HDD/SATA communication problem - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P

Namistai

Namistai

Namistai

Associate
Joined
29 Dec 2007
Posts
775
Location
Shrewsbury
Hi guys,

I'm hoping for some ideas from you guys regarding a PC I'm having problems with.

The PC has been running fine for a couple of years with no problems, but this week each time Vista was started it would BSOD on the Vista boot screen (I'm not able to see the BSOD error as it quickly resets, and without getting into Windows I don't know if I can change this). After trying a few simple things (CMOS reset, booting with a single stick of RAM etc) I got no further. The next step was to try the hard drive in another PC, which appeared to be suffering the same problem - Disk Manager would see the drive only intermittently (off a lot more than on!).

I then tried a new hard drive, thinking that the original might be faulty. Windows starts to install on this before I come across a similar problem where the Vista installation starts to copy the files but very quickly returns an error to say that communication to a storage device has been lost (could be HDD, could be the optical drive, or could be both - both are SATA).

I'm now thinking that perhaps the motherboard has an issue with SATA communication, but this doesn't explain the original HDD not working in another PC - could be explained by them both being faulty, but I have no explanation as to why. The PC has been used through a surge protector, and is as good as dust free inside. Temps appear to be fine etc.

The spec is:

E6750
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P
2x2Gb OCZ Gold PC6400
Seagate Barracuda 320gb SATA HDD
Samsung SATA DVDRW
8800GT
Antec Earthwatts 500w PSU
Vista Ultimate 64


I've updated the BIOS to the latest version, checked all connections etc and can't get any joy out of it.

Has anyone got any ideas what the most likely cause is? Any similar experiences with this motherboard? My plan at present is to try a new mobo, but would appreciate any opinions first in case I'm walking down the wrong path. The other thing that has sprung to mind is that the PSU could be dropping power to the drives for some reason.

Any help greatly appreciated, TIA!
 
it could be a bios setting your using, try resetting.

Have you got ACHI set in bois?

Other point have you increased the ram voltage by .3v found that the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P can be instable without it.
 
Last edited:
I've tried running a single stick of RAM (and tried both sticks independently) - no change.
I've tried a different SATA cable - no change.
I've tried setting AHCI - no change.
I've tried increasing the memory voltage as well - no change.
I've tried resetting CMOS on numerous occasions, as well as updating the BIOS to the latest F12 version.

Thanks for the ideas so far - keep 'em coming!
 
can you boot into safe mode,
don't suppose you have xp to try

have you got another drive to try also
 
Last edited:
The system would not boot into safe mode with the original HDD - same problem. I've tried a brand new HDD, and the Vista installation would not complete - it starts copying files, maybe completes 15% of this action before returning an error linked to communication to the storage device(s).

I'll try XP this afternoon, but I'm pretty confident that it's a hardware issue.
 
have you got any additional devices like card reader that maybe could throw a spanner in inital install. ( trying to think outside the box )
 
Yes, good point. There is an internal card reader on the PC. I'll try disconnecting that and any other non-essential hardware items.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom