Should I RMA my GA-X58A-UD5?

[Joe.da.Shmoe]

Hello All,

I build a new config as below.

GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2.0 - BIOS Ff1
I7 960 with Noctua NH-U12P SE2
G.Skill Extreme3 3 x 2 Go PC16000 Trident
ATI Saphire 6900 2GB
2X Sony - AD-7260S-0B DVD SATA drives
Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 700 W
Gigabyte Gigabyte iSolo 230 case
HDD WD3000HLFS SATA 2 Raptor  (Since moved to another PC)
HDD WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor
HDD WD1002FAEX SATA 3 Cavier Black
2X HDD Seagate SATA 2 ST31000528AS
HP LP2475W Monitor
Windows 7 Professional N x64

French Gigabyte Tech support (I'm an expat) wrote that I should RMA my Motherboard, I think they’ve got it wrong.  I think I should wait for an improved set of drivers for the Marvel controller and wait for BIOS improvements.

Here’s the problem.
I installed Win7 x64 on the WD3000HLFS SATA 2 Raptor 300GB Drive (IDE mode in the Bios) on the GSATA3_6 Position.  It Worked.  Same is true for the AHCI mode.  Same is true for other SATA plug positions on the Motherboard.  It works.

The above is applicable for the WD1002FAEX SATA 3 Cavier Black also.

The above does not work for the WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor.  It is not a disk problem, as I am using it now as my C: drive but on GSATA3_7 and the 1000GB Caviar Black is on Position GSATA3_6.  The WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor works on all positions except the GSATA3_6.  All other disks work as the systems C: Drive on the GSATA3_6 position, in both IDE and AHCI modes).

Providing the marvel drivers during the install of windows doesn’t change anything.  The install just hangs at the copy files stage, or various other install points.

As it is today, the build is fairly stable…  hasn’t just frozen up needing a reset to get going again for a few days.

I still have the startup problem described in this post http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=27718;sa=showPosts even after following the fix instructions.

So … Should I RMA the motherboard or wait for Gigabyte or Marvel to provide better drivers.  Or just give up on the Marvel all together for a while?

Tks
JDS

[Aussie Allan]

PLease note due to an error in the security system Joes post was hidden so I have entered it here in Green

Hello All,

I build a new config as below.

GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2.0 - BIOS Ff1
I7 960 with Noctua NH-U12P SE2
G.Skill Extreme3 3 x 2 Go PC16000 Trident
ATI Saphire 6900 2GB
2X Sony - AD-7260S-0B DVD SATA drives
Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 700 W
Gigabyte Gigabyte iSolo 230 case
HDD WD3000HLFS SATA 2 Raptor  (Since moved to another PC)
HDD WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor
HDD WD1002FAEX SATA 3 Cavier Black
2X HDD Seagate SATA 2 ST31000528AS
HP LP2475W Monitor
Windows 7 Professional N x64

French Gigabyte Tech support (I'm an expat) wrote that I should RMA my Motherboard, I think they’ve got it wrong.  I think I should wait for an improved set of drivers for the Marvel controller and wait for BIOS improvements.

Here’s the problem.
I installed Win7 x64 on the WD3000HLFS SATA 2 Raptor 300GB Drive (IDE mode in the Bios) on the GSATA3_6 Position.  It Worked.  Same is true for the AHCI mode.  Same is true for other SATA plug positions on the Motherboard.  It works.

The above is applicable for the WD1002FAEX SATA 3 Cavier Black also.

The above does not work for the WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor.  It is not a disk problem, as I am using it now as my C: drive but on GSATA3_7 and the 1000GB Caviar Black is on Position GSATA3_6.  The WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor works on all positions except the GSATA3_6.  All other disks work as the systems C: Drive on the GSATA3_6 position, in both IDE and AHCI modes).

Providing the marvel drivers during the install of windows doesn’t change anything.  The install just hangs at the copy files stage, or various other install points.

