Asus x99 Rampage V Extreme - Pci-e Lanes

Discussion in 'Processors and motherboards Intel' started by A M D BugBear, Jun 23, 2021.

  1. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    Good morning Everyone...

    Before I begin, I already posted this situation on Asus forums last week, I have not got a reply yet.

    I just recently hooked up another Folding@home/Boinc system, the motherboard in question: Asus x99 Rampage V Extreme(With the most/up to date bios firmware).

    Before going any further, two things, I am using a 40 lane cpu and I am not using an M.2. drive.

    I have 4 Gpu's installed, and within the bios, under Gpu post, 3 gpu's are being detected but the 4th one is not being detected and its @ x4 speeds.

    Although everything is working pretty good in windows, I checked under Gpu-z, Its running @ x16/x8/x8/x4.

    In the users manual, it stated that if your using a 40 lane cpu(which I am) and not using a M.2. Drive(which I am not), the board can run @ x16/x8/x/8x8 configuration.

    The only thing I can change within the bios is the actual gen speeds, not the actual slot speed width(Bifurcation/don't really know if the board supports this feature).

    On the top right of the motherboard, there is a thing called: Pci-e Lane Switcher, the only one that's basically lit after going into bios, Pci-e slots: 1,2, & 3 are lit, the 4th one, no, I tried toggling the 4th pci-e lane switch, same as before.

    The 4th slot that's having this problem: PCIe 3.0 X8_4 slot.

    I also notice that some people have actually modded their bios to able to splice up their pci-e slot speeds.

    Take a look at this link:

    https://www.win-raid.com/t3323f16-Guide-How-to-Bifurcate-a-PCI-E-slot.html#msg45202

    I also used a program called: AMIBCP and looked for the: IIO PCIe port, I only see 3 ports, 4th one is not there, why is the 4th one is missing?

    1.JPG

    Under IIO, there is 4 within the drop list, II0,II1,II2, And II3, If you look into any of them, Look for: (IIO PCIe Ports), there is only port 1,2 and 3 within each IIO.

    I am still very new into Bios Modding, Hopefully it is not needed for what I need.

    Just heads up, Folding@Home ppd, despite the 4th slot running @ x4(Gen 3), I am not losing any ppd at all, its the same amount as the X16 speeds.

    If anyone is interested in looking at the user's manual, here's the link:

    https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...1/E9550_RAMPAGE_V_EXTREME_UG_for_web_only.pdf

    EDIT:

    Just heads up to everyone, I personally tried using just 1 Gpu on the last Slot, and under bios settings, Gpu Post, it still says no vga being detected even though I am still getting video signal on that slot.
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2021
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  2. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    CPU could be damaged or mounting pressure is interfering with lane pin contact.
     
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  3. CyberSparky

    CyberSparky Member Guru

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    It should work, I ran the same motherboard with 4way sli GTX 980 Classifieds years ago. EDIT: I see you already messed with the dip switches. lol
     
  4. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    I have another of the same exact cpu as this one, I'll try the other cpu and see how it will go.

    Actually, the power supply that's running this system(1350w Pc power and cooling) was supposed to be for another board, but I used that in meantime. I went back to 3-Way and used a 950w Psu instead, so far its been fine, but yes, I'll try the other cpu and see how it will go, thanks for the reply.
     

  5. pharma

    pharma Ancient Guru

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    I noticed you are using bios firmware 3701 instead of the last official bios (4101) made for the motherboard. Have you tried 4101? I only ask since there may have been issues with previous bios that were corrected in 4101.
     
  6. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    Where is bios rev. 4101 download at? Its not on their website unless its a modded bios.

    EDIT:

    Got the bios, I'll brb later and will give heads up, thanks for the reply.
     
  7. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    4101 is just 3701 with the ucode patched.
     
  8. pharma

    pharma Ancient Guru

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    There were some stability fixes not listed. I finally could run one card w/o issues in slot 3 @ 3.0 x16.
     
  9. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    Ok, I found the problem that was causing it, I'll leave it for the very end, I'll keep it short.

    First(If I remembered correctly/forget easily), I updated the bios and it went through successfully, next, I took out the cpu and put the other one in(Duplicate Cpu), put the gpu in the 4th slot, booted up the system, went into bios, looked under gpu post, now it says running @ native x8(Does not end there, more to it), At this time, I was going back and forth with the bios version 3701 and 4101, next I put the original cpu that was in there and see how it will react this time, and now we ran into more problems, the right side memory banks, none of them were picking up anything, except for the red slot(The right red slot one).

