Hey guys,
I feel like I found my people when I stumbled across this thread.
I also own the X99 Deluxe-II and am struggling to get my Thunderbolt EX 3 card to work. I built my machine for high-end video editing and effects. Nearly all of my clients are Mac users, so they bring me their projects on Thunderbolt-equipped drives. I've also got a Thunderbolt-based Pegasus RAID I need to connect to at work.
When I first built my machine, the EX 3 card actually worked fairly effortlessly (this was in September). I believe it was plugged into PCIEX16_5, Thunderbolt header cable attached, and I installed the Windows drivers from Asus' website.
But at a certain point Thunderbolt just stopped being recognized.
Like earlier posts in this thread, I was experiencing intermittent "dropouts." I'd go into the BIOS, and in the NB System Agent, instead of seeing "Linked as X4" I'd see "Not Present." And in Windows, I'd lose any mention of Thunderbolt in the Device Manger, in SIV, and the little Thunderbolt icon would stop appearing in the system tray.
I spent (wasted) days shuffling around my PCIE cards (I also have a M.2 drive, a Titan X Pascal, and a BlackMagic 4K Mini Monitor in my PCIE slots), reinstalling drivers, scouring Internet forums, following arcane procedures (remove the EX 3 card but leave the header cable plugged in, reboot into Windows, install drivers, reinstall card, start Windows with Tbolt off in BIOS, restart, say ten Hail Marys, turn on Tbolt in Bios, restart, etc.).
Long story short, I am only able to get Tbolt recognition in Windows / BIOS by UNPLUGGING MY PC, leaving it off for 10-ish seconds, plugging back in, and rebooting. That allows my BIOS to see "Linked as X4," and Thunderbolt shows up in SIV, in Device Manager, in the System Tray.
Not that it actually works, however. If I plug in a USB device to the Type-A slot in the EX 3, I hear the sad "boodoop" and a notification pops up that says "USB Device not recognized." And if I start my machine with a Thunderbolt equipped drive plugged into the USB-C type Tbolt port, well, there's no reaction on Windows part whatsoever. No "boodoop," no notification. If I double click the Tbolt icon in the system tray, I'm staring at an empty white window. No Tbolt devices recognized.
I called Asus support yesterday, and had a long conversation about this with their front line support team. They were incredibly nice, but of course the feedback was limited to "did you update the drivers, are you running the latest BIOS, etc." I did get the person to escalate my case to the "advanced team." I was hopeful about that, before I read in this thread that others had been promised the advanced team and gotten radio silence. I did ask the support guy to simply google "EX 3 card doesn't work" and to marvel at the many results. I also complained about the Tbolt drivers on the website being from ONE YEAR AGO. He seemed to understand my frustration.
So my question to you is, how did the RMA go mentioned in a previous post? New Tbolt card any better? Also, for the person who's trying a Gigabyte card in the Asus X99-Deluxe II...that's an intriguing option, and I can't imagine it working, but does it?
I'm also heartened to hear that the EX 2 card works...to be honest most of my Tbolt devices are still display-port shaped Thunderbolt, so "downgrading" to the EX 2, if I can find one for sale, is an option for me.
Thanks,
Jeff
