Asus p8z68 motherboard not detecting hard drive

[teknix360]

I have an Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 board that is giving me some problems. Sometimes it won't detect my SSD. Here is how I have it configured.

SATA6_1 - SSD (Marvell controller)

SATA6_2 - open (Marvell controller)

SATA6_3 - HDD in RAID 1

SATA6_4 - HDD in RAID 1

SATA3_1 - open

SATA3_2 - open

SATA3_3 - open

SATA3_4 - open

I had the SSD (Crucial M4) plugged into SATA6_1 for a year with no problems, but this week it stopped being detected on boot sometimes so I couldn't boot my OS, obviously.

First I tried swapping out the SATA cable, but that didn't change anything. I read on the Asus forums that the Marvell controllers were problematic in general and since I had experienced crashes due to them when I originally built the system last year I figured they were to blame, so I decided to move the SSD to the SATA3_1 port and disable the Marvell controllers.

So, now I have:

SATA6_1 - disabled

SATA6_2 - disabled

SATA6_3 - HDD in RAID 1

SATA6_4 - HDD in RAID 1

SATA3_1 - SSD

SATA3_2 - open

SATA3_3 - open

SATA3_4 - open

Everything worked for a few reboots, but now I am back to the same problem of the SSD sometimes not being detected on boot. I have no problems with the 2 mechanical drives or my optical drive being detected, so what is going on? :wacko:

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

So, all in all, it isn't seeing your SSD?

Do a test on the drive with anything, don't remember if crucial had a testing system.

Look up the SMART data, too.

Sounds like your Crucial drive is iffy.

[+PeterUK MVC]

Put the SSD on SATA6_3 and move the HDD's to SATA3_1 and _2 or update the firmware for the SSD if there is one.

[helpifIcan]

If you reboot does it show up?

My ASUS P5QE started doing something similar, when I cold boot it in the AM it does not see two of my HDs. The boot drive & two DVDs show up.

If I go into setup it only shows the boot drive which just happens to be on the second SATA port and the 2 DVDs, when I reboot CTL,ALT DEL they all show up.

I think (but not often) that this started after the last MS update. May not have anything to do with it but who knows.

My build is about 4 years old so it might just be a tired MB.

After it comes up I do not have problems until the next AM.

[teknix360]

Sorry for the radio silence! I had some health issues pop up that didn't leave me with much free time. So, I have determined that the SSD did indeed fail, after all. I finally got my hands on another hard drive with an OS installed and plugged in into the SATA port where my SSD was and it booted right up while my drive wasn't able to be detected in that port. So, I have to redirect all my anger to Crucial instead of Asus now. :)

During my research of this issue, I read a lot forum threads and reviews about SSDs in general reporting that many of them fail in a year. The m4 drives are especially prone to this, it seems. I am going to try and get a replacement from Crucial since it's still under warranty.

Crappiest thing about all this is I ran Crystal Disk several times and each time it said the drive was healthy. So, that made me think it was the motherboard. Apparently, SSDs don't really give you any warning when they go. I guess my only warning was the couple of times the drive wasn't detected. :/

Thanks to everyone for your help in trying to figure this out.