Question ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Hero - Hard Disks are not showning up in Windows 10 when connected to Sata6G_E1-2 ports

Feb 3, 2023
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I really don't know what to do
I have an ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Hero with 5 hard disks connected to the sata ports. All the hard disk are showing up in BIOS, but in windows only the hard disks connected to the sata 6G ports from 1 to 4 are showing up.
I have changed cables and switched cables as well, any hard disk connected to Sata 6G_E1 or E2 port is showing up in BIOS but is not showing up in Windows 10.
I have the feeling that I need to change something inside the BIOS, but I really do not know what, I tried with changing from legacy to uefi, but the the problem is still there.

Can anyone help me?
 
Each X670 chipset in the X670E pair can supply up to four 6 Gb/s SATA ports natively. ASUS has six total, with the remaining bandwidth used elsewhere.

So yes, while the user manual is crap and so minimal that nothing of use can be found there, it is almost certain that there is a configuration setting IN the BIOS that allows you to enable and disable those E1 and E2 SATA headers. Keep in mind though, using those two headers likely results in something elsewhere losing lanes. If possible it would be better to stick to the four primary SATA headers located to the right of the E1 and E2 headers.
 
Feb 3, 2023
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What are your FULL hardware specifications including ALL attached storage devices, graphics cards, other expansion cards, etc.?

Here it is:

Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X with KRAKEN Z73
RAM
Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 RGB 64Gb 2x32Gb 5600MT/s DDR5
Motherboard
ASUSTeK ROG CROSSHAIR X670E HERO (AM5)
Monitors
BenQ PD2700U (3840x2160@60Hz)
LG HDR 4K (3840x2160@60Hz)
Graphics
3071MB NVIDIARog Strix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
Storage
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (SATA)
Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500GB (SATA)
Western Digital WDC 2TB WD20EZRX-00D8PB0 (SATA )
Western Digital WDC 6TB WD6003FZBX-00K5WB0 (SATA )
Western Digital WDC 2TB WD20EZRX-00D8PB0 (SATA )
NVMe Samsung SSD 970 PRO 500GB SCSI Disk Device (SSD)
NVMe Samsung SSD 970 EVO 500GB SCSI Disk Device (SSD)
 
Answer already found and provided above in my second post. I think. Then again, I could be reading it wrong but the fact that it states that only four are supported NATIVELY suggests that there is a non-native controller for the remaining two SATA headers which might well be enabled or disabled in the BIOS.
 
Ok, so wait a minute. If the drive is showing up in BIOS but not in Windows, that refutes what I thought was the problem. It almost has to be a Windows issue. Is the drive connected to the E1 or E2 port new/never used before or unpartitioned?

If you disconnect that drive from that port and swap it for one of the other drives connected to the four primary ports, does it THEN show up in Windows? And if you connect that drive that was originally connected to one of the four primary ports to the E1 or E2 port, does THAT drive then show up in Windows? Because I have a feeling maybe it's a problem with the drive not being partitioned and assigned a drive letter in Windows rather than an actual problem with the port or the board.
 
Feb 3, 2023
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Ok, so wait a minute. If the drive is showing up in BIOS but not in Windows, that refutes what I thought was the problem. It almost has to be a Windows issue. Is the drive connected to the E1 or E2 port new/never used before or unpartitioned?

If you disconnect that drive from that port and swap it for one of the other drives connected to the four primary ports, does it THEN show up in Windows? And if you connect that drive that was originally connected to one of the four primary ports to the E1 or E2 port, does THAT drive then show up in Windows? Because I have a feeling maybe it's a problem with the drive not being partitioned and assigned a drive letter in Windows rather than an actual problem with the port or the board.

I tried to swap every hard disk in order to understand the problem. Yes, any hard disk I connect to the Sata 6G_E1 or E2 port is showing up in BIOS but is not showing up in Windows 10 (or disk managment). If I connect the very same hard disk to a SATA 6G port from 1 to 4 the hard disk is magically showing up in windows.
 
Ok, so here we go then.

You do not have any kind of RAID modes enabled in the BIOS for any of the drives or ports, correct? ALL of the SATA ports are configured for AHCI?

So, on the Advanced tab in the BIOS, under SATA configuration, there is a setting PER PORT to enable or disable. Check to see that the E1 and E2 ports are enabled in the sub-section SATA6G as seen in the screenshot below.



XAXzMV9.png
 
Feb 3, 2023
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ALL of the SATA ports are configured for AHCI and no RAID modes enabled.

But in the advanced SATA configuration I can enabled/disable only from 1 to 4. The E1 and E2 ports are missing.
The strange fact is that in the smart hdd information I see the hard disk connected to the E1 SATA port and I see it also in the boot override. But it's not showing up in windows...

It seems to be a hopeless case, I just bought on Amazon a PCIE card SATA CONTROLLER with two additional sata PORTS to solve the problem, and I thank you for all your effort!
 
Another thing you can try if you are still interested. In the onboard devices section you can try enabling the ASMedia storage controller if it is not already enabled. Often there have been board models with several SATA ports run off the main chipset with a native controller and then a few others that have run off ASMedia controllers as a secondary storage controller. Those two E ports might just be controlled by that controller.

SM1061 Configuration
This submenu allows you to set parameters for ASM1061 controller.
ASMedia Storage Controller
Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enable
 
Feb 3, 2023
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Another thing you can try if you are still interested. In the onboard devices section you can try enabling the ASMedia storage controller if it is not already enabled. Often there have been board models with several SATA ports run off the main chipset with a native controller and then a few others that have run off ASMedia controllers as a secondary storage controller. Those two E ports might just be controlled by that controller.

SM1061 Configuration
This submenu allows you to set parameters for ASM1061 controller.
ASMedia Storage Controller
Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enable

Unfortunately I found the ASMedia storage controller already enabled 😓

Regarding the BIOS version, I updated to the latest one.
 
Check in Window's Device Manager if all devices have drivers installed. Missing chipset drivers can cause Windows to not even recognize there are E1-E2 ports at all, especially if they are managed by AsMedia controller as suggested before. Note that sometimes doing just one pass of chipset driver install is not enough as there will appear 'new' devices after first pass.
 
Check in Window's Device Manager if all devices have drivers installed. Missing chipset drivers can cause Windows to not even recognize there are E1-E2 ports at all, especially if they are managed by AsMedia controller as suggested before. Note that sometimes doing just one pass of chipset driver install is not enough as there will appear 'new' devices after first pass.
Agree. Checking device manager for "remarked" devices is always a good idea anytime there are suspected hardware related problems or something isn't working. As a baseline, users should always visit the product page for their motherboard and then download/install the latest available chipset, network adapter (LAN and/or WiFi. Sometimes multiple LAN/Ethernet for boards with two NICs), Bluetooth, integrated graphics (Where applicable), Thunderbolt and audio controller drivers. It's also a good idea to check back there periodically for updated versions. Always pay attention to the notes below each driver though as in some cases that driver might only be recommended for specific situations or it might be recommended that there are prerequisites to installing it such as having installed a specific prior version first or entirely removing the previous driver before updating to the newest one.