A8N-SLI - How serious are the SATA problems

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RoosterKooster

Member
Apr 10, 2001
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I have been sold on the A8N-SLI Premium for about a week and am ready to make the order. But... I have noticed some problems being reported with the SATA drives disappearing or being reported as failed.

This seems very seriious to me. I read all the posts I could find related to the SATA drive problems with the A8n-SLI Premium and I did not see any definitive source of the problem nor resolution thereof.

This will not be a system I can tinker with aside from the initial setup and configuration. Should I go with the A8N-SLI Premium or abandon it for the DFI?

Thanks folks,
 
Capt Caveman

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
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I have had the board for almost a month and have had zero issues. My SATA drives are also being run in a RAID 0 configuration, using both nf4 SATA ports 3/4 and 1/2.

I think the issues are from user error, ie. bios set-up, driver installation, jumper selection on sata drive, etc).
 
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marstein

Member
Jul 27, 2005
30
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I can second that. My A8N_SLI Deluxe runs very stable with the standard settings. When I experiment (overclock) then it gets crashy.
 
lopri

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,310
687
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I have to say the opposite to the above members' experience. I'm not dissing the A8N-SLI Premium board. This board is just about perfect..... EXCEPT the missing SATA drives problem. Everything works perfect. I mean EVERTHING.. EXCEPT THE GOD DAMN SATA! WHY-OH-WHY?

Umm... Jumper selection on SATA.. well I don't think anyone who is able to build a system on his own can miss it. BIOS set-up.. well, possible but I've tried everything related to it. Any suggestion? And driver installation isn't an issue since the SATA drive disappears from the BIOS (therefore in the OS, of course)

Overclocking - I doubt it. It happens with stock speed everything, and the first thing I did after I built my system is PRIME95. My 4800+ does 12 hours+ of torture test (of course both core at 100% load) at 2.7GHz. I dare to say it has nothing to do with O/C. I did quite a few runs of 3DMark05, too. (Proof ---> http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1026437 )

Thing is, everything runs absolutely perfect and fast, and out of nowhere the system hangs.. and I have to cold-boot. Then it fails to boot to the OS. So I check the BIOS and my 2nd SATA drive is gone!?!?

The weirdest ever, after a while it magically comes back! WTH?? It comes back like nothing happened. I haven't seen anything like this in my entire *geek* life.

Some people seemed to have fixed the issue with a different PSU. Not sure if my PSU is not reliable ( I have an Enermax 701AX 600W - the one certified for SLI by nVIDIA), but I'm going to RMA this and try a PC Power & Cooling PSU. At this point I'm just praying it's just the PSU.

lop
 
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amplemind

Member
Jul 9, 2005
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There's no way I'd have this problem if I only setup the system with 1 SATA drive, as my only hard drive?
 
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RoosterKooster

Member
Apr 10, 2001
114
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I appreciate the responses. My intent is to have two sata drives in a non-raid configuration.
Is anyone configured like this and problem free?
Thanks,
 
Capt Caveman

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
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Originally posted by: amplemind
There's no way I'd have this problem if I only setup the system with 1 SATA drive, as my only hard drive?
Click to expand...

When I originally set-up my system with this board, I started with only one SATA drive. I think you'll be all set.
 
Aquila76

Aquila76

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2004
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Originally posted by: RoosterKooster
I appreciate the responses. My intent is to have two sata drives in a non-raid configuration.
Is anyone configured like this and problem free?
Thanks,
Click to expand...

Mine is set up that way, on ports 1 & 2 of the nVidia controller.
74GB Raptor for OS and apps - SATA 1
250GB WD for everything else - SATA 2

It's been flawless since I got it in February. I agree with blinky2004, the issue only seems to affect Maxtor drives (which I'm not particularly fond of anyway due to past experiences) and is readily fixed with a HDD firmware update.
 
Aquila76

Aquila76

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2004
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Lopri, what PSU are you running? From other forums, it may be the mobo needs a quality 24-pin PSU or at least a top-of-the-midrange PSU to power SATA correctly.
 
Nocturnal

Nocturnal

Lifer
Jan 8, 2002
18,927
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I've had this mobo for a few months now and I only have SATA HDDs as well as a SATA DVDRW and I have not encountered a single problem with my hard drives or DVDRW.
 
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Creideike

Member
Jan 10, 2005
45
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I have had the A8N SLI Delux since January with two Diamond Max 10 SATA drives from Maxtor in a RAID 0 array w/o any problems...so I think you should be just fine :) Although it has been awile since I have seen a post in regards to this, and please correct me if I am wrong, but a lot of the problems that people were having is with SATA drives had to do with with NCQ, which I believe this board does not support.
 
Nocturnal

Nocturnal

Lifer
Jan 8, 2002
18,927
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Like I mentioned before, I haven't had any issues with my Maxtor Maxline III SATA hard drive. Only good things :)
 
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blinky2004

Member
Mar 2, 2005
71
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Originally posted by: Creideike
I have had the A8N SLI Delux since January with two Diamond Max 10 SATA drives from Maxtor in a RAID 0 array w/o any problems...so I think you should be just fine :) Although it has been awile since I have seen a post in regards to this, and please correct me if I am wrong, but a lot of the problems that people were having is with SATA drives had to do with with NCQ, which I believe this board does not support.
Click to expand...

The Nforce4 Ultra and SLI chipsets support NCQ. The NForce 4x does not (possibly can be done by some unlocking).
 
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fluxquantum

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2000
2,398
1
71
i have been using this mobo now for a couple months with no issues. i also have a very stable overclock.
 
lopri

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,310
687
126
I'm using the BIOS 1004 which came with the mobo. I just plugged the EZ-plug thing so I'll see if that was the cause.

I'm not questioning about this board's overclock-ability or stability in general. When it works, it works perfect. Like I've mentioned above, it went through all the torture tests just fine. It JUST HAPPENS. Like, every other day. It doesn't matter with what I am doing at the moment - sometimes I find my system freezed overnight when I wake up.

Sigh.. I'm waiting for a new PSU for now.

lop
 
Capt Caveman

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
126
Bios 1004??? You may want to try and flash your bios to the latest final version, 1005. Also, just realease is a beta version 1007.002 which I flashed today and no issues using it.
 
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LawboyUK

Junior Member
Sep 22, 2005
3
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Just on SATA, RAID and A8N SLIs, does anyone know if there's a way to disable the boot item that appears just after the A8N logo? The one that says "press f4 for raid configurations", before running through the rest of the boot sequence? Doesn't seem to be an issue for anyone else as I can't find any advice anywhere :)

I want to disable that option, but can't figure out how to.

Apologies for possibly incorrect terminology re: the actualy wording, but I'm not in front of that machine at the moment and am running from memory.

Cheers
 
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