Acer Swift 3 SF314-52-557Y laptop PCI x2 M.2 slot speed issue with Samsung EVO 970

Hello,

I have the above model (Serial Number: NXGNUAA001XXXXXXXXXXXX) and I had purchased a Samsung evo 970 back in the day and had it installed in the second M.2 slot and everything was OK.

Recently, due to the laptop getting older and slower, I noticed that the evo didn't report the speeds it was supposed to, and checked with HWinfo and found out that the second M.2 slot operates at PCI x2 speeds, and not at PCI x4 speeds like the first slot.

So I tried to swap the ssds around and the system (Windows 11 pro) kept hanging on me, when I tried to benchmark it.

I tried uninstalling all drivers, and the Samsung NVME driver, and reinstalling. It is basically the same situation as the one other thread attached below.

That thread had no answer besides "don't do it". Can someone tell me if we can do something about it? And if not, can you let me know the reason (hardware incompatibility, motherboard limitation, bug of the evo 970) that it doesn't work?

My BIOS is on 1.0.9, Windows are fully updated, the system runs fine in the PCI x2 configuration.

I also noticed the evo 970 running a bit too hot when installed in the m1 slot. Maybe something happens there?

it's such a shame that we can't look at the service manuals ourselves. If someone has it and can share, please let me know.

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/550233/swift-3-sf314-52g-ssd-installation

[Edited the thread to hide sensitive content]

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Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/718154/acer-swift-3-sf314-52-557y-laptop-pci-x2-m-2-slot-speed-issue-with-samsung-evo-970

Hi, the second PCIe M.2 slot in the Acer Swift 3 SF314-52 supports PCIe Gen3 x2 lanes for SSDs. 3X2 means a max of 2GB/s with a Gen3 SSD like the Samsung 970 Evo Plus. The first PCIe slot is 3x4 lanes for Gen3 drives if after swapping the 2 drives the 970 SSD still runs at 2GB/s I suggest trying Samsung Magician program to create the secure erase USB (see link). The 970 Evo Plus is from February 2019, almost 6 years old design, consider getting the latest Gen4 Samsung 990 Evo Plus that runs cooler. Samsung Secure Erase | Puget Systems

KreAch3R

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1316141#Comment_1316141

Thanks for answering Puraw!

After swapping, the system reports at HWinfo that the 970 evo runs at PCI x4 (full speed), but crashes Windows the moment I try to benchmark it.

Do you think it's a data/format issue and secure erase will fix it? I can give it a try but given it's my daily driver I would like to be sure it's not a hardware issue first. So, you think that what I did should work? placing the 970 ssd at the first x4 slot?

Notice that it's not even 970 plus, it's the plain 970 EVO (before plus). I know that there are better drives nowadays but I don't want to spend more if it's not going to work due to a motherboard limitation.

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1316155#Comment_1316155

Hi, you mentioned the heat of the 970 Evo so I suggested the new 990 Evo Plus SSD design that will run much cooler, the 970 has DRAMM and has proven to be a very reliable SSD, not sure what Plus entails. Yes, I think that erasing the drive will help the booting problem, I checked other forums on that subject: IMO this is not a HW issue. Backup the data so you won't lose anything, I use W7 BU Image file creator in Control Panel W11 24H2. I don't know if you try to boot from the 970 or from your original boot drive that is now in Slot 2? Did you move that drive (HDD1) to the top of the Boot devices list on the BIOS Boot screen?

KreAch3R

Yes, I tried to boot with only that drive installed and I changed the boot order. I managed to get into Windows without a lot of problems (a couple of automatic repairs), but the problems started after I logged in, and then Windows were crashing (with BSODs) when I tried to benchmark.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1316155#Comment_1316155

Just some additional advice as I've got extensive experience using the Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 SSD drivee.. Your Swift SF314-52 laptop is a 2017 laptop and the Samsung 970 EVO was released in 2019 February, so even if you bought the laptop and the M.2 SSD drive in 2019, and this is especially using this drive as a slave drive, it should be even less of a chance of getting damaged from overheating, as this drive should be working perfectly, as slave M.2 SSDs in the second slot run allot cooler compared to the boot drive

What I suggest is that you first install the latest version 8.2.0 Samsung Magician then check the 970 EVO read/write speeds and check if the drive has the latest firmware and see what temps this drive runs at through that software, btw I’ve been using the M.2 970 EVO Plus drive for gaming and as a boot drive in different laptops since it was released in 2019 also, I've also used their SATA 3 / 2.5” 850 EVO which was released before 2019 and both work perfectly today in different laptops. with no overheating or loss of data or performance.

