My DL380e Gen8 has the rear HDD cage installed which means it's not able to fit the second PCIe riser board. On the motherboard it has a 16x and an 8x slot which the riser board plugs into. I've done some measurements and despite the fact I can't fit the riser board in the case, I can still potentially use the slots on the motherboard with the help of a PCIe extension cable.
I've connected a PCIe to M.2 adapter fitted with an NVMe drive directly to the 16x slot. The server doesn't see the drive at all. It's like it's not there. The adapter and the drive work properly if I put them in a slot on the primary riser board. It's only when connected straight into the motherboard that it doesn't work.
I also tried pulling the primary riser board and connecting the M.2 adapter directly to the motherboard slots for the primary riser. Same problem - card not detected.
Is there a reason why it's not working when plugged directly to the motherboard where the riser goes? I would have thought that the riser simply just converts a vertical slot into a horizontal slot and doesn't do any sort of logic.
This is what I'm doing. Physically it all goes together nicely, it just isn't detected properly.
I've connected a PCIe to M.2 adapter fitted with an NVMe drive directly to the 16x slot. The server doesn't see the drive at all. It's like it's not there. The adapter and the drive work properly if I put them in a slot on the primary riser board. It's only when connected straight into the motherboard that it doesn't work.
I also tried pulling the primary riser board and connecting the M.2 adapter directly to the motherboard slots for the primary riser. Same problem - card not detected.
Is there a reason why it's not working when plugged directly to the motherboard where the riser goes? I would have thought that the riser simply just converts a vertical slot into a horizontal slot and doesn't do any sort of logic.
This is what I'm doing. Physically it all goes together nicely, it just isn't detected properly.