[SOLVED] I think I have a faulty SATA port.

[savelawachin]

This is so, I know it is a very busy topic but I never find the answer I need.
I hope you can help me.

Question that I always had problems with the disks in all the PCs, so I almost never worried about thinking that this new PC was another problem... I bought with a lot of effort a SSD of 240GB and a HDD of 4tb, the which ended with the same fate as the others.
The SSD fried and the HDD clicked until it died.

Then, I started using an old, very old disk which never had problems until I took out another two discs, which were NEW, less than a week of use, of a work pc that died due to a factory problem and when trying them on my pc, they clicked without stopping.
One day, it occurred to me to test the PSU, everything normal, normal voltages... changing cables, it was also the same, they kept clicking. I changed ports, the same.

I realized that the other old disk was in the ports where the optical drives go, I have four ports below that I think are for hard disks and two ports above that, I think they are for optical drives.
To my surprise, they never made more noise, I never had any problem, absolutely nothing, they work perfectly.
Anyway, I got tired and bought an SSD again...

Now, what I need to know is... how do I know what problem I have with the SATA ports, I need to know if I can test them in any way, I have to know if any of the four ports, but are all those who have problems.

I'm desperate and I have to try in some way if it really is the SATA ports that throw problem, because I think so.
Please, please, I need to know with WHAT and HOW to find out if the problem is the SATA ports.

Oh, I almost forgot, my motherboard is an M5A97 LE R2.0 from ASUS.

Thank you, thank you very much in advance.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Best way for an average owner to test a SATA port is connect a known good drive using a known good cable, as you have done. Does BIOS identify the drives even when they 'click'?

What PSU, CPU and GPU do you have?

I see where you 'tested' your PSU but I suspect that at most you only measured voltages with a meter. There is a lot more that could be bad: voltage regulation could be bad or ripple voltage bad. These are things only seen under load and with more sophisticated tools like an oscilloscope. Also, if the PSU is weak the voltage could sag as the CPU puts a load on the 12v rail and that can affect all other voltages.

 

[savelawachin]

Well, actually the BIOS identifies the discs even when they click... the only thing that when I left a lot of time clicking the other 4tb disc, it reached the point that it stopped appearing in Windows, even in the disk manager. One day I got tired and left it plugged in when I was able to borrow the old disk and eventually it appeared in the BIOS but not in the OS, and vice versa.
What I'm saying about the PSU is that I'm actually using the same connectors because more than three discs I do not use and I'm so lazy that I do not want to unwind the other cables so I used the same ones for the reason I tested and did not give any problems, but now that you tell me, I got the doubt but still I do not think so.

I have a generic PSU, 530w Powercooler with certificate, otherwise I think this would not survive an FX 6300 and a Sapphire 7870.
I do not know if the information is useful, but I have a UPS, the other day I made a battery change and I did service and did not have problems.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Well, actually the BIOS identifies the discs even when they click... the only thing that when I left a lot of time clicking the other 4tb disc, it reached the point that it stopped appearing in Windows, even in the disk manager. One day I got tired and left it plugged in when I was able to borrow the old disk and eventually it appeared in the BIOS but not in the OS, and vice versa.
What I'm saying about the PSU is that I'm actually using the same connectors because more than three discs I do not use and I'm so lazy that I do not want to unwind the other cables so I used the same ones for the reason I tested and did not give any problems, but now that you tell me, I got the doubt but still I do not think so.

I have a generic PSU, 530w Powercooler with certificate, otherwise I think this would not survive an FX 6300 and a Sapphire 7870.
I do not know if the information is useful, but I have a UPS, the other day I made a battery change and I did service and did not have problems.

You seem pleased with the PSU but with the indicators you've given I'd definitely suspect it even so. Especially with that processor and GPU, and extra-especially if it's a bit on the aged. Getting hold of another PSU and trying it out would be the next step. Even uncoiling those cables and using some different connectors may help, but if it does I'd definitely put a new PSU in the budget as soon as possible.

Your UPS should have nothing to do with this unless you're running on the battery at the time.