Member Avatar for Adam_Done

Hi,
A while ago i set my dad up with a new computer. the motherboard i chose was an Asus P5KPL SE.
he has been using a Maxtor IDE HDD but now wants more storage space. i got him a sata drive and it is just not being recognised - not even by the bios. i know the drive works because i'v tested it on another system and it worked a treat. i know it's getting power in his computer because i can feel it spin up and it gets a a little warmer after it's been on. but it just isn't being detected. he has a fresh installation of windows 7. i have updated the bios, still not recognised. there don't seem to be any conflicts that i am aware of. could it be that all 4 on board sata ports don't work? or is there something i'm missing?
i have been looking for possible solutions in these forums and just can't find anything..
Any help would be appreciated.
if any more info is needed to try diagnose a problem i can provide it.
Thanks!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by ntlgnce

Dani AI

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Useful, practical checklist to narrow this down to either the drive, the power supply, or the motherboard. Because has a drive that spins and works in another PC, and BIOS reports every SATA port as "not detected", the fault is happening before Windows loads. The suggestions from (BIOS/cables) and (PSU) are sensible — the steps below take those ideas further and isolate the exact cause.

  1. Clear the CMOS and load defaults - power down, unplug, short the PSU briefly with the power switch off, then use the board jumper or remove the coin cell for a few minutes. Boot and choose "Load Setup Defaults" before testing.
  2. Swap drives to isolate device vs board - install a known-good SATA drive or optical SATA device into the suspect board. If that device is detected the problem is specific to the original drive; if it is not, the motherboard or power delivery is the culprit.
  3. Test power rails or swap PSUs - a drive can spin yet still see marginal voltages. If possible use a known-good PSU temporarily or measure the SATA power pins with a multimeter (nominal ranges roughly 12V and 5V; if unsure, swap PSUs rather than probe live).
  4. Check drive compatibility jumpers - some SATA II/III drives have a tiny jumper to force 1.5 Gb/s for older controllers. Consult the drive label/manual and try setting it if present.
  5. Inspect connectors and controller mapping - look for damaged/burned SATA sockets, debris, or a loose motherboard trace. Confirm in the manual whether some SATA ports are on a secondary controller that can be disabled in BIOS. Try toggling SATA mode (IDE/AHCI) after clearing CMOS.

If none of the above yields detection, the onboard SATA controller is likely failed. Options then are motherboard RMA or adding a cheap PCI/PCIe SATA controller as a workaround.

Recommended Answers

All 7 Replies

Member Avatar for finito

strange, Sometimes there is a setting in the Bois for Primary secondary, there is also sometimes an option to turn sata off.

Member Avatar for Adam_Done

strange, Sometimes there is a setting in the Bois for Primary secondary, there is also sometimes an option to turn sata off.

I have gone through the bios and sata is enabled, it just doesn't recognise it. it says "not detected" for each listed sata port.

Member Avatar for finito

Hmm, maybe the cable is at fault? can you recheck the drive one another computer, maybe problem happened during transport

Member Avatar for Adam_Done

Hmm, maybe the cable is at fault? can you recheck the drive one another computer, maybe problem happened during transport

i have used the drive on another machine to test it. it worked perfectly. i have tried 3 different cables. i have tried all 4 SATA ports on the motherboard. i know the drive is getting power in this machine, just not being recognised.

Member Avatar for finito

well in that case i am out of ideas but it sounds like one of those stupid things u know when u find the problem u curse urself

Member Avatar for finito

brian1 start a new thread m8

Member Avatar for ntlgnce

The power supply! when they start to go bad all kinds of weird things will happen. I had one that I thought the board was fried, but it turned out to be the power supply.

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