SATA3 port not detecting HDD???

gghilliard

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I have just put together a new rig. I have:

ASUS P6X58D mobo
1 TB WD SATAIII HDD
i7 950
6GB Corsair Dominator

When I plug the HDD into the Sata3 port it will not detect it in the BIOS. When I plug it into the other SATA ports it sees it fine. Is the something I have to do to enable the SATA3 port? Will I have to update the BIOS? I am completely baffled.
 
Something is tickling the back of my mind. I think there was a post here that said that you have to install the OS and then load drivers for the separate Sata3 controller.

Yes - it's a separate Marvell controller. So you have to either

1) Install the OS on a drive (same one?) attached to the Sata2 connectors, then install the Marvell drivers from the CD that came with the mobo or from a download, then connect some drive to the Sata3 port. If you have nerves of steel, move the drive you just built to the Sata3 port and see if it boots.

2) Using some other machines, find the drivers for the Marvell controller and put them on a floppy / USB stick. Attach the drive to the Sata3 port. During Win7 install, press the key that allows you to add drivers (I think it's F6). Select the correct driver for your controller mode (IDE, AHCI, or RAID) and continue with the install if the install process now[\b] sees the drive.

Good hunting.



Whoops, I assumed that you are installing Win7, but you didn't say so.
 

gghilliard

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Yeah I am installing Win7. Thanks for th e quick reply gonna try that and see what happens.
 

gghilliard

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Hi,
One question. Why would I want nerves of steel to do #1? What risks do I run by doing it that way?
 
Well, if it corrupts your drive, your drive will be corrupted. Some people are very reasonably wary of doing experiments with a working boot disk.

I'm not one of those people; I have image backups of my boot disk that are kept separate from the computer.

You can do Quick Reply (at the bottom) and not have to quote my whole post.
 

gghilliard

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Ok. I downloaded the new drivers and installed them. Then I moved that drive to the SATAIII port. I still can't see it in the BIOS, and it won't boot off that drive.

Any other suggestions?
 
I haven't read the BIOS manual for your mobo. Some BIOS implementations require that you enable the second controller, or at least pick a compatible mode (IDE, AHCI, RAID). That's my only guess at this point; we're going beyond what I can figure out from asking questions I/S/O hands-on.