hdd problem b85m-itx

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   So I have bought an ASRock motherboard, b85m-itx. I am using 2 disk's. One SSD and one HDD.

The problem I am having is regarding any HDD I connect to the board. Mostly when installing large games, or moving a lot of data, the HDD becomes non-resonsive and disappears in Windows (randomly).

I have tried 3 different HDD's, thinking I was unlucky with the different disk's. But when I connect the disk's in an other system, no problems occur.

I have flashed the motherboard to the latest firmware (v2.50). I have tried both IDE and AHCI. Installed windows 7 x64 and windows 10 x64. All give me the same result, the random dissapearing of the disk. The SSD never gives me a problem. I have also tried different sata-ports and different cables.

Only thing I can come of, testing it further, is memory testing and cpu stress testing. Doubtfull that is the problem though, because windows is very stable. No blue screens, or any other strange instability with this setup.

Rest of the setup:

Intel Core i5-4590
Crucial SSD MX100 256GB
Crucial DDR3 Ballistix Sport 2x8GB 1600 C9
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G

The last HDD I have tried is Seagate S-series Archive HDD v2 8TB.

What else can I do to test it, before I ship the board back to my supplier?

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jaap Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 09 Mar 2016 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote jaap Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: hdd problem b85m-itx Posted: 12 Mar 2016 at 12:31am
	So I have bought an ASRock motherboard, b85m-itx. I am using 2 disk's. One SSD and one HDD. The problem I am having is regarding any HDD I connect to the board. Mostly when installing large games, or moving a lot of data, the HDD becomes non-resonsive and disappears in Windows (randomly). I have tried 3 different HDD's, thinking I was unlucky with the different disk's. But when I connect the disk's in an other system, no problems occur. I have flashed the motherboard to the latest firmware (v2.50). I have tried both IDE and AHCI. Installed windows 7 x64 and windows 10 x64. All give me the same result, the random dissapearing of the disk. The SSD never gives me a problem. I have also tried different sata-ports and different cables. Only thing I can come of, testing it further, is memory testing and cpu stress testing. Doubtfull that is the problem though, because windows is very stable. No blue screens, or any other strange instability with this setup. Rest of the setup: Intel Core i5-4590 Crucial SSD MX100 256GB Crucial DDR3 Ballistix Sport 2x8GB 1600 C9 MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G The last HDD I have tried is Seagate S-series Archive HDD v2 8TB. What else can I do to test it, before I ship the board back to my supplier?

jaap Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 09 Mar 2016 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote jaap Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Mar 2016 at 5:50pm
	ahum .... bump .... anyone??

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 22943	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Mar 2016 at 5:57pm
	Are you using the board in an ITX case? What PSU are you using with the system? I would, if you have not already, try another SATA cable and then try swapping the SSD and the HDD to see if the issue moves from the HDD to the SSD. If it does then that would indicate a problem with the SATA port you had the HDD connected to. If the problem still occurs on the HDD, even when connected to the cable and SATA port that the SSD works fine on then you will want to look into power, it is possible that the HDD is being starved for power and that is causing unresponsiveness/disconnects.


jaap Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 09 Mar 2016 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote jaap Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Apr 2016 at 4:50pm
	I am using an ITX case, Cooler Master Elite 130. The power supply is a Zalman ZM1000-HP. Was using a Zalman ZM600-HP before, but this resulted in power failures. I have changed SATA-ports, the HDD is now running on the original SSD port and the other way around. The HDD keeps disappearing. The SSD keeps working without problems. I have tried CPU stress testing. This is resulting in immediate loss of the HDD. I will test the memory today and will post the result asap.

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 22943	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Apr 2016 at 5:16pm
	Try the HDD on a different SATA power cable and see if that helps at all. A mechanical HDD uses a lot more power than an SSD, still not a huge amount overall but a lot more than SSDs use. By the sound of it your 3.3v power rail from your PSU may be faulty or not performing within tolerance. If it is only marginally off then that could explain why the SSD is working while the HDD is causing issues. That particular PSU model has been known to provide badly regulated power. Check your power readings in your UEFI for the 12v, 5v and 3.3v and post back the readings.


parsec Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996	Post Options Post Reply Quote parsec Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Apr 2016 at 10:30pm
	Do you have the SATA Aggressive Link Power Management option in Storage Configuration enabled? If so, that can cause problems with some HDDs. Do you have the Intel IRST driver installed? The Intel eight and nine series chipset boards have an option called Dynamic Storage Accelerator, again in Storage Configuration, which is a performance and power saving option. Depending upon the configuration of this option, your HDDs might not like the low "gear ratio" this option can automatically change into. Of course, their is the Windows Power Plan option for Hard disks, which can be configured to turn them off after a period of time. You mentioned an 8TB Archive HDD, those might not play well with these options.


Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 22943	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 05 Apr 2016 at 12:01am
	Good catch Parsec.


jaap Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 09 Mar 2016 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote jaap Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 Apr 2016 at 2:06am
	You sir are a genius I have tried a different power cable. Now I can run prime95 and install a large game at the same time. I am almost certain my troubles are over. I am glad no other power supply is needed. I can still fetch those readings if you want, but I don't think it is necessary. All the help is greatly appreciated.