How do I use the eSATA ports on my Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P?

[InterMurph]

On my old GA-EP45-UD3P, the eSATA ports were on a slot bracket, and I plugged them into SATA headers on the motherboard.

On my new GA-P55-UD4P, the eSATA ports are part of the rear connectors. I have them enabled in the BIOS (which is the default), but I can't get either of my eSATA disks to work.

Is there anything I need to do to enable them? I don't see any place on the motherboard where I can connect them to the internal SATA headers.

Thanks.

 

[newtekie1]

You don't need to connect them to anything, just enable them in the BIOS and they should work.

 

[InterMurph]

I enabled them in the BIOS, and they don't work.

I am testing with an eSATA disk that works on my old GA-EP45-UD3P.

I should have mentioned, though, that I am running Windows 7 on my new GA-P55-UD4P, and I was running XP on my old GA-EP45-UD3P.

 

[frostedflakes]

If you're trying to hot-swap them, AHCI needs to be enabled in the BIOS. Without AHCI enabled they should work, but you'd need to shut the system down, plug them in, then turn it back on for them to be recognized. Obviously not ideal for removable storage.

 

[InterMurph]

OK, I found the BIOS option to set the eSATA ports to AHCI mode. I set that and restarted Windows. Then I plugged my eSATA disk into one of the ports, powered it on, and... Nothing.

Next time I restart, I'll keep the disk powered on and plugged into the eSATA port, to see if that makes a difference.

 

[RussianSensation]

Ok my honest guess is that there are 2 types of eSATA ports of which your board is #2:

1) powered eSATA ports where both data and power are provided by eSATA port
2) non-powered eSATA ports where only data connection is provided via this port

It could be that your data connection is shared through eSATA port, however, your drive power is going to come from your USB port connection. Try plugging your eSATA cable and your USB port into a USB connector from your external drive. This means you will have 2 cables - one for power (USB) and one for data (eSATA).

Let us know if this fixes anything.

 

[Absolution75]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Ok my honest guess is that there are 2 types of eSATA ports of which your board is #2:

1) powered eSATA ports where both data and power are provided by eSATA port
2) non-powered eSATA ports where only data connection is provided via this port

It could be that your data connection is shared through eSATA port, however, your drive power is going to come from your USB port connection. Try plugging your eSATA cable and your USB port into a USB connector from your external drive. This means you will have 2 cables - one for power (USB) and one for data (eSATA).

Let us know if this fixes anything.

eSATA powered ports won't provide power unless you have a special cable (which I don't think is even avalible). For all purposes, it wouldn't matter considering he said he powered it on - I'm guessing with an external power supply.

Some external hard drives do indeed get auxilary power from USB, though make sure you aren't plugging the actual USB (DATA+POWER) into a USB port along with plugging in the eSATA port, it should have a seperate dongle to provide just power.


Honestly, my guess is that since you are running Windows 7 and a new board, that your external enclosure is the problem. Sometimes they have strange incompatabilities - try another external hard drive.

 

[InterMurph]

Problem solved: I never installed the drivers. They are on this page: ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw/jmb36x/XP_Vista_Win7/.

I installed R1.17.51.02_eSATA.zip, and everything is working great.

Running Windows 7, I have been lulled into believing that it has, or can find, all of the drivers it needs.

Edit: Just to clarify, the ports are still in AHCI mode.

 

[OzzieGT]

I'm surprised that it doesn't...I would think that an eSATA drive should have standard drivers just like a USB drive works universally. Maybe it's only a problem with that manufacturer?

 

[InterMurph]

The eSATA ports on this board are controlled by the JMicron controller. Apparently Windows 7 can't find drivers for that chip, so I had to find and install them myself.

Although the motherboard does come with a "drivers" CD, and an older version of those drivers is on it...