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Question

USB devices and HDDs not recocnized at the same time

Mar 25, 2018 6:26PM PDT

Hello evrbody,

I have assembled a new pc recently, my config is as follows:
mobo: gigabyte z-170x gaming 7
CPU: intel i7-7700k @4.2GHZ (no OC)
RAM: 32 GB (16+16) G.Skill 2666 GHZ
GPU: GB Radeon Rx480
HDD Seagate 1 TB
HDD WD 2 TB
SSD Kingston 256 GB
4 standard fans
Watercooler Corsair H-100i v2

Firstly I had settled a power source of 650W Corsair, but once I tried to boot the computer, I saw that one of the HDD was not recognized in BIOS. So I switched SATA slots some times, until I realized that the problem wasn't the HDD.
I was still unaware about the problem cause, but as I saw that after 3 USB's connected at the same time, one of them simply wasn't detected anymore, I was convinced that I had a problem with power supply. So I exchanged my previous Corsair 650W for a EVGO850W, what didn't help at all.
The problem still persists so I ask for this forum help if my intuition was right, and how I can manage to resolve this? In case I have any other hardware problem, how can I diagnose it?
It wasn't bothering me so far but I am afraid if I don't get over this issue, it won't be possible to connect some extra USB's which I will need very soon.
Appreciate any help, thanks in advance.

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
Could this be a drive letter issue?
Mar 26, 2018 8:38AM PDT

You'll have to look in Disk management to see if that's it.

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Drive letter issue
Mar 26, 2018 5:45PM PDT

I have checked the disk partition management from Windows, but unfortunatelly my not recognized HDD is not bein showed even there. Something else I could do?

Thanks!

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Then off to device manager.
Mar 26, 2018 5:58PM PDT

At what level does the drive not show up?

USB drives will rarely show in the BIOS, so do all your other SATA drives show in the BIOS?

If so, those are fine. USB drives can have issues with power so let's start getting more details. NO FRONT USB PORTS SHALL BE USED.

Finally, are the drives showing in device manager?

And another question. Remember that some call a drive a drive when the drive letter shows. For now we are not looking for drive letters, just drives in BIOS, Device Manager and Disk Management.

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Boot Screen Freeze
Mar 26, 2018 7:25PM PDT

I said that the HDD didn't show up at the BIOS but actually the PC does not boot if I connect the second HDD, it freezes on the mobo welcome screen, and doesn't go further. I tried to reboot a couple of times but no luck on that.
So I had to disconnect second HDD and my disk manager as it follows (in Portuguese)

You can check my screenshot


Q: If so, those are fine. USB drives can have issues with power so let's start getting more details. NO FRONT USB PORTS SHALL BE USED.
A: ok, I was using two of the front panel, now I switched for back. Why is this usefull?

Q: Finally, are the drives showing in device manager?
A: They are, but only when connecting no more than two at a time.

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That actually tells me a little more.
Mar 26, 2018 8:10PM PDT

Q. Don't use front USB ports (WHY?)
A. Front ports are often problematic. Low power, high number of USB errors. Just use solid ports on the motherboard's rear.

Q. What drives?
A. The answer seems to point to your choice of what ports you used.

---> The boot drive is always best when on the LOWEST SATA PORT NUMBER. For RAID I'm not going there in this discussion.

Finally, be sure all SATA PORTS ARE ENABLED in the BIOS.

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Sorry for not replying yesterday
Mar 28, 2018 5:44PM PDT

OK, now no front ports are is use, so far I had no further problems with USB. That being said, I have just remembered that some times my USB keyboard fails, and this issue is likely related to described problem.

I am using the lowest SATA ports and they are all enabled in BIOS (I guess). With regards to the drives, I enclosed a screenshot so you can see all of them.

1/3 https://ibb.co/njE8LS
2/3 https://ibb.co/hyyDn7
3/3 https://ibb.co/g6GNfS

Note: Moderator edited to enable picture links.

Post was last edited on March 28, 2018 5:49 PM PDT

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Daemon tools?
Mar 28, 2018 5:52PM PDT

1, Look. It's a bad thing when working this issue. 'nuff said. Dump that now.
2. The SATA controller APPEARS to be in some IDE compat mode. This usually means we get 2 drives and game over. There are so many priors here I won't write a dissertation. Be sure to cure item 1 first and re-test before you investigate why IDE is noted at all there (picture 1!)

Thanks for the pics.

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Followed your suggestion
Apr 7, 2018 8:16AM PDT

Now Daemon is completely killed, but I tried once again and if I connect third HDD it gets stuck in the MB welcome screen, so nothing changed.

Now I was trying to figure out why SATA controller is not working as expected and I just recalled something that may be somehow related to this issue: for some reason my HDD shows up as a removable device. Could this be the missing clue to solve the mistery?
PS: sorry for some time away, tough week at work.

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Sorry
Apr 7, 2018 9:19AM PDT

But there was some OS editing to make a normal SATA drive removable. This was done (most of the time) to get hot swapping available for SATA drives.

Your OS may have been tweaked a little too much?

I can't give you a fix or path back to normal here as I wasn't the one that changed this or set the SATA controllers to what looks like the old IDE emulation.

If this was my PC I might be able to undo this since I did the work. But here I can't guess how you got here. Sorry about that. This means that we would have to set the BIOS to normal SATA mode (no IDE emulation) and then start over.