I got the HL8 full build and along with it added the AOC-SLG3-2M2 card. When I install 2 NVMe drives in the card only 1 shows up. I have tried auto, "2 x 8x"and “1 x 8x, 2 x 4x” modes for the x16 slot in the BIOS but only one drive ever shows up. Is this card not actually compatible with the HL8 motherboard/cpu combo? Why did you offer it as an option if it isn’t?
According to Supermicro’s documentation on the card, there are two settings in the BIOS that may be required:
- Having the CPU IOU settings set to x4x4x4x4 PCIe bifurcation. This option may
be found under BIOS Setup → Advanced → Chipset Configuration → North
Bridge → IIO Configuration → CPU Configuration → IOU Setting → x4x4x4x4.- Having the NVMe Firmware Source set to AMI Native Support. This option may
be found under BIOS Setup → Advanced → PCIe/PCI/PnP Configuration →
NVMe Firmware Source → AMI Native Support.
The BIOS menu path on your board will probably differ from a Supermicro board referenced in their documentation. Do you see an x4x4x4x4 bifurcation option in the BIOS? Do you have anything about AMI Native?
I also see the card itself has two LED lights. Are both of them on?
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Yeah I read that PDF. There is no x4x4x4x4 available in the prebuilt HL8. Only the 3 options I listed of Auto, x8x8, and x8x4x4. I read through the motherboard documentation after this didn’t work and it says that x4x4x4x4 is only available for some CPUs. Which evidently aren’t the one included in the HL8.
I couldn’t find anything similar to the other option mentioned in the card PDF. As far as I can tell two m.2 drives just aren’t supported. I assumed since the card was an official add-on that you guys would have tried this before listing it as an addon card.
As far as I can tell, after much research, the only way to get multiple m.2 for this board+cpu is with a 4 drive x16 slot card and that will let you do 3 drives using the x8x4x4 option. The super micro card is only an x8 card, and neither of the available bifurcation options split the first x8 lanes where that card connects.
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What you say makes sense. It’s only a x8 card so if you cannot get 4x4 or 2x4x8 then you’re going to be limited to only a single nvme drive. I also can’t fathom why 45HomeLab would sell the card as an add-on. You’re better off buying a 4 slot version or getting a cheap single nvme card on Amazon. For sure, reach out to info@homelab.com to ask about returning it or getting it to work in your setup.
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It’s a long shot but have you checked to see what BIOS revision you are on? If you’re behind, it might be worth an update to see if a 4x4 or 2x4 option magically appears.
According to the motherboard manual. there should also be a “2 x 4x, 1 x 8x” option.
Lacking that, and as an alternative to a 4x NVMe card there are some cards available with two NVMe and a PCIe slot on them which appear to be for x8x4x4 bifurcation;
https://www.amazon.com/PCIE-Splitter-Adapter-Expansion-Riser/dp/B0CF4CCMMM/ref=sr_1_5
You should send a note to info@45homelab.com though, @Vikram-45HomeLabs needs to know that either the card should not be an option, should have a caveat on the configurator that it will only support one SSD or that Fully Built systems aren’t being “Burned in, tested and ready to use.”.
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I think that is the same problem I have with my HL4. I ordered it also as an official add-on. I have the one on the motherboard and one on the card working in ZFS. The otherone at the card does not show up.
Yeah you would if you don’t have an option to bifurcate the first 8 lanes of the x16 slot into two sets of four lanes.
This was way harder to check than I would expect, but I’m not seeing anything about the 4th gen (Zen 3) CPU’s like the 5500GT not having enough PCIe lanes to support an x4x4x4x4 option. Lower end Gen 3 CPU’s and earlier had limited PCIe lanes sometimes leading to x16 slots actually being x8.
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Yes. Only one works on the 2 nvme x8 card. I got this 4 nvme x16 card 4-Drive M.2 NVMe SSD to PCIe 4.0 x16 Bifurcation Adapter Card with Act - Sabrent and now can use 3 nvme in it with the x8x4x4 setting.
The board and cpu support 16 lanes. But for what ever reason it doesn’t support x4x4x4x4 bifurcation.
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