ASUS Xonar cards and AMD Ryzen AM4/AM5 motherboards compatibility report

Some AMD AM4 and possibly AM5 motherboards for Ryzen CPUs have compatibility issues with ASUS Xonar sound cards. These issues will manifest as system rebooting or showing a BSOD when installing Xonar drivers or when changing various Xonar settings such as switching from speakers to front panel headphones. Below you have a list that I've compiled with user reported compatibility status of their Xonar card and AM4 motherboard. The list will be periodically updated.

Boards that are listed as having compatibility issues with specific Xonar sound cards may also have issues with other PCI/PCIe cards like other sound cards, network cards, RAID cards, etc.

Note that the compatibility status may vary depending on BIOS version, on installed CPU (#1), it may vary depending on which Xonar card do you have, if it's a PCIe or PCI card, it may be affected by whether the Xonar card was plugged in a PCIe slot that is connected to the chipset or one that is connected to the CPU (1st and 2nd x16 slots on X370, X470, X570 motherboards). Particularly affected by these compatibility issues seem to be the Xonar Essence STX II cards, which have an ASMedia PCI-to-PCIe bridge instead of the PLX PCI-to-PCIe bridge that the rest of PCIe Xonar cards have. Xonar D2X looks like another card that's particularly affected. So a motherboard on which a STX II or a D2X card has problems, might actually work with a different Xonar card.

Exceptions

The issue caused by BIOSes with AGESA 1.0.0.4B where systems are not booting while the Xonar or other PCI-e card are plugged in the motherboard is a different issue than the compatibility issues described above and which are the main subject of this page. This issue is treated separately in the "BIOSes with AGESA 1.0.0.4B caution" section and it is not reflected in the entries in the compatibility list.

Compatibility status list (for system resets and BSODs issues)

List will be periodically updated. If you have a Xonar PCI/PCIe card and a AMD Ryzen AM4 motherboard leave a comment below with the compatibility status.

• * Link mentions not working, but that's only with BIOSes with AGESA 1.0.0.4B.
• ? Asked more details or unclear situation.
• ^[1] Works with a new BIOS update. BIOS may not be available publicly.
• ^[3] Works with possible solution 3 (PCIe slot speed to Gen3/2/1). Usually I place these entries under "Doesn't work" because they involve lowering the PCIe speed sometimes considerably and that can affect the speed of other devices (video card, m.2 storage devices, USB 3.1).
• ^[4] Works with possible solution 4 (different PCIe slot).
• ^[7] Works with possible solution 7 (disabled Xonar's recording devices).
• ^[8] Works with possible solution 8 (m.2 to PCIe adapter). I place these entries under "Doesn't work" because they involve sacrificing the m.2 slot and it requires significant work and additional purchases.
• ^[9] Works with possible solution 9 (PCIe USB riser).

Possible solutions for BSOD and restart issues

Here are some things you could do that could fix or workaround the compatibility issues. These solutions are not mutually exclusive, than means sometimes a combination of multiple solutions will make it work.

1. Update the motherboard BIOS to the latest version

But avoid early AGESA 1.0.0.4B BIOS versions (see "BIOSes with AGESA 1.0.0.4B caution" below for more info).

2. Do a clean Windows install

If you're using the same Windows installation from your previous system try on a clean Windows installation.

For testing purposes you could make a secondary Windows install on a different partition, disk or in a VHD file (#1, #2). If needed, you can use EasyBCD (info, download) to edit the boot entries.

