[SOLVED] Motherboard not recognizing SATA ports, and now also PCI-e

[emilianogh]

So, I had a computer out of use for a long time, probably over 4-5 years stored. It was working perfectly when I had it in use and I built it with what at the time were good components.
Recently my mom needed a computer for her business so I bought an SSD and thought it could bring additional speed.
I installed the drive, and Windows 10, and everything was running really smooth!

Specs:
Asus P5KPL-AM
4gb RAM
Intel Q9559 core2quad
PCI-e graphics card: MSI Geforce n9600GT 1GB

Problems:
So after everything was running perfectly and actually pretty fast considering how old the machine is, I got it to my mom, which was super happy with it.
This didn’t last long though. After some time the machine was intermittently recognizing the SATA drive, so it was sometimes not being able to get into Windows.

This problem started increasing at the point that the drive was no longer recognized (but the DVD burner was still showing up in BIOS).
I thought maybe the SSD was not compatible or something, and plugged the previous drive in.
After that, it started failing more often than not and even stopped recognizing DVD drive (or any drive at any port really).

I stripped up the machine and removed everything, left only one RAM, no graphics card, and started testing every possible combination. No luck.

Things I tried:

• Different RAM memory (in different slots)
• Different drives at different ports
• Different SATA cables (from other working PC)
• Cleaned everything really good
• Checked for bad CAPS, everything looks perfect and looked for anything looking burnt or funny, nothing
• Repasted CPU
• Checked temperatures, everything within normal
• Checked the power supply voltages (with multimeter and in BIOS), everything good (also it was the last replaced component not much use, and supposed to be good brand)
• Swapped with another PSU, same
• Different BIOS settings (yeah new battery, and reset several times)
• Flashed different versions of BIOS fw
• Following videos on YouTube tested with and actual tester south and north bridges, seems fine..

At this point I have not been able to get the ports working again, and even the PCI-e stopped working at some point.
The BIOS also sometimes freezes after less than a minute and some other random failures.
I considered replacing the BIOS chip, but im pretty sure that's not the problem.
I thought to maybe buy a PCI SATA ports card (but not sure my PCI port will work)

I have depleted all my resources and don’t know what to do. I could buy a new motherboard but not sure it's worth it. I would rather try to find the problem in this one, even if its at a chip level. I have some degree of electronics knowledge and could possibly replace something (like every CAP in the mobo).

Sorry for the long post, I’m really lost here. I appreciate any light anyone could bring!!

 

[jay32267]

I would suspect power supply or motherboard.....and being you can't get into Windows....I think the two ways to determine what it is.....is either to....

Swap in another power supply.
OR
Check the voltages of the one you have with a multimeter (there are videos on the net on how to do this).

The only issue with checking it with a meter is....you won't be checking it under load....which means you may miss something.

...but if the PSU is really bad....you can catch it even if it's not under load.

 

[emilianogh]

thanks jay32267, I did check the PSU with a multimeter following guides, and looks good. Also, at some point I tried with that others computer power supply, and same thing.
That leaves motherboard I guess

 

[emilianogh]

so i finally ended up replacing the motherboard altogether, seems to be working fine now..

 

[jay32267]

so i finally ended up replacing the motherboard altogether, seems to be working fine now..

Good to hear!!!