Z97 Extreme6: hard drives not detected from Asmedia SATAE ports

[blackneyed]

I recently built a system with the Z97 Extreme6 and the two SATA ports that are shared with the SATAE ports will not recognize my hard drives. The drives themselves work in other ports and are known-good. They are shown as "not detected" in BIOS. I have tried both "auto" and "force SATA" in the configuration for the M.2/SATAE port. I have the latest BIOS (1.40) and latest drivers for the Z97 chipset and Asmedia SATA controller. I also have a graphics card in the PCIE 3.0 slot (topmost). I intend to fill all SATA ports and so it is important to get these two ports working. Any suggestions?

System:
Win 7 Pro
Core i7 4790K
2x8 GB Crucial, 2x4 GB G.Skill
Samsung 840 EVO 500GB on SATA3_0
Radeon HD 6950

[parsec]

Re: Z97 Extreme6: hard drives not detected from Asmedia SATAE ports

Your thread's title references the ASMedia and SATAE (SATA Express) ports. But it is the Intel SATA ports that are shared with SATA Express and the M.2 drive slot, and the options you mentioned in the BIOS do not affect the ASMedia SATA ports.

So where are the drives that are not detected actually connected, to the ASMedia or Intel SATA ports?

[blackneyed]

Re: Z97 Extreme6: hard drives not detected from Asmedia SATAE ports

Your thread's title references the ASMedia and SATAE (SATA Express) ports. But it is the Intel SATA ports that are shared with SATA Express and the M.2 drive slot, and the options you mentioned in the BIOS do not affect the ASMedia SATA ports.

So where are the drives that are not detected actually connected, to the ASMedia or Intel SATA ports?

My mistake. But it is the shared SATAE ports, 4 and 5.

[parsec]

Re: Z97 Extreme6: hard drives not detected from Asmedia SATAE ports

Ok, I have drives on the Intel SATA ports 3, 4, and 5, with the M2_2/SATA3_4, SATA3_5 Switch setting on Auto, and all the drives are detected fine.

While in most cases it should not matter, but what drives are you using on those ports? Do you happen to be using the HDD Saver power connection option on this board?

You aren't using an M.2 drive in your system, correct?

[blackneyed]

Re: Z97 Extreme6: hard drives not detected from Asmedia SATAE ports

The undetected drives are: 2TB Seagate (ST2000DM001) and 1TB Western Digital (WD1001FALS).

No M.2 drive. I also have a 500GB SSD connected.

HDD Power Saving setting is disabled. I also do not have the Intel Management Engine drivers, Rapid Start, Rapid Storage, Smart Connect, A-Tuning drivers installed.

[Britgeezer]

Re: Z97 Extreme6: hard drives not detected from Asmedia SATAE ports

I have this MB, but sorry no time to access the manual.

From my identical problem with a Gigabyte MB please check that the Intel or ASMedia SATA ports support SATA port multiplier feature. This is a requirement for the Pro Media box with eSATA but not with USB 3.0.

I will come back to this thread with a link to mine. Here you go: http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte...rev-1-3-a.html

I had to install an add on card, I you do; go straight for the SIL card.

[parsec]

Re: Z97 Extreme6: hard drives not detected from Asmedia SATAE ports

The undetected drives are: 2TB Seagate (ST2000DM001) and 1TB Western Digital (WD1001FALS).

No M.2 drive. I also have a 500GB SSD connected.

HDD Power Saving setting is disabled. I also do not have the Intel Management Engine drivers, Rapid Start, Rapid Storage, Smart Connect, A-Tuning drivers installed.

Personally, I always install the IME software, mainly so I can use the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. While Intel is not forthcoming about all the things IME does, it is definitely related to the full functioning of the chipset's features. That it affects the SATA interface would be news to me, but you never know.

Since I always use the Intel Rapid Storage driver, I have no experience using the default MSoft AHCI driver (which is installed by default, assuming you are using AHCI mode) with the unique option M2_2/SATA3_4, SATA3_5 Switch that never existed before this board. If the IRST driver is needed for the switch option to work correctly, I don't know and have never seen any information about that, either way.

The Rapid Start and Smart Connect software are simply features and not needed for the basic functioning of the board. A-Tuning is also unrelated to your issue, and some of its features won't work without the IME software installed.

Port multipliers are not related to your problem, and none of the Intel SATA chipsets support port multipliers.

I've seen this board occasionally need a reboot after installing a new drive, but it sounds like you've done that already.

[blackneyed]

Re: Z97 Extreme6: hard drives not detected from Asmedia SATAE ports

As I'm sure you might have suspected, it turned out to be something stupid. I apparently didn't check if the cable was seated into the drive well enough. I started taking out all of my drives and I noticed it didn't feel as well secured as the other ones. Once that was corrected all drives were detected as expected.

Thanks for all your suggestions parsec and britgeezer, and thanks for your patience helping me troubleshoot this.

[parsec]

Re: Z97 Extreme6: hard drives not detected from Asmedia SATAE ports

Thanks for letting us know what happened, particularly if it was something... stupid.

Frankly, I don't like SATA cables, or really the connectors. The connectors are hardly the precision parts they should be IMO. Even the locking type have a lot of "play", and the contact interface is a wire-like conductor touching a flat contact on one side only. Fortunately it is a digital interface without the need for any amount of current flow.

I've had SATA data cables that look fine, but when replaced were obviously not good. I wish someone made a truly high quality SATA data cable, but I have yet to find one.

OTOH, I saw a test where multiple SATA cables were connected together to create a six foot long cable. Benchmark tests showed no difference in performance using the six foot, multiple contact cable run.

I still say it's a miracle the darn things work at all.

[Britgeezer]

Re: Z97 Extreme6: hard drives not detected from Asmedia SATAE ports