GA-890FXA-UD5 esata BlacX recognition problem

[skorp1on]

hi i am having problem connecting my BlacX to the GA-890FXA-UD5 in ACHI mode.
I guess the BIOS is able to see the BlacX with esata set to IDE Mode  and must be cold booted to be recognized in Win 7.  But if during my windows session i want to hot-swap a HD to a different one, that new drive could not be recognized for hot-swap. 
it connect/hot-swap fine with USB cable.   
O/S is Win 7.  I've tried this both in F2 and F3 BIOS versions.

thanks in advance for anyone that a good solution for this problem.     

[Dark Mantis]

Apart from recognising the unit I can't say I know much about the BlacX. So this may be a learning curve for both of us. You say it works fine on USB but I'm guessing that you want to transfer it to eSATA for the extra speed.  So we know that the dock works ok. Have you attached the external power cable to the dock? If so it sounds like a problem in the BIOS. As you have pointed out it would make sense to set the BIOS to AHCI rather than IDE but you say that still doesn't work. I will do some checking and get back to you.

[Dark Mantis]

Can you clarify which model of the BlacX you have please?

[skorp1on]

Apart from recognising the unit I can't say I know much about the BlacX. So this may be a learning curve for both of us. You say it works fine on USB but I'm guessing that you want to transfer it to eSATA for the extra speed.  So we know that the dock works ok. Have you attached the external power cable to the dock? If so it sounds like a problem in the BIOS. As you have pointed out it would make sense to set the BIOS to AHCI rather than IDE but you say that still doesn't work. I will do some checking and get back to you.

Thanks for trying to solve this mystery.  
you're correct.  i transfer it over to eSATA for the extra speed as compared to USB.  And external power cable to the dock is connected.  just another comments about the difference i see (not really related to the BlacX) between F1, F2, and F3 BIOS:  I noticed the latest F3 BIOS have some mouse pointer have momentary freeze in Win 7 as compared to using F1 or F2.  I have reverted to F2 BIOS because of this somewhat annoying problem.    

[skorp1on]

Can you clarify which model of the BlacX you have please?

Hi, BlacX model is ST0005U.

[Dark Mantis]

Have you tried using a different SATA port or are you just using the one on the back of the motherboard? Try setting the ports to RAID.

[skorp1on]

Have you tried using a different SATA port or are you just using the one on the back of the motherboard? Try setting the ports to RAID.

yes, i've tried using a different eSATA port on the back of the MOBO and setting eSATA adaptor to RAID mode w/o success. 

[Dark Mantis]

I am afraid this is not my area of expertise as I explained before and even after some digging around in the manuals etc i can't come up with any other suggestions at the moment. I'm sure there must be someone else on the forum who can help though. Absic115 hasn't been on today but he is very knowledgeable on these sorts of problems.

[skorp1on]

I am afraid this is not my area of expertise as I explained before and even after some digging around in the manuals etc i can't come up with any other suggestions at the moment. I'm sure there must be someone else on the forum who can help though. Absic115 hasn't been on today but he is very knowledgeable on these sorts of problems.

Dark Mantis, thanks for your effort.  if someone can help me solve it, then great.  if not, then i guess i will have to live with the USB connection instead for the time being. 

[absic]

Hi,
Not sure if you have tried this but in BIOS did you set both the GSATA and e-SATA channels to AHCI? If you have already installed your OS onto a HDD using either of these channels in IDE mode then you won't easily be able to switch to AHCI without issues. If this is the case, check out this external link that tells you how to change to AHCI after install.:  http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/

[skorp1on]

Hi,
Not sure if you have tried this but in BIOS did you set both the GSATA and e-SATA channels to AHCI? If you have already installed your OS onto a HDD using either of these channels in IDE mode then you won't easily be able to switch to AHCI without issues. If this is the case, check out this external link that tells you how to change to AHCI after install.:  http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/

Yup, googled and followed that link to hack Win 7 registry before your reply without success.  I've tried to set both GSATA and eSATA controllers to ACHI.  For eSATA and BlacX, I guess that's the only one really applicable as GSATA is for the internal GSATA 6/7 connectors.  By the way, if I change the On-Chip SATA Controller to ACHI (from Native IDE), Win 7 will not boot.  And still will not boot when changed back to Native IDE unless reverting back to Fail-Safe CMOS settings. 

