Gigabyte MB cannot find HDD with SSD in Motherboard

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Angelus_Gabriel

Commendable
Jun 7, 2016
9
0
1,510
The problem has existed since the installation of Windows 10 (W10) on my SSD drive. I cannot say that the problem would have existed before hand. I watched this video on youtube that said you should boot your computer with the SSD in and the HDD not so that the W10 operating system will be installed on it instead. After doing this the video said to reconnect your HDD in order to format it and start storing things on it. After reconnecting my HDD Windows Disk Management did not find the WD HDD. Now I have looked at multiple substitutions on tomshare and have yet to find one that has helped.

Symptoms: Cannot find WD Black HDD in BIOS or W Disk Management, even when reconnecting the SATA cable to every single different SATA plug. Cannot find WD Black HDD in UEFI.

***My MB can recognize the WD HDD when I remove my SSD then boot directly to BIOS. At that point the computer says it can see it.***

Here is what I have tried:

First the MB cannot format a HDD from the BIOS. Since this is W 10 I tried using the UEFI to try to find the HDD but UEFI is hard to use and it did not offer anything in the realm of finding a HDD to use nor to format it.

This specific MB comes with six SATA connectors. I have tried every single one, even gone into the BIOS and turned one one specific one to only connect the SATA cable to that one with no results either.

I also decided to see if my other desktop could recognize the HDD. Not surprisingly after rebooting the Dell it saw the HDD and after going to W Disk Management, it showed up and allowed me to format the disk.

Now after formatting the HDD I thought that my MB would finally be able to recognize it. It did no such thing. I still had the same problem where it would go unrecognized unless I removed my computer's SSD and then only left the HDD in.

While in the BIOS I looked at the boot priority list. While the SSD is in the only options to choose for boot order is the W SSD or SSD. Only the Windows SSD will work. There is a third option which is disable. When removing the SSD and leaving the HDD. The only option is WD "serial num of HDD" or disable.

Another weird finding in the BIOS is that the MB will recognize my external HDD when plugged in a 3.0 USB Port. (but not the WD HHD)

I have tried:
At least 4 different methods already on Tom's Hardware.
Removing SSD (gets me the only recognition of HDD).
Using different SATA cords (did not matter).
Using different SATA plug ins ports (also did not matter).
Power is not an issue since i have a Gold EVGA 750 W Power supply (and no graphics card)
Disk management to find the drive (did find my external hard drive through USB 3.0)
Use BIOS to format disk (MB not capable of doing)
Formated HDD on another Desktop Computer
Tried using another Hard Drive to connect with to see if that was recognized (was not).

My Guess:
As weird as it may seem, once my MB knows it has a SSD it is like it stops looking for SATA storage devices (External HDD was still seen). So I would venture to say that there is something somewhere that is preventing the MB from getting to the part of looking for another drive. Which also includes a different HDD. Possibly ruling out a bad HDD.


Thank you all for your time and effort. I will reply ASAP with results of the suggestions you put or an answer to clarify and confusion that may be found. Will post how it was officially fixed in the end.*

*If it ever gets fixed!!! (insert spooky music with thunder in background)


***
Gigabyte Z170X - Gaming 5 motherboard LGA 1151
Core i7 - 6700K
16 GB RAM
119GB Samsung SSD
Windows 10 Home 64-bit

WD Black 1TB (not working or not being picked up)

No optical drive nor graphics card

Currently using integrated graphics.

***

 
Solution
Colif
that is cause they share pci e lanes, its only the top end boards that have enough pci e lanes to go around, I can choose to either have an nvme 2 card or a 2nd graphics card, not that I have either. Same applies to my Sata Express port, can use it or something else, not both.

When I saw SSD I assumed it was the regular kind or maybe NVME. I had overlooked the pci versions.
Sort by date Sort by votes
Colif

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Jun 12, 2015
65,261
6,464
168,090
what happens if you remove ssd and run the win 10 installer on the hdd? follow this until you get to step 12 or 13, wipe drive and reverse out http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

it may not do anything but its strange it can't see the drive at all if ssd is in, I could understand if it was formatted as a windows disc though. sort of..

