X870E Tomahawk WIFI: constant freezes when PCIE mode set to Auto

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krzysztof.podkalick15c802e6

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Hi, around a month ago I've built a PC with following specs: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/sG42np . Pretty much from the start I've been struggling with constant freezes while using it. There were no rule on when and how often they would happen. Freezes would happen while gaming, just browsing the web or even when the PC was just idling. Everytime it happened I had to restart the computer and after logging in into Windows it sometimes would happen again and sometimes my PC would work normally for some time. The only errors I was able to find in the Event Viewer were about my PC being shut down improperly. Also, I didn't get even a single BSOD.
Initially I thought that it might have been caused by a mild undervolt but none of the following steps fixed the issue:
- reverting the undervolt
- disabling EXPO
- upgrading the BIOS
- upgrading all drivers (including chipset, GPU)
- clearing CMOS
- uninstalling unnecessary apps (e.g. MSI Afterburner)
- re-installing Windows 11
Finally, few days ago I've stumbled upon THIS REDDIT POST in which the author complained about a similar issue. It turned out that the fix that they are talking about fixed this issue for me as well even though they are using a different motherboard. So, after changing the "PCI_E1 Gen Switch" BIOS setting from "Auto" to "Gen 4" the issue disappeared completely - for over a week now I haven't experienced a single freeze.
Is this a known issue with this motherboard? Is there a fix for it? Could this be an issue with GPU and not with the motherboard itself?
Thanks!
 
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zerijelly said:
Has the driver of RTX 5090 graphics card upgraded to the latest version 576.52?
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/details/245673/
Click to expand...
No, it has not, thanks for pointing that out. I've upgraded it, switched 'PCI_E1 Gen Switch' back to 'Auto' and my computer was running fine for few days. Today it restarted once and after that I've started experiencing these freezes again.
iamalexk said:
Try force enabling spread spectrum in your bios, it can help alleviate pcie initiation errors in my experience with x870 tomahawk.
Click to expand...
I'll try this one now, thanks.
 
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iamalexk said:
Try force enabling spread spectrum in your bios, it can help alleviate pcie initiation errors in my experience with x870 tomahawk.
Click to expand...
I tried it (with 'PCI_E1 Gen Switch' set to 'Auto'). I've experienced few freezes the same day I've made the BIOS config change and had to switch 'PCI_E1 Gen Switch' back to 'Gen 4'.

The most annoying thing is that I can't really tell if it's the motherboard or GPU that's causing this issue...
 
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I'm so glad I found your thread, krzy. I'm experiencing the exact same issue with intermittent freezing and no clues showing in Event Viewer.
I built a brand new X870E Tomahawk Win11 system using Ryzen 9900x and Asus RTX 5070.
I've been chasing various problems and banging my head trying to research this freezing issue for the past couple of months.
I was about to try dropping the 5070 drivers back to their December version when I came across your post.
I'll give your BIOS change a shot and keep my fingers crossed. Please post again if you find out anything else.
Very much appreciated!
 
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rombarajas515a202e3 said:
I'm so glad I found your thread, krzy. I'm experiencing the exact same issue with intermittent freezing and no clues showing in Event Viewer.
I built a brand new X870E Tomahawk Win11 system using Ryzen 9900x and Asus RTX 5070.
I've been chasing various problems and banging my head trying to research this freezing issue for the past couple of months.
I was about to try dropping the 5070 drivers back to their December version when I came across your post.
I'll give your BIOS change a shot and keep my fingers crossed. Please post again if you find out anything else.
Very much appreciated!
Click to expand...
My suggestion would be to make sure that you are on the latest bios, reset the CMOS and set everything to default values and go from there. Your build sounds similar to the one that I just built for my wife and knock on wood, not having any issues with her machine so far, but I made very little changes in the bios. All I've changed so far bios wise is: PBO to Auto, PCI_E1 to Gen 5, M2_1 to Gen 4 and set the memory to run at EXPO. I also turned off WIFI and the intragrated graphics in the bios (I have a PCI WIFI card installed). Otherwise, the settings were left in their default setting. I also turned off all the sleep and hibernation functions.

Psy
 
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Enabling spread spectrum (and possibly changing your PCIe main slot from Auto to Gen4/5 depending on your GPU) is the ONLY 100% solution to this problem with these current X870 boards. I have posted this for MONTHS in this forum and across the MSI subreddits!
Only changing the PCIe from Auto to Gen4 or Gen 5 will not by itself resolve this problem forever - it WILL appear at some point, especially if you are a normal user and allow your PC to sleep!

I purchased this board on release day and the desktop lag caused by the PCIe speed negotiation changing from Gen4/5 (depending on what GPU you have) to 1.1, 2.0 etc. has occurred on every BIOS to date - some are better than others, but eventually the horrible lag issue will happen, again most likely on a resume from sleep.
Save yourself the months of wasted time that I went through and simply enable spread spectrum in the BIOS - this is an old feature that is supposed to resolve EMI related issues by very slight modulation of the PCIe clock signal, specifically to reduce EMI that can create problems with PCIe speed negotiations.

The fact that enabling this setting resolves this problem perhaps indicates that these boards have been manufactured in a way that ALLOWS EMI to cause the issues, which is why I think MSI has been oddly quiet on the subject, instead offering RMA's which are both ineffective and a disgusting waste of resources and time to pull out a perfectly good board, ship it, etc.

Just enable spread spectrum, accept the literally insignificant 10mhz change in your DRAM, FCLK and CPU Core Clock Speed and get on with whatever other stuff you built your PC for!! GG's!
 
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