AHCI PORT0 DEVICE ERROR - Asus P5N7A-VM + Windows 7

[dcdruck]

I've started a thread on the Asus forums, but thought that maybe this community could be helpful as well.

First, my machine:
------------------[INDENT]Motherboard: Asus P5N7A-VM
BIOS version: 0519 4/29/2010
CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W
Memory installed: 4096 MB
Memory type: OCZ ReaperX HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Hard drives:[INDENT](1) Seagate Barracuda ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA
(2) Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA
(3) Seagate Barracuda LP ST32000542AS 2TB 5900 RPM SATA[/INDENT]Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (installed on hard drive #1 above)
Video card chipset: NVidia GeForce 9500 GT[/INDENT]
Now, the problem that I'm experiencing is that when the system boots, I receive an error at the BIOS level. There error message states "AHCI PORT0 DEVICE ERROR" followed by "Press F1 to resume". If I press F1, the system boots just fine and Windows starts up just fine. However, Windows does give me a message stating that there's a problem with a hard drive (the system hard drive, identified as #1 above) and brings up the Windows backup manager. It tells me I should backup my system and then replace the hard drive. Before I do that, I'm hoping that someone can confirm that the problem is most likely with the hard drive, and not with the motherboard itself.

Have any of you experienced this before, or seen anything similar?

Thanks in advance for any assistance. If there's more information that you need, let me know and I'll provide it.

Thanks,
Dave

[caperjack]

hi,i would first run seatools by seagate to check the harddrive
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

[dcdruck]

hi,i would first run seatools by seagate to check the harddrive http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

Thank you! I'll try that when I get home from work tonight and I'll post the results. In the meantime, I've also ordered a replacement drive from Newegg which should be here tomorrow should that turn out to be the solution.

[propmaster]

I have the exact problem but have a Western Digital HD. Any idea of what I can do?

[caperjack]

I have the exact problem but have a Western Digital HD. Any idea of what I can do?

use thi one for WD drives http://download.cnet.com/Data-Lifeguard-Diagnostic-for-Windows/3000-2086_4-10972008.html

[dcdruck]

Although I was unable to install SeaTools for Windows due to an error stating "installation ended prematurely because of an error," I was able to download, burn, and boot into SeaTools for DOS. After scanning the drive, it appears errors were detected. I tried to repair them but a rescan still revealed errors.

Looks like I made the right move ordering a replacement drive this morning. I'm currently doing a test run using Windows to restore a system image. I'll know for sure if the new drive solves the problem on Saturday and will close the thread if it works. Thanks for the help!

Dave

[caperjack]

your welcome and good luck .
using the serial number of the drive you can check there website to see if its still under warranty[check in the rma section ]

[dcdruck]

Yeah, I definitely plan on doing that. However, I've read users in other forums post that Seagate support can be a real pain to deal with compared to the likes of Western Digital, but it's worth a shot.

[dcdruck]

Thanks for your help, the new hard drive fixed my issue, and my Seagate drive is still under warranty so I'm going to RMA that. Also, the reviews that I had read online about how bad their RMA process was are all true. It's likely going to cost me a decent penny just to track down the required shipping materials, including 2" of required solid foam around all sides of the drive.

Thanks again!

Dave

[dcdruck]

Also, just something I wanted to add... for those of you using Windows 7 Ultimate (and possible other versions), there is a really great feature that allows you to create a disk image, very similar to Norton Ghost, but free! It's found under Control Panel > Backup and Restore, and then in the left pane "Create a system image". You'll also need to "Create a system repair disk" in order to boot and restore the image you create. I created the image on of my other hard drives, and the whole process was a breeze. Once I got my new drive installed, I was back up and running within an hour as if nothing had happened.

I know there are other ways to do similar things, but I just wanted to let people know about this because I didn't know it was built into Windows now, and I'm probably not the only one.

[caperjack]

Thanks for your help, the new hard drive fixed my issue, and my Seagate drive is still under warranty so I'm going to RMA that. Also, the reviews that I had read online about how bad their RMA process was are all true. It's likely going to cost me a decent penny just to track down the required shipping materials, including 2" of required solid foam around all sides of the drive.

Thanks again!

Dave

to bad you wern't close ,i have a spare box with all the foam

[dcdruck]

I'll probably just use standard foam peanuts and bubble wrap, and if they don't accept it due to the packaging, then so be it. It's a low-capacity, inexpensive drive, and I can't justify buying all kinds of packaging material that will likely add up to more than half the cost of the drive itself when it was new.

[caperjack]

I'll probably just use standard foam peanuts and bubble wrap, and if they don't accept it due to the packaging, then so be it. It's a low-capacity, inexpensive drive, and I can't justify buying all kinds of packaging material that will likely add up to more than half the cost of the drive itself when it was new.

yeah ,and they will send you a refurbished drive ,as they no longerr make new low-capacity drives