This is the Swift SF314-52 laptop M.2 SSD drive specs from its Acer service guide , note that capacity specs in windows is governed by the drives format and Win-10 has an 8petalyte limit at GUID (GPT) type format

From my experience with the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, this drive only gets hot to the touch but and usually (depends on the room temp but at at 25C (77F) for an example, and what you use the laptop for) this drive at idle should be running between 35-56C max temps but they do get hotter with gaming, also remember that your Swift SF314-52 which uses the integrated i5-7200H cpu graphics is not a gaming land if used in extreme and gaming/editing purposes, this laptop cpu and M.2 SSDs will get very hot as its a 14" enclosure and cross flow ventilation cooling is limited.

Below is your Swift 3 SF314-52-557Y thermal cpu/graphics module that has 1x cooling fan, the dedicated gpu ,model has a more intricate thermal module.

What I suggest that you do as a final solution is this, back up all the valuable data on the 970 EVO drive first, and then clone your oem M.2 SSD boot drive of your Swift SF314-52 onto the Samsung 970 EVO Plus with the Magician > Data Migration doing this clone inside your Swift SF314-52 laptop (at DD1 and SSD2 slots as its 100% quicker than with an external USB-C M.2 SSD case) and then buy some good graphite thermal pads and cover the entire top of the 970 EVO M.2 drive (I’ve done this exact thing and it works) with this type of thermal pad material so that this drive dissipates heat better. Good luck and hope this helps you out further.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

billsey

I think it likely the benchmark software is causing the crash, rather than the drive itself. Just because it's running at x2 instead of x4 really shouldn't affect it. Here's the relevant part of the block diagram:

So both slots should work fine with SATA or NVMe x2 and SSD1 should also support NVMe x4. There is nothing in that design that I can think of that would crash a benchmark…

KreAch3R

Wow, thank you for the detailed reply @StevenGen and @billsey !

My temperature comment was offhand, just to provide more info. I have Samsung Magician installed and the 970 EVO temperature and operation benchmarks are totally nominal when installed in the "slave" slot (running at x2). I will give your thermal pads suggestion a try if I manage to get the drive to work at master slot, x4, and it actually gets too hot.

Also more info on the drive, in Samsung Magician it is reported as good health, latest firmware, working without problems.

About the benchmark. I am actually trying out both Samsung Magician benchmark and CrystalDiskInfo. Both crash the system immediately when starting to benchmark. I suppose that the system is unstable and will crash when I try to launch my normal programs but I didn't test it in order to not lose/corrupt actual important data.

I am in the process of backing up both my ssds (I'm running a dual Windows 10 / Windows 11 boot), and then I'll try to place the 970 into the master slot and install windows from scratch. I will get back to you with my results.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1316402#Comment_1316402

It seems that your Swift 3 SF314-52 has either an M.2 slot that is faulty or a faulty ram or it could even be an EC chip that is causing these crashes, as this should not be happening, have the laptop checked by a technician so they can pinpoint the problems that your laptop has.

I’m currently using the 970 Plus M.2 on a Nitro AN515-56 and its been used as a boot drive for ages, and it works great and very speedily for games (its not as quick as a Gen 4x4 M.2 but that is the limit of a Gen 3x4 M.2 drive) but its very reliable, as a matter of a fact this is the 2nd laptop that the 970 Plus M.2 drive has been installed into and both laptops work 100% with no problems.

Just as a reference to you for the M.2 Samsung 970 EVO Plus drive, the benchmarks of the Samsung Magician are @ 3331 Read and 3122 Write so the Magician always reads slower than what CrystalDiskMark test are, as the CrystalDiskMark test are @ 3537MB/s Read and 3205M/s Write speed, so that is what you should expect from a laptop that works propelled with this drive. Good luck.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

KreAch3R

I think it's more a matter or incompatible drivers than unstable, both Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems run totally fine without a single BSOD without re-locating the ssds.

Bios is already at 1.09, intel graphics are already up-to-date. Yes, I have no problems from my 970, I just want to utilize it at x4 speeds. I hope clean-formatting points me to the right direction.

KreAch3R

I'm back after some days of a lot of testing.

So, the laptop is totally unstable with the Samsung EVO 970 installed on the master slot, whatever I do. I placed the ssd into the master slot and booted from USB straight and tried to do a clean install into a partition, and the Windows installation itself crashed. I am attaching the relevant screenshots. You can see that at first, the ssd is recognized correctly, then as soon as I press install the error message appears, and then it reads rubbish partitions until the refresh is done and nothing is found. I think the ssd and/or its driver is crashing at a very low level.

I also tried everything software related. Booting into safe mode, running chkdsk, running sfc /scannow, uninstalling drives, storage controllers, reinstalling Samsung drivers at normal, safe mode, etc. Whatever I can think of. As long as the evo 970 sits at the master slot, the system crashes. The relevant BSODs are CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED and BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO.

