M.2 5.0 running at 4.0?

[theroc44]

Hey I just got a pcie 5.0 2tb aorus 10000 m.2. It was working fine at pcie 5.0, I cloned my C drive onto it and now it won't run at 5.0 it keeps reverting to 4.0. I switched the m2_1 setting to pcie 5.0 to no avail. Anyone having any problems with these new drives?

[Beaurgard]

Yo! depending on your motherboard you might need to use the riser card that came with it. also in the bios you have to change some settings. I think it's under Pci express settings. also check your bifurcation table and make sure that you have it in the right slot as only some of my slots can run a 5.0 m.2. hope that someone more knowledgeable can help ya sort it out if that doesn't lead you down the right trail. also motherboard model would help to know.

[theroc44]

Beaurgard wrote:
Yo! depending on your motherboard you might need to use the riser card that came with it. also in the bios you have to change some settings. I think it's under Pci express settings. also check your bifurcation table and make sure that you have it in the right slot as only some of my slots can run a 5.0 m.2. hope that someone more knowledgeable can help ya sort it out if that doesn't lead you down the right trail. also motherboard model would help to know.

Hey yeah, I have a ASUS z690 extreme. I have it in the M2_1 slot, according to the manual its the only slot that supports pcie 5.0. Its really weird it was working fine at 5.0 when I first installed it. I then wanted to switch my C drive to that drive. After I cloned the drive, its been stuck at 4.0 even after changing the setting in the bios to enable Gen 5 on that slot. I can't figure it out. I don't understand how cloning the drive messed it up. In Crystalinfo, its showing up as 5.0 capable but its running at 4.0. I can also tell from the speed differences. I was getting 11000/12000 read before I cloned the drive now its stuck at 6800/6900 read gen 4. Anyone know what else I can change?

[theroc44]

I've been in contact with asus, they told me to reinstall the NvME driver sry for the noob ? but I literally can't anywhere to get it let alone install it. Does anyone know how to force the nvme driver to reinstall in device manager? Thx

[RogScott]

theroc44 wrote:
I've been in contact with asus, they told me to reinstall the NvME driver sry for the noob ? but I literally can't anywhere to get it let alone install it. Does anyone know how to force the nvme driver to reinstall in device manager? Thx

The base nvme driver is part of Win11. You could use "SFC /scannow" and "DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth", which would find/fix any problems with the driver being used. But this is unlikely to be the problem.

Asus was probably referring to the Intel RST drivers. That would only apply if you enabled RST / VMD Controller in bios. If RST/VMD *is* enabled, then you could try installing the latest Intel RST package, which will include the latest VMD driver. But if the VMD controller is not enabled in bios, then this is not the issue. (And unless you're using Raid/optane, I don't think there is any real benefit to enabling VMD.)

(If the VMD controller is enabled in bios, it will show up in Device Manager -- but I don't recall whether it's under Storage Controllers or directly under the PCIE root complex. If VMD is enabled, check both those locations for an Intel VMD driver to find the version in use. Then install the latest Intel RST package to update.)

Does the bios have any indication of what it detects? Look under System Agent configuration, PCI Express Configuration, and see what it says for the M.2_1 slot. However, I think it only shows the lanes (x2 or x4), and not the generation. If it shows x2, that could be your problem. If it shows x4, you could try explicitly setting the speed to GEN5 and see if that has any effect.

Since the problem began after cloning, I have to wonder if the cloning software changed something about the drive format/structure that is causing it to run Gen4. It shouldn't, but seems more than coincidence that is when the problem started. You might try reformatting it (i.e., start over, put your old boot drive back) and see if it gives full speed again. If the drive manufacturer has any kind of diagnostic software, that might be worth a spin as well.

Good luck, that Gen5 speed would be nice to have!

[JohnAb]

Hi theroc44,

Good suggestions by RogScott. Just to add, I was working on an answer as well. I've attached a screenshot of my drivers and marked the ones in red that might help. You can get all of them from MoKiChU's drivers threads. I've included the thunderbolt drivers from him as well because they include UCM drivers and the Asus ones don't. Some of those highlighted ones might not help, but update those and you might get some benefit. Also, update you Windows MEI drivers, Intel ME firmware and BIOS as well if needed. Suggest you research the BIOS a little first, just to make sure that it's working well for your board. Some BIOSs seem to be more stable than others.

