Testing motherboard Sata sockets.

It's true, one/some of my motherboards sockets is/are faulty, trashing
the booting ability of a newly installed Win10.
Is there any way to test the sockets? Would plugging in a Optical
drive & testing this be good enough?

On 6/23/19 5:46 PM, Peter Jason wrote:
It's true, one/some of my motherboards sockets is/are faulty, trashing
the booting ability of a newly installed Win10.
Is there any way to test the sockets? Would plugging in a Optical
drive & testing this be good enough?

You could but my opinion is the old adage "the proof is in the pudding"
and I'd find a spare drive a move it around from slot to slot. Load a
quick and dirty win 10 on it, you don't need to license it, pull the nic
cable, and move it around.

Al

Big Al wrote:
On 6/23/19 5:46 PM, Peter Jason wrote:
It's true, one/some of my motherboards sockets is/are faulty, trashing
the booting ability of a newly installed Win10.
Is there any way to test the sockets? Would plugging in a Optical
drive & testing this be good enough?

You could but my opinion is the old adage "the proof is in the pudding"
and I'd find a spare drive a move it around from slot to slot. Load a
quick and dirty win 10 on it, you don't need to license it, pull the nic
cable, and move it around.

Al



You can install a separate PCI Express SATA card, install
the driver for it, then move the Win10 disk over to it.

This gives a chance to see if "problem follows drive"
or "problem follows port".

Select your card carefully. There might be more than
one Asmedia chip for this, and usually the chip you
don't want, is the one everyone sells :-)

In the lab, I would use a super-expensive sampling scope
with the ~$1500 software kit that does an eye diagram
for the SATA. That's the closest thing to some sort
of "compliance" test. I don't know if I would consider
a functional test to be all that meaningful.

The SATA drive should have one "CRC counter" which
counts packet errors on the cable. This counter is
never reset, and accumulates errors (mainly as
a result of pinched or bent cabling). Always observe
the minimum bend radius of the cables, and don't wrap
bread ties around them, scrunching them up as a form
of cable management. This crushes the dielectric and
upsets the cable impedance (creating a reflection on
the cable). Sometimes the Chinese cables packed in
bags, are a little bit too tight for my tastes. As long
as I can see through the bag at my computer store, I
can see how the cables have been treated.

You can see the white dielectric around the TX pair
and RX pair here. You don't want that white part
crushed if you can help it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinax...winAxCable.jpg

You want *at least* 1TB of data transfers. Think how
long it would take an optical drive to do that...

Paul

On Sun, 23 Jun 2019 18:44:59 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Big Al wrote:
On 6/23/19 5:46 PM, Peter Jason wrote:
It's true, one/some of my motherboards sockets is/are faulty, trashing
the booting ability of a newly installed Win10.
Is there any way to test the sockets? Would plugging in a Optical
drive & testing this be good enough?

You could but my opinion is the old adage "the proof is in the pudding"
and I'd find a spare drive a move it around from slot to slot. Load a
quick and dirty win 10 on it, you don't need to license it, pull the nic
cable, and move it around.

Al



You can install a separate PCI Express SATA card, install
the driver for it, then move the Win10 disk over to it.

Can I do this for the OS? I have about 3 such cards each with 4
Sata3 sockets. I thought the OS required direct connection to the
MB.
The Cards....
https://sc02.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1GqtAK...pg_350x350.jpg
Can I use these for the OS; if so I can dispense with the MB Sata
socket bank altogether!




This gives a chance to see if "problem follows drive"
or "problem follows port".

Select your card carefully. There might be more than
one Asmedia chip for this, and usually the chip you
don't want, is the one everyone sells :-)

In the lab, I would use a super-expensive sampling scope
with the ~$1500 software kit that does an eye diagram
for the SATA. That's the closest thing to some sort
of "compliance" test. I don't know if I would consider
a functional test to be all that meaningful.

The SATA drive should have one "CRC counter" which
counts packet errors on the cable. This counter is
never reset, and accumulates errors (mainly as
a result of pinched or bent cabling). Always observe
the minimum bend radius of the cables, and don't wrap
bread ties around them, scrunching them up as a form
of cable management. This crushes the dielectric and
upsets the cable impedance (creating a reflection on
the cable). Sometimes the Chinese cables packed in
bags, are a little bit too tight for my tastes. As long
as I can see through the bag at my computer store, I
can see how the cables have been treated.

You can see the white dielectric around the TX pair
and RX pair here. You don't want that white part
crushed if you can help it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinax...winAxCable.jpg

You want *at least* 1TB of data transfers. Think how
long it would take an optical drive to do that...

Paul

Peter Jason wrote:

You can install a separate PCI Express SATA card, install
the driver for it, then move the Win10 disk over to it.

Can I do this for the OS? I have about 3 such cards each with 4
Sata3 sockets. I thought the OS required direct connection to the
MB.
The Cards....
https://sc02.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1GqtAK...pg_350x350.jpg
Can I use these for the OS; if so I can dispense with the MB Sata
socket bank altogether!

The one in the picture is USB3 I think.
Those don't have a boot ROM.

*******

Bootable SATA card.

https://www.newegg.com/syba-sy-pex40...82E16816124045

Supports Communication Speeds of 6.0Gbps, 3.0Gbps, and 1.5Gbps
Supports 2 Ports Serial ATA
Supports Native Command Queue (NCQ)
Supports Port Multiplier
This card is bootable.

This one has a Marvell 9215.

https://www.newegg.com/syba-si-pex40...82E16816124064

Additionally, this card is bootable

You can see what looks like an eight pin serial EEPROM on those
cards, and the boot code is in there. When the BIOS scans the bus,
it loads the Config ROM from cards like that.