As it is today, the build is fairly stable…  hasn’t just frozen up needing a reset to get going again for a few days.

I still have the startup problem described in this post http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=27718;sa=showPosts even after following the fix instructions.

So … Should I RMA the motherboard or wait for Gigabyte or Marvel to provide better drivers.  Or just give up on the Marvel all together for a while?

Tks
JDS


 your post seems to have been chopped for some reason.....you might have to repost unfortunately .... but at first glance, this is my advise....

 If you have it in writing to RMA......Do it!....... if......there is nothing wrong with the board...... you'll get the same...... if there was a minor problem, ... its only going to get worse says Murphy.

 Nothing.... and I mean Nothing will fix the actual  Marvell port on the X58......there's only workarounds, ... its not a driver issue but a hardware one.

  If you have all those drives and want to utilize them to there full potential .... look at HighPoints Raid or RocketRaid series 620/622 and 640/644 PCI-E cards ...... SATA3 capable, bootable and work with your board.

 Aussie Allan

[absic]

Hello All,

I build a new config as below.

GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2.0 - BIOS Ff1
I7 960 with Noctua NH-U12P SE2
G.Skill Extreme3 3 x 2 Go PC16000 Trident
ATI Saphire 6900 2GB
2X Sony - AD-7260S-0B DVD SATA drives
Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 700 W
Gigabyte Gigabyte iSolo 230 case
HDD WD3000HLFS SATA 2 Raptor  (Since moved to another PC)
HDD WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor
HDD WD1002FAEX SATA 3 Cavier Black
2X HDD Seagate SATA 2 ST31000528AS
HP LP2475W Monitor
Windows 7 Professional N x64

French Gigabyte Tech support (I'm an expat) wrote that I should RMA my Motherboard, I think they’ve got it wrong.  I think I should wait for an improved set of drivers for the Marvel controller and wait for BIOS improvements.

Here’s the problem.
I installed Win7 x64 on the WD3000HLFS SATA 2 Raptor 300GB Drive (IDE mode in the Bios) on the GSATA3_6 Position.  It Worked.  Same is true for the AHCI mode.  Same is true for other SATA plug positions on the Motherboard.  It works.

The above is applicable for the WD1002FAEX SATA 3 Cavier Black also.

The above does not work for the WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor.  It is not a disk problem, as I am using it now as my C: drive but on GSATA3_7 and the 1000GB Caviar Black is on Position GSATA3_6.  The WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor works on all positions except the GSATA3_6.  All other disks work as the systems C: Drive on the GSATA3_6 position, in both IDE and AHCI modes).

Providing the marvel drivers during the install of windows doesn’t change anything.  The install just hangs at the copy files stage, or various other install points.

As it is today, the build is fairly stable…  hasn’t just frozen up needing a reset to get going again for a few days.

I still have the startup problem described in this post http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=27718;sa=showPosts even after following the fix instructions.

So … Should I RMA the motherboard or wait for Gigabyte or Marvel to provide better drivers.  Or just give up on the Marvel all together for a while?

Tks
JDS

If Gigabyte say you should RMA the board then I would RMA the board, no question!

[Joe.da.Shmoe]

Hello All,

I build a new config as below.

GA-X58A-UD5 Rev 2.0 - BIOS Ff1
I7 960 with Noctua NH-U12P SE2
G.Skill Extreme3 3 x 2 Go PC16000 Trident
ATI Saphire 6900 2GB
2X Sony - AD-7260S-0B DVD SATA drives
Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 700 W
Gigabyte Gigabyte iSolo 230 case
HDD WD3000HLFS SATA 2 Raptor  (Since moved to another PC)
HDD WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor
HDD WD1002FAEX SATA 3 Cavier Black
2X HDD Seagate SATA 2 ST31000528AS
HP LP2475W Monitor
Windows 7 Professional N x64

French Gigabyte Tech support (I’m an expat) wrote that I should RMA my Motherboard, I think they’ve got it wrong.  I think I should wait for an improved set of drivers for the Marvel controller and wait for BIOS improvements.