    Going to skip alot of this, next I took out the cpu and I examine the contact area of the cpu, I notice there was some thermal paste, only a dab, covering this contact area, so what I did next is I use isopropyl alcohol to clean the contacts, once that was all done, I re-seated the cpu back into the cpu socket, and etc, fired up the system, everything now comes on with full memory(64gb ecc memory)

    I proceeded to the bios and looked on gpu post(4th Pci-e slot), at times it will pick up and at times it will not be there, despite the gpu is running and all.

    So now I went a step further, I then put all 4 gpu's into the system and plugged in the video cable on the first card, no picture, re-seated the gpu again, no picture, so going deeper into this, I plugged the video cable to the 2nd gpu, now bios shows up, I went into the bios, went to gpu post, this time 1st and last gpu won't even being detected, I was like huh???

    So what I did next, I personally tried the 1st gpu that was not being detected within bios(Gpu Post), I tried this specific gpu on all pci-e slots(Red Slots), there was no video signal coming in, despite the gpu still comes on with fan,etc.

    From there, I tried another gpu, and all of the pci-e slots(Red Slots), this one now works.

    I then proceeded to put more gpu's in, and finally the gpu post says x16/x8/x8/x8.

    So when I was folding at the time I was folding, the last gpu says x4, it appears to be that the gpu was the cause of this.

    Also, the vga detection across all gpu's(x16/x8/x8/x8) was on bios 3701 and not 4101.

    And yes, I was getting some unexpected hangs here and there with folding, this could explain why.

    I might re-flash the gpu's bios and see if that will change anything, it may or may not work but worth doing and will give heads up on it.

    So in the end, appears to me the Gpu was the culprit all along, Could be something else but they way it looking now, doubt it.

    Thanks everyone for the replies on this, absolute craziness.
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2021
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  10. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    Ok, dug deeper into this card and the card does "NOT" detect within device manager nor within Nvflash(Nvflash64 --list), Despite the fan running from the card.

    These cards are the 980ti's from Gigabyte(Windforce Edition).

    When I first went back to Folding@Home last year, during the initial Covid-19 time, These cards where taking a very heavy beatin', very long hours but not 24/7.

    I did change the Thermal Paste on all of my 980ti's yesterday, I guess ever since then, it doesn't want to detect anymore, card was already taken very heavy abuse during Folding.

    Although, these cards are rather old, I expected to happen, one way or another.

    Thanks again.
     

  11. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    The situation has came back but I know what was causing the whole thing, That gpu problem was only part of the problem, the root seems to be coming from Sli Bridge Connectors.

    If I am hooking up, lets say, a 2-way sli bridge connecter, all pci-e speeds are reading properly, now if I connect 3 card's or more, now it will revert back to x16/x8/x8/x4.

    I already tried using the Standard WS 4-Way Sli(Asus) connector and also an HB version from MSI, both cuts down the last card's speed to X4.

    On top of that, I tried doing individual ribbon's, it seems it is unaffected, don't really need connectors anyways for folding/boinc but I use it so I can hold the cards down in place.

    Already confirmed it many times over, the bridge connector, if its from 3-way sli or higher will cut the last pcie-e bus in half(X4).

    Very very interesting, never seen a problem like this before.

    I can't Fold anything today as all 3 of our pc's can't even fetch any WU's, no matter the type of project, seems like a problem on their in on their servers.

    I'll check back later on it once everything goes back to normal.
     
  12. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    could it be a loose fitting in the pcie slot that becomes apparent when the bridge is pulling on the card?
     
  13. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    Happened again, this time without no bridge connector.

    Later on, it seems to be working with the bridge connector, It seems the card had loose fitting.

    I restarted the system, went back into bios, seems fine now, hopefully it will stay this time.
     
  14. pharma

    pharma Ancient Guru

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    Yeah!!! Do Not Touch Anything ... :D

    Your motherboard has 2 bios chips. If you haven't already you might want copy first bios to your second bios as a backup. For me it was a saving grace since past overclocking corrupted my primary bios and was able to switch to second.
     
  15. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    Just heads up on everything.

    Seems everything is still reading correctly, With the Msi 4-Way Connector.

    Just for kicks, I went into NVCP to see if I can really Enable 4-Way Sli, yuppers, the option is there but I leave it on disabled as this system is strictly for Folding/Boinc "ONLY".

    Folded quite a bit yesterday, 0 issues thus far.

    Board was obviously 2nd hand, These boards are very hard to come by, despite the age of it, still kicks booty.

    Speaking about Folding, I am ranked top 7 thus far within our Forums.

    Been a Very Loyal member since 2005 and won't be going anywhere else.

    Thanks for the help everyone on this topic.
     

