Hero Z690 having issues with getting windows errors and nvme drive not working

[Medwynd]

EDIT:
ASUS has recognized this as an official issue:

Hi all,
For WHEA 17 error, our tech team have reported it and co-work with Intel.
If there is any news, I'll keep updated.
Thank you.

Possible solutions for this issue can be accomplished in one of two ways, both involve turning off PCI Express power management.
1. In windows go to Power Options and change the plan setting to High Performance . You may also be able to just go to the advanced settings and change Link State Power Management to "off"
2. In the BIOS set PCI Express Native Power Management to disabled instead of auto


Trying to track down is this is an issue with the motherboard, the nvme drive, or drivers.

Using windows 11 on a Hero Z690 with a WD sn850 nvme drive.

Occasionally the drive will appear, sometimes it will take a reboot, sometimes it will appear then disappear. Getting these types of error an warning events:

After rebooting I see
Source: Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger
Description: A corrected hardware error has occurred.
Component: PCI Express Root Port
Error Source: Advanced Error Reporting (PCI Express)
Primary Device Name:PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_7AB4&SUBSYS_86941043&REV_11

Looking in device manager I see that Intel PCI Express Root Port #13 - 7AB4
Device PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_7AB4&SUBSYS_86941043&REV_11\3&11583659&0&EC had a problem starting.

Then later
Source: stornvme
Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort3, was issued.

Source: stornvme
The driver detected a controller error on \Device\RaidPort3.

Followed by some warning errors on the source disk such as ntfs unable to flush data etc. presumably because the drive no longer has connection or is in some otherwise bad state.

I'm using the latest drivers from the support page for the chipset and everything else.

Any ideas where to start with this? I'm not sure if I have a bad motherboard, a bad nvme drive or possibly just some bad drivers.

[Z-690-E]

I just wanted to add in hopes this helps ASUS to diagnose and fix this issue: I received WHEA Event 17 errors until I disabled "PCI Express Native Power Management." Now I do not receive those errors at all. The errors were coming from the PCI Express root port associated with the ASMedia SATA controller.

Z690-E Board, 12900k processor.

Is ASUS working on this?

[Auspcbuilda]

Going to add my experience in this post as well hoping it gets looked at.

Asus ROG Z690i Gaming Wifi

Im having issues with this motherboard. I am currently on my 2nd one.
The first one had the same issues as most other posts I have seen about the M2_2 slot not working in full speed or showing up at all.
I returned that board for RMA as suggested by Asus support, I was then sent a replacement motherboard.

Now this board the M2_2 slot is working at full speed and seems too be working, the problem now is when you start the PC for the first time, it does not see the m2_2 slot, but if I then restart the PC, the drive will now show and work fine.
I have tried the lastest bios, turn off fast boot, set the drive too Gen4/PCIE/AUTO but nothing seems to change.
This is a weird one as the slot works, but not showing when you start it for the first time seems weird.
I have contacted support about the issue and they are now saying to RMA this motherboard as well.
Already had so much down time with the PC already, I would like to try everything else first before having to RMA this one as well, cause if I do have to RMA this again, I will not be getting a Asus board again.
So any help or if your having the same issue please let us know. Thanks.

Also this stack m.2 and sata ports they have done with this motherboard is a really bad design and they should not do this again. Also since this board does seem very faulty do you think they will recall it at all? or just try and patch it up with RMA's till the 3 year warranties run out?

[Wrathier]

Have updated thread with the solution that worked for me.

Hope it helps someone.

[ProJewks]

Thanks for the update and testing. I’m going to try these Sabrent GEN 4 SSDs on Thursday. We’ll see if they make a difference. I have another z690 formula on order and started an RMA as well. We will see what will happen. Maybe this board is a dud but caused by something internal to the MOBO software as opposed to hardware.
Â*
Â*

Wrathier wrote:
So a little update.

I have not really been playing a lot since I made this build do to the NVMe error. I finally had time and pretty fast realized I kept crashing to desktop. I couldn't understand why so started testing different software. Passed 8 hours of RealBench etc etc so I brought out OCCT and ran PSU test - That is pretty demanding.

I very fast realized that my 12V was fluctuating down to 11.3 and crashed the machine. Was almost instantly in COD Vanguard, but could a few times complete a match.