Was windows 10 on hdd an upgrade from win 7? I think its a question of formats.

Win 10 would have used GPT for the SSD as it was a clean install. I assume W SSD matches the boot method used for GPT discs. The hdd is currently formatted to use MBR and it doesn't have the right file name required for the UEFI boot method to boot up.

Win 7 and all versions of Windows used MBR partition format for the hard drives, and it has limitations such as max hdd size of 2 tb. Win 8 and 10 use GPT and the max disc size it can access is so big it will take many years to approach it. IT can have 128 partitions on a drive and each one can be 256 tb in size

UEFI boot is backwards compatible, it can access MBR discs but cannot boot them. None of this explains why drive is hidden, it should still show up once win 10 is running, i would have thought.

some info: http://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/

your bios is clever, it must be set to auto somewhere in boot method as it will boot the hdd if ssd isn't in there, it doesn't just sit there saying there is no boot drive. it switches to legacy boot method instead.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

WoadwunnerMe

Commendable
Jun 8, 2016
2
0
1,510


 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

WoadwunnerMe

Commendable
Jun 8, 2016
2
0
1,510
I had a very similar problem with a gygabyte motherboard. After some time I found that there is a hidden screen that interfaces the bios to the drives. In setup set the drive startup sequence to CDROM them HDD and turn on the "LAN ROM." Place the OS Disk in the CDROM and crash the computer using the Power button. When the screen transitions past setup hold down the SHIFT and F10 keys. An otherwise hidden screen shall appear where the drive sequence in the bios is then enabled and verified. Set that bloody screen to 8 secs instead of the minimum. This is the Woadwunner method!
Goodluck!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

Angelus_Gabriel

Commendable
Jun 7, 2016
9
0
1,510
So before I try Colif's suggestion I would like to update and mention that Windows 10 was installed via USB drive. This is a from scratch build gaming desktop. Now the desktop which I used to format the HDD to see if that works was a W 7 which was updated to W 10. Finally everyone mentions UEFI as a boot option. When I tell my computer to boot with UEFI it redirects to my MB BIOS. Will post soon with updates about Colif's potential solution.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

maxwellmelon

Splendid
Oct 2, 2013
2,511
0
24,010
FYI "When I tell my computer to boot with UEFI it redirects to my MB BIOS." usually means that you didn't do a UEFI install of windows 10. it did a regular install.

a video that shows you how to check that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyEqJ69Zv_s

fyi wont fix your initial prob but you might want to reinstall windows in uefi mode if its not before you get to far along.

the only thing I can think of is disable fast bootup in your bios if it has that option anywhere. (I'm not don't know what your bios options are)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

Angelus_Gabriel

Commendable
Jun 7, 2016
9
0
1,510
UEFI video showed exactly what my computer did. I can also get to UEFI by settings>update+security>recovery>restart. Have no clue how to navigate it though.

I tried to do the install on that HDD. The W-10 setup noticed the drive and allowed me to see that there were two partitions on it. Partition 0 was 128 GB which was incapable of being formatted nor was I able to install W-10 on it. Partition 1 was the remaining 912 GB or so which was able to be formatted but failed saying it was in GPI format already which was also the excuse it used when I tried to install W-10 on it.

Million Dollar Question: Why can my MB recognize the HDD when the SSD is not in but the moment it is the HHD is completely unrecoverable by my computer.

In my BIOS I also changed the settings for startup to only be directly to the UEFI, still ended up in BIOS. The motherboard drivers are all up to date. There is not CD drive for this computer. It is a grand current total of 1.5 thousand dollars and a stupid HDD Black 1 TB is what is preventing me from installing Steam and downloading all my games on it and other AAA games I have like Crysis 1,2, and 3, FarCry 3, and other fun games like MWOnline.

Closing comments:

Please still submit ideas you have, I may be growing impatient but I want this to work and am sure there is some cheesy solution.