3. Switch the PCIe slot speed to Gen 3/2/1

In BIOS, try switching the PCIe connection where the Xonar card is plugged from Gen 4 to Gen 3/2/1 or from Gen 3 to Gen 2/1. This method has been described in detail here by b1tmaster0 for his ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4. Such an option is not available for all the motherboards. Some info and other ways to do this:

1. Location and name of the settings is board specific and may also vary with BIOS versions. For ASRock it may be under "Advanced\AMD PBS\" and may be only listed as "M.2 PCIe Switch". For MSI it may be under "Settings\Advanced\PCI Subsystem Settings\" with options called "PCI_E* - Max Link Speed". For ASUS it may be under "Advanced\Onboard Devices Configuration\" with options called "PCIEX** Mode" (pic #1). For Gigabyte it may be under "Settings\Miscellaneous\" with options called "PCIe Slot Configuration".
2. For his ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4, b1tmaster0 changed the "M.2 PCIe Switch" connection speed, which was for his M2 slot that was also shared with the PCIe slot where the Xonar card was placed. You can check which M2 and PCIe slots share the same connection by consulting the motherboard manual.
3. You can figure the name/number of the PCIe slot the card is placed in by going to MSI's "Board Explorer" or Gigabyte's "System Information\Plug in Devices Info" or by consulting the motherboard's manual.
4. "PCIe x16 Switch" or similarly named options are for setting the connection speed of the first x16 slot and it's where you usually have the GPU. Some X370/X470/X570 motherboards have the 2nd PCIe x16 length slot connected directly to the CPU. Consult the motherboard specs or manual to find out if the 2nd PCIe x16 slot is connected to the CPU or the chipset. If the 2nd PCIe x16 length slot is directly connected to the CPU, you could place the Xonar card in the 2nd x16 length slot, enable the slot by setting "PCIe x16/2×8 Switch" or similar to "2x8" and change "PCIe x16 Switch" to "Gen 1". If it works your could also try with the speedier "Gen 2". Your GPU may run a bit slower, see benchmarks here and here, which depending on your computer use case and GPU may or may not be important.
5. "Promontory PCIe Switch" or similarly named options are for controlling the connection link between the chipset and CPU. If you don't have the option to set the connection speed for a specific PCIe slot you could try setting this to "Gen 1" and if it works your could also try with the speedier "Gen 2". This may limit the speed of the devices connected to the chipset (NVME M2/PCIe SSD), USB3.x flash drives, other PCIe cards.

4. Move the card to a different PCIe slot

Try a PCIe slot that is connected directly to the CPU, which is the 1st PCIe x16 slot, and for some X370/X470/X570 motherboards also the 2nd x16 length slot. Consult the motherboard specs or manual to find out if the 2nd PCIe x16 slot is connected to the CPU or the chipset. If it's connected to the CPU, then the 2nd x16 length slot needs to be enabled in BIOS, see the description on  possible solution 3. d. "PCIe x16 Switch".

Also try the other PCIe ports, maybe one will work.

5. Install UNi Xonar v1.71.1 driver

It might reduce the frequency of these issues or even eliminate them. For STX II cards these drivers might cause a loss of audio quality (#1), waiting more confirmations on this claim.

6. (Unlikely) Avoid IRQ sharing between Xonar card and other devices

To do so you could try switching the other devices interrupts from Line-based to MSI, see info here. Do not switch the Xonar card to MSI as it will prevent your system from booting. You can try this in conjunction with moving the card to a PCIe in which the Xonar card IRQ is shared with less devices.

7. Disable Xonar's recording devices

Especially if your system resets/crashes when using applications that transmits or can transmit sound (such as Discord, Steam, Skype, Firefox, Chrome, etc.) you should try the following solutions:

a. Disable some of Xonar's recording inputs but keep either Microphone or Line In depending on which one you use. To do so, open Windows Sound (right-click on Windows Volume tray icon-> Sounds or if it's missing type in Windows search: “change system sounds”)-> Select Recording tab-> If you use Microphone input, then right-click and select Disable for: Line In(ASUS Xonar...), ALT (ASUS X...) and AUX (ASUS X...). Then right-click on Microphone (ASUS Xonar...) and select "Set as Default" and "Set as Default Communication Device".