I then decided to say ok whatever, removed my CableMod Kit and installed my original PSU cables just to test something before buying a new PSU.

As you see that made it rock stable as you would expect from a 1000W SuperNova T2 Platinum PSU.



I then inserted my GB Gen 4 AORUS drive again and to my surprise the PC actually FOUND the drive. So far no issues.

But I did discover something very unsettling with all this NVMe issues. It destroys the drives rather fast. Check this out:





This drive is brand new - as you can see on my earlier posts I just got the drive. And it seems EVERY TIME the drive has disappeared a lot of data has been written and now my drive health are worse than on my Samsung 960 2TB NVMe from 2018. - 78TB has been written to that drive and health are 98%.

I went to the computer store today and they had tested my drive and it worked flawlessly with them thankfully.

Anyway I just wanted to update that it seems now I have sorted my power issues that the PC can see the drives etc.

I will update if they disappear etc.

[howell]

I don't have the NVME issue, but I do have an automatic WHEA error. I am running a Stirix Z690 -E Gaming 12700k, 32gb Trident 5600 mhz ram and an AE-7 Creative Sound Card. Any attempt to use cpu validation tools in CPU-Z goes to an automatic blue screen claiming a WHEA error. Except I don't get a specific code and usually my computer hands for hours, unless I reset it. I do not get a WHEA error under any other use scenario, so far. I mostly do gaming, but I also have to use the microsoft office suite and, from time to time AutoCAD. No problem with those.

[Wrathier]

howell wrote:
I don't have the NVME issue, but I do have an automatic WHEA error. I am running a Stirix Z690 -E Gaming 12700k, 32gb Trident 5600 mhz ram and an AE-7 Creative Sound Card. Any attempt to use cpu validation tools in CPU-Z goes to an automatic blue screen claiming a WHEA error. Except I don't get a specific code and usually my computer hands for hours, unless I reset it. I do not get a WHEA error under any other use scenario, so far. I mostly do gaming, but I also have to use the microsoft office suite and, from time to time AutoCAD. No problem with those.

Have you done the following:

In the BIOS set PCI Express Native Power Management to disabled instead of auto?

[RevvRav]

Came here from reddit

Z690-i

My issue was the NVME was showing in bios but not initialising in windows..

So after 2-3 days of messing with settings i managed to get my Z690-i to recognise the NVME in M.2_2 slot.
Bios

Advanced/System Agent (SA) Configuration

>VMD setup menu

Enabled VMD controller(if not already), enabled 'Map PCIE Storage under VMD' and enabled 'Map SATA Controller under VMD' (may not be required).
Restarted and i was able to initialise and format the disk. I had already installed RST drivers from the asus site but i'm not sure if that made any difference as i'm not running it in raid mode.

Speed tests are next

Using a Samsung 980 Pro 2TB

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi all,
For random SSD disappearing and blue screen issue, please check if it occurs on the latest bios version with bios all default settings.
Please also try the drivers from our support site.
Please also let me know the following information.
- the model name of the SSD
- Which M.2 slot do you install each SSD and which SSD disappears(in bios or in windows)?
- Which SSD do you install OS in?
- How often does the issue occur?
- Does the issue occur when running the specific apps or with the specific settings?
- If it occurs when running the specific apps, which SSD do you install the apps in?
- Have you reinstall OS, but the issue still occurs?
Thank you so much.

[Wrathier]

Hi all,

So I wanted to report back my findings and inform, that I'm now running stable with all my NVME drives and have 0 issues now and no strange events besides the "bug" WHEA 17 fixed by disabling PCI Power Management in BIOS.

After testing 3 motherboards, 4 different NVME drives I came to the conclusion that it was just mathematically impossible that 12 M.2 ports x 4 drives was broken. Not to mention all the other users ports and drives.

To make sure I took all my drives to a local store and paid a small amount to have them test them over a week. Windows install, gaming etc. No issues.

So I started looking elsewhere on my build. If it wasn't the motherboards nor the drives, but it still didn't work at all it logically had to be something else.

I use an EVGA SuperNova T2 1000W Platinum PSU so of course that was not really my first thought that it could be the culprit as it ran fine with my X299 build.

So I downloaded a program called HWInfo from here: https://www.hwinfo.com. I opened up the program and chose: Sensors only.