Is it worth it to just return the HDD and the SDD and just pay the extra big $$$ and get a larger SSD.

I am willing to take screen shots and show all the problems that I am running into or even recording a video on my iPod and linking it here to youtube. (yes that desprate)

Finally, I did try to plug in my old Laptops HDD, and that was not recognizable as well but that was only trying the disk management. I did not feel like going through all the trouble I already did with the WD Black HHD.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Colif

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Jun 12, 2015
65,261
6,464
168,090
So you couldn't delete the partition 0? Odd its protecting a C drive like that. Never seen it act like that before. Did you try to make entire drive unallocated space?

Damn gigabyte and their naming conventions. The BIOS you are using is the UEFI. http://www.bjorn3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/150903191324.jpg
UEFI replaced BIOS functions: https://www.happyassassin.net/2014/01/25/uefi-boot-how-does-that-actually-work-then/
settings/update & security/recovery/restart just loads the advanced start up menu of windows.
to get to UEFI from here, select troubleshoot/advanced/UEFI Firmware settings but you knew that :)

You can only boot GPT discs using an UEFI so there is that too. UEFI has a mode it can use to act like a BIOS, hence all 32 bit Win 7 pc's can still use them. And it allows people to upgrade to Win 10 without having to reformat drives right away. Soon as they do fresh install on a UEFI enabled operating system it asks you to format the hdd unless its empty already. Win 10 will refuse to go onto a non GPT disc unless you swap boot method to legacy

Hang on, partition 2 is GPT already? you can't have MBR and GPT on same drive so it must be GPT already.. okay, my ideas is out window. Download Data Life Guard for windows and test HDD: http://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

Angelus_Gabriel

Commendable
Jun 7, 2016
9
0
1,510
Colif:
As I stated in my entire write up, using my sisters desktop, (since her MB recognized the HDD) I formatted it into GPT. I am not sure how there are two partitions but they both exist. Where 0 does not even allow the option of formatting and 1 allows for it but it cannot be formatted since it is in GPT. That is what I formatted it as using my sisters Dell.

Now you say I can only boot GPT disks using UEFI. I am using 64 bit W-10 right now.

The BIOS I am using is for the Gaming 5 not the 7. http://i.imgur.com/oNRndVF.jpg That is the image for the Gaming 3 but for some reason the BIOS looks the same for mine. Now you can see there are two boot options. If I remove the SSD it sees the WB HDD Black 1TB. If I keep the SSD in, there is no option for the HDD. Only to have one of two version of the SSD or to disable the second boot option.

Here is the thing though. If my MB is suppose to be able to boot to that UEFI, the one immage that you linked from bjorn3d then I am not actually seeing the UEFI and I do not actually know how to get there. Only thing I have in my defense is that in the upper left hand corner the UEFI claims it is a UEFI. Let me know if I am wrong.

Thanks.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Colif

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Jun 12, 2015
65,261
6,464
168,090
Lets stop arguing about what your firmware calls itself, its not really getting you any closer to an answer. Its a UEFI, it says it is.. it just has different appearance to one I linked.

did you run the western digital software I linked?

I am just as curious about answer to your 1 million dollar question as you are.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

Angelus_Gabriel

Commendable
Jun 7, 2016
9
0
1,510
Colif:

Sorry about seeming to come off to much about the UEFI. I just want to make sure I am using the right one (just really desperate).

Here is an image of the WD software you linked. http://s33.postimg.org/swsmi0k5r/image.png It did not see it.

