ASUS z87 shows single optical drive

KyleGates

Senior member
Oct 19, 2004
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......And that would be fine by me, except I have two optical drives.

Basically I just went from an older EVGA x58le and i7 970 to an ASUS z87 Expert with a 4770. All other hardware remained the same.

I am using a 1TB WD regular ol 7200rpm HDD (yesyes SSD coming soon).
I also have a LiteOn Blu Ray drive (player) and a LiteOn DVD RW drive.

My issue is, after a fresh format and re-install of Win7 64bit, Windows shows just the DVD RW drive.


-In the ASUS GUI BIOS both drives are seen just fine.
-Device manager in Windows shows just the single drive.
-If I disconnect the DVD RW drive the Blu Ray shows up fine and dandy.
-Different cables have not solved the issue (gave it a shot).
-I have tried manymany SATA configs, Blu Ray on 2, DVD on 3, Blu Ray on 4, DVD on 2, Blu Ray on 3, DVD on 6...etcetcetc...


As a side question, what the heck are ASMedia ports? (I have ignored them thusfar).

Thanks!
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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That board has Intel and Asmedia SATA controllers. Your drives should both be on the Intel ports, as the Asmedia controller does not support ATAPI devices (although I think the not support list is wider than that).
 
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KyleGates

Senior member
Oct 19, 2004
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That board has Intel and Asmedia SATA controllers. Your drives should both be on the Intel ports, as the Asmedia controller does not support ATAPI devices (although I think the not support list is wider than that).


All the drives are on the Intel ports, I have ignored the ASMedia ports thusfar (nothing plugged into them).
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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OK, cool. Have you looked at Disk Management under Computer Management? There could be a problem with it giving both a drive letter.

I have seen that occur with Hard Drives before, not with a CD/DVD drive. But I'd say it's worth a shot.

Oh, and did I help answer the question about the Asmedia ports?
 
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alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
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OK, cool. Have you looked at Disk Management under Computer Management? There could be a problem with it giving both a drive letter.

I have seen that occur with Hard Drives before, with not with a CD/DVD drive. But I'd say it's worth a shot.

Oh, and did I help answer the question about the Asmedia ports?

I had this problem in Windows 8. My main Optical showed up, I had to assign a drive letter to get it to show in the OS.

OP make sure your optical is shown on BOOT not just in the BIOS.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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I had this problem in Windows 8. My main Optical showed up, I had to assign a drive letter to get it to show in the OS.

OP make sure your optical is shown on BOOT not just in the BIOS.

That is weird. I wonder why they are doing that? To me, that would be considered a step BACKWARDS. Maybe it is just part of the growing pains of UEFI.
 

KyleGates

Senior member
Oct 19, 2004
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Now its getting a little odd. So after some more cable position changes both drives now show up in Windows and can be used...UNTIL I put the PC to sleep.

When it wakes, again, only the DVDRW drive can be seen. Curiouser and curiouser.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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Sounds like you have a bad cable/connection somewhere. If it's not a SATA cable, I would blame the power supply. Is yours modular?

One easy way to test the power would be to see if the tray opens while Windows is not recognizing it.
 

KyleGates

Senior member
Oct 19, 2004
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I thought it could...maybe be the PSU (It is a modular Enermax Revo85+ 1050....that has always been ROCK solid) so I tried a different modular cable, then a different modular port on the PSU (that I believe is on a separate rail). No changes. The drive does open and close just fine even with windows not seeing it, drive light even illuminates while the disc spins up for a sec.

I have also tried several different SATA cables along with the SATA cable running the (seen by windows) DVDRW drive. Nuthin.

BUT, Id much rather have this issue, than Ecomog whos entire PC seems to be possessed lol. I just need an SATA port exorcism.
 

KyleGates

Senior member
Oct 19, 2004
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Yep, it seems that I can read both drives just fine. But if I put the PC to sleep, when it wakes up, only one drive is left (Only the DVDRW drive shows up in Explorer or Admin Disk Management).
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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Yep, it seems that I can read both drives just fine. But if I put the PC to sleep, when it wakes up, only one drive is left (Only the DVDRW drive shows up in Explorer or Admin Disk Management).

Interesting. If you swap SATA ports, does the problem follow the drive or the port?
 

KyleGates

Senior member
Oct 19, 2004
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Problem follows the drive. The darn thing worked flawlessly with the x58 LE I had before....I have yet to pull it and try on another system..guess I'm to that point. But, what if it works fine in another system? Dont get me wrong, I am VERY glad this is the ONLY issue my new system is having but...what a WEIRD one!