Is my eSATA port dead?

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Synomenon

Synomenon

Lifer
Dec 25, 2004
10,542
6
81
I've been trying to get my BIOS / Vista to see my eSATA hard drive all day. When I plug the drive (in an enclosure w/ eSATA port) into the motherboard's built in eSATA port, nothing happens. I've turned the computer off, then powered the hard drive on THEN turned the computer on. I've gone into the BIOS and changed it from IDE to SATA to AHCI mode and I've tried setting it to SATA GEN I and SATA GEN II and disabled, but Vista AND the BIOS never see the drive.

I know it's working because I tried the enclosure and hard drive in a different system and they both work.

Anyone have any advice on this? Could my eSATA port be dead?

Edit:
My motherboard uses 975X and ICH7R. It's a Shuttle SD39P2 XPC barebone.

This is the hard drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148144

The hard drive had a jumper on it, but I took it off. The little diagram on the drive showed that the current position it was in was to disable SATAII and run at SATAI. When there's no header it runs at SATAII. At least that's what I remember the diagram saying.

This is the enclosure:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817715002

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B

BOLt

Diamond Member
Dec 11, 2004
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Try setting the jumper on the hard drive to 1.5Gbps. Perhaps your motherboard doesn't support 3.0Gbps? Just a guess. Good luck!

EDIT:

I just read your motherboard's chipset. That 99% for certain has 3.0Gbps support, so nevermind what I said. :(
 
Synomenon

Synomenon

Lifer
Dec 25, 2004
10,542
6
81
I finally figured out what the problem was though. Turns out the enclosure I got is really picky with the eSATA cable you use with it. At first, I had tried using these nicer looking eSATA cables I purchased separately. After almost giving up I decided to try the eSATA cable that came with the enclosure. It worked.

Don't know why it wouldn't work with the other eSATA cables I have.
 
O

Old Hippie

Diamond Member
Oct 8, 2005
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Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
I finally figured out what the problem was though. Turns out the enclosure I got is really picky with the eSATA cable you use with it. At first, I had tried using these nicer looking eSATA cables I purchased separately. After almost giving up I decided to try the eSATA cable that came with the enclosure. It worked.

Don't know why it wouldn't work with the other eSATA cables I have.
Click to expand...
There's a standard for these cables. If your fancy ones didn't work, I'd be sending them back as defective. I'm glad you got it working, but the cables should be interchangeable.

 
Synomenon

Synomenon

Lifer
Dec 25, 2004
10,542
6
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Anyone have any clue as to why the enclosure wasn't being detected with either of those cables?
 
O

Old Hippie

Diamond Member
Oct 8, 2005
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Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
Anyone have any clue as to why the enclosure wasn't being detected with either of those cables?
Click to expand...

Nope, and you certainly bought some pretty ones. Now, I'm gonna ask a stupid question here. Some external enclosures, such as mine, actually have a SATA plug. You didn't attempt to plug an eSATA cable into a SATA plug on your enclosure, did ya?

Edit; I just took a gander at you enclosure link. Looks like an eSATA plug to me! There's gotta be something else we're missin'.
 
Synomenon

Synomenon

Lifer
Dec 25, 2004
10,542
6
81
Fortunately I'm not that dumb. :p

I made sure to get "I to I" eSATA cables. The eSATA port on my motherboard uses the "I" connector and so does the one on my enclosure.
 
D

dakata24

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2000
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Synomenon

Synomenon

Lifer
Dec 25, 2004
10,542
6
81
Hehe, keep us updated. If it works with your setup then something must be wrong with my enclosure or my motherboard's eSATA port.
 
D

dakata24

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2000
6,366
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76
Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
Hehe, keep us updated. If it works with your setup then something must be wrong with my enclosure or my motherboard's eSATA port.
Click to expand...

i plugged it in and it didnt do a thing.

is there some special driver i need to install before it can be detected? i just did a clean install with WinXP Pro SP2. havent done any microsoft updates but did install the latest Nvidia NForce drivers

i took a look at my p5n-e manual and cant see any settings i need to do in the bios to enable the esata port.

i'm going to have to take a closer look at it tonight.
 
P

Paperdoc

Platinum Member
Aug 17, 2006
2,307
278
126
On my ASUS mobo with a Silicon Image eSATA port, I did have to go into the right place in BIOS and specifically configure that port. I chose not to use it as part of a RAID array, just run as a PATA emulation. But those settings were NOT grouped in with the regular internal SATA ports configurations. In fact, the manual spent most of its time on the eSATA port detailing how to go RAID, and it took some reading to find how to use it the simple way.
 
