Z77 Extreme 6 SATA devices unable to be read; SATA ports or SATA controller possibly fried?

[CookyMonzta]

Here is a chronicle of my problem with trying to get my machine to read my SATA devices:

Z77 Extreme6 new build, BSOD during WinXP install, only flashing cursor upon reboot

With an empty hard drive, I tried to give my machine a test run. Each time I get a blank screen with a flashing cursor. Not even this message: "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert Boot Media in selected boot device and press a key".

I disconnected every hard drive and optical burner except one, and tried that single hard drive in every SATA socket. Nothing. Despite the fact that the hard drive shows up in my UEFI, my machine will not read it upon every reboot attempt.

Am I to conclude that my SATA ports are fried or something on my SATA controller has fried? In either case, I will most likely have to replace the motherboard.

Funny thing is, everything was perfectly satisfactory before I started to install Windows XP. Then a blue screen came up and everything's been shot to hell since.

[parsec]

OMG you're still fighting with that, sorry to say.

If your SATA controller is shot, which you aren't sure of, nothing will work in the following ideas, but here they are. I can't see how the Intel SATA controller is shot if the BIOS can see and read drive information to display, that must go through the SATA controller, there is no other path/connection.

Did you try just using ONLY one of your DVD drives, connected to the last Intel SATA II port? I mean NO other drives connected. Set the boot order to the DVD drive, put your XP installation disk in, and see what happens. Of course it will fail when no other drive is detected, but at least you'll see if it can function with a DVD drive. If that works, add one HDD on an Intel SATA III port, the first one, port 0, below the two ASMedia ports, and closest to the board. Try installing again.

Do you have another drive from another PC that you know is working, and try it on that board?

Did you try your new HDDs on another PC? Just connect them and try quick formatting them, etc.

If a known good drive cannot be used for an installation, and the new drive(s) are seen by the other PC, that tells me the new board is bad.

Can you put your XP disk in a DVD drive on another PC, and see if it can be read correctly, etc?

You can download a Windows 7 .iso image for free (sourceforge) and a Microsoft tool to take that .iso and create a bootable USB Win 7 installation USB flash drive, with at least a 8GB USB flash drive. That would just be to test if you can install Windows 7 from that media onto your OS drive. You can even use it for 30 days before it is an illegal copy. If that works, then it's XP or some incompatibility with XP and the board, or who knows?

[CookyMonzta]

Did I just lose SEVEN SATA devices?

Here is my test: I cracked open my 4TB enclosure (a Mediasonic ProBox HF-SU2S2), took out one of my 1TB drives, put the drive in place of my 2TB master backup in the hot-swap bay, and checked my UEFI. Like all of my hard drives, it showed up.

When I booted, I got the message, "Reboot and select proper boot device...", as I should for an empty drive or a drive with no OS.

I was getting this message for my empty drives before the blue-screen disaster upon installation of WinXP. I don't get this message anymore with the drives I originally had in the machine.

I have two Seagate 500GB SATA 3.0 hybrids, two Seagate 500GB SATA 2.0 hybrids, a Seagate 2TB master backup, a Blu-ray burner and a DVD burner. After the blue screen, I got a blank screen with a blinking cursor with every combination I tried. A drive not originally in machine returned the appropriate message.

Apparently, my motherboard was able to attempt to read all my drives all along, since it read my 1TB array drive.

Did I suffer a spike that may have blasted all 7 of my SATA devices to oblivion, and did the occurrence of the spike result in the blue-screen error? I don't have any equipment as of yet to test any of my drives.

Right now, it looks as if the motherboard works but I lost 7 SATA devices. I can only imagine how messy my warranty situation is going to be.

[parsec]

Yikes! That is terrible about those drives, apparently. Are we back to that power splitter device that you talked about in your first post? Could every one of them be wired wrong and then zapped those drives? I don't see how you could plug it in wrong to the SATA power cable from the PS.

It sounds like you tried every one of the new drives in your HDD enclosure, and none of them responded as they should? They aren't formatted at this point, or are they? Or does that even make a difference?

Wait, what about the PS of the new PC? Could that be the culprit?

[CookyMonzta]

I doubt very much that the power supply could be the problem. It is an 800W Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold (80 Plus Gold), which I bought in January. Those hybrids could not possibly use that much power (they are small enough for laptops).

That leaves the splitters. If I manage to get all of my drives replaced, the splitters are out. Back to one SATA power plug for each device.

