GA Z97 MX Gaming 5 PCI-E problems and fix.

[swallis84]

I recently purchased the GA Z97 MX Gaming 5 mobo and the Power Color R9 280X TurboDuo gfx card, and no matter what I did I could not get the PC to boot properly.
 
When the Gigabyte logo eventually made it on screen you could see it being drawn line by line, sometimes it wouldn't even post. So after much faffing about pulling everything out one at a time, checking for bent pins etc etc I eventually got the PC to boot using the on board gfx via the DVI port. So I now know the mobo works and the gfx card was tested in another machine and worked fine.

This allowed me to get the basic drivers installed for the mobo and get the bios flashed to the latest version, which is F4.

I then went through the bios settings to see if there was anything that stood out as problematic. In the end I had to go into classic mode (F2) and then click the ST button. Under miscellaneous there is an option to set the PCI-E ports to either AUTO - Gen1 - Gen2 - Gen3. I changed it from auto to gen1 and got a successful boot via the gfx card. I then tried gen2 which gave the same result. Trying gen3 the computer went back to not posting.

The gfx card is sold as PCI-E 3 so there is clearly a problem somewhere between the gfx card and the mobo communicating at that level. Hopefully posting this here may help someone out if they have the same problem and maybe a bios update in the future will resolve this problem.

Just to note, when updating the Bios using the @BIOS utility, when setting it to update from the Gigabyte servers it only points to the F3 update, to get F4 you will need to download it and update from file.

For the record the system I'm using has an i5 4670k cpu and 8GB (2x4) 1333 ram.

[MJCRO]

I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE.

I'd like to bump this thread as I'm having the SAME exact issues. Every component in my build is in working condition. There is a PCI-E communication problem on Gaming 5 motherboard's, I'm having this same issue on the Z97 N Gaming 5 Mini-ITX.

My original thread: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,14659.msg90790.html#msg90790

By setting my PCI-E Gen speed in the BIOS to Gen1, my system boots and POSTS without a hitch. Anything above Gen1 causes infinite reboot-loops.

[chrish_1]

I'd like to bump this thread again been having the same problem with my gigabyte g1.sniper z97 motherboard. I also had to change the pci-e to gen 2 to solve a cold boot loop problem.

My original thread: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,14888.0.html

I guess gigabyte have a problem with there bios for the z97 boards, hope we can get a proper fix.

[MJCRO]

I couldn't even get my machine to work in Gen2, only Gen1 would work. I was loyal to Gigabyte these last few years but this PCI-E problem is a joke. Ended up just going to the store today and picking up a Asus Z97I-PLUS and everything is working perfectly now. I'll be RMA'ing the board I have now and simply selling the replacement when I get it, Gigabyte has really gone the drain in terms of quality these past few years.

[autotech]

I have the Z97 Gaming G1 and the Z97 SOC FORCE and both work set to gen 3 and run at gen 3. I would say our bios's are about the same with minor differences. My video card is a R9 280X and a 6950.

[morbidflorist]

GA Z97 MX Gaming 5 and same issue with PCIe - in my case gen3 doesnt work. It needs to be setup as Gen2 manually in BIOS. Did anyone get any answers from Gigabyte? I tried new Beta bios and issue was stil present.

[CM94]

Having the exact same problem with my PC which has a GA-Z97P-D3 (rev. 1.0), R9 280X and i5-4690K. It only boots when it is set to Gen 2 and 1 but not when set to Auto or Gen 3. I've updated the BIOS to the latest beta version to no avail. Not the biggest issue in honesty as the performance between the Gen's are virtually zero, but did take a lot of time in setting up my PC, pointless RMA's and frustration. For a first PC build not an ideal