b. Disable all of Xonar's recording inputs and use the Microphone from the onboard audio card. Try this is the solution above does not work. To do so, open Windows Sound (right-click on Windows Volume tray icon-> Sounds or if missing type in Windows search: “change system sounds”)-> Select Recording tab-> Right-click and select Disable for: Microphone (ASUS Xonar...), Line In (ASUS X...), ALT (ASUS X...), AUX (ASUS X...), Stereo Mix(ASUS X...) and Wave (ASUS X...). Then right-click on Microphone (HD Audio.../Realtek.../SupremeFX...) and select "Set as Default" and "Set as Default Communication Device".

c. If neither of the above solutions are applicable to you as you need both the Xonar's Microphone and Line In enabled, you could try is to select Microphone (ASUS Xonar…) or Line In (ASUS Xonar…) as input device in each of the recording applications that causes a reset/crash. For Discord-> User Settings-> Voice & Video. For Steam->Friends List window-> Gear icon->Voice->"Voice input device". For Firefox and Chrome you might not be able to do this.

8. Connect the card to the first m.2 with the use of a m.2 to PCIe adapter

This would only work for the first m.2 slot because it's the one connected directly to the CPU. If you have an m.2 SSD and can move it to one of chipsets m.2 slots, know there might be speed penalties involved at least with certain SSDs (#1). If you are interested in this method, you can read here Master-W-Steve recommendation of components in order to do this.

9. Plug the card into a PCIe riser

As it is reported here (#1), plugging the card into a PCIe riser that has a separate power connector, like this one, could work. The theory about why this works is that the PCIe riser has a separate power supply. It could be that the PCIe issues are caused by inadequate power delivery to the PCIe cards by the motherboard.

How to verify if it's stable

To speedup the testing and see if your system is stable or not, you can the following:

• Install UNi Xonar drivers multiple times.
• In an audio/video player, load some audio files and cycle through them for a couple of minutes (thanks Arconas).
• Launch a voice chat or recording application (ie Discord, Skype etc.) and maybe try a test converstation. Do this a couple of times.

Why it happens and what else you can do

From what I can tell, the reboot issues are because of some sort of issue with PCI/PCIe signal transmission on some motherboards and this causes in case of the Xonar drivers a error which results in a system crash. Given recent discoveries, it could be that the PCIe issues are caused by inadequate power delivery to the PCIe cards by the motherboard (#1, #2). While the reboot thing could technically be fixed within the drivers, there is no one to fix this as ASUS and C-Media have given up on drivers for the Xonar cards and I have limited access and resources to do such a thing. But even with such a fix, there would still be a problem with the motherboard and how it handles the PCIe signal transmission or power delivery. In some cases these issues will be partially or fully fixed through a BIOS update (#1).

The best course of action would be for you to contact the technical support of your motherboard and let them know of this issue and ask that they look into it. You should include a link to this page to provide them with additional information. If you are having problems getting pass the low level copy-paste support, you can try contacting them through their own support forums or their Twitter or Facebook account.

Ideally, this issue should also be brought up directly to AMD.

Other info & ASUS's response about these compatibility issues

Threads discussing these issues on ASUS ROG forums here and here.

ASUS official FAQ response about these issues here and here. The statement from ASUS that the cards (at least STX II and D2X) are not compatible is, at the very least, inaccurate, as it works with some motherboards and those Xonar cards are not the only PCIe cards affected. You would think that making both the Xonar sound cards and their own AMD Ryzen AM4 motherboards, most of which are affected by these compatibility issues, would make it much easier for ASUS to find a solution to the problem. Speaks volumes of how "great" their support is. To make matters even worse, after concluding that the cards are simply not compatible, they closed the main forum thread discussing this issue, thus roadblocking any community driven investigation for a possible solution.

On the topic of ASUS motherboards compatibility with sound cards, it's worth noting that you may run into issues with Creative cards as well (#1, #2). It's unclear at the moment if you will have the same problem with other motherboard brands or this problem affects mostly ASUS X570 boards.

ASUS owns ASMedia, the company that is behind the Ryzen's AM4 chipsets.