[profJim]

Can you borrow a power supply to test with?
It's best to rule as many possibilities as possible, especially if it doesn't take a lot of extra effort.
I've seen too many strange psu problems, especially where there doesn't appear to be a major power failure.

[CookyMonzta]

What strange PSU problems are you referring to that would not involve Y-splitters?

I've tested all 4 of my 1TB hard drives from my Mediasonic ProBox, and inside my machine they respond normally with the 'Reboot and select proper boot device' message. The only drives that yield a blank screen are the 5 hard drives and 2 optical burners that were in my machine at the time of the blue-screen error.

Again, I'm convinced that it was a big mistake to use Y-splitters on my 2.5" hybrid drives (I had 4 of them) and optical burners, all of which were connected to my SATA ports (at the time of the blue screen), all quite probably destroyed while everything else was undisturbed, including my floppy/card reader and GeForce GTX570.

I will have my 7 SATA devices checked out this weekend. If they're all dead (as far as the ability to read anything is concerned), then I'm convinced the SATA Y-power splitters are the cause. Some devices are not meant to have their power split in half or shared with such a device attached.

I have an Antec EA-750 Green power supply as a potential backup, but it is not modular and the loose cables would leave very little space out of the internal space I have. It would be a mess. I would sooner check the SATA devices first for functionality.

[parsec]

Just a thought, did you have all the new drives shipped to you? I've had HDDs that were shipped to me be DOA. They started up kinda, made noise that was weird, but were worthless otherwise.

The power consumption itself should not be an issue with that number of drives. Even if each one used 10 Watts all the time, which is way more than reality, that would be 50 Watts of power, but also split between 12V and 5V power. Then, SSDs only use 5V power, and the 3.3V available on SATA power plugs is not used by modern drives, except by perhaps the micro-SATA SSDs, which are rare.

I use those one to two splitters that connect to the four pin molex jacks from the PS. The single end is a four pin molex female jack, the other ends are two SATA power connectors. Those don't supply 3.3V of course, since the four pin molex only has 12V and 5V connections. They are much more convenient than the standard SATA power cables from the PS, IMO. Plus SSDs don't use much power, and only for short periods of time. Some SSDs will use 5W when writing big files, but that lasts for seconds. You can check the power rating right on the device, 1 Amp at 5 Volts = 5 Watts. I have see SSDs rated at up to 1.6 Amps, but again they don't have a motor running constantly, so are not power hungry. A hybrid drive, well, maybe a bit more power, but as you said, they are used in laptops, so not an issue.

The PS issues Prof. Jim is referring to are independent of any splitters, jumpers, etc. They are just basically partially broken PS's, not providing the correct voltage over some cables, or failing under load, but measure fine with a voltmeter. Is that a brand new PS? He's just saying that it might not be a known working unit. So many unknowns on an all new parts PC, which makes it harder to diagnose.

[CookyMonzta]

Now I have a puzzle that has turned into a cruel joke. I removed one of my 500GB Momentus XT hybrid hard drives, and tested it on my laptop using a USB-to-SATA interface. It shows up in the Disk Management window, 465.7GB unallocated, as expected.

I tried my internal Blu-ray burner on my laptop, and it also shows up in the Disk Management window. I even put a DVD in the drive, and it plays!

I plugged my 2TB master backup into my laptop using the USB-to-SATA interface, and it shows up in the Disk Management window as 1.819TB unallocated, also as expected. I decided to format the drive from my laptop before plugging it back into my machine to test it out.

Still, I get a blank screen. The same for my Blu-ray burner inside the machine. Yet, when I plug all 4 of my 1TB drives from my ProBox enclosure (the only hard drives not connected to my machine at the time of the BSOD), they read properly.

How is it that my optical drives seem to function normally outside of my machine, but can't read a thing inside? How was I able to format my 2TB drive outside of my machine, yet my machine is unable to read the drive? How is it that the 7 devices that were in my machine at the time of the BSOD (4 hybrids, 2TB backup, Blu-ray and DVD burners) are unable to read, yet when I plug any other drive in my machine it functions normally? Or did this BSOD cause my motherboard to simply reject these 7 devices outright, and only these 7 devices?

What kind of sick paradox am I dealing with? Should I replace all of my drives AND the motherboard to be on the safe side?

By the way, I bought the power supply in January. This is my second build in which I am using this power supply. I had no power problems with my first build. As for my hard drives, all 4 of my Momentus XTs were purchased from Newegg. I bought the 2TB drive from a local Best Buy. None of them made any unusual noises before the BSOD came up while attempting to install WinXP.