cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Bizarre HDD problem with SATA 3/6Gbps in Bios - Crosshair IV Formula

richgit
Level 7
Hello all,

I have a really weird problem with my Crosshair IV Formula. It first started when I bought an identical Samsung 1tb spinpoint F3 HDD (sata II 3gbps) to add to the identical one I had. I connected it to the 2nd SATA port and upon booting it was clicking REALLY loudly about 5 times during post only. When windows loaded the drive wasn't showing. Going through the bios I noticed the option to change to SATA 3.0gbps from auto and it cured the problem. No clicking, recognised fine in windows so I left it at that.

I've recently bought a Samsung 830 SSD which is SATA III 6gbps. Obviously I want to run it at full speed so I changed the bios back to auto (with both HDDs disconnected), changed the bios to ACHI from IDE (I only realised that I should use that mode today!) and installed win 7 64. Everything fine, then connected my 2xHDDs and left it on auto and ACHI and the clicking on boot up/ during post came back with my HDDs! I tried so many options, from auto to 6.0gbps, IDE to ACHI in that bios option and the ONLY thing that worked was by selecting SATA 3.0gbps like before. The issue doesn't see to be with ACHI or IDE as the HDDs worked fine as secondary drives under ACHI, the issue is the bios under auto or 6.0 mode. I don't want to try it many more times as it really sounds bad for the HDDs, they're clicking really loudly as if the internal mechanism is hitting against the sides! I haven't tried any other option within the bios as I am not savvy to what it could be and don't want to damage my drives.

My spec is:
Asus crosshair formula IV
Amd phenom x4 945 3.0ghz
G.skill 8gb ddr3 1600mhz
Samsung 830 SSD
2 x 1tb Samsung spinpoint f3 HD103SJ
Nvidia GeForce 260gtx
Ocz 600w psu
15,983 Views
13 REPLIES 13

Zygomorphic
Level 17
It sounds like you have a drive problem with the second drive. When you ran the drives in IDE mode, I don't think SATA speeds even mattered - IDE is the old legacy mode for old HDDs.
I am disturbed because I cannot break my system...found out there were others trying to cope! We have a support group on here, if your system will not break, please join!
http://rog.asus.com/forum/group.php?groupid=16
We now have 178 people whose systems will not break! Yippee! 🙂
LINUX Users, we have a group!
http://rog.asus.com/forum/group.php?groupid=23

DaemonCantor
Level 13
Really Zygo? He just explained that nothing was wrong with the Drives other than trying to force a SATA2 Drive into SATA3 Mode...Richgit, plug your Samsung's into ports 5 and 6 set them to SATA2(3g) leave your new Samsung 830 SSD in Port 1 and set it to SATA3(6g) there are two channels for your Drives Channel 1 is Ports 1-4 and Channel 2 is Ports 5 & 6. The JMicron Controller works the Single Port to the side and it's for your DVD(Optical) Drive and the ESATA Ports. If that Fails your only option is to get 2 Newer Samsung Spinpoint's that are the SATA3, I'm going off Memory of my CHIVF and some of the things I had to do to get it running right.

BTW Zygo Congrats on the Modship! Good Job!

Richgit Welcome to the Forums.

DaemonCantor wrote:
Really Zygo? He just explained that nothing was wrong with the Drives other than trying to force a SATA2 Drive into SATA3 Mode...Richgit, plug your Samsung's into ports 5 and 6 set them to SATA2(3g) leave your new Samsung 830 SSD in Port 1 and set it to SATA3(6g) there are two channels for your Drives Channel 1 is Ports 1-4 and Channel 2 is Ports 5 & 6. The JMicron Controller works the Single Port to the side and it's for your DVD(Optical) Drive and the ESATA Ports. If that Fails your only option is to get 2 Newer Samsung Spinpoint's that are the SATA3, I'm going off Memory of my CHIVF and some of the things I had to do to get it running right.

BTW Zygo Congrats on the Modship! Good Job!

Richgit Welcome to the Forums.


