Assignment of mainboard components is corrupted after try to boot a SSD without Uefi partition

[ber999]

I have investigated the issue further and finally found out that the UEFI Firmware is preventing not only the use of other than HP distributed NVMe SSDs but every NVMe SSD in the slot affected.

The initiating incident was that had replaced the original SSD in the slot by a cloned SSD with larger capacity on which unfortunately the Efi partition was missing and then tried to boot the notebook and got an error message due to the situation.

After that, every attempt to boot the notebook from a SSD in the slot in question failed with the same error message.

Consequently, I have installed the Windows 10 system on the existing HDD in the SATA port, which brought serious performances losses.

Nevertheless, the investigation of the machine revealed that the Uefi hardware initialization which runs at the beginning of the boot process does not assign the NVMe SSD to the correct bus position PCI Express x8 Bus #1 [J6B2], because the Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti [HP] is assigned th this bus position now (see below).

For the Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti [HP] is the PCI Express x16 slot appropriate because of is matching width (x16 and not x8).

As the Uefi hardware-initialization-procedure does not assign the NVMe SSD now, the NVMe SSD hardware cannot be found by any operating system.

The Hwinfo64 report delivers the following results for my HP Pavilion:

1. in the motherboard section

Motherboard Slots:

2xPCI Express x1, 1xPCI Express x8, 1xPCI Express x16

1. in the bus section

PCI Express x8 Bus #1 [J6B2]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti [HP]
[General Information]
Device Name:	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti [HP]
Original Device Name:	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (GP107M)
Device Class:	VGA Compatible Adapter
Revision ID:	A1
PCI Address (Bus: Device: Function) Number:	1:0:0
PCI Latency Timer:	0
Hardware ID:	PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1C8C&SUBSYS_84ED103C&REV_A1
[PCI Express]
Version:	3.0
Maximum Link Width:	16x
Current Link Width:	8x
Maximum Link Speed:	8.0 GT/s
Current Link Speed:	2.5 GT/s
Device/Port Type:	PCI Express Endpoint
Slot Implemented:	No
Emergency Power Reduction:	Not Supported
Active State Power Management (ASPM) Support:	L0s and L1
Active State Power Management (ASPM) Status:	L0s and L1 Entry
L0s Exit Latency:	256 - 512 ns
L1 Exit Latency:	2 - 4 us
Maximum Payload Size Supported:	256 bytes
Maximum Payload Size:	256 bytes
Resizable BAR Support:	Not Supported
[System Resources]
Interrupt Line:	N/A
Interrupt Pin:	INTA#
Memory Base Address 0	63000000
Memory Base Address 1	50000000
Memory Base Address 3	60000000
I/O Base Address 5	0
[Features]
Bus Mastering:	Enabled
Running At 66 MHz:	Not Capable
Fast Back-to-Back Transactions:	Not Capable
[Driver Information]
Driver Manufacturer:	NVIDIA
Driver Description:	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Driver Provider:	NVIDIA
Driver Version:	27.21.14.6627 (GeForce 466.27)
Driver Date:	23-Apr-2021
DCH/UWD Driver:	Capable
DeviceInstanceId	PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1C8C&SUBSYS_84ED103C&REV_A1\4&33ECA368&0&0008
Location Paths	PCIROOT(0)#PCI(0100)#PCI(0000)

The PCI Express bus enumeration ends with #3 and the NVMe PCIe SSD controller is not listed.

However, a Hwinfo64 report of a comparable board can be found on the Internet.

There, an NVMe PCIe SSD controller is listed in the Bus section (see below) under PCI Express x4.

PCI Express x4 Bus #4

Samsung NVMe PCIe SSD Controller

[General Information]
Device Name:	Samsung NVMe PCIe SSD Controller
Original Device Name:	Samsung Electronics NVMe PCIe SSD Controller
Device Class:	NVMe Controller
Revision ID:	0
PCI Address (Bus: Device: Function) Number:	4:0:0
PCI Latency Timer:	0
Hardware ID:	PCI\VEN_144D&DEV_A808&SUBSYS_A801144D&REV_00
[PCI Express]
Version:	3.0
Maximum Link Width:	4x
Current Link Width:	4x
Maximum Link Speed:	8.0 GT/s
Current Link Speed:	8.0 GT/s
Device/Port Type:	PCI Express Endpoint
Slot Implemented:	No
Emergency Power Reduction:	Not Supported
Active State Power Management (ASPM) Support:	L1
Active State Power Management (ASPM) Status:	L1 Entry
L0s Exit Latency:	>4 us
L1 Exit Latency:	32 - 64 us
Maximum Payload Size Supported:	256 bytes
Maximum Payload Size:	256 bytes
[System Resources]
Interrupt Line:	N/A
Interrupt Pin:	INTA#
Memory Base Address 0	AD200000
[Features]
Bus Mastering:	Enabled
Running At 66 MHz:	Not Capable
Fast Back-to-Back Transactions:	Not Capable
[Driver Information]
Driver Manufacturer:	Standard NVM Express Controller
Driver Description:	Standard NVM Express Controller
Driver Provider:	Microsoft
Driver Version:	10.0.19041.488
Driver Date:	21-Jun-2006
DeviceInstanceId	PCI\VEN_144D&DEV_A808&SUBSYS_A801144D&REV_00\4&CDF9F35&0&00DC
Location Paths	PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1B04)#PCI(0000)

