PCIe bug with M2_1 slot on X870E Tomahawk

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jlsmith.01712b902af

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So, the M.2_1 slot keeps reverting to PCIe 1 x 4 on a cold boot, sometimes just a reboot from within Windows. Manually setting it to Gen 4 or 5 within the BIOS will get it to run full speed until the next shut down/cold boot, then it's back to 1 x 4 again. Basically, I have to keep switching between gen 4 and 5 setting on every boot or it's stuck at 1 x 4. Auto is also broken. Samsung 990 Evo Plus 1TB.

I've seen another user on Reddit with the exact same issue. Same board, different drive. Anyone using this board, check your drive speed!
 
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d.gonzat.alic12c302b0 said:
Hi there.

I'm a X870 Godlike user, and was in another topic, following about the Dynamic Dashboard 3 issues, that looks like for now I'm not having.

But i'm having too the M2_1 speed problem, it in my tests, it run in PCIe 1x4 around 9 times on 10, and just rarely it work at 4x4 as may be. (Using a Samsung 990 PRO)
It work like this if the speed is on Auto in BIOS, or even forcing it at 4x4.



Thank you in advice for any answers on the M2_1 problem and this extra RAM RGB issue.
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I've had a ticket open for 11 weeks now on the M2_1 speed issue. The last correspondence I got from MSI a few days ago was to RMA the board (even though a bios fix was supplied for the X870E Tomahawk). I've replied back to the email asking why/how an RMA will fix an issue they say they have not been able to duplicate. In the meantime, I have started a new thread on the X870E Godlike. I want to see if anyone has sent their board to MSI for an RMA and what their results were before wasting my time doing do so.
 
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crai151502d0 said:
I've had a ticket open for 11 weeks now on the M2_1 speed issue. The last correspondence I got from MSI a few days ago was to RMA the board (even though a bios fix was supplied for the X870E Tomahawk). I've replied back to the email asking why/how an RMA will fix an issue they say they have not been able to duplicate. In the meantime, I have started a new thread on the X870E Godlike. I want to see if anyone has sent their board to MSI for an RMA and what their results were before wasting my time doing do so.
Click to expand...
I know there are people's that changed this board 3 or 4 times for this issue, but on all of them the M2_1 still act the same.
 
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d.gonzat.alic12c302b0 said:
Hi there.

I'm a X870 Godlike user, and was in another topic, following about the Dynamic Dashboard 3 issues, that looks like for now I'm not having.

But i'm having too the M2_1 speed problem, it in my tests, it run in PCIe 1x4 around 9 times on 10, and just rarely it work at 4x4 as may be. (Using a Samsung 990 PRO)
It work like this if the speed is on Auto in BIOS, or even forcing it at 4x4.

I'm so in contact with MSI with a long ticket that is open from like 30 days.
Initially they told me to update the BIOS with one coming from thrm, from a Google Drive link, and was not officially released on the X870E Godlike support page.
This BIOS was the 1A34, is still the last one today, I not installed it, before that appeared on the official page, so now I'm using it.
The BIOS seem to improve a bit the M2_1 speed, but not totally fix the problem.
I also noticed that this BIOS, fix the M2_2 that was listed as a removable drive, and now is not.

Sorry for the long introduction... Anyway...
Actually the MSI support, on the last ticket answer, is saying me that this issue is not fixable with a BIOS, and they are literally saying that is a problem that require a physical fix... To say it shortly, an hardware issue.
In total, in some days and answers they changed the things multiple times, saying opposite and confused things.

Is possible please to make here a bit more clarity on this problem? Because I'm actually not understanding how I may act, and if I may replace the board.
Actually I'm using the system drive in the M2_2 slot, that looks working always at full speed.

In my vision, if this M2_1 slot, sometimes work at 7300MB/s (4x4) but often it work at 900MB/s (1x4) it mean for me, the hardware is working, but the BIOS is not telling correctly how it may work on startup... Is it right or wrong?
I may think to replace the board? Or just wait for a BIOS that will fix it?

EXTRA QUESTION
I'm facing also an headache problem with Corsair RAMs RGB. That are working, but all the effects I set in ICUE, show every 3 seconds, a "block" in the animation, making it not smooth, and I can notice it even on the monitor into the preview.
All other devices managed by ICUE are just smooth and not have the issue.
I tried with a fresh Windows, with no drivers or anything, with just only ICUE installed, and I get the same thing.
But trying using SignalRGB, with this software the effects, or color changes, looks smooth, without any issues.
Looks like an ICUE actual release issue?

