ABit Ax8 SATA Question

chesterstu · 26 Jul 2006 at 16:25

Hi guys got an Abit Ax8 and have had 2 sata HD for ages with no problems. I inherited another 200gig sata hd a couple of days ago. The problem i am having is that it wouldnt reconise the thrid drive. It has 4 sata connectors on the mb labeled 1 - 4. The first two hds work fine and the new one if they are plugged into 3 -4 but nothing works when u plug it into 1-2.

I have searched the mb manual updated the drivers, even considered flashing the bios (but bottled it) and googled my little heart out but still cant get anywhere :confused:

.

Anyone got any ideas

Thanks in advance

BUFF · 26 Jul 2006 at 18:23

the AX8 has 2 different VIA SATA controllers each with 2 ports - make sure that both are enabled in the BIOS & both have drivers.

chesterstu · 26 Jul 2006 at 19:17

I know there is a Via vt8237 controller and i have installed the latest the drivers for that but there doesnt appear to be a mention of any other on the website or manual

BUFF · 26 Jul 2006 at 22:56

VT6421 - the 8237 can only handle 2 SATA drives

btw if that 200Gb is a SATA3.0Gb/s drive try forcing 1.50Gb/s compatability by jumpering it - certainly the 8237 has problems with SATA 3.0 GB/s drives, not sure about 6421.

chesterstu · 26 Jul 2006 at 23:28

the new 200gig drive works fine on the vt8237 controller i have installed the vt6421 drive it comes as a package with the vt8237 driver according the via website.

And it's still working its not even comin furing boot as a detected drive. Think the board ma have a fault

BUFF · 27 Jul 2006 at 00:05

chesterstu said:
the new 200gig drive works fine on the vt8237 controller

afaik the 8237 controls 1+2 but you said that 1+2 don't work ...

chesterstu said:
And it's still working its not even comin furing boot as a detected drive.

can you be more precise, this doesn't explain very well.

chesterstu · 27 Jul 2006 at 07:17

I mean when the pc boots i have a menu for the raid bios screen that you press tab to enter. In there i can select hds to create an array however the new drive is not listed there when it is connected to the Sata 1 - 2. But it is when it is connected to sata 3 -4. Although, because there is two controllers then that is probably reasonable.

I think the issue may be with windows. I have win64 and both controllers are listed in device manager however there is a thrid device with a yellow mark next to it. I am goin to try yet more drivers and possibly start a linux install process that supports both sata controllers and see what it finds.

Although, if u know how to enter the bios of the second raid controller during boot that would help a lot just so i can see what is goin on.

Thanks for all your help thus far buff