EP45-UD3P GSATA/ahci problems (hanging boot)

[gigger]

Hello all, I'm glad I found this forum, i hope to find an answer here.

My computer has the EP45-UD3P (v1.0) motherboard with the F7 bios. I've been running XP on the computer, and yesterday I decided to install Windows 7. Someone recommended I use the purple GSATA ports in IDE mode, and the other 6 ports (yellow) in AHCI mode. This was because Windows 7 was taking forever to install previously (I don't remember exactly how it was configured). So i got WIndows 7 to install, and everything was fine. Then, Windows 7 crashed, and from then on I haven't been able to boot back to Windows.

I don't know what the problem is. I had my system drive and optical drive on the gsata ports in ide mode, and it stopped booting. I've now disconnected all my drives except for the system, and it's not getting past the gigabyte splash screen with the system drive connected to the gsata port. When I remove it, i can boot and get into the bios setup screen, but not with it attached. What should I do?

Should I flash the BIOS to a more recent version? I can't tell, because a lot of people here say to be careful about that. i don't know what else to do. I need the gsata ports working right because I have 7 drives total to use, so at least one of those gsata ports need to be used.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

[profJim]

Re: EP45-UD3P GSATA/ahci problems (hanging boot)

The purple Gsata ports have lower performance than the yellow Intel sata ports.

The o/s boot drive should always be connected to the first (SataII_0) yellow port.
I don't think that there is any real value to running with AHCI enabled unless you have an ssd installed in your system.

I recently installed win7 on an ssd in my P35 system with AHCI enabled.
My data hard drive was not installed until after the win7 installation completed.
My optical drive was hooked up to the IDE port.

Boot with no drives connected, go into your bios, load optimized bios settings and make any required bios changes (including enabling AHCI) and save settings and exit. Only connect your boot drive and optical drive until everything is OK.

I recommend that you set Full Screen Logo Show to Disabled so that you can see all of the post messages.

***EDIT*** Your system might not boot with win7 already installed and AHCI enabled. You might need to reinstall win7 with your boot drive connected to the SATAII_0 port.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: EP45-UD3P GSATA/ahci problems (hanging boot)

The slow install on the Intel ports was likely caused by you having Floppy enabled in the BIOS. Disable it at the bottom of the Standard CMOS page, and remove it from the 1, 2, 3, boot order in the advanced BIOS page.

It should take less than 15 minutes to be installed and at the desktop.