SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

[puddle247]

I have a ALiveNF6P-VSTA motherboard which is reportedly SATA 3 ready, however, my two HDD's, both SATA3 are not recognised by the BIOS. I gather that there is a software fix but ASR don't show it as a download. Can anyone help me please.

[odiebugs]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

Well sorry, but the board does not have Sata 3, it only has Sata 2.

But this does not mean anything, you can install Sata 3 HDD on it, or Sata 1 drives, Sata 2 drives. Just because the HDD are Sata 3 doesn't mean they need a Sata 3 port.

Check the BIOS and make sure the Sata 2 ports are enabled and set the mode non raid.

Is the OS on IDE, if not disable, if so then set to master.

[- wardog -]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

Is there a SATA-II jumper configuration that the HDD needs jumpered to?

What make and model of HDD's?

[puddle247]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

Neither of the two SATA HDD's have jumpers. The are three pins enclosed but near the PC connectors but jumping them makes no difference. After looking at the manual several times I think the answer lies in making them into a RA David, alias, aka puddle 247ID array; We shall see. Thanks for you replies. I will be back!
David aka puddle247

[Paul Alcorn]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

Always give a different cable a shot....most of the time that is the issue. Of course a good clear CMOS also is curative. Those two usually fix 75% of issues.

[odiebugs]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

Your best bet is to set them as RAID, and install the OS on them, as Sata 2 is slow, and even though you have Sata 3 HDD's, doesn't mean sht, they still will run slower then Sata 1, HDD's with Sata 3 is only for interface value, has ZERO to
do with speed. So installing the OS on A raid array will be the best performance option.

I can't remember, but with vista you might need to pre install the RAID driver when on the install page of windows, after setting the array and installing the OS, when you see the drive and set the size, there is the option to load driver.
Doesn't matter, you can pre install the driver in win 7 or 8 also, just means that the default MS driver won't be used.

[parsec]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

Nvidia chipsets on this board... (ugh)

Those are definitely SATA II only.

The "F6" RAID driver load during the OS installation is required for this chipset if using RAID, at least the safest way regardless.

Actually, I wonder if the unrecognized drive issue is caused by the standard Nvidia SATA II chipset/driver problem, it does not recognize SATA III as a valid speed interface when the SATA link speed is negotiated.

This problem occurs regularly with SATA III SSDs used on Nvidia SATA chipsets, that are then linked at SATA I speeds due to the old, no longer supported and updated Nvidia SATA drivers. They don't know what "SATA III" is, so downshift to SATA I as a default compromise speed.

The SSDs are at least still recognized by the PC and useable, so it is unusual for SATA III drives to not be recognized in the BIOS, apparently.

[odiebugs]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

Nvidia chipsets on this board... (ugh)

Those are definitely SATA II only.

The "F6" RAID driver load during the OS installation is required for this chipset if using RAID, at least the safest way regardless.

Actually, I wonder if the unrecognized drive issue is caused by the standard Nvidia SATA II chipset/driver problem, it does not recognize SATA III as a valid speed interface when the SATA link speed is negotiated.

This problem occurs regularly with SATA III SSDs used on Nvidia SATA chipsets, that are then linked at SATA I speeds due to the old, no longer supported and updated Nvidia SATA drivers. They don't know what "SATA III" is, so downshift to SATA I as a default compromise speed.

The SSDs are at least still recognized by the PC and useable, so it is unusual for SATA III drives to not be recognized in the BIOS, apparently.

I believe he has HDD not SSD. Unless you were just pointing out the fact about SSD, the newest nvidia chip isn't the greatest with SSD's also.

I would be trying to load win 7 on this. I put 8.1 on a 610m chipset. No problems.

[parsec]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

I believe he has HDD not SSD. Unless you were just pointing out the fact about SSD, the newest nvidia chip isn't the greatest with SSD's also.

I would be trying to load win 7 on this. I put 8.1 on a 610m chipset. No problems.

I know the OP uses "SATA III" HDDs, but that does not matter, the result is the same with an SSD or HDD. The Nvidia chipset reads the drive's SATA Capabilities data, and if the SATA III signaling speed bit is set to one (true), then for some reason (driver or OROM code) it sets the link speed to SATA I. I've seen this in several SSD forums, some not to old Apple PCs used Nvidia SATA chips, and any SATA III SSD used with them would run at SATA I speeds.

The PC owners blamed the SSD, but it is not the drive that sets up the SATA link speed, it is the chipset and driver. OCZ actually had a firmware "fix" for this issue at one time for one or more of their SSDs. The firmware update would just set the SATA III bit to 0, which actually turns the SSD into a SATA II speed device. Then those SSDs would run at SATA II speeds on those Nvidia chipsets, per their spec. But put that SSD with that firmware on a SATA III chipset, and it would still run at SATA II speeds because that is what its data told the SATA controller it was, a SATA II device. Other SSD manufactures (Intel, Samsung, etc) did not offer this kludged firmware, and OCZ stopped offering it.

I am saying that this situation may be affecting the drive detection on that board with the Nvidia SATA chipset.

[odiebugs]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

@ PAR :
Are you talking OOB protocol ?

Hard to tell who is really to blame, as I have seen this on my MBP, from what I've read, it's the chipset, getting it from the controller. But I would say driver, and why, well I'll tell you, after putting a vertex on mavericks, the drive is not seen as Sata 1, and it does
not have the fix. Now when it had lion, the drive was seen Sata 1. So how can the same chipset, same controller, with no update to EFI, not have the problem, ???????

Unless OCZ has applied the fix to the firmware, which I don't think they did, as they still have the fix on tools.

You might be right, but I would think that the chipset would just see it as Sata 1, instead of not detecting the drive at all. Even without AHCI, and set to IDE, drives are seen, then again, this BIOS has no Sata settings in the BIOS, only RAID or non.

I still wonder if the OP set them as a RAID array, if they would be detected.

[parsec]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

Odie, I only add chipset rather than just driver, since there are a few different Nvidia SATA chips, and there are so many internal details that I'm not aware of that I don't feel safe just blaming the driver. But I agree that it really is most likely just a driver problem.

Add to this I don't have any direct experience with this issue. Your experience with the Vertex on the two Apple OS's is great information about this situation that I did not know about. Can you ID the different drivers they each use? That could help others in the future if they have this issue.

I shouldn't of gone off on this tangent, since I've never heard of a drive non-detection issue related to this other Nvidia issue.

Instead I'll add another off the wall thing, I wonder if the OP's drives are over 2TB, and have the usual size detection problem.

[odiebugs]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

Will try, mavericks has changed, so up till now haven't tried to look at the drivers. I have added drivers to lion, as apple is like most where they use solid drivers and don't care about performance.

I was thinking the same about size, not being rude to the OP, but as a general rule, seems like people who need a windows answer, don't post the OS but all hardware, and people who need hardware answer
post the OS but not the specif hardware.

Puzzles are fun.

[parsec]

Re: SATA3 HDD Not recognised by BIOS

If it is a pain to figure out the driver differences, don't bother, since that issue is drifting more and more into the past. I'm just saying if it was possible to ID which Nvidia (if it even is one, what if Apple fixed it?) driver did not downshift SATA III drives, that might help some people. That is, if you could download it from somewhere...StationDrivers possibly?