Zygo - unfortunately you cannot set ports 5 & 6 to sata II 3.0, you can only request they are IDE not ACHI - which incidentally doesnt seem to be the problem anyway as I have tested the faulty drive on both IDE and ACHI. THe only thing that makes it work is running the whole setup under SATA II 3.0 instead of 6.0 or the auto mode...

Auto is probably trying to set SATA 6 gb/s, because the SSD supports it.
I am disturbed because I cannot break my system...found out there were others trying to cope! We have a support group on here, if your system will not break, please join!
http://rog.asus.com/forum/group.php?groupid=16
We now have 178 people whose systems will not break! Yippee! 🙂
LINUX Users, we have a group!
http://rog.asus.com/forum/group.php?groupid=23

bikeman
Level 7
It sounds like a Samsung HDD problem, Tried other HDD it?

oldbrave
Level 9
richgit> Welcome to the forum!

You might want to check and see if there are jumpers on the Sata 2 drives, check the labels for the jumpers settings to force the drives to run at 3Gb even if the MB is set to 6Gb. That may solve your problem.
Electronic Smoke Signals From my TechnoTeepee
ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ 990FX, 1703 bios
AMD FX 8350 Vishera @ 5162Mhz [21x245] 1.546v 🙂
Water Cooled - Koolance EX2-1055, CPU 370 WB, Idle=22c Load=52c
32Gb G.Skill Sniper ddr3 1600 8G X 4 , 9-9-9-24 @ 1.55v
ASUS HD7970-DC2T-3GD5, Cat 13.5 beta 2, Dell U3011 @ 2560x1600
SanDisk Extreme 120Gb SSD SATA 6Gb, 250Gb SATA 6Gb, 1Tb SATA 6Gb x2
Win 7 Ultimate 64bit, Corsair Obsidian 800D, Corsair HX1000w PSU

HI all

I have put my Bluray drive on the separate SATA connector, the SSD on SATA 1 and the two spinpoint HDD's on SATA 5 and 6. I put the setting back to 'Auto' and IDE for 5&6, ACHI for SATA 1. Booted up and took a video of the results. It was the first time I touched both HDDs when the clicking happened and what do you know - only one is actually doing it. When windows loaded, the 'good' HDD showed up no problems and the clicking one didnt. Before I had my SSD, the original Spinpoint worked fine in the 'Auto SATA' mode, its only when I added my 2nd one that I started having this clicking problem. So there we have it, I assume the controller in the 2nd HDD is faulty? It works totally fine in SATA 3.0 mode but not any other. What would adjusting the 'OnChip SATA Channel' in the BIOS to 'disabled' do?

Out of interest I unplugged the faulty one and ran just the SSD and original HDD, under 'auto' mode but ACHI for both. Transfer speeds are very fast now, and both drives work fine. Check my video below re: the noise.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v291/richgit/2012/?action=view&current=HDDNoise.mp4





HiVizMan
Level 40
If any mechanical hard drive is clicking I would return it to the vendor. Clicking is not good under any circumstances.
To help us help you - please provide as much information about your system and the problem as possible.

HiVizMan wrote:
If any mechanical hard drive is clicking I would return it to the vendor. Clicking is not good under any circumstances.


No. TS is right. I have this motherboard for 2 years now, and the EXACT same problems occur here.

If i attach one drive, everything is fine. If i attach 2 drives (identical Samsung 500GB disk) then clicking starts to occur. I've pulled my hair since now because i cant figure out how to get it work right. Motherboard has the latest bios, has both AHCI or IDE, and always gives problems when on SATA 6G/b. What good is a motherboard if i cant use full 6G/b potential when having a SSD hooked up?

It's just not only with these 2 disks, i have a third and a fourth disk in my case as well but never bin able to have them all 4 running together with the SSD and / or DVD-RW combo. I always have to shut off PC, re-attach S-ata cables and try again.

All drives are in good condition, if i remove one of the drives, the other just magicly runs perfect, and is seen in Windows 7 X64.

All drives in AHCI does not solve the problem. Having 1 out of 5 drives does not either. It is defenitly the SPEED setting you fill in, 3Gb vs 6Gb which causes problems.

This is proberly the very best AM3+ high end motherboard out there, but i am really about to toss this POS out and get something that actually accepts ALL drives. I need space and storage for my work.