[Dark Mantis]

No, that's the problem with trying to change after the OS is installed. It's more trouble but in the long run it's easier to change to AHCI before loading Windows onto the drive.

[absic]

Hi,
I've just read through this thread again and, if you don't mind, I'd like to clarify a few things, just to make sure I understand what's going on and what has been tried.

You have an external Blacx ST0005U that works OK with USB.

If you connect it to the e-SATA port(s) on the back panel of your Mobo the HDD is recognised when you cold boot your PC but you can't hot swap.
When you tried this did the PC Crash?
Did you try Scanning for New Hardware? (you shouldn't have to do this but just interested if you did and if the HDD showed up)
Have you tried using the Driver from Thermaltake: http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1268&ID=1731#Tab4 and does it make a difference?

You have tried setting the e-SATA channels in BIOS to AHCI and also RAID but still no success.
Do you get the Safely Remove Hardware icon when you try this method? Is the HDD recognised in My Computer? Does using the Thermaltake driver work?

When you connect via e-SATA you did remember to disconnect the USB cable? (A Simple thing to forget about)

You have tried setting both the GSATA and e-SATA channels to AHCI but this caused you problems because you have already installed your OS in IDE Mode and even trying the Registry Hack failed to get your system to BOOT.
Would it be possible to re-install your OS in AHCI mode? This option has to be weighed against the need for e-SATA to work. It might be better to leave it until you have to re-install the OS especially, if like me, you have a lot of large programmes.

Sorry about going through this again but sometimes it is better to stand back, go through the steps and processes taken so far, just to make sure we are all singing from the same hymn sheet.

[skorp1on]

absic115, let me answer as follows <>:

You have an external Blacx ST0005U that works OK with USB.
<Correct>

If you connect it to the e-SATA port(s) on the back panel of your Mobo the HDD is recognised when you cold boot your PC but you can't hot swap.
<Correct it only recognized in IDE mode but not RAID or ACHI>
When you tried this did the PC Crash?
<No, did not crashed.>

Did you try Scanning for New Hardware?
<No, haven't done that and don't feel the need to do that for awhile.>

Have you tried using the Driver from Thermaltake: http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1268&ID=1731#Tab4 and does it make a difference?
<have not used the driver from TT.  From what i can tell, it's for WinXP and Vista, not for Win 7 that I am running on. Trying the driver in Win 7 will probably not be a good idea.>

You have tried setting the e-SATA channels in BIOS to AHCI and also RAID but still no success.
<Correct.>
Do you get the Safely Remove Hardware icon when you try this method?
<couldn't remember but rearely used the "Safely Remove Hardware" function. No harm observed thus far  >
 Is the HDD recognised in My Computer?
<No, did not recognized.>
Does using the Thermaltake driver work?
<see above.>

When you connect via e-SATA you did remember to disconnect the USB cable? (A Simple thing to forget about)
<YES!>
You have tried setting both the GSATA and e-SATA channels to AHCI but this caused you problems because you have already installed your OS in IDE Mode and even trying the Registry Hack failed to get your system to BOOT.
<DITTO>

Would it be possible to re-install your OS in AHCI mode? This option has to be weighed against the need for e-SATA to work. It might be better to leave it until you have to re-install the OS especially, if like me, you have a lot of large programmes.
<yes, O/S re-install will be my last resort to reap the benefit of ACHI and eSTATA. Maybe not as much as you, but i have decent amount of large programmes.>

Sorry about going through this again but sometimes it is better to stand back, go through the steps and processes taken so far, just to make sure we are all singing from the same hymn sheet.
<no problem, thanks for trying to help.>

[absic]

Hi Skorp1on,
thanks for taking time to clarify things for me. Sometimes on these longer threads and, when you come in halfway, it can be a little confusing.

Right, although you shouldn't need the driver from Thermaltake and Windows 7 is not mentioned, it does support Vista 32 & 64. As nothing else seems to be working it might be worthwhile trying to install it (using compatibility mode) just to see if it makes a difference. It shouldn't cause you any problems with your system as it will either install or it won't, so don't worry on that score.