X58A-UD3R Marvell controller not detecting any HDDs

[nottinmatterz_2day]

Hey guys. I have the Gigabyte X58-UD3R trying to use HDDs on the notoriously problematic Marvell SATA3 6Gb/s ports.

My problem is different and worse from all previous ones I've seen however.

I installed Windows 7 (64-bit) without any additional drivers, using one of the ICH10 ports.

If I plug a HDD into one of the marvell ports it is not detected in my BIOS or in OS

The OS did not even show a Marvell storage controller until after I went to install one (ver. 1.2.0.1003 from http://www.station-drivers.com/page/marvell.htm as Gigabyte does not provide a driver) at which point my Windows 7 64-Bit blue screened with an error showing mvs9xx which is the filename for the marvell driver.

Now it does show a Marvell storage controller in device manager but still not showing a HDD in BIOS or OS device manager or disk management

BIOS settings are:
GSATA3 RAID Mode Control: Fw Mode
SATA3 Firmware Selection: Auto

Another note is if I try to enter the "GSATA3 RAID Configuration" it doesn't load anything. If Gsata3 is set to IDE mode it freezes, if set to AHCI it holds for a few seconds without going anywhere then lets me move up or down on the same screen

BIOS was updated to new FG version from May this year

 

[geofelt]

Try installing the marvell console driver and the raid driver
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3449#dl

 

[nottinmatterz_2day]

Try installing the marvell console driver and the raid driver
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3449#dl

Did that as well, the Marvell console does not show anything

It seems like it would be a motherboard problem as it does not show the drives in BIOS either

 

[nottinmatterz_2day]

I decided to keep the Marvell controller disabled I will just use the other 8 ports, I may switch the motherboard to an Asus later. Too many people having problem with the marvell driver and also my onboard LAN stopped working so I had to buy an add-in PCIe card

 

[spooky2th]

I had problems with the LAN too until I updated the BIOS and the LAN drivers from the Gigabyte web site.

 

[jaquith]

The ONLY 'drive(s)' that have any business on the Marvell are SSD that are 350~400 (max) MB/s R/W. Utltra fast SSD e.g. OCZ Vertex 3 loose 160+ MB/s Reads and 100+ MB/s Writes with ALL Marvell 91XX because of the shared x1 lane so the Max R/W is <390 MB/s. In contrast the Marvell 918X uses x2 lanes and the full ~600 MB/s can be obtained.

A 'HDD' {120~140 MB/s} is at best 1/2 SATA2 port speed 290~295 (max) MB/s. There's no benefits for a Mechanical HDD with a SATA3 '6Gb/s' INTERFACE HDD on SATA3 Ports. Most every test I've seen the Marvell yields a slower Writes and similar Reads compared to the Intel SATA2 ports.

edit:

If Gsata3 is set to IDE mode it freezes, if set to AHCI it holds for a few seconds without going anywhere then lets me move up or down on the same screen

If you are switching back and forth then chances are that you corrupted the registry; see -> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976 If using (1) SSD then use the Marvell port closet to the MOBO PCB.

 

[nottinmatterz_2day]

Best answer selected by nottinmatterz_2day.