How hard can it be to install a HDD? (SATA freeze)

2010-10-11 22:53:50

#1

DonFck: Hibernator; +3,227|6905|Finland

Apparently very hard.

Dear bf2s tech-geniuses, I need your help.

So one of my old HDD:s died a few days back, a 160GB Caviar (IDE), so I was in the market for some extra space. I purchased a 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 SATA-drive as a new secondary lair for my music (which, of course consists only of backups from my CD:s, wink wink, nudge nudge), nature films (Yeah, "National Geographic") and pictarz.

So I plug the bastard in the SATA1-slot, boot up, install SATA drivers, restart, go into BIOS, set drive to non-RAID, save, exit, boot, woohoo! Once in XP, the drive is recognized in the HDD-manager and I right-click and select "create partition". Should be easy as that, right? NO!

For some odd reason, the SATA drive is detected as an SCSI-drive, but this I read is normal on older OS:s and MB:s, so I thought nothing of it

The format stalls between 2 and 14% and freezes my PC. I've tried this six times now, and nothing works. Quick format worked, but once I read/write with the drive, everything freezes. And I mean nothing. No mouse action, no HDD-led action, nothing. Megafreeze. If the drive is left alone, the PC works just fine.

Setup (this is some old stuff, so laugh on):
XP 32bit SP3
AsRock Dual SATA II s939
AMD Athlon 64 4200+ Dual Core
2GB RAM (1+1 DDR400 in DualChannel)
Primary Master: 160GB Barracuda (IDE)
Primary Slave: Lite-On DVD-RW
Sec Master: Empty
Sec Slave: Empty
SATA1: Barracuda 500GB in non-RAID <- That's the thing that doesn't play ball
SATA2: Empty
SATA II: Samsung 500GB running in IDE-mode.

So I have two SATA-slots and one SATAII-slot.

This is what I've tested so far:
- Reset DMA
- Put the drive into the SATA II slot, works just fine
- Uninstalled/Reinstalled SATA drivers
- Put in a jumper that slows the drive down from 300Gb/s to 150Gb/s

Dear bf2s, what do I do? I want my 1TB!

I need around tree fiddy.

2010-10-11 22:54:43

#2

eleven bravo: Member; +1,399|5533|foggy bottom

goodluck!

Tu Stultus Es

2010-10-11 22:56:13

#3

13/f/taiwan: Member; +940|5972

eleven bravo wrote:
goodluck!

2010-10-11 23:37:51

#4

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,054|7045|PNW

To be honest, dealing with SATA and the socket 939 generation motherboards can be a pain in the fucking ass. I didn't open your mobo's pdf file, but it could be that the onboard SATA controller you're using is set to run the thing on RAID mode. See if you can switch it to 'IDE' mode (e: i shud lurn 2 reed) or see if there's a BIOS update that addresses issues with SATA drive recognition.

e2: if you have more than one sata controller, you can try using the other instead.

If you get pissed off enough, you can always drop the thing into a NAS and access it through ethernet. Preliminary google scans show reports of people hating on that board for precisely this reason.

2010-10-11 23:45:58

#5

DonFck: Hibernator; +3,227|6905|Finland

unnamednewbie13 wrote:
To be honest, dealing with SATA and the socket 939 generation motherboards can be a pain in the fucking ass. I didn't open your mobo's pdf file, but it could be that the onboard SATA controller you're using is set to run the thing on RAID mode. See if you can switch it to 'IDE' mode (e: i shud lurn 2 reed) or see if there's a BIOS update that addresses issues with SATA drive recognition.

e2: if you have more than one sata controller, you can try using the other instead.

If you get pissed off enough, you can always drop the thing into a NAS and access it through ethernet.

The SATAII is in IDE, the options for SATA were "RAID" and "non-RAID".

SATAII has always worked without a hitch (The one with the Samsung drive, the Barracuda worked in it as well). It's SATA that's fuckin' about.

I need around tree fiddy.

2010-10-11 23:49:36

#6

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,054|7045|PNW

Use quick format. (on a different PC, if you have one)

2010-10-11 23:51:49

#7

DonFck: Hibernator; +3,227|6905|Finland

unnamednewbie13 wrote:
Use quick format. (on a different PC, if you have one)

Quick format worked, but once I read/write with the drive, everything freezes.

Yeah..

Or do you think the thing would start working if I formatted via SATAII and then connect it to SATA?

I need around tree fiddy.

2010-10-11 23:55:27

#8

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,054|7045|PNW

Hard to tell. The reason I suggested trying the drive on another PC is to rule it out as it being the problem. I wonder if CHKDSK would freeze your PC if it tried to access that drive.

'Somniferum's' post on http://forums.anandtech.com/archive/ind … 4-p-8.html and some responses might yield ideas.

