Problems with ahci/SSD controller issue

rick29

Distinguished
Oct 27, 2011
15
0
18,510
Hi guys,I put together a new system a couple of days ago,and for the life of me and Asus,we cant figure out the issue I am having.First off,I have 2 solid state drives,not indentical in size,and 1 mechanical HDD as storage.While the ssd's show up and are accesible,the hdd storage drive wont show up,and is not usable.


I am running the sata in AHCI mode,with hot plug off.I tried running it in ide/raid mode,but the mechanical ssd wont show up.Before we continue,all of my drivers are up to date,my hunch is that there is a bug somewhere in the bios possibly,not to sure on that.I need this drive to store all of the junk that I want to keep off my ssd's to keep em running as fast as possible.Below is a hardware listing of what I am using.

Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z -Default settings,no overclock(yet)
Intel Sandy Bridge 2600k
16 gb Gskill ddr3 2133 @ 1600 (for now)
1 Corsair Force GT 120gb SSD
1 Corsait Force 3 180gb SSD
WD Velociraptor 600gb HDD
Asus Matrix gtx 580 nvidia graphics card
Current Bios is 703-No newer bios released which is relevent to me or my situation.


Again,all drivers are up to date,proper installing order was done complete and correct.Other than the issue of my hdd not showing up,my system is fast and is suprisingly stable..Any help would be awesome,thanks!
 
Is it not showing up in bios, or in windows 7 "My Computer"

Do leave your Bios set to AHCI.

If Not showing up in bios. (if not already done)
.. Replace cables
.. Swap your "data SSD and the HDD sata ports.
.. Try a differnt HDD (if availble), or thry the HDD in an enclusure, or 2nd computer.

If Not Showing up in My Computer, You probably did, but have to ask. You did go into Disk management and initialize/partiton/format the HDD.
 
Your SSDs should be connected to the Intel 6Gb/s ports (SATA6G_1 & SATA6G_2) in AHCI mode for maximum performance.

Ideally you want your HDD connected to one of the 4 Intel 3Gb/s ports (SATA3G_3 through SATA3G_6).
If the HDD is not being recognized on any of those 4 ports then connect it to one of the Marvell 6Gb/s ports (SATA6G_E1 or SATA6G_E2) in IDE mode.

It should work on one of the Marvell ports since it is a separate controller with its own IDE, AHCI, and RAID settings.
 

rick29

Distinguished
Oct 27, 2011
15
0
18,510
@Dereck47,ah ok,I see.I will give this a shot.And in the event this dosent work,the drive is there,in device manager,bios.Its just accessing it isnt possible.I am gonna try putting the hdd sata input into the intel port.
 

rick29

Distinguished
Oct 27, 2011
15
0
18,510
@RetiredChief,when I installed windows,I created a partition for it,however,was still unable to access it after that,windows wouldnt even let me install the os on it..
 
On Your Boot SSD, there should be a small 100 mb system partition and then a large partition for you "C" drive. If NOT recommend reloading windows.

(1) Disconnect all Drives except the SSD you want windows on.
(2) Verify bios is set to AHCI (Note SSD should be attacted to one of the two Intel SATA III Ports.
(3) Insert windows installation disk and select Custom Install
(4) on page asking where to install click advanced and first delete all partitions then select the UNPartitioned drive to install windows 7 on.

Don't for get to down load the latest Intel RST driver and install after windows installs. This will change the driver from the default msahci -> iaSTor.
Link to ver 10.6: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Chipsets&ProductLine=Chipset+Software&ProductProduct=Intel%c2%ae+Rapid+Storage+Technology

Once done, and happy with windows 7 installation, then power down and reconnect other hard drives.
 

rick29

Distinguished
Oct 27, 2011
15
0
18,510
Oh boy,this will be my 5th install of windows lol..Well,at least it only takes about 8 minutes from start to finish..Ok,currently there is a 100mb partition that was created during the install of windows,its lableled as local disk D,local disk E which is my other ssd didnt create a second partition,like the first one did.



So since my C drive has that 100 mb partition,do you still reccomend redoing windows?Cause I dont really mind,its just I hate doing all the updates again..Last time it went well,but before that I was getting the Missing element error and was unable to install sp1.Let me know,thanks again for helping me out with this.


 

rick29

Distinguished
Oct 27, 2011
15
0
18,510
To be exact,that partition is 96.0 mb in total size.I also checked my version of IRST,and its 10.6,so thats good..I hav heard of some folks saying to install windows on a regular hdd then transfer it to the ssd,not sure on this,but I believe I read that somewhere..
 
The 100 mb partiton will have a drive leter, it is not on your "C" partition.
If you have the 100 mb partition and the reset of the drive is "C" drive then it should be OK, and unless you installed windows on the SSD with all other drives disconnected - no need to re-install
 

rick29

Distinguished
Oct 27, 2011
15
0
18,510
When I installed windows,all of the other drive's were connected,I am going to reinstall windows without the other drive's conncted and see if this corrects the problem.I still dont see how this could effect that storage drive from not initilizing..
 

rick29

Distinguished
Oct 27, 2011
15
0
18,510
(2) Verify bios is set to AHCI (Note SSD should be attacted to one of the two Intel SATA III Ports.

Just re-read this,so,since my board has a Marvell controller,an Intel controller,I should use the intel controller port for my set up of windows?Then switch to the Marvell controller?
 

rick29

Distinguished
Oct 27, 2011
15
0
18,510
This issue has been resolved.Appearently I failed to initilize the hdd after re-installing windows,although another issue I came across was the fact that I had that hdd as disabled in the bios..Doooh..Thanks again guys for the help,I appreciate it.