ESATA box doesn't work??

[Pavel A.]

I've bought an ESATA + USB disk dock by Sedna
http://www.sednacomputer.com/products/se-ehd-03.html

and it does not work with my desktop PC
( Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H board with built-in ESATA connector, XP SP3).

It works almost well with a new Dell laptop which also
has a buil-in ESATA port.
( However, even in the laptop, the disk is detected only
after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager)

With the desktop, the ext. disk is detected - also
after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager -
but then it does not show up in the disk manager, and
several seconds later disappears from device manager.

Two internal SATA disks in this machine work well.
I have not installed any special SATA drivers besides of the
mobo drivers package. In BIOS, SATA is set to legacy mode.

So what could be wrong with this mobo?
Any adivce will be appreciated.

-- pa

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I've bought an ESATA + USB disk dock by Sedna
http://www.sednacomputer.com/products/se-ehd-03.html

and it does not work with my desktop PC
( Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H board with built-in ESATA connector, XP SP3).

It works almost well with a new Dell laptop which also
has a buil-in ESATA port.
( However, even in the laptop, the disk is detected only
after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager)

With the desktop, the ext. disk is detected - also
after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager -
but then it does not show up in the disk manager, and
several seconds later disappears from device manager.

Two internal SATA disks in this machine work well.
I have not installed any special SATA drivers besides of the
mobo drivers package. In BIOS, SATA is set to legacy mode.

So what could be wrong with this mobo?
Any adivce will be appreciated.

What does "Sedna" say?
http://www.sednacomputer.com/support.html

Because before I would assume it was something wrong with equipment you are
having no other trouble with (two different pieces of equipment) - I would
look into what the tech support for the new variable in the equation has to
say based on your experience.

 

[Anna]

I've bought an ESATA + USB disk dock by Sedna
http://www.sednacomputer.com/products/se-ehd-03.html

and it does not work with my desktop PC
( Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H board with built-in ESATA connector, XP SP3).

It works almost well with a new Dell laptop which also
has a buil-in ESATA port.
( However, even in the laptop, the disk is detected only
after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager)

With the desktop, the ext. disk is detected - also
after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager -
but then it does not show up in the disk manager, and several seconds
later disappears from device manager.

Two internal SATA disks in this machine work well.
I have not installed any special SATA drivers besides of the
mobo drivers package. In BIOS, SATA is set to legacy mode.

So what could be wrong with this mobo?
Any adivce will be appreciated.

-- pa

Pavel A.
Actually it doesn't sound to me as if there's anything wrong with the
Gigabyte MB with the possible exception of its eSATA port. (And I've yet to
come across a motherboard where its eSATA port was a defective component.
But it's possible, of course). Conceivable you might be dealing with a
defective external SATA dock, no?

You have indicated that there's no device recognition problem affecting your
internally-connected SATA HDDs, right?

Assuming you have a SATA data cable that has the eSATA connector on one end
and a "normal" SATA connector on the other end...
What happens when you connect the device directly to one of the desktop's
motherboard SATA connectors - preferably the one that's being used by your
secondary internal SATA HDD? Same problem?

When you connect the enclosure to the eSATA port on your Dell laptop,
power-on the device and boot, are you indicating there's a device
recognition problem with that laptop? That the device is not recognized
until you "Scan for hardware changes" in Device Manager?

Or are you indicating that this problem *only* arises if the device is *not*
powered-on at bootup, and following the boot you power-on the device? If
it's the latter situation, that's not unusual for an Intel-based system
involving an eSATA (or SATA) external HDD in an XP OS environment.

But (with reference to your desktop machine)...once the drive is detected in
Device Manager there should be no further problem. But you've indicated that
even *after* device recognition in DM, the external SATA HDD "disappears"
from the system, right? And, of course, it's not listed in Disk Management,
right? That's what you're indicating, yes?

Have you tried different HDDs in the enclosure? Both 2 1/2" & 3 1/2"? Same
problem?

Until now I've never heard of this Sedna product. Apparently it's not a
device marketed here in the U.S. Have you consulted the device's
manufacturer about this problem?
Anna

 

[Pavel A.]

Anna,
thanks you for the reply. My answers inline - P.

Pavel A.
Actually it doesn't sound to me as if there's anything wrong with the
Gigabyte MB with the possible exception of its eSATA port. (And I've yet
to come across a motherboard where its eSATA port was a defective
component. But it's possible, of course). Conceivable you might be dealing
with a defective external SATA dock, no?

Not likely, because the same dock, disk and cable work well
with another computer (the Dell laptop). But I forgot to
mention that the Dell has Vista SP2.

