goes into F3 bios code when i turn on CSM mode in the bios



Questions to ASUS:
===============================================================================================================
1.) Can i install and/or boot to PCIE nvme ssd drive? (has anyone else done this)
2.) What could be the possible reasons for the cpu screws not "clicking" when being installed?
3.) I would like to speak with the bios people in relation to this, as pcie nvme seem like the future
4.) Is there anything else from the ASUS team that could help.
4,399 Views
33 REPLIES 33

STARRAIN_ROG
Customer Service Agent
Hi pwpau,
May I double confirm the bios version is 0701 or 1701?
Do you mean cannot see the SSD in boot menu to install win10 when the nvme is inserted to the PCIE expansion card? or there is any error message while install win10? or cannot boot into windows after install win10?
How do you install win10? May I have a video about the procedure?
Which slot do you install the expansion card?
Does it freeze, get qcode F3 and no boot with bios all default settings except CSM mode enabled in the bios? or does it freeze when running the specific apps in windows?
Could you please help to record a video about the cpu screws not "clicking" when being installed?
Thank you.

Thank you for your quick reply.

Below are some images to help you get a visual reference of what is the current situation


Layout of the components - https://i.postimg.cc/MTddhygg/P-20220111-130507.jpg
Bios version number - https://i.postimg.cc/cLCZjm2G/P-20220110-171220.jpg
F3 board message - https://i.postimg.cc/Vs2V1FJc/P-20220111-130712.jpg
NVME is seen - https://i.postimg.cc/vHmpHmzW/P-20220110-172633.jpg
NVME details - https://i.postimg.cc/6qDZ43DM/P-20220124-183406.jpg
Boot order - https://i.postimg.cc/C15nvk0v/P-20220124-183424.jpg


To answer your questions
========================================================

May I double confirm the bios version is 0701 or 1701?
as per the picture - the number is - 0701
----------------------
Do you mean cannot see the SSD in boot menu when the nvme is inserted to the PCIE expansion card?
as per the picture - the nvme CAN BE seen when inserted into the PCIE. the computer just wont boot to it.
----------------------
Which slot do you install the expansion card?
PCIEX16_1
----------------------
Does it freeze and get qcode F3 with bios all default settings except CSM mode enabled in the bios?
- To the best of my knowledge YES the board did freez, before I was able to install windows 10, Before i installed the NVME directly onto the motherboard, before any changes were made to the bios
forums suggested i turn on CSM, and the board froze at that time. The board still freezes with CSM enabled, and the only change made to the bios was the boot order(enable, disabled, f10 reboot).
----------------------
Does it freeze when running the specific apps?
Could you please clarify your question - to me it does not make sense.
----------------------
Could you please help to record a video about the cpu screws not "clicking" when being installed?
If it is absolutely necessary, I can get a recording of it - but would prefer not to as I would have to unmount the water block, thermal paste etc (as per the picture), and remount, and that is going to be a messy job.

In my past experiences and discussions about building pc's if a cpu is not fitted correctly, usually the pc will not boot, and all sorts of problems would appear, yet i have been able to install windows 10 onto the nvme.


to clarify what i mean by "clicking"
check out this video
https://youtu.be/Lb2ad-lp53I?t=173 - starting at time index: 2:53 ending at 3:51.

clearly, based on the pictures provided above - the pcie is being detected, and so is all the memory

I can create you a video of how the computer boots and the F3 mode that the board goes into, if that helps you, but where can I send the video?

STARRAIN_ROG
Customer Service Agent
Hi pwpau,
Thank you for your reply.
For NVME in the expansion card, I'm not sure if my understanding is correct or not.
Do you mean you have installed and boot into windows10 successfully when insert NVME directly to the motherboard? If you put the NVME to the expansion card you can see the NVME in bios but if you restart the pc, it just enter bios and cannot boot into windows?

I appreciate the video about the freezing and F3 issue.
Please upload the video to google drive and share me the link. Please set as everyone can access the file with the link.
Thank you.

Hello StarRain

Thank you for your reply


Do you mean you have installed and boot into windows10 successfully when insert NVME directly to the motherboard?
Yes.

If you put the NVME to the expansion card you can see the NVME in bios but if you restart the pc, it just enter bios and cannot boot into windows?
No

restart the pc, the board freezes with F3 - see videos

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I do not use Google or their cloud services for various reason

I can upload the videos to our business website, but I wish to keep the links private.

Do you have an email address I can send the links to? or should I just upload it as a private message on the forums?

I confirm I sent the links to the videos via private message to you

I do not wish them to be public.

thank you for the help

xeromist
Moderator
@pwpau

If none of the 3 screws cause the torque wrench to click (starting with 2 & 3 completely loose & torqueing 1 to 3 in order) then I would suspect the wrench. If you wanted to test the wrench outside of expensive PC hardware you could acquire a T20 screw from a hardware store or Ebay and drive it into something (wood, plastic). Then you can crank on it as hard as you want to see if the driver ever clicks.

Also, just to clarify, all NVME drives are always PCIE connected no matter where they are physically installed. The M.2 slots on the motherboard are PCIE connected. That's the way the technology works. The only real reason to use an expansion card is if you need more drives than your motherboard supports.

You may have read about some M.2 NVME slots not being connected to the CPU and that being bad. Technically, yes some motherboards have some of their M.2 and x16 slots connected through the chipset (which has a fixed number of lanes shared with all connected devices) rather than a dedicated connection to the CPU. If the total number of lanes used by the board exceeds what is offered by the CPU then some of those slots will be part of the shared connection through the chipset. However, most of the time you wouldn't notice. In that situation you would have to have a lot of bandwidth hungry things connected to slots that are wired to the chipset then have them all working heavily at the same time to cause a bottleneck. So, not usually a problem but sometimes the manual will state that certain slots are wired through the chipset so you can prioritize dedicated connections if you wish. At least M.2 slot 1 is going to be directly connected but given how many lanes TR offers all 3 M.2 slots might actually be directly connected to the CPU. Not sure.
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STARRAIN_ROG
Customer Service Agent
Hi pwpau,
Thank you for your video and reply.
I'll consult our tech team more about this.

Hello xeromist,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, I agree with your suggestion as to the wrench not clicking as being the cause..

It was one of the "theories" but secretly I was hoping ASUS would come back and say that it was designed that way to not click - because the thought of re-seating the CPU brings me dread.

I appreciate the reply and did not know that about the PCIE/NVME relationship - very interesting indeed.

I will await for extra replies

OutSider420
Level 9
Have you confirmed the expansion card is bootable on another MB?

It can't be the NVME if it boots when onboard and there shouldn't be a limitation on booting from it in the bios if you're able to set it as the boot drive. The fact it's not letting you load into windows makes me suspect the expansion card or you didn't fully insert the NVME but I'm going to assume you checked that already so I'm blaming the expansion card.

Have you tried using the Asus one?