Synomenon

Synomenon

Lifer
Dec 25, 2004
10,542
6
81
Originally posted by: dakata24
Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
Hehe, keep us updated. If it works with your setup then something must be wrong with my enclosure or my motherboard's eSATA port.
Click to expand...

i plugged it in and it didnt do a thing.

is there some special driver i need to install before it can be detected? i just did a clean install with WinXP Pro SP2. havent done any microsoft updates but did install the latest Nvidia NForce drivers

i took a look at my p5n-e manual and cant see any settings i need to do in the bios to enable the esata port.

i'm going to have to take a closer look at it tonight.
Click to expand...



I didn't have to change anything in my BIOS. All I did was try the cable that came with my enclosure and it magically worked.

Is the hard drive in your enclosure already formatted? Or did you zero-fill it or something? If so you have to go into disk management to initialize it.

Also, try going into your BIOS and enabling AHCI. You'll have to reinstall Windows though if AHCI wasn't enabled before.
 
D

dakata24

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2000
6,366
0
76
Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
Originally posted by: dakata24
Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
Hehe, keep us updated. If it works with your setup then something must be wrong with my enclosure or my motherboard's eSATA port.
Click to expand...

i plugged it in and it didnt do a thing.

is there some special driver i need to install before it can be detected? i just did a clean install with WinXP Pro SP2. havent done any microsoft updates but did install the latest Nvidia NForce drivers

i took a look at my p5n-e manual and cant see any settings i need to do in the bios to enable the esata port.

i'm going to have to take a closer look at it tonight.
Click to expand...



I didn't have to change anything in my BIOS. All I did was try the cable that came with my enclosure and it magically worked.

Is the hard drive in your enclosure already formatted? Or did you zero-fill it or something? If so you have to go into disk management to initialize it.

Also, try going into your BIOS and enabling AHCI. You'll have to reinstall Windows though if AHCI wasn't enabled before.
Click to expand...

well, i thought i overlooked something cuz after re-reading the manual, i realized that the esata port isn't part of the nvidia chipset. it's a JMicron port. so i installed the JMicron RAID/SATA driver and still no go.

My Asus P5N-E doesnt have an option in the bios to enable AHCI. Just an option to enable/disable the JMicron SATA ports.

My esata drive already has information on it. I was testing it out with a USB2 connection before i purchased the esata cable.

Could well be the cable is bad. I might have to swing by Bestbuy or Compusa and get a few different esata cables and test.

thanks
 
L

lhotdeals

Member
Jun 25, 2003
79
0
0
Originally posted by: dakata24

well, i thought i overlooked something cuz after re-reading the manual, i realized that the esata port isn't part of the nvidia chipset. it's a JMicron port. so i installed the JMicron RAID/SATA driver and still no go.

My Asus P5N-E doesnt have an option in the bios to enable AHCI. Just an option to enable/disable the JMicron SATA ports.

My esata drive already has information on it. I was testing it out with a USB2 connection before i purchased the esata cable.

Could well be the cable is bad. I might have to swing by Bestbuy or Compusa and get a few different esata cables and test.

thanks
Click to expand...


Hey guys, I am having the exact same problem with a FreeAgent Pro 750GB Seagate HD and ASUS P5B Deluxe motherboard. I bought my eSATA I to I cable from MonoPrice.com and the connection between the cable and my HD and Mobo is not very tight. I too will try to get different cables and test them out. Will post back with results, also if anyone is able to get a cable that works, please let us know where you bought it from. Thanks
 
J

jgdiablo

Member
Jul 17, 2001
30
0
0
I have the exact same setup...p5b deluxe and FreeAgent Pro 750GB HD...I bought an I to I eSATA cable on eBay and the hard drive consistently locks up. On USB it's totally fine.

I have a feeling that there's some incompatability with the FreeAgent and the p5b Deluxe. I'm going to try to download the latest JMicron driver from here:
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw/jmb36x/Win2k_xp_Vista/JMB36X_WinDrv_WHQL_R1.17.18.07.zip">ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw......QL_R1.17.18.07.zip</a>

I'll give it a whirl and see if it helps at all.
 
J

jgdiablo

Member
Jul 17, 2001
30
0
0
I installed the latest JMicron driver (5/16/07) and the problem appears to have gone away. I strongly recommend you give this a shot.
 
A

axial

Junior Member
Jun 25, 2007
1
0
0
Buried in the Seagate FAQ
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-...wledge_base/faqs/fa-kb

there's this:

http://seagate.custhelp.com/cg...2hfdGV4dD1mcmVlYWdlbnQ*&p_li=&p_topview=1

>> My FreeAgent drive is connected through the eSATA interface...why can't I perform Diagnostics, Adjust Drive Sleep Interval or the Adjust Drive Lights

>> The Utilities features are not available while your drive is connected via the eSATA port. To run diagnostics, set sleep intervals, or adjust the drive lights, connect the drive through either the USB or the 1394 ports. After adjustments have been made, the eSATA port will reflect the lighting and sleep settings you specified using the USB or 1394 interface.<<

 
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