You have indicated that there's no device recognition problem affecting
your internally-connected SATA HDDs, right?
Yes.

Assuming you have a SATA data cable that has the eSATA connector on one
end and a "normal" SATA connector on the other end...

No, the cable is eSATA to eSATA. The GB mobo has eSATA connector.
I don't have eSATA to SATA cables.

When you connect the enclosure to the eSATA port on your Dell laptop,
power-on the device and boot, are you indicating there's a device
recognition problem with that laptop? That the device is not recognized
until you "Scan for hardware changes" in Device Manager?

Right. Neither connection or removal are auto detected.
This is a bit surprising, as the dock spec says "plug and play",
the laptop is new, and it has Vista.
However, after being detected, it works well.

Or are you indicating that this problem *only* arises if the device is
*not* powered-on at bootup, and following the boot you power-on the
device? If it's the latter situation, that's not unusual for an
Intel-based system involving an eSATA (or SATA) external HDD in an XP OS
environment.

I tried also to boot the desktop with the eSATA connected.
Same behavior.

But (with reference to your desktop machine)...once the drive is detected
in Device Manager there should be no further problem. But you've indicated
that even *after* device recognition in DM, the external SATA HDD
"disappears" from the system, right? And, of course, it's not listed in
Disk Management, right? That's what you're indicating, yes?

Yes. And lot of disk errors and timeout messages in the eventlog.

Have you tried different HDDs in the enclosure? Both 2 1/2" & 3 1/2"? Same
problem?

Two 3.5" disks: WD 1 TB and older Seagate 160 GB.
Almost same behavior; the new WD stays in dev. manages a bit longer.

Until now I've never heard of this Sedna product. Apparently it's not a
device marketed here in the U.S. Have you consulted the device's
manufacturer about this problem?

Not yet; I'm now suspecting the mobo ESATA port, but you're saying that
it is unlikely to go bad... Will try to find another ESATA disk.

Thanks again and regards,

Pavel

 

[Paul]

Anna,
thanks you for the reply. My answers inline - P.



Not likely, because the same dock, disk and cable work well
with another computer (the Dell laptop). But I forgot to
mention that the Dell has Vista SP2.


No, the cable is eSATA to eSATA. The GB mobo has eSATA connector.
I don't have eSATA to SATA cables.


Right. Neither connection or removal are auto detected.
This is a bit surprising, as the dock spec says "plug and play",
the laptop is new, and it has Vista.
However, after being detected, it works well.


I tried also to boot the desktop with the eSATA connected.
Same behavior.


Yes. And lot of disk errors and timeout messages in the eventlog.


Two 3.5" disks: WD 1 TB and older Seagate 160 GB.
Almost same behavior; the new WD stays in dev. manages a bit longer.


Not yet; I'm now suspecting the mobo ESATA port, but you're saying that
it is unlikely to go bad... Will try to find another ESATA disk.

Thanks again and regards,

Pavel

Have you considered jumpering the SATA drive in the enclosure for
1.5Gbit/sec operation ?

It could be that the Gigabyte signal level on the ESATA port, is only
at SATA levels. Either a shorter cable should be used, or jumper the
drive so that the drive operates at 1.5Gbit/sec. This will not affect
the drive performance, but may improve signal properties between
the enclosure and the Gigabyte desktop.

For hot-plug operation, you may want AHCI mode. But I don't know the
details, about how you'd mix AHCI on some ports, with legacy on others.
It may require running all the ports AHCI, using a different driver, and
so on. A real mess.

If you purchased a separate SATA/ESATA plug-in card, at least the
driver issues would be separated. You could leave the drivers of
the existing internal hard drives in place, and install a separate
driver for the ESATA card.

AMS 2-Port eSATA PCI-E Host Controller Model SP-PCIE3132 - Retail $35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16815342001

Paul

 

[Ian D]

I've bought an ESATA + USB disk dock by Sedna
http://www.sednacomputer.com/products/se-ehd-03.html

and it does not work with my desktop PC
( Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H board with built-in ESATA connector, XP SP3).

It works almost well with a new Dell laptop which also
has a buil-in ESATA port.
( However, even in the laptop, the disk is detected only
after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager)

With the desktop, the ext. disk is detected - also
after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager -
but then it does not show up in the disk manager, and several seconds
later disappears from device manager.

Two internal SATA disks in this machine work well.
I have not installed any special SATA drivers besides of the
mobo drivers package. In BIOS, SATA is set to legacy mode.

So what could be wrong with this mobo?
Any adivce will be appreciated.