BIOS updates

Beta BIOSes and yet to be officially released BIOS versions can be found here.

I urge caution if you have a on a ASUS motherboard or from another manufacturer which does not allow you to downgrade to a previous BIOS version as a new BIOS could also cause new issues. If you have a dual BIOS motherboard, you should be fine.

BIOSes with AGESA 1.0.0.5

The AGESA 1.0.0.5 changelog mentions "Optimized PCIe® firmware to improve stability and interoperability", but AMD did not clarify what exactly does that mean and we don't know if this targets in any way the issues that people have with their PCIe soundcards. Before you update to BIOSes with AGESA 1.0.0.5 you should know that these may have some stability issues(#1, #2). If you have a on a ASUS motherboard or from another manufacturer which does not allow you to downgrade to a previous BIOS version it's probably best to wait for BIOSes with AGESA v1 1.0.0.6 or v2 1.0.0.2 (info).

BIOSes with AGESA 1.0.0.4B caution

Users are reporting that after updating the BIOS to a newer version that has AGESA 1.0.0.4B, the system won't boot if you have the Xonar card plugged in the motherboard. This happens with other PCIe cards as well (#1, #2, #3). Most motherboards brands seem to be affected (BIOSTAR #1, Gigabyte #1+, #2, ASUS #1, #2, #3, #4, ASRock #1). If you don't want to go to the hassles of updating the BIOS again to the previous version, you should hold off the update. Also, for some motherboards it is not possible to go back to the previous BIOS (ASUS #1, #2).

Update 13 Mar 2020: The fixed BIOS versions could still have problems with other PCIe cards. As someone reports here, his system does not work when the PCIe Firewire card is plugged. If you have another PCIe card and have a motherboard from ASUS or from another manufacturer which does not allow you to downgrade to a previous BIOS version, you should probably not update the BIOS to any version with AGESA 1.0.0.4B or newer. If you have a dual BIOS motherboard, you should be fine.

Update 06 Dec 2019: ASUS released on their official product pages the fixed BIOSes, at least for some of their X570 motherboards. For some of their motherboards the v1405 is the fixed one. The fix is not mentioned in the release notes, but the BIOS that follows after the initial AGESA 1.0.0.4B BIOS should be the fixed one.

Update 26 Nov 2019: ASRock's fixed beta BIOS versions are now available on products BIOS pages under Beta BIOS section with the changelog listing "Improve PCIe card compatibility". For ASUS motherboards and also other manufacturers, fixed BIOS versions can be found here, for some of Asus's X570 motherboards the fixed BIOS versions are labeled 1405. You should update to these beta BIOS versions only if you are stuck with a broken BIOS with AGESA 1.0.0.4B, otherwise you should probably wait for the final versions.

Update 23 Nov 2019: ASUS started distributing through forums and technical support a fixed beta BIOS for some of their motherboards (#1, #2, #3).

Update 20 Nov 2019: Gigabyte(#1) and MSI(#1, #2) released updated BIOS versions with AGESA 1.0.0.4B that do not have this issue. It seems Gigabyte replaced the previous BIOS and does not list the fix in the changelog, thus I am not sure all of Gigabyte's motherboards have the fixed BIOS, but BIOSes released on 2019/11/08 or later should have the fix. MSI list in their fixed BIOS change log "Improved PCI-E device compatibility". ASRock does offer through technical support a beta BIOS for some their motherboards that also works fine (#1, #2). I am not aware that ASUS or BIOSTAR have anything yet.

If you've updated the BIOS and the system no longer boots, you could try this: remove the sound card, start the PC and enter the BIOS, look for a setting a called “Initial Display Output” or similar, set it to the PCIe slot in which the main video card is plugged in, save settings and shut down the PC, reinsert the sound card and see if system boots. If it does not, remove the sound card again and revert back to the previous BIOS.

If you run into these issues you could contact your motherboard support letting them know of the issue.