2010-10-11 23:57:25

#9

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,054|7045|PNW

Update:

I used HUtil to perform a low-level format of the new Samsung drive, then repartitioned and installed XP from scratch. It now works perfectly, in SATA II mode using the latest JMicron drivers.

edit: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/ … HUTIL.html

2010-10-12 00:20:34

#10

DonFck: Hibernator; +3,227|6905|Finland

But the Samsung is OK, so is the SATAII. SATA1 is buggin'.

I wonder if I flip the Samsung over to SATA1 and force 1.5Gb/s on it (if it would by any chance work better there) and put the new drive into SATAII on full speed..? Would it blend?

I need around tree fiddy.

2010-10-12 00:24:05

#11

-Whiteroom-: Pineapplewhat; +572|6932|BC, Canada

I had this happen before, never got a solution for it here, cant remember the thread. I tried everything I could think of and couldnt make it work, some IT guy at work got it going apparently.

2010-10-12 10:57:55

#12

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,054|7045|PNW

Try installing the latest Windows drivers for both the SATA1 and SATA2 controllers. All forms of SATA are compatible (1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 1, etc), so you could conceivably run both drives on the SATA1 controller.

2010-10-12 12:21:23

#13

DonFck: Hibernator; +3,227|6905|Finland

Forced 1.5 Gb/s on the Samsung and put it into the SATA1-slot. The Barracuda was in the SATAII-slot, just happy as a clam (note that SATAII is NOT SATA2). Transferring files between IDE and SATA1 went well, Transferring files between IDE and SATAII went well. Transferring files between SATA1 and SATAII froze the bugger again.

I find it hard to believe that putting both drives in SATA (I.e. SATA1 and SATA2), since I don't have more than one SATAII-slot, would make any difference, so I won't try it at least today. I suspect this due to the fact that formatting the drive was impossible in SATA1 and SATA2, yet worked like a mofo in SATAII.

I have the newest drivers installed (which aren't so new tbh) and there are no conflicts in System Manager.

Fück my ass.

I need around tree fiddy.

2010-10-12 23:49:26

#14

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,054|7045|PNW

Yeah, I'm guessing it's {SATA_1, SATA_2} and {SATA_II_1} if the board makes any sort of labeling sense. I would, for the moment, try to put both drives onto the same controller until you really have time to sit down and mess with it. More intuition than sure knowledge (since I haven't worked with that board), I know, but if that fixes it, I'm willing to bet that you need the newest drivers for the JMicron JMB360 (as listed on ASRock's product specifications) SATAII controller.

ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw/jmb36x/XP_Vista_Win7/

e: One thing I haven't asked is if there were any missing drivers or conflicts listed in device manager.

2010-10-13 00:06:35

#15

DonFck: Hibernator; +3,227|6905|Finland

There's nothing wrong with the SATAII driver, and no conflicts in device manager..

I'm going to try with an add-on PCI-e SATAII-controller card, as soon as I get a hold of one that's cheap. That should fix it.

I need around tree fiddy.

2010-10-13 00:12:41

#16

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,054|7045|PNW

Well, see if you can transfer data between the two drives on the SATA controller before making any assumptions. I'd also be interested in knowing which version of the SATAII driver is installed, even if Windows isn't complaining about it. An add-on card should be put in only if you absolutely need an slot.

(e: I'm pushing for driver updates because I have a strong suspicion that either one, the other or both controllers are failing on the software side of things to properly communicate, and of those two, I'm first leaning towards the SATAII.)

2010-10-13 00:53:50

#17

DonFck: Hibernator; +3,227|6905|Finland

But what about the system freezing when trying to format a 150MB/s forced drive on the SATA1-slot? That had nothing to do with the SATAII-controller, am I right?

I'm getting a PCI-card SCSI/SATA-controller to test with today. Since it has it's own drivers and everything, do you think that would work if I put both 500GB drives in it (given that it has two slots, which I was promised)?

I need around tree fiddy.

2010-10-13 09:29:29

#18

DonFck: Hibernator; +3,227|6905|Finland

Update: I just put a Maxtor SATA/150 PCI-card into my slot. Then I put it into the PCI-slot. It's old school, like 2003 old school. But the driver is newer and more compatible. I scored the card off a friend who took it out when we went to Win7 and it wasn't compatible. God I love people who save their obsolete parts. One mans junk is another mans salvation.

So far so good, the AsRock drivers were poo, and the manufacturer has long time ago stopped giving a shit about updating them, as their attention is directed, understandably, towards their newer models.

The Samsung is still in SATAII and the Barracuda is in the SATA slot of the new SATA controller card. I've just finished copying over 37GB of mp3:s without a hitch between the two, so all things are looking awsm.

So closed until further notice, this one's resolved for now.

I need around tree fiddy.

BF2S Forums How hard can it be to install a HDD? (SATA freeze)

eleven bravo wrote:

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

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