I enabled Minidumps and nothing gets written. I suspect it's because the ssd itself crashes and nothing can write to it.

Lastly, even with an open laptop case, minimal usage just power it on, the ssd on the master slot gets hot to the touch. The system is not stable enough to use any program like HWinfo to grab temperatures, but in the slave slot it gets nowhere near that hot even when benchmarking it.

Maybe the EVO 970 is too power hungry and the relevant power delivery chips can't handle the load and/or can't contain the power draw at a hardware level? I also tried all of the above plugged in, to exclude any battery issues.

Unfortunately, I don't have another PCI x4 NVME drive to check. Can anyone from Acer chime in and tell me if it's a known motherboard - ssd known limitation / incompatibility, or is there anything broken with my hardware? Because I don't want to buy another PCI x4 ssd just for it to be unusable.

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1317011#Comment_1317011

I don't know about the Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 SSD as it works perfectly with my Nitro AN515-56 laptops and its been doing so for years, anyway, what you need to do to install these M. SSD drives into any laptop is to install the Intel IRST driver of this laptop so that the M.2 SSD drive has a proper drive.

In the captions that you have included above where the caption shows "Where do you want to install Windows? you need to go to Load driver and load the Swift SF314-52(G) IRST (Intel® Rapid Storage Technology) Driver version 15.7.0.1014 driver as that will recognize the M.2 drive. Btw, at the Acer support page you need to look up the SF314-52G as typing in SF314-52 will not result in any results for drivers of this laptop coming up. So be aware of that as both the SF314-52 and the SF31452G are the same laptops and use the same bios and drivers.

But with the Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 drive, if you don't install the IRST driver then windows will not recognize any M.2 SSD drive and you can't continue the windows installation. Good luck and hope this helps you out. Good luck and hope this helps you out to solve this problem.

Below is the specs for the storage subsystem for the Swift SF314-52(G) and all the M.2 SSD drives tested by Acer with this laptop that work 100%:

128Gb - KINGSTON/RBU-SNS818DS3
128GB - SKHYNIX/HFS128G39TND-N210A
256GB - MICRON/MTFDDAV256TBN
256GB - SKHYNIX/HFS256G39TND-N210A
256GB - LITEON/CV3-8D256
512GB - INTEL/SSDPEKKW512G7
512GB - MICRON/MTFDDAV512TBN-1AR1ZABY
512GB - LITEON/CV3-8D512

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

billsey

It sounds a lot like you got a bad drive. Send it back to the vendor and get a replacement.

KreAch3R

Isn't the IRST driver for RAID configurations only? I never needed to install this driver before, and as the pictures show, the partitions are loaded up correctly. It's after trying to write to the drive that something crashes.

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1317170#Comment_1317170

I am thinking the same, @billsey . I contacted both my reseller and Samsung Memory. I hope they approve the RMA and the new drive gets here fast and solves the problem.

billsey

IRST is for more than RAID, though RAID is one of the principal uses. It's also used for Optane support and some security features. For most consumers it's not needed, but enabled by default on pretty much all Intel based systems.

KreAch3R

So should I try to use the driver during Windows install?

Today I clean formatted the EVO 970, did Samsung's "secure erase" on it, and when I installed in on the master slot it still crashed Windows installation during the install files phase, with the drive's partitions' appearing and disappearing with multiple error messages. Windows installation could also not create new partitions on it.

I have started the RMA process and I'm gonna send it in the next couple of days.

billsey

Yes, send it back and get a replacement. Samsung usually provides good product, but they can be hit with child failure just like anyone else.

KreAch3R

So, it took me 6 months to get around and go through the return shipping process for Samsung because I needed to ship it to Netherlands (Europe), but it was very straightforward in the end, I should have done it sooner, and I can report that Samsung replaced my 970 evo with a 990 evo no questions asked.

I have two days that I restored my Macrium reflect Win 11 image on it and installed it in the primary x4 slot, and everything runs just fine with no blue screens whatsoever.

I thought I came around and post about so future travelers with the same issue can know the answer. Thanks to everyone that tried to help!

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1347472#Comment_1347472

That is good information to know as I've been using Samsung SSDs since the 2.5" SATA III 850 EVO model SSD was released and I've never ever had a 2.5" or an M.2 bad drive experience with Samsung, and I've used their top of the M.2 drives allot, as you must have been unlucky, which is very unusual from Samsung, as I thought that their manufacturing and quality control would have been better, Btw, I' using tha Gen 4 x4 lane Samsung 990 Pro with Heatsink in my Neo PHN16-71 laptop and it works perfectly and doesn't miss a beat.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

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