Thank you in advice for any answers on the M2_1 problem and this extra RAM RGB issue.
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I have the GL board, but am using 1A30 BIOS
I also moved my SSD to M2_2 to avoid the speed problem. I'm using a 9100 Pro (gen 5)
It's good to know that the drive doesn't show as removable now, at least *something* got fixed!
 
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b933930151502d6 said:
It's good to know that the drive doesn't show as removable now, at least *something* got fixed!
Click to expand...
This bug is a "classic" among the new MSI boards, early X870 Tomahawk and B850 had it at the beginning (don't know if the X870E Tomahawk had it). It was fixed a long time ago in these boards, early 2025 for the X870 and mid-March for the B850. And they only fixed it for the Godlike... now???

This shows you how low a priority Godlike fixes are in their eyes... while it was released at the same time as the X870 Tomahawk.
 
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Alan J T said:
We are in the process of working on it now,, and we have to convince the Bios team first that it would benefit end users
Click to expand...
Thank you, it would be useful to know what changed between A52 and A6
If it doesn't impact me for example, I don't need to go through the process of recreating all my OC profiles, which takes ages.
 
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crai151502d0 said:
I've had a ticket open for 11 weeks now on the M2_1 speed issue. The last correspondence I got from MSI a few days ago was to RMA the board (even though a bios fix was supplied for the X870E Tomahawk). I've replied back to the email asking why/how an RMA will fix an issue they say they have not been able to duplicate. In the meantime, I have started a new thread on the X870E Godlike. I want to see if anyone has sent their board to MSI for an RMA and what their results were before wasting my time doing do so.
Click to expand...
" they say they have not been able to duplicate." <- This pisses me off so much.

I have an X870 Tomahawk Wifi and on some boots or resume from sleep, my 9070 XT is reporting as PCIe Gen 2 x 16. I have to restart the PC sometimes even twice before I can get it to recognise it as PCIe Gen 5 x 16 again. They just say "can't reproduce" and give the cold shoulder. I doubt I'll purchase an MSI motherboard again, terrible to just tell me they can't replicate it therefore I should just live with it???
 
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OK I bit the bullet and installed 1A34 for the Godlike

No problems with the CPU SoC values etc, everything is on default expect EXPO which is enabled
Didn't have to reset my Windows PIN (as some users reported on here)
The M2_2 drive now shows as non-removable as it's meant to (so that's fixed)

Can't say about M2_1 as I don't have a drive in that slot

Always 5 minutes of sheer panic while a BIOS flash is done. Then another 5 minutes hoping everything works after!
 
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The 1A34 is safe, and I confirm it make the M2_2 nomore listed as removable.

What scare me is about my opened ticket, where they actually say that the M2_1 is not a issue fixable with a BIOS and it require a RMA.
Honestly I not feel to send such an expensive new board, with the risk to have still the problem, and even scratches or damages caused from a poor care into managing it and in the shipping... Some users who followed an RMA are saying that.

I definitively not want that someone else than me touch and handle such an expensive device... And also I still think that is a BIOS issue if sometimes it just work at full speed and without freezing.
 
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d.gonzat.alic12c302b0 said:
The 1A34 is safe, and I confirm it make the M2_2 nomore listed as removable.

What scare me is about my opened ticket, where they actually say that the M2_1 is not a issue fixable with a BIOS and it require a RMA.
Honestly I not feel to send such an expensive new board, with the risk to have still the problem, and even scratches or damages caused from a poor care into managing it and in the shipping... Some users who followed an RMA are saying that.

I definitively not want that someone else than me touch and handle such an expensive device... And also I still think that is a BIOS issue if sometimes it just work at full speed and without freezing.
Click to expand...
I'm not planning to RMA the board, I have moved my Samsung 9100 to the second slot
 
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Out of curiousity, has anyone used M2_2 as the boot device and used M2_1 as a Data drive?
Does the problem still occur (the data drive runs at gen 1 sometimes) ?
 
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b933930151502d6 said:
I'm not planning to RMA the board, I have moved my Samsung 9100 to the second slot
Click to expand...
I did it too, but I have also in mind that is not an acceptable issue for a such expensive board.

