JMicron Controller and 2 PATA Devices

[Ken429]

It seems that the JMicron controller on the GA-EP-UD3 motherboards may have a problem. When two devices are hooked up to the PATA cable the second (secondary) device is not recognized by the BIOS. I have tried several different DVD drives and always have the same problem - the secondary drive is not recognized and the system will not shut down properly. I did a brief search on the web and saw other people with similar problems. Is this a know issue? Is there a fix? This is my second try at a post on this subject. This is a relatively minor problem now that I think I know what is going on!

[artdrivers]

http://download.gigabyte.ru/manual/mb_manual_ga-ep45-ud3p(ud3r)(ud3)_1.6_e.pdf

 Storage Interface  South Bridge:
6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_0, SATA2_1, SATA2_2, SATA2_3, SATA2_4, SATA2_5) 
supporting up to 6 SATA 3Gb/s devices
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 jk
w GIGABYTE SATA2 chip:
1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
2 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_0, GSATA2_1) 
supporting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD
w iTE IT8718 chip:
1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive

Check Page's 47 through 55 of your motherboard manual for instructions to be sure it is set correct. You could have a bad IDE cable or drive.

[Ken429]

Re: JMicron Controller and 2 PATA Devices

Yes, I have set the DVD Drives to Primary and Secondary. Yes, I have tried different PATA (IDE) cables. Yes, I have tried different drive brands - Pioneer and LG. Page 10 says the IDE Connector supports two IDE (PATA not SATA) devices - that's all I'm trying to do! In the Manual the Controller is called the Gigabyte SATA2 chip. Device Manager in W7 calls it the Gigbyte GBB36x Controller Manufactured by JMicron. Anyway, I have two ABIT IP35 Pro Motherboards and they have the JMicron Controller and they both support a two DVD Drives. Something is amoke on the the Gigabyte board since the Secondary Drive is not recognized by the BIOS or I'm missing some mystery setting somewhere. Just in case someone asks - yes the BIOS recognizes the Secondary Drive if it is the only drive connected. Has anybody else out there tried connecting two "old style" PATA drives to this Motherboard?

[Ken429]

Re: JMicron Controller and 2 PATA Devices

OOPS. Sorry, I was wrong, the BIOS recognizes the two IDE/PATA Drives as Primary and Secondary. So I guess the problem is with W7 and/or the Device Driver that it is using. For all I know it might have been worked on the Gigabyte Motherboard under Vista. Vista was the Operating System I was using on the ABIT boards where I had two IDE/PATA drives connected and working properly. Still looking for some help.

[artdrivers]

Re: JMicron Controller and 2 PATA Devices

Here is something to try. OK so it's the second hard drive is not recognized in Windows 7? If thats the case go into windows disk management. Pay close attention to section 4. Also you may need to add new hardware. Here is more on this -----> Change, add, or remove a drive letter

[Ken429]

Re: JMicron Controller and 2 PATA Devices

It's magic. I have changed nothing all I did was disconnect the power to the secondary DVD drive and boot W7 a couple of times and shutdown and reconnect the power to the secondary DVD drive and all of a sudden it works almost as expected!!! The only unusual thing is the Device shows as a generic CD-ROM Drive in the Device Manager as opposed to "Pioneer DVD-RW DVR 112D SCSI CdRom Device" which is shown for the Primary "Pioneer DVD-RW DVR 116D SCSI CdRom Device". Oh well, I'll take it as a success for now.

[artdrivers]

Re: JMicron Controller and 2 PATA Devices

Odd!