I then started RealBench and ran 8 hours stable. I started Prime95 ran 8 hours stable, I even started up Furmark + IntelBurnIn and passed that without crashing.

Again I was convinced that my PSU was up for the task and I started looking into fan hubs etc, but to no avail.

I then opened up HWInfo again - Sensors only and downloaded this program: https://www.ocbase.com

That program has a build in PSU test and to my surprise I crashed after just below 5 min.

Watching the sensors while running I discovered that the program resulted in my 12V rail fluctuating and the Z690 need a pretty stable supply due to the architecture of the P/E core management.

Of course I thought my PSU was "broken" or not up for the task required to run this system, but before I bought a new one I had 1 last idea.

I removed my "CableMod" and used my original PSU cables.

I then ran PSU test again and the result was astonishing: My 12V rail stopped fluctuating and I could run the PSU test for as long as I liked. As you would expect as that you should be able to do.

It looks like this:



3 days ago after I succeed in running the test stable, I inserted ALL my NVMe drives and everything has worked flawlessly.

I'm not saying this is 100% a solution for EVERYONE out there, but I'm saying that it is something you should test just to make sure, as Z690 are very very sensitive to power fluctuations compared to for example X299 etc.

I hope it helps someone.

Give feedback in this thread or in PM please. If it works for you it would really help many people with a bit of luck.

[ProJewks]

Awesome testing! I have a new z690 formula and popped in some Sabrent gen 4 drives into the 2 and 3 slot.
Will run tests to see if it works.

For my issue, I was able to run games but couldn’t load any xmp profiles (this was with what’s we version bios the board shipped with). The only crashes I had were probably due to heat when I was running warzone. Because we wanted to enable xmp profiles, we updated to 0811 at the time. This was when the NVME issue started happening. It could’ve been a bad bios flash, but we’re starting with a new board and new drives to eliminate any possible issue.Â*

With your testing that’ll be the next step when we look if it loads up. What bios version are you running? And what Xmp profile are you able to run?

Â*Â*

Wrathier wrote:
Hi all, Â*My So I wanted to report back my findings and inform, that I'm now running stable with all my NVME drives and have 0 issues now and no strange events besides the "bug" WHEA 17 fixed by disabling PCI Power Management in BIOS.

After testing 3 motherboards, 4 different NVME drives I came to the conclusion that it was just mathematically impossible that 12 M.2 ports x 4 drives was broken. Not to mention all the other users ports and drives.

To make sure I took all my drives to a local store and paid a small amount to have them test them over a week. Windows install, gaming etc. No issues.

So I started looking elsewhere on my build. If it wasn't the motherboards nor the drives, but it still didn't work at all it logically had to be something else.

I use an EVGA SuperNova T2 1000W Platinum PSU so of course that was not really my first thought that it could be the culprit as it ran fine with my X299 build.

So I downloaded a program called HWInfo from here: https://www.hwinfo.com. I opened up the program and chose: Sensors only.



I then started RealBench and ran 8 hours stable. I started Prime95 ran 8 hours stable, I even started up Furmark + IntelBurnIn and passed that without crashing.

Again I was convinced that my PSU was up for the task and I started looking into fan hubs etc, but to no avail.

I then opened up HWInfo again - Sensors only and downloaded this program: https://www.ocbase.com

That program has a build in PSU test and to my surprise I crashed after just below 5 min.

Watching the sensors while running I discovered that the program resulted in my 12V rail fluctuating and the Z690 need a pretty stable supply due to the architecture of the P/E core management.

Of course I thought my PSU was "broken" or not up for the task required to run this system, but before I bought a new one I had 1 last idea.

I removed my "CableMod" and used my original PSU cables.

I then ran PSU test again and the result was astonishing: My 12V rail stopped fluctuating and I could run the PSU test for as long as I liked. As you would expect as that you should be able to do.

It looks like this:



3 days ago after I succeed in running the test stable, I inserted ALL my NVMe drives and everything has worked flawlessly.

I'm not saying this is 100% a solution for EVERYONE out there, but I'm saying that it is something you should test just to make sure, as Z690 are very very sensitive to power fluctuations compared to for example X299 etc.

I hope it helps someone.

Give feedback in this thread or in PM please. If it works for you it would really help many people with a bit of luck.