Another thing I noticed in the UEFI was that whenever I looked at the peripherals section with the SSD in the only thing that it allowed as an option for the SATA ports was RAID and something else AHCI I believe. Not that that information helps but it could. Another section in peripherals shows your potential RAID set up, this section cannot be accessed when the SSD is removed but when the SSD and HDD are in then it can be opened. It says that port 0 or the port my HDD is in is empty at that point. Suggesting that before UEFI kicks in, my computer has already decreed that the HDD cannot be seen. (possibly)

Hope this helps. o7

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

maxwellmelon

Splendid
Oct 2, 2013
2,511
0
24,010
ok just an idea

can you please try the following settings in your bios ***if not set this way

go to bios features tab

fastboot: (disabled)
sata support: (all sata devices) ---- (might not have this setting to change)
storage boot option: (legacy)

next tab "Peripherals"

sata controllers: (enabled)
sata mode : (AHCI)
aggressive LPM: (disable)
port0/1/2/3/4/5: (enabled)

just an idea.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

Angelus_Gabriel

Commendable
Jun 7, 2016
9
0
1,510
Maxwellmelon:

So I tried what you suggested and sadly it did not work. I also tried a few other variations including enabling the hot plug and another setting called External Hard Drive. I do not have a SATA support option.

New questions:

Do I go to WD and say I need a new HDD because theirs does not seem to work for me?

Do I go to Gigabyte and wave around my 3 year warranty paper and send them my MB with the SSD and HDD so that they can see the problem I am having?

Or just demand a new MB. (probably will not do anything since it actually works just not with the SSD)

Can I reformat the HDD on my sisters computer again to something other that GPT to get it to possibly work?

Angelus_Gabriel out. o7
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Colif

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Jun 12, 2015
65,261
6,464
168,090
There are three WD reps on this forum, amazingly they seem to avoid the posts about WD drives I answer. Did you run that data life guard on the drive as it is their software, I expect they would ask.

If drive didn't let you touch the partition 0 in the steps I suggested I don't think trying another format would make a difference. Its bizarro, drive works fine if ssd isn't in pc but not when it is, so its not a normal hardware fault. It might be an abnormal one

Should post a question on the Gigabyte forums telling them what your problem is, it might be some arcane combo of settings we can't think of.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

Angelus_Gabriel

Commendable
Jun 7, 2016
9
0
1,510
SAMSUNG SM951 M.2 128GB PCI-Express 3.0 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

I do not know if PCI Express Changes anything about the SSD. Maybe it is because it is a different type. I could just buy the 256 GB for 159.00. Which would be paid for after returning the HDD as well as this SDD.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

Angelus_Gabriel

Commendable
Jun 7, 2016
9
0
1,510
You all are about to melt your minds when you read this. I suggest that you sit down. So i have tow PCI slots for my SSD card on the mother board. I finally decided "hey why not try the other one?" and guess what! It worked! I can now access and see my WD HDD.

Now for the part where you have to sit down. So when I switch the SSD from the upper position to the lower position, I lose the ability to connect to the internet. NO JOKE! So I have to chose between internet and HDD now. Either the top SSD slot is used with no HDD or I use the bottom one and lose my wireless card. Now there is a small difference. My computer can notice the wireless card but it becomes disabled. For whatever reason. I tried to re-enable it but that does nothing and actually cause the wireless card to no longer be seen in the internet adapter option menu. So once again I am screwed over by my SSD. I have decided that the SSD is the reason that my computer is not running properly but I cannot submit this as the answer to the problem because it could also be the mother board not proper allocating priorities when it runs. So I get this weird choice in my computer? Be able to access the game I want to play on the internet or be able to get the internet? Its like I have to choose between only having one for my car, the engine or the transmission.

This is such an actual pain that I have to go through this and cannot even figure out why this is happening. So lets see if i can solve the WIFI card issue. Anyone have any suggestions about how I might be able to get the WIFI card to be detected now??? Or solve the reason my motherboard cannot handle more that two connections at once?

The choice triangle: Choose two: HHD works, SSD works, Internet works.

Until next time.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Colif

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Jun 12, 2015
65,261
6,464
168,090
that is cause they share pci e lanes, its only the top end boards that have enough pci e lanes to go around, I can choose to either have an nvme 2 card or a 2nd graphics card, not that I have either. Same applies to my Sata Express port, can use it or something else, not both.

When I saw SSD I assumed it was the regular kind or maybe NVME. I had overlooked the pci versions.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom