I've been experiencing a strange issue lately where my PC boots directly into the BIOS instead of starting Windows after a complete shutdown. The BIOS doesn't recognize any of my drives, which include an NVME and a SATA SSD, though Windows is installed on the NVME drive. The only temporary fix I've found is to unplug the SATA cable, switch it to a different port on the motherboard, and restart the PC, which then allows it to boot into Windows. My system runs smoothly otherwise, with no crashes or issues in games. However, this problem recurs after each restart or shutdown. I recently changed the thermal paste on my GPU, but I'm not sure if that's related. Any suggestions on what might be causing this?
2 Answers
It sounds like a possible issue with how the SATA and NVME slots are configured on your motherboard. Some motherboards have shared lanes for SATA and NVME, which might be causing the drive not to show up as a boot option. Check your motherboard manual for any information on lane sharing, especially regarding the PCIe bifurcation settings in the BIOS.
Also, it’s a good idea to take a look at which ports are controlled by the chipset versus those driven by the CPU's PCIe lanes. If your GPU and SSDs are using too many lanes, it could impact their performance. Since you mentioned having an RX6700XT and an R5 5600 on a B450 board, you might be close to the lane limit, which could explain the random issues you're facing.
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