In the BIOS, you "enable INT 19 capture" and there's one other
setting, and that should be sufficient.

In some cases, there might be a conflict between the ROM code
on your motherboard for an Aux storage controller and the
chip on the plugin card. Review the chips on your motherboard
carefully, and try to select something different so they all
use their own ROM and there are no "tricks".

An ASM1062 would be a better chip than the ASM1061, because
it has a PCI Express x2 interface on it, and gives a bit
more breathing room for SSDs. The "bargain" cards are more
likely to have the ASM1061. Every time I go to the computer
store and "impulse buy" something, I get screwed on issues like
this.

http://www.asmedia.com.tw/eng/e_show...cate_index=166

Just make sure the word "bootable" is in the advert.

*******

It *is* possible to boot Windows 10 from a USB flash stick.
It's called Windows-To-Go, and it's possibly already
deprecated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_To_Go

Paul

"Peter Jason" wrote in message
...

It's true, one/some of my motherboards sockets is/are faulty, trashing
the booting ability of a newly installed Win10.
Is there any way to test the sockets? Would plugging in a Optical
drive & testing this be good enough?

Some thoughts:

1. Have you tried a different SATA cable?
2. Was the system setup to run multiple operating systems (dual-boot) and
the boot menu got corrupted? Use EasyBCD to check/rebuild.
3. Have you tested the drive on another system or you can get a USB to SATA
adapter and see the drive in Device Manager Disk Management
4. Look closely at the SATA connector on the motherboard and see if the
connector is cracked or deformed. Some SATA cables come with clamp/locks on
them and people don't see the metal retaining clip and try pulling the cable
out and damage the cable and/or the SATA connector.
5. I'm surprised someone didn't recommend trying to boot from a Linux distro
(USB or DVD/CD) and look at the drive.
6. Finally - a corrupted BIOS/UEFI or a CMOS battery died are other
possibilities to look at. Is the BIOS setup to boot from the SATA ports -
and not from USB or DVD device? Stuff happens....

Also, how about some info about the system and drive in question if none of
the above helps.

--
BobS

On Mon, 24 Jun 2019 01:29:37 -0400, "n/a" wrote:

"Peter Jason" wrote in message
.. .

It's true, one/some of my motherboards sockets is/are faulty, trashing
the booting ability of a newly installed Win10.
Is there any way to test the sockets? Would plugging in a Optical
drive & testing this be good enough?

Some thoughts:

1. Have you tried a different SATA cable?

Yes, no trouble there.

2. Was the system setup to run multiple operating systems (dual-boot) and
the boot menu got corrupted? Use EasyBCD to check/rebuild

Yes always dual boot..


3. Have you tested the drive on another system or you can get a USB to SATA
adapter and see the drive in Device Manager Disk Management
4. Look closely at the SATA connector on the motherboard and see if the
connector is cracked or deformed. Some SATA cables come with clamp/locks on
them and people don't see the metal retaining clip and try pulling the cable
out and damage the cable and/or the SATA connector.

They have had a lot of use, especially when they get stuck in the
sockets. Some have a "lock-in" mechanism that requires a knitting
needle to extract.

5. I'm surprised someone didn't recommend trying to boot from a Linux distro
(USB or DVD/CD) and look at the drive.
6. Finally - a corrupted BIOS/UEFI or a CMOS battery died are other
possibilities to look at. Is the BIOS setup to boot from the SATA ports -
and not from USB or DVD device? Stuff happens....

Also, how about some info about the system and drive in question if none of
the above helps.

"Peter Jason" wrote in message
...

On Mon, 24 Jun 2019 01:29:37 -0400, "n/a" wrote:

"Peter Jason" wrote in message
. ..

It's true, one/some of my motherboards sockets is/are faulty, trashing
the booting ability of a newly installed Win10.
Is there any way to test the sockets? Would plugging in a Optical
drive & testing this be good enough?

Some thoughts:

1. Have you tried a different SATA cable?

Yes, no trouble there.

2. Was the system setup to run multiple operating systems (dual-boot) and
the boot menu got corrupted? Use EasyBCD to check/rebuild

Yes always dual boot..


3. Have you tested the drive on another system or you can get a USB to
SATA
adapter and see the drive in Device Manager Disk Management
4. Look closely at the SATA connector on the motherboard and see if the
connector is cracked or deformed. Some SATA cables come with clamp/locks
on
them and people don't see the metal retaining clip and try pulling the
cable
out and damage the cable and/or the SATA connector.

They have had a lot of use, especially when they get stuck in the
sockets. Some have a "lock-in" mechanism that requires a knitting
needle to extract.

5. I'm surprised someone didn't recommend trying to boot from a Linux
distro
(USB or DVD/CD) and look at the drive.
6. Finally - a corrupted BIOS/UEFI or a CMOS battery died are other
possibilities to look at. Is the BIOS setup to boot from the SATA ports -
and not from USB or DVD device? Stuff happens....

Also, how about some info about the system and drive in question if none
of
the above helps.
Peter,

I'm betting the boot record or BIOS got borked.
https://neosmart.net/wiki/repair-dua...configuration/

NeoSmart EasyBCD
https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

Boot into BIOS and verify system setting are correct. Try Win10 recovery

--
BobS

Peter,

Just to make sure that I'm understanding the problem:

1. You can boot the hard drive if it's in a different SATA port?

2. Or does it fail in every SATA port?

If it's #1 then EasyBCD (free version) should work.

If it's #2 then perhaps EasyRE ($20) would be a solution or use other
recovery methods.

BobS