Here’s the problem.
I installed Win7 x64 on the WD3000HLFS SATA 2 Raptor 300GB Drive (IDE mode in the Bios) on the GSATA3_6 Position.  It Worked.  Same is true for the AHCI mode.  Same is true for other SATA plug positions on the Motherboard.  It works.

The above is applicable for the WD1002FAEX SATA 3 Cavier Black also.

The above does not work for the WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor.  It is not a disk problem, as I am using it now as my C: drive but on GSATA3_7 and the 1000GB Caviar Black is on Position GSATA3_6.  The WD4500HLHX SATA 3 Raptor works on all positions except the GSATA3_6.  All other disks work as the systems C: Drive on the GSATA3_6 position, in both IDE and AHCI modes).

Providing the marvel drivers during the install of windows doesn’t change anything.  The install just hangs at the copy files stage, or various other install points.

As it is today, the build is fairly stable…  hasn’t just frozen up needing a reset to get going again for a few days.

I still have the startup problem described in this post http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=27718;sa=showPosts even after following the fix instructions.

So … Should I RMA the motherboard or wait for Gigabyte or Marvel to provide better drivers.  Or just give up on the Marvel all together for a while?

[Joe.da.Shmoe]

Sorry folks.. I don't get it..   I think the tech support did not/could not read the problem in English correctly and just blew me off to the RMA route.

As I wrote... the system is running and stable.  but disk "A" will not work on Marvel Sata6 position "0"..   This looks much more like an incompatibility between one particular HDD and the GSATA3_6 position.  all other disks work, and the disk in question works on all other sata plug positions..

Why RMA just to RMA... if the problem is Marvel hardware in the end, for which there is no solution?  (honestly.. taking this all apart again putting it back in the boxes and waiting 4 weeks for the same problem after losing weeks building it.. does not seem like much fun.)

[Dark Mantis]

I totally agree with Allan about this subject and nothing is going to alter it. 

[Joe.da.Shmoe]

Are the moderators on the forum allowed to disagree with tech support?

[absic]

We are when we are right! 

[Joe.da.Shmoe]

please tell me why I only have the problem with 1 disk on one plug, knowing that that same disk works fine on all other plugs.. .. and that all other disks work fine on all plugs including the plug where the first disk does not work?

The French tech team just did not want to be bothered with the issue or problem.. they blew me off and took the easy road... RMA.

Whereas everything in the forum points to erratic problems with the Marvel SATA3 chip that no drivers or firmware will/can solve.  (maybe in the future something will be developed or we will go the sandy bridge route)

So I'm just going to take this all apart box it up and do with out a PC for a month, because tech support is at 50% of staff because they basically close down for the summer over here in France and can't be bothered.

let down because the industry was duped by Marvel, let down because the machine will not/never work as designed, let down because quality control is being done by the end user, let down because tech support couldn't give a hoot!  I'm having a great time .. 

[Aussie Allan]

 Eeeeeeeeeer!.... we're not tech support or resemble punching bags, fat gut and all!

  Joe!.......please tell me why I only have the problem with 1 disk on one plug, knowing that that same disk works fine on all other plugs.. .. and that all other disks work fine on all plugs including the plug where the first disk does not work?

 Too many "Plugs" for me in that sentence to get my head around on a Saturday but............  

  Because collectively we all think there's a problem with your board..... including the understaffed French......no amount of really strong wishing will fix it

 And as far as the erratic problems with the sata3 Marvell chip......theres nothing erratic about it..........they don't work!.....except at sata2 speeds

  

Are the moderators on the forum allowed to disagree with tech support?

  Boiling in oil has not happened since the mid 80s for disagreeing with tech support!
Dark Mantis edit Actually I am saying nothing!

  Aussie Allan