# SATA Ports not working



## unholyarmy (Aug 24, 2014)

Hi, I have an Asus P8H67-M LX motherboard with 6 SATA III ports in it. 

Up until this weekend I have only been using two of them one HDD and one DVD drive. I purchased an SSD and did a fresh install of the Windows 7 OS onto it, with a view to using that for the OS and a few games, and the HDD for storage. 

The problem I am having is that I cant get any of the remaining 4 Ports to recognize a drive attached to them. 

While installing the SSD I changed the system to ACHI in the BIOS and enabled the remaining 4 ports. I know this worked because "Intel Rapid Storage Technology" can see the ports, but cant see the drive attached to them. I know the three drives work because I can use them in any combination of two on the working ports. 

I have tried the exercise with two different SATA cables with no joy. 

I cant imagine why it would make a difference but there may be a technical difference I don't know about, but the two SATA ports which work are grey and the 4 which I haven't been able to get working are blue. 

I have downloaded all the latest drivers for the motherboard. 

I am wildly out of my depth here, so please let me know what further information is required to help solve my issue.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Verify the port configuration in the BIOS. Check the controller status in Device Manager and/or manually update/install the latest motherboard drivers available from Asus.


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## unholyarmy (Aug 24, 2014)

Thank you for the reply JimE, I have tried installing the latest drivers via Device Manager, but it said I had the latest one anyway. 

After a bit of digging around trying to work out what "Verify the port Configuration" meant, it looks like I may have fallen foul of the "Cougar Point design error" which affects the family of motherboards which includes mine. It sounds as though the 4 ports I want to use are liable to failure, and as I have had the computer for 3 years 5 months, I doubt I can get any replacement under warranty. 

Is there anything I can do next? Ideally I wanted to attach a large backup drive via Esata along with the 3 drive inside the tower. I don't have any USB3 slots and now appear to be limited to 2 SATA III ports.


EDIT: Further digging, really confused now...the following is from an open letter from ASUS. 


> Intel® on January 31, 2011 announced the detection of a design error in the new Sandy Bridge-based Intel® 6 Series support chip, also known as Cougar Point. The shipment of existing Sandy Bridge products has been suspended by Intel®, and the production of an updated support chip has commenced. The design error affects only the support chip, and not 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processors such as the i5 and i7.


My PC was purchased in Feb-11, and so touch and go whether it could have been affected since they stopped shipping the products in Jan-11, but it says processors such as the i5 and i7 are not affected, so does that mean this isn't the problem I have? 

JimE could you please confirm one way or the other if possible, and if my issue is nothing to do with the Cougar problem, can you please advise how I go about verifying the Port configuration in BIOS. The only thing I know how to do in that vein, I did when I enabled the ports after converting the whole setup to AHCI.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

Check the model number of your Motherboard ends with the B3 revision, that is the corrected model.


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## unholyarmy (Aug 24, 2014)

Hi Panther, 

I had a look round the Bios and my model version appears to be V.0501 built in Sep-2010, which doesn't sound good. I will try and contact the manufacturer to confirm if I am affected though. 

If I am stuck with two SATA ports, is there anything like a SATA port splitter out there that I could use to give me more options in the case?


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

The revision will be printed on the actual Motherboard, but as you said it doesn't sound promising.
The only SATA splitters I have seen are for power only, not data, it appears it is one device per SATA port.
An option is a PCI-E card for internal SATA connections as well as external if needed.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

If it's not the B3 model then there is a active recall on it and you should be able to get an exchange for a B3 model.

If not you can add a sata port card if you have a PCIe slot available.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

Wrench97 said:


> If it's not the B3 model then there is a active recall on it and you should be able to get an exchange for a B3 model.


The recall was only for a short period after the flaw was found, registration of the affected board was generally needed prior to replacement.
More details are here Intel 6-Series Chipset Recall - Sandy Bridge Intel P67 & H67 (v2.2) - PCSTATS.com


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## unholyarmy (Aug 24, 2014)

The recall was only for US and Canada anyway by the sounds of it, I'm in the UK. 

My version is "B2" , managed to download a bit of software from ASUS which told me. 

I shall see if the company that sold me the PC have any advice, especially since they sold it me after the issue had been made public, but other than that I will have a look at a PCI slot solution. 

Thank you all for your help.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

You're welcome
Armed with this new information, you may be able to persuade them to give you the PCI-E card for free :grin:


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

I had them exchange the boards after that date, though they were still within the 3 yr standard warranty. 

This is a example of a Sata PCIe add in card> Silverstone SST-EC05 PCIe Card SATA 6bps - Scan.co.uk


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