My HP Pavilion, on the other hand, does not have a PCI Express x4 slot, but it does have a PCI Express x8 slot. According to the Hwinfo64 report of my HP Pavilion notebook, the graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (GP107M) sits in the PCI Express x8 slot. Specified for this graphics card is x4.

Maximum Link Width:

16x

In the Hwinfo64 report of the board used for comparison, the graphics card is attached to the PCI Express x16 bus #1 (see below) as listed in the Bus section, i.e. in the correct place (16 lanes).

PCI Express x16 Bus #1

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 [GIGABYTE]

[General Information]
Device Name:	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 [GIGABYTE]
Original Device Name:	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (GP106M/N17P-G1)
Device Class:	VGA Compatible Adapter
Revision ID:	A1
PCI Address (Bus:Device:Function) Number:	1:0:0
PCI Latency Timer:	0
Hardware ID:	PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1C20&SUBSYS_16521458&REV_A1
Version:	3.0
Maximum Link Width:	16x
Current Link Width:	16x
Maximum Link Speed:	8.0 GT/s
Current Link Speed:	2.5 GT/s
Device/Port Type:	PCI Express Endpoint
Slot Implemented:	No
Emergency Power Reduction:	Not Supported
Active State Power Management (ASPM) Support:	L0s and L1
Active State Power Management (ASPM) Status:	L0s and L1 Entry
L0s Exit Latency:	256 - 512 ns
L1 Exit Latency:	8 - 16 us
Maximum Payload Size Supported:	256 bytes
Maximum Payload Size:	256 bytes
[System Resources]
Interrupt Line:	N/A
Interrupt Pin:	INTA#
Memory Base Address 0	AC000000
Memory Base Address 1	80000000
Memory Base Address 3	90000000
I/O Base Address 5	0
[Features]
Bus Mastering:	Enabled
Running At 66 MHz:	Not Capable
Fast Back-to-Back Transactions:	Not Capable
[Driver Information]
Driver Manufacturer:	NVIDIA
Driver Description:	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
Driver Provider:	NVIDIA
Driver Version:	27.21.14.5167 (GeForce 451.67)
Driver Date:	05-Jul-2020
DCH/UWD Driver:	Capable
DeviceInstanceId	PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1C20&SUBSYS_16521458&REV_A1\4&DAED9F9&0&0008
Location Paths	PCIROOT(0)#PCI(0100)#PCI(0000)

In the System Buses section of the SiSoft Sandra report of my Pavilion notebook (see below), there is a warning 1204 at the end. Possibly, the reference there to the higher maximum supported speed is due to the lower number of lanes (8 in the bus instead of 16).

SiSoftware Sandra Systembusse

Systembusse

Schnittstellenversion: 2.30

PCI Busse: 4

PCIe Busse: 3

Systembus

Typ: PCI

Gerätenummer: 0

Multiplikator: 1x

Systembus

Typ: PCIe 3.0 x8 2.5Gbps

Gerätenummer: 1

Multiplikator: 3x

Bridge: Intel Core6 (Skylake) PCIe Controller (x16)

Systembus

Typ: PCIe 3.0 x1 2.5Gbps

Gerätenummer: 2

Multiplikator: 3x

Bridge: Intel ICH300 (Cannon Point) PCI Express Root Port #14

Gerät mit Anschluss verbunden: HP RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC

Systembus

Typ: PCIe 3.0 x1 2.5Gbps

Gerätenummer: 3

Multiplikator: 3x

Bridge: Intel ICH300 (Cannon Point) PCI Express Root Port #16

Gerät mit Anschluss verbunden: HP RTS522A PCI Express Card Reader

Leistungstipps

Warning 1204: Speed is below the maximum supported speed. The device may be in power-saving mode.

Tip 3: Press Enter or double-click on a tip to find out more information.

As the NVIDIA graphics card is soldered directly on the motherboard, there is, for test purposes, no possibility to disconnect the NVIDIA graphics card electrically.

I have reported the issue to the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Community community@hpe.com. Curiously, all confirmation mails from the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Community community@hpe.com concerning the issue in the inbox folder of my email account are currently lost.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen