Can't connect more than 4 sata devices

[msdesignfoto]

Hello!

I have an issue with my computer. Currently, there are 4 sata hard drives installed + 1 M.2 NVMe. The whole set work nice without issues. Now, I added an USB PCIe card and it requires SATA power. I plugged the wires but USB devices plugged in the PCIe card do not work well.

Current motherboard is an Asus Prime H610M-K D4 with an Intel i5 12400F.

But before this set, however, I had another board with an AMD 6350 Six-core CPU and there was also this issue, altough with a different number of sata devices. I installed an expansion bay for sata hard drives and it also doesn't work. If I would unplug one hard drive, whatever it is, the drive bay will work and read the inserted hard drive.

Likewise, if I unplug one hard drive with my current setup and plug an USB device into the PCIe card, or a hard drive into that bay I still have installed, they will work. If I unplug two hard drives, both the sata bay and USB through PCIe devices will work.

Lack of power? My PSU is 850W. My previous PSU was 650W and I upgraded it precisely for this issue, yet it still happens.

Motherboard was changed.
Power cables were changed.

Any explanation for this?

[Jiaszzz_ASUS · Accepted solution]

Hello, @msdesignfoto 

Based on your description, this could be due to insufficient PCIe bandwidth.
May I ask for the current BIOS version you are using? 
If it hasn't been updated to the latest version 3010, released on December 28, 2023, we suggest considering an update and clearing CMOS to see if the issue persists.
If the problem continues, kindly provide the following information for further clarification:
- Is the current USB PCIe card installed in a PCIe 3.0 slot?
- the current BIOS version and the images of the setting in BIOS, or whether it is the default
- the brand and model name of all the components, including the CPU, GPU, RAM (part number as well), SSD/HDD, and PSU currently installed
- corresponding slots for RAM, SSD/HDD, and PCIE devices currently installed
- are there any extensions or adapters used to connect any devices, such as GPU or SSD?
- the OS version and OS build

Thank you.

[msdesignfoto]

Hello @Jiaszzz_ASUS 

Thank you for your input! Yesterday I was contacted by Asus support who asked me the BIOS version and a few tech details. So when I got home, I was messing around with Asus Armory Crate to see if I could see the BIOS version there instead of having to restart, when I noticed there were a few drivers needing an update. I found it strange because I have just installed this motherboard, CPU and memory very, very recently, and assumed the latest drivers were already installed.

So I updated everything and just out of curiosity, I plugged an USB pen drive to the PCIe controller card. It worked. I plugged my trackball there, all working great. I could not actually test the SATA hard drive bay because I need one more SATA data port, and last I test it, it was with my previous motherboard that had a maximum of 6 sata devices (but also had this issue, when I would try to connect the SATA hard drive bay with 6 drives already connected, it wouldn't work).

So I'm assuming the problem is solved.

Thank you!