[SOLVED] ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate ASMedia not working

[paulrbruce]

First off thanks to the communities’ help a few days ago! One last issue below.
I am having an issue with the SATA drive on my Z390 Tachi Ultimate MD. I have 2 M2 drives installed (Samsung M2 970 Pro Raid 0) in slots M2-1 and M2-3. I have the raid configuration completed and window 10 pro installed. Everything works great. The issue is when I add a 2TB SSD on SATA3_A1/A2 the drive doesn’t show in BIOS. The dr debug code show A6 which is some SATA issue. I disconnect the drive reboot and it still shows A6 on the debug code. I tried another drive I know is good and it didn’t see it. When the system is in window debug show 40. According to the documentation SATA3_A1/A2 should be ok to use since it is not using the Z390 SATA integration and is using ASMedia chip if I am reading the documentation correctly. The drive is Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 2.5" 2TB MKNSSDRE2TB and has been tested in another machine. Third party SATA control is enabled in the BIOS.
Spec

Spec are
i9 9900K
ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate
ASUS GeForce GTX 1070 STRIX-GTX1070-8G
2 x (G.Skill TridentZ RGB Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) (PC4 25600) F4-3200C16D-16GTZR) for 32G
2 X (Samsung 970 PRO 512GB - NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD (MZ-V7P512BW))
CORSAIR AXi Series, AX1200i
Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 2.5" 2TB MKNSSDRE2TB
Ideas?
Thanks, Rob.

 

[Darkbreeze]

They are not working because the installation of the M.2 drives disables those SATA ports.

Also, apparently some of the SATA headers disables others if you use them, which is patently stupid and I've never seen that on a board before. This is the population rules for the storage devices.


*M2_1, SATA3_0 and SATA3_1 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled.

If M2_2 is occupied by a SATA-type M.2 device, SATA3_3 will be disabled.

M2_3, SATA3_4 and SATA3_5 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled.

 

[paulrbruce]

But SATA3_A1/A2 are not supposed to be effected according to page 23 in the manual. These are supposed to be ASMedia controlled. Unless I am incorrect. Tried to read through the manual and research first.
Thanks, Rob.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You are right, the ASMedia SATA headers should not be affected by any other headers being populated. I would try different cables on those headers, make sure the headers are enabled in the BIOS (Which normally SHOULDN'T need to be done, but who knows) and try different drives on those headers. If none of that works, I'd return the board. ASMedia controllers are cheap, which is why they are added to motherboards instead of just using all Intel. Issues with speed and connectivity issues with ASMedia headers and controllers are not uncommon and is exactly why most users try to not use them if they can help it.

 

[paulrbruce]

I think you could be right. I tried different cables in different ports. Big zero. I hate boxing it. Getting another one and re-assembly. It could be a different board if I re-order.

Thanks, Rob.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The Gigabyte Z390 Designaire is a very good board, as is the ASUS Hero XI and Code. ASRock is generally very good quality too, I'm actually surprised that one of their high end boards even has ASMedia controllers on it much less has ones that don't work. I'd definitely contact their tech support first to see if there is something we're overlooking, but I doubt it. They generally either work or they don't. Make sure you check another drive on that header to be sure it isn't just a bad drive.

Might also try a different SATA power connector. Could be a PSU problem. If not, then RMA. Sucks, but not having a board that does what it is supposed to do sucks worse.

 

[paulrbruce]

Thanks for the suggestion and I emailed their tech support. See what they say.

Thanks, Rob.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Sure thing Rob.