Asus Maximus VIII Hero - can't read any disks.

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jdlech

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May 31, 2016
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Let's start with what I have.
An ASUS Maximus VIII Hero motherboard with 32G of RAM.
A 550W power supply.
My boot drive is a RAID 0 consisting of 4 sata SSDs.
A 1TB "data" drive
And a 2TB "backup" drive.
Also I have 2 optical drives.
An HP dvd1265 CD/DVD reader/writer
And a LG WH16NS40 Blueray/DVD reader/writer.
Yeah, all my sata ports are full.

A "clean install" of Windows 10 from a USB drive (so there's no legacy settings or drivers)
The problem is that neither optical drive can detect any disks of any type. I've tried Blueray, DVDs, CD, even a music CD.

My bios sees them, Windows sees them. Device manager says they're working properly. But when I click on the drive, it just opens the door and asks that I put a disk in.
The Bios sees the drives, and the SATA channel is enabled, but I can't boot from either drive. (which makes me think this is either bios or hardware problem)
I've updated the BIOS and the firmware. I've uninstalled the drivers and rebooted. I've physically removed the drives and tried reinstalling each one at a time. I even checked to make sure there's no "shipping screw" - I don't see any. I've also tried different cables, and even uninstalled my two hard drives just in case it was a power draw problem. Nothing helped.

There's got to be something simple I'm missing. While not outside the realm of possibility, I just can't see both new drives coming from two different manufacturers having the exact same defect. But it's far more likely to be something so simple I'll smack my forehead as soon as it's mentioned.

If it helps, when I put a disk in, it spins up for a few seconds like it's reading the disk.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

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Jul 30, 2014
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Welcome to the community, jdlech!

Thank you for the detailed description of your issue, it really helps a lot. You've done an amazing job with the troubleshooting so far. I'd recommend you to swap the ATAPI / IDE or SATA cables that are connecting the DVD readers. You should definitely try using different ones and see if that will help you read any disks from either one of the optical drives.
If you have access to another PC, I'd also suggest you attempt to connect the readers there and see how they will perform. You might also want to try using compressed air to blow out the dust from the optical drives.

Hope it helps. Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD :)
 
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J

jdlech

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May 31, 2016
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Thanks for the response, but I've already tried different cables. I have the parts to put another computer together. I'll take the time to do that today.
Both drives are also straight-out-of-the-box new, so dust shouldn't be a problem. I also have no compressed air.
I'll keep working on it today.
 
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J

jdlech

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May 31, 2016
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OK, partial success.
Put together an older computer running Vista. (now called "my old computer" from now on.)
The motherboard has only 1 sata and 1 pata connector.
Even so, I got my Blueray drive to work on it.
So I transferred the drive to my new computer, power and data cable all together.
And nothing.
So I'm pretty sure it's either a bios setting or an incompatible mobo - which is hard to believe since my old computer is compatible.

The bios sees the hardware just fine - but still can't read from it and can't boot from it.
I'll continue monitoring this thread while I try various bios settings.

UPDATE: absolutely no success whatsoever. I've run through every possible combination of the Compatability Support Module. I have no idea.
 
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jdlech

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Oh great,
Thanks Tom.
This website won't work with IE9 - which is the latest version Vista can use.
So I can't monitor this page while tweaking the bios.
I'll just have to check in every few hours.
Luckily, I have a complete backup of everything and Windows 10 recovery on a USB drive.
Wish me luck (I'll need it).
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

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Jul 30, 2014
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Hey there again, jdlech!

Unfortunately, it's very likely that one of your hard drives has failed (The one you are trying to access through the Vista computer). It's possible for a mechanical hard drive to get damaged while shipping, so I'd advise you to troubleshoot both HDDs one by one and see which one is causing you these headaches. Since they are brand new, you should be able to RMA them and get a replacement either from the reseller or the HDD manufacturer.

Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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jdlech

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May 31, 2016
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I'm not quite certain about that just yet. I now have 3 optical drives on hand. Each are a different make and model, two of them new, one of them used but worked fine in another computer. Each one, when installed into two different computers, (alone or in combination) behave exactly the same way. This makes me think it's not the drives, but the computers and/or the cables.
But I know it's not the cables - I can hook up a hard drive to the cables and power and it works perfectly
So I'm thinking it's something in the BIOS. But for the life of me, I can't see what it might be. I've read the manual until I'm cross eyed.
Sometimes a picture is best. This is what I have installed. Anything wrong there?
SATA_Config.jpg

I disconnected the two hard drives to no effect.
I swapped positions (hard and optical drives), no effect.
A single optical drive connected in various positions - still no effect.

Could it be the presence of the RAID drive?
I shudder to think that because it's my boot drive.
 
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jdlech

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I have a graphics card in slot 1 in 1x16 mode. None of the others are used.
The sata express ports are the unused ones on the far left (see graphic). So my video card has the full run of the PCIE buses. No interference there.
I'm going to try disabling the sata ports that service both the RAID and the mechanical HDDs. Let's see what it does with nothing but optical drives installed.
Update: nope. Even if I disable all else, the optical drives still will not boot the system.
I give up for tonight. I'll take it to the geek squad saturday. I bought the DVD burner from them.
So, one more day of messing with it.
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

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Jul 30, 2014
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Well, this seems pretty unfortunate, @jdlech. What about disabling the RAID SATA mode on the controller from the BIOS settings? Keep in mind that this would make your RAID HDDs unreadable afterwards, unless you switch it back, so I'd recommend you back up your data from those RAID drives somewhere off-site beforehand.
Since all these devices are connected to the same SATA controller, it's possible that the RAID mode on the controller is making your optical drives unrecognizable. I saw from your mobo's specs that you have another controller as well, however, it doesn't support ATAPI devices.

If turning RAID mode off doesn't work, I'm afraid we've exhausted all troubleshooting options, really. I'd suggest you talk to that geek squad of yours and see if they will be able to determine the source of the issue. If the problem still persists, I'd suggest you get in touch with the motherboard manufacturer's customer support for assistance.

Keep me posted, though!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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jdlech

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LOL, I did exactly that last night. I disabled all sata ports, individually, and then the whole controller. I wanted to see if the RAID mode was somehow blocking them.
Oh, yeah. You betcha I was ready to restore it all from a backup.
Turns out, unless you do something really stupid like reformatting the SSDs, you can turn RAID back on and the RAID is restored like it never happened.

I plan on failing to mention that I got the DVD player at Best Buy, so I can see the look on their faces when they tell me I need to get a new one. Or rather, that they owe me a new one, lol.
Looks like I'll have to RMA the bluray player back to Amazon come Monday.

Meanwhile, I'm having some trouble installing this old 8" floppy drive....
(just kidding)
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

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The good thing is you haven't lost your sense of humor, @jdlech! I'll give you that!
I would have been tearing my hair out by now, if I were you. :D

Sorry, I couldn't be more helpful than that, though.

Make sure you come back and post the resolution.
My curiosity has the best of me in such situations.

Hope everything works out. Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD :)

 
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jdlech

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Final update.
Took it to a local best buy. They were stumped too. One of the techs pulled some info from the Motherboard manual about the M-ports are disabled when a RAID is present.
But that didn't make much sense because everything shows up in the bios and in windows.
Turns out, the manual is wrong. All 8 ports can be used simultaneously.
Since one of the drives was bought from Best Buy, I convinced them to do an exchange.
Slapped the new one in, powered up....
System started up and then powered down. (it's done this to me before, and I haven't found out why yet)
Started it up again... and the system booted from the CD straight away.
Put a DVD in it and restarted the computer and windows reads the DVD, everything about the drive works perfectly.

Amazing - three drives; two different types - from two different sources - and all three have exactly the same mfg defect. What are the odds???
Now all I need to do is RMA the two Bluray burners.

Coda: research found that particular make of Bluray burner has a problem with its firmware - occasionally not seeing when a disk is loaded. There's a firmware update, but most people (including myself) get a checksum error while trying to install the update. Oddly, units with older mfg dates can be updated, but newer ones cannot.
I recommend everyone stay away from the LG WH16NS40 blueray units until they get things straightened out.
 
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