Could be that a coming soon BIOS will solve this sad issue, but who know it?
The MSI support agents for sure are not giving any kind of good in what they say, always a different thing for them.

I not want to start an RMA too, at least I can accept to fully replace the board with a sealed one.
 
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b933930151502d6 said:
Out of curiousity, has anyone used M2_2 as the boot device and used M2_1 as a Data drive?
Does the problem still occur (the data drive runs at gen 1 sometimes) ?
Click to expand...
yes that is how i have mine set up. it makes no difference. I leave a drive in M2_1 so I can check status after BIOS updates, but I am mostly not using it because... its still broken.
 
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Alan J T said:
We are in the process of working on it now,, and we have to convince the Bios team first that it would benefit end users
Click to expand...
From a customer standpoint there's no point how a customer would not benefit from a proper changelog, if a change happend, which obviously is the case since its a newer build.
Its in the nature of a change log to log changes as the name states, so it is a bit odd that you need to play the "convince game" ^^
 
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Alan J T said:
We are in the process of working on it now,, and we have to convince the Bios team first that it would benefit end users
Click to expand...
I'd think the benefit would be clear to them. We don't need an exhaustive, super detailed list. Just the highlights that would better help someone decide if they should update or not. Right now, these notes might as well say "we did stuff".
 
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Alan J T said:
We are in the process of working on it now,, and we have to convince the Bios team first that it would benefit end users
Click to expand...

A couples of users in this thread posted some very logical responses:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MSI_Gaming/comments/1kipkl9

"7E59v2A52 is a Beta Bios while 7E59v2A6 is a new Stable Bios. The extra number at the end of 7E59v2A5"2" indicates it is a Beta Bios. That's how you can tell its a Beta Bios since MSI has decided to remove the (Beta version) text which they used to show on older generation motherboards bios support page. In this doc # means Beta Bios. Can make it easier to tell which Bios is Beta: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...1ZoIrj0GSE7WI4Ug-uLlv-Asa8/edit?gid=858530609"

"Btw, A52 and A60 files are from the same day 15 mins apart. I guess that nothing significantly changed, so you probably want to skip."

I double checked the files, and A52 and A6 are indeed built minutes apart on the same day 22nd April 2025, and so I thank these reddit users for their input. Perhaps I could offer you an explanation below to help convince the bios team to put out clear release notes:

If nothing really changed in 15 minutes (between A52 and A6), I just saved myself 6 days of work in recreating my 6 different overclocking profiles, and validating each of those for atleast 24 hrs (each) with various CPU, Memory and GPU stress tests. I am on HWBot and was recently #1 in my Overclocker's league, so believe me when I say I put all my 6 OC profiles to good use depending on the workload (or the test submission) I'm going after in that week. There are 100s of tests/submissions possible where certain benchmarks respond better to lower mem latency, some respond better to higher mem bandwidth, heavily multi-threaded tests respond better to an all core CPU OC, lighter threaded tests respond better to a per-core optmised curve, etc.
 
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I was thinking for a long time that it was something with my SSD, took me a while to notice that it was in pcie1 slot.
Samsung 990 PRO.
MSI B850 Edge Ti

BIOS version - 7E62v1A22

The issue is identical, sometimes it goes into pcie1 mode and speed drops to ~950mb instead of 7000+mb.
The issue is reproducible in about 1/3 of runs. Changes with reboot.

UPD: Now the issue is reproducible in most runs, not sure what is affecting it, but I wasn't able to get it into pcie4 for 5 times in a row.
 
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Holy hell, now another BIOS version from MSI.
So i'm on 7E59v1A33 version, should i upgrade to 7E59v1A4 ?
Also what is the new with 7E59v1A4?
And why in the blue hell i need to configurate my Fans again ? Other boards left the Fan's profile. I'm with Arctic P12 Max, and it's really a pain going through that process again.
 
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46231157602dd said:
Holy hell, now another BIOS version from MSI.
So i'm on 7E59v1A33 version, should i upgrade to 7E59v1A4 ?
Also what is the new with 7E59v1A4?
And why in the blue hell i need to configurate my Fans again ? Other boards left the Fan's profile. I'm with Arctic P12 Max, and it's really a pain going through that process again.
Click to expand...
My Gigabyte board never kept the profiles after a BIOS flash either
It's a pain though, I wish the saved profile can be reloaded into a newer BIOS but that can't be done
 
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