Bad SATA cable

[zuffy]

I can't believe the random lockups, reboots, or BSOD in my HTPC was because of a bad SATA cable. I kept thinking it was a bad HDD, bad RAM or my OCing. Finally when I tried another SATA cable, all the problems went away. Of course, I only learn of this after trying to restore from Acronis and reinstalling the OS numerous times. Sometimes when we troubleshoot, we don't think of the simple things as the root cause.

 

[fffblackmage]

I know exactly what you mean. My brother's computer would BSOD and the HDD would go unresponsive randomly. We repeatedly tested the HDD, but it would always seem to come out working just fine. Eventually, he replaced the cpu and mobo. We saw the same problems, except it was a different HDD giving us the problems. Turns out we swapped the cables connecting two HDDs during the cpu/mobo swap. That's when we finally figured out that it was the cable. Oh well, at least he got a nice new cpu and mobo.

 

[General Kenobi]

I hate to admit it, but I've never even thought of SATA cables as primary suspects. I don't think I've ever even switched them to test for malfunctions... I'll keep this in mind, it's certainly a good point.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Duly noted for a troubleshooting step.

I'm still using SATA 1.5Gbit/sec-rated cables, I got a bunch of them for $0.70ea. They are the rounded kind, not the flat red kind. Haven't had any problems yet, but I have yet to build a rig with SATA6G. (My new motherboard is capable, but I don't have a SATA 6G drive yet.)

 

[mfenn]

Whoa, hold on! You were overclocking an HTPC rig? I'm curious as to why you did that.

 

[zuffy]

It's my everything PC. Serve as backup PC, HTPC, downloads, testing, etc.

 

[mfenn]

Sooooo, why is it overclocked? :awe:

 

[zuffy]

Why waste an Extreme CPU

 

[Charlie98]

I'm curious about the SATA cables, and VirtualLarry sort of eluded to it... what are the better cables... flat or round? Or does it matter?

I've already had a USB plug come apart on me (Ok, ok, it was on a Rosewill card reader... but it DID come apart!) and I'm wondering about the build quality on some of this stuff.

 

[0roo0roo]

hm thats pretty rare, ive never come across a bad one, and mine are mostly stupid cheap ones from meritline and such.

 

[0roo0roo]

I'm curious about the SATA cables, and VirtualLarry sort of eluded to it... what are the better cables... flat or round? Or does it matter?

I've already had a USB plug come apart on me (Ok, ok, it was on a Rosewill card reader... but it DID come apart!) and I'm wondering about the build quality on some of this stuff.

oh it stopped mattering once we got to sata, neither type blocks airflow like the flat ide ones. the only thing that makes a difference are the clips to keep them from slipping out. unless you handle that cable all day and every day, i dont' see how they would come apart.

 

[Rifter]

I've seen a few bad SATA cables over the last few years, almost all of them came with budget Asus mobo's. Now i dont even use the provided Asus cables and buy my own seperate, i spent weeks trying to troubleshoot my gf's pc just to find a asus provided cable was the culprit and im a little jadded lol.

 

[Modelworks]

I really hate the sata connectors, when you insert them they just don't feel solidly connected, I think they should have made them a little longer so you get more casing into the socket. I liked the way IDE cables were plug in and you knew it was solid, but I hate the bulk of them.

 

[fffblackmage]

I really hate the sata connectors, when you insert them they just don't feel solidly connected, I think they should have made them a little longer so you get more casing into the socket. I liked the way IDE cables were plug in and you knew it was solid, but I hate the bulk of them.

You know what, that might be the problem behind the issues I've seen. I told my brother to just disconnect and reconnect the SATA cables to make sure they're properly connected, and that would almost always fix the problem - but only for a short while. And I guess moving the computer around often doesn't really help either....

I actually miss those old IDE cables too. Well, actually, I like the connector, but the cables were always a pain to deal with.

 

[zuffy]

I think if they made the SATA connectors wider like the SATA power connectors, it would be more secured.

 

[sm625]

I'm not a fan of the sata physical connector. It seems like they deliberately design connectors to be failure prone. I do like the design of the cable itself, compared to IDE. But the IDE connector design is superior even if larger and more expensive. I used to have HDD cables go baad all the time. It rarely happens to me with sata. The flimsiness of the connector is what bugs me now, but it seems to work, or I've just been lucky.

 

[mfenn]

I really hate the sata connectors, when you insert them they just don't feel solidly connected, I think they should have made them a little longer so you get more casing into the socket. I liked the way IDE cables were plug in and you knew it was solid, but I hate the bulk of them.

I really like the SFF-8087 connectors used by SAS backplanes. A little bulkier than SATA, sure, but it's secure as hell.

 

[handygrandad]

Hi all,

My first post on this site ... I felt compelled to write as I have had some recent SATA cable problems that might give a clue to some of the problems others have experienced.

First I upgraded a 60Gig SSD to a 90 Gig as I was running out of space for my O/S and programs, this involved an Acronis backup transfer.

Then I decided to upgrade 3 x SATA cables, removing the flat type for a set of round (SATA3) cables of just the right length to fit with enough play to avoid any sharp turns.

To start with, everything seemed OK. Then my data drive (120Gig SSD) wouldn't register during POST, so I replaced the original cable, and it registered, for a while ... ...

Then I got the "Bootmnger is missing" error message ... ... ...

After swapping cables around and generally faffing about, I decided to use the Repair option on my Windows 7 Installation Disk ... ...

After running the "Start up repair" option, not only did the system boot up properly ... ... but the boot up was smoother and faster, than it had been for some time.

Finally, I tried again to install my newly purchased round SATA cables, and everything's fine .... .... and rock solid.

I have been guilty of slagging SATA cables in the past, and maybe some of them are dodgy, but I wonder if there are some circumstances when something else is going on :\ ??

 

[bononos]

I've seen a few bad SATA cables over the last few years, almost all of them came with budget Asus mobo's. Now i dont even use the provided Asus cables and buy my own seperate, i spent weeks trying to troubleshoot my gf's pc just to find a asus provided cable was the culprit and im a little jadded lol.

Well that sucks, Asus would be better off not including those cheap cables in the first place. Maybe I'm just lucky not to have a problem with using free cables.

 

[Vinwiesel]

Anyone else find that the sata connectors are sometimes too wide? I've had situations where the power and data are too fat, and can't both be plugged in at once because they run into each-other. After shaving a little plastic off each of them, they fit fine.

 

[Puppies04]

hm thats pretty rare, ive never come across a bad one, and mine are mostly stupid cheap ones from meritline and such.

My brother in law asked me to take a look at his pc because it was acting weird. Just happened to notice the sata cales were some crappy make and I replaced them with some spare asus ones I had lying around. Problems dissapeared straight away. They are always the first thing I check now because of how easy they are to swap.

 

[Charlie98]

Anyone else find that the sata connectors are sometimes too wide? I've had situations where the power and data are too fat, and can't both be plugged in at once because they run into each-other. After shaving a little plastic off each of them, they fit fine.

I had that problem with one of my HDDs, I just peeled a bit of the plug away with a knife and it was fine.