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?118573-INDEX-All-My-Firmware-Drivers-Software-Threads

Of course, don't necessarily follow my driver versions, but I think most of them should be the same as you are on Z690 too. So if you work through RogScott's suggestions as well, I'm hopeful you might get somewhere. If none of that works, you could also try a fresh Windows install. Good luck.

Edit, forget to say, I recommend installing the VMD drivers even if not using RAID - they eliminate a yellow warning in Device Manager. In that case (not using RAID) just leave the related BIOS settings on defaults.

[RogScott]

JohnAb wrote:
Â* Edit, forget to say, I recommend installing the VMD drivers even if not using RAID - they eliminate a yellow warning in Device Manager. In that case (not using RAID) just leave the related BIOS settings on defaults.

Just to clarify - you will not see any yellow exclamation in device manager for VMD if it is not enabled in bios. IF enabled in bios, then yes - I agree - the driver should be installed. But unless using raid or optane, I think it is best to keep it disabled in bios, and then no drivers are needed.

[JohnAb]

RogScott wrote:
Just to clarify - you will not see any yellow exclamation in device manager for VMD if it is not enabled in bios. IF enabled in bios, then yes - I agree - the driver should be installed. But unless using raid or optane, I think it is best to keep it disabled in bios, and then no drivers are needed.

Thanks RogScott, I didn't know that. I don't use RAID, but I've always just left the BIOS on defaults, which is VMD controller enabled.

[theroc44]

Thanks for the advice. SO far I have reinstalled the chipset drivers, Me drivers, NVME driver. To no avail, I switched the setting for the M.2_1 slot from auto to Gen 5 same result. I even tried lowering it to Gen 3 to see if it would move down. That worked but after putting it back to Gen 5 it still stays stuck at Gen 4. I dont know what else to try. I might have to reinstall windows to see if that fixes it. But I really dont want to. For a fleeting moment right when I installed the drive it was working just fine after switching the drive to gen 5 in the bios. Cloning the drive somehow borked the pcie 5.0 transfer setting, I cant make heads or tails of it. Asus told me to reinstall everything I just mentioned, no dice. I'm hoping theres something i'm overlooking that can fix this fiasco. Otherwise its reset time.

[JohnAb]

theroc44 wrote:
Thanks for the advice. SO far I have reinstalled the chipset drivers, Me drivers, NVME driver. To no avail, I switched the setting for the M.2_1 slot from auto to Gen 5 same result. I even tried lowering it to Gen 3 to see if it would move down. That worked but after putting it back to Gen 5 it still stays stuck at Gen 4. I dont know what else to try. I might have to reinstall windows to see if that fixes it. But I really dont want to. For a fleeting moment right when I installed the drive it was working just fine after switching the drive to gen 5 in the bios. Cloning the drive somehow borked the pcie 5.0 transfer setting, I cant make heads or tails of it. Asus told me to reinstall everything I just mentioned, no dice. I'm hoping theres something i'm overlooking that can fix this fiasco. Otherwise its reset time.

I can't see how cloning onto the drive would have harmed it in some way. Here's a thought - when it was working at Gen 5, the OS was installed on a different drive. I think Windows would have been happy with that but after cloning, the OS is not recognising the new device as Gen 5 because the OS is now hosted there? I'm thinking it might be related to the drive identifier ID which has been cloned across from the original drive. I've seen that issue before where I've cloned a drive and had the original still plugged in. Windows got confused. I'm being vague I know, but maybe the cloned image is the issue, not the drive itself. Last time I cloned an OS drive, things didn't seem 100%, so in the end I did a fresh install anyway.

So, I think I would try a fresh Windows install next. Perhaps you could do the fresh install and if it doesn't work, then just clone the old OS copy back onto it again? That would be relatively easy to try and worst case, at least you could be back to where you are now again without much trouble.

I suppose it's always possible that the drive itself is just not functioning properly any more, but that seems pretty unlikely to me. Other than that and the ideas above, I can't think of anything else at the moment. My money is on the fact that a fresh install will fix the issue.