BIOS on my new Gigabyte mobo won't detect my new SSD

[stargazer777]

Hi all,

I am in the middle of upgrading my PC (see details below my sig). This includes a new Gigabyte mobo and a new Patriot Wildfire SSD. Basically, I'm having problems with BIOS detecting the SSD.

When I had the SSD connected to the SATA3_2 port, it was at least "seen," but as a Slave drive. I want it to be the boot drive, and install Win7 Pro 64 onto it, so it needs to be detected as a Master drive. I was told I needed to connect it to the SATA3_0 port to have it seen as the Master drive.

So, I connected the SSD to the SATA3_0 port, and now it isn't detected at all. Great.

I've been told (perhaps incorrectly) that I need drivers/utilities from Intel (or other) to install my SSD and have it detected properly. At the moment, I'm not sure I understand how this would be done, when there is no OS yet to work with anything -- it appears to be a Catch-22.

Well, I'm long on work and short on sleep, so maybe there's just something I'm missing here. All helpful comments and advice are welcome and appreciated . . . thank you in advance.

- Dave G.


New System basics:

PC case: Antec® 900
Mobo: Gigabyte® GA-FX990-UD5 w/onboard sound
PSU: ThermalTake® ToughPower 750W
CPU: AMD® Phenom II 1090T 6-core
RAM: Patriot® Viper Extreme 8GB DDR3-1866 kit (2x4GB)
SSD: Patriot® Wildfire PW120GS25SSDR 120GB SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5"
HDD: 2x Western Digital® Caviar Black 640GB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
External HDD: Seagate® FreeAgent GoFlex 3TB External Hard Drive
DVD-R/W: Sony® Optiarc AD-7261S-0B Black SATA 24X Dual/Double Layer DVD Burner with LightScribe
Video: Sapphire® AMD Radeon HD 6770 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.0 x16
O/S: Windows® 7 Professional (OEM full version)

 

[benikens]

It could be a similar issue to what i have, my agility 3 ssd stopped being detected by my gigabyte mobo also. I have been told it's because of the sandforce controller which is what the patriots run to, I'm currently in the process of getting mine replaced so i can get a crucial M4 instead.

 

[inzone]

You both have Gigabyte boards and both having trouble detecting SSD's , maybe its a Gigabyte problem. I have had two Asus boards and 3 SSD's and a Revo drive and they have all been detected no problems. In the bios in the boot section is the drive listed in the boot sequence or the hdd list. Have you changed the ide setting to ahci ?

 

[stargazer777]

benikens,

It seems you're saying (or implying) that the Sandforce controller is not compatible with Gigabyte motherboards. Is there no workaround for this? I do not want to replace my Patriot Wildfire SSD.

I've read posts from many who have successfully installed this SSD with a Gigabyte mobo, with spectacular results. Guess I just have to keep searching and asking until someone reveals what their solution was.

Thank you for your reply!

- Dave G.

 

[beenthere]

stargazzer777-

Some mobos BIOS will not detect an SSD as a boot drive. You should check with Gigabyte to be sure on your specific mobo.

benikens-

There have been issues with Sandforce SF-2281 controllers but the firmware seems to be the real issue. Crucial has also had issues with their SSDs as have Corsair and Intel. They've all had different problems... Below is a quote from the Aug. Tom's SSD review.

"There's no debating whether SSDs offer blistering performance. That that doesn't really matter if you can't trust the device holding that important information. When you read about Corsair's Force 3 recall, OCZ's firmware updates to prevent BSODs, Crucial's link power management issues, and Intel's SSD 320 that loses capacity after a power failure, all within a two-month period, you have to acknowledge that we're dealing with a technology that's simply a lot newer (and consequently less mature) than mechanical storage. " end quote

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/296825-30-bios-gigabyte-mobo-detect

 

[vigilante212]

Unplug your other drives and plug in only the SSD install windows and then add your other drives.

 

[benikens]

I had heard gigabyte boards sometimes don't play well with ocz drives but thats probably just speculation, My knowledge on the matter is limited to what I've learned on these forums, I'm yet to try updating firmware but i think that's likely to help as it's been mentioned a few times.

 

[stargazer777]

Thanks to all for comments thus far.

Vigilante212, thank you for your remarks, I failed to mention that I had ALL other HDDs disconnected already, before I even installed the SSD.

If firmware is indeed an issue, how do I get a firmware flash for my SSD, when the system doesn't even see it yet, and there is no OS yet?

 

[Arhea]

You will need to go to Manufacturers website and download the new firmware and flashing utility on a different machine. I just recently did this for my Crucial SSD. You can burn a disc or create a bootable USB drive and boot into the firmware upgrader directly.