  16. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    LOL, running into the same exact problem on my 2nd Rampage V where the 4th slot is not being detected, also, this is with same exact cpu and memory as the original Rampage V, and yes, with bios 4101.

    4th slot issue is coming back again, even tried the gpu cards individually, despite showing video signal, gpu tool within the motherboard bios is greyed out (Non-existent).

    I have not tried folding just yet, for start, I looked into NVCP, even though 4 Gpu's are showing up, I can only Sli up to 2 cards.

    There was this one extremely rare time that, 4th slot did picked up and was able to 4-Way Sli properly, I then proceeded to do my usual thing, spacers were inserted inbetween the cards(very short), 4th slot went undetectable within the motherboard bios, ever since then, I was not able to get the detection within the mobo's bios, even under 1 gpu mode in the 4th slot, but again, even before the spacers, it was basically impossible to pick up the detection of the 4th slot, despite showing video signal in that slot itself.

    I also reduce the aio cooler's pressure on the cpu, that didn't help any, and just to let everyone know, there was no bent cpu pins on this motherboard during the time when I installed the cpu.

    Detection will look like this (Example from another website/not mine):

    R5E BIOS Utility Tool GPU Post.jpg
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2022
  17. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    Slot 4 can't be used without slot 3 being in use iirc.
     
  18. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    Thanks, I'll check slot 3 and 4 together later.
     
  19. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    Hello again, I have currently as of now, have fixed this stubborn issue.

    Going to boil things down real fast but here's what I did and what sparked the situation:

    1st of all, thanks for all of your help Astyanax, you been very helpful as always and thanks for the excellent communication through the messenger.

    Ok, this what I did first:

    Out of extreme curiosity, I tried this on an X99 Gigabyte that also has 4-Way Sli capable.

    I tried the last card first as the Rampage V was giving me this problem, at initial glance, there was some slot connection issue, it seems the last slot is more stubborn then the rest of the slots, next, I realize that, the gpu itself, there was some stuff, such as the USB that's connecting to the headers of the motherboard, Power and reset jumpers as well, these were aggravating gpu from being connected properly, it seems the clip, on back of the slot, the one that holds/secure the card down, must be clipped properly, and yes, I checked from the 4th slot to the 1st slot, and yes, all 4 gpu's are reading its correct bandwidth speeds, 4-Way Sli is also enabled, the detection works perfectly.

    Very interestingly enough, I have an m.2 installed on the x99 Gigabyte mobo, and despite of that, all 4 gpu's are detecting properly and its speeds as well, however, I forgot to check if I can get access to the m.2 in this condition as my entire mind was mainly on the 4 gpu's.

    Cpu used in the x99 Gigabyte Intel 5960X Extreme (8 core/16 threads).

    I then went back to the Rampage V, the last red 4th slot, the one I have been having problem with, this one is even more stubborn then the X99 Gigabyte motherboard, as the power/reset jumper connectors are totally aggravating the card from connecting properly, the clip itself won't clip on naturally, you have to kinda force your way down but not to much, once its clipped on, I then unclipped it then re-clipped very securely, booted up the machine with just the 4th slot connected, reading perfectly, I then proceeded from 4th slot to 1st slot, one by one, everything is reading perfectly, put some of my specialty in-between each cards as I always been using them, Spacers, just a tad so the card can breath better, re-booted the system, still detects perfectly, went back into windows, checked under NVCP, 4-Way Sli option is now available, enabled successfully.

    To make sure again, re-booted the system, checked the bios, reads perfectly, went back into windows, Gpu-z readings and NVCP is detecting properly, checked the bios again, still good.

    We will see how long this will last but in the end, its the slot connection issue, again, what really sparked this in the first place was the X99 Gigabyte mobo and its 4th slot, if it wasn't for that, probably mise well say to everything, forget about it.

    Again, thanks for your help guys, hopefully now, it will stay like this.
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2022
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  20. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    Just heads up, been folding alzhemeir projects, which some of them are very strenuous, all stable and been doing it for almost what 4 hrs, including cpu but 11 threads.

    I have to cut down the gpu's power target range to 80% as I am hitting close to 1050w from the killawatt, using the corsair ax1200i. If I do 100% power target, goes well over 1200w to 1300w range or perhaps more and then system shuts off, ppd been extremely good thus far.

    Might be doing a dual psu setup on this, haven't really decided yet but so far so good, Temps are excellent, using a table fan, blowing right on to the gpu's, Temps are very low 60 c. Yes, including spacers.

    Might even lower the power target to like 77%-78% to be Xtra safe.

    EDIT ON 5/10/22:

    For more added heads up, did more folding@home yesterday, everything is golden, double checked GPU-z and NVCP, yup, everything shows correctly as it should.
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2022

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