-- pa

The eSATA port is most likely on an auxilliary controller, usually
from JMicron or Marvell. Are you sure this is enabled in BIOS?
If your eSATA drive is in AHCI mode you can usually hot plug
it, but if it's in compatibility (IDE) mode, the external drive will
need to be connected and powered on before starting XP,
otherwise it will not be recognized.

 

[Anna]

Anna,
thanks you for the reply. My answers inline - P.

Not likely, because the same dock, disk and cable work well
with another computer (the Dell laptop). But I forgot to
mention that the Dell has Vista SP2.

Yes.

No, the cable is eSATA to eSATA. The GB mobo has eSATA connector.
I don't have eSATA to SATA cables.

Right. Neither connection or removal are auto detected.
This is a bit surprising, as the dock spec says "plug and play",
the laptop is new, and it has Vista.
However, after being detected, it works well.

I tried also to boot the desktop with the eSATA connected.
Same behavior.

Yes. And lot of disk errors and timeout messages in the eventlog.

Two 3.5" disks: WD 1 TB and older Seagate 160 GB.
Almost same behavior; the new WD stays in dev. manages a bit longer.

Not yet; I'm now suspecting the mobo ESATA port, but you're saying that
it is unlikely to go bad... Will try to find another ESATA disk.

Thanks again and regards,

Pavel

Pavel...
It's hard to escape the conclusion that it's the SATA dock that's the
problem. It's surely worth exploring with the device's manufacturer.

While like anything else involving a PC component it's possible that the
motherboard's eSATA port is defective and that's causing the problem(s)
you're experiencing. The reason I'm doubtful about that is because I'm
hard-pressed to think of a single incident where I experienced a defective
motherboard's eSATA port (as the *only* defect involving a particular
motherboard), and I've worked with a fair number of MBs equipped with that
type of port.

I realize the SATA data cable that was included with your SATA dock would
obviously have eSATA connectors on each end of the cable, but I was hoping
you had available a SATA-eSATA data cable which would allow you to bypass
the motherboard's eSATA port & *directly* connect the dock to one of the
motherboard's SATA connectors. So you could diagnose whether the problem
was, in fact, with the motherboard's eSATA port.

I don't understand your final comment re "Will try to find another ESATA
disk."

Incidentally, I've worked with two different models of that type of external
SATA dock (apparently similar to your Sedna product) - a Thermaltake &
Vantec, both of which performed flawlessly.
Anna

 

[M.I.5¾]

I've bought an ESATA + USB disk dock by Sedna
http://www.sednacomputer.com/products/se-ehd-03.html

and it does not work with my desktop PC
( Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H board with built-in ESATA connector, XP SP3).

It works almost well with a new Dell laptop which also
has a buil-in ESATA port.
( However, even in the laptop, the disk is detected only
after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager)

With the desktop, the ext. disk is detected - also
after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager -
but then it does not show up in the disk manager, and several seconds
later disappears from device manager.

Two internal SATA disks in this machine work well.
I have not installed any special SATA drivers besides of the
mobo drivers package. In BIOS, SATA is set to legacy mode.

So what could be wrong with this mobo?
Any adivce will be appreciated.

I have discovered several eSATA drives that do not appear to work with PCs.
The problem in each case was that the connector in the drive was behind a
piece of plastic trim that prevented the plug on the end of my cable from
entering the connector fully enough to actually make contact.

I can only assume that there are some different designs of connector around.
In my case the problem was resolved by cutting away some of the plastic
surround on the connector allowing the connector to enter fully.

 

[Pavel A.]

Anna,
How I can prove to the vendor that the dock is defective,
as you suspect? What I've seen is just the contrary -
the dock works with another machine, so I would like
to test my eSATA port on the mobo with
another eSATA device, _OR_ , as you advice,
find a SATA to eSATA converter.

( Still can't find either. I no longer
work for a big corp, where you could find all sorts of
hardware... )

This vendor sells also Thermaltake, so I'd try to exchange the Sedna.

Thanks again

Pavel

 

[Pavel A.]

Thanks, Paul,

I have two eSATA cables, one about 40 cm and another ~ 70 cm.
The short cable does not improve anything.
Will try to set 1.5 GBit mode, though the mobo brochure
states it does support 3 Gbit.
The mobo has two SATA controllers with two ports each;
one port external and three internal.
So all they are using same driver. I've set SATA to legacy mode for XP.
When the next Win7 RC comes out, will install it on that machine
and set all SATA controllers to native mode
(hope this won't require to reformat the disks?)

--pa

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Pavel A. wrote:

How I can prove to the vendor that the dock is defective,
as you suspect? What I've seen is just the contrary -
the dock works with another machine

<snipped>

Didn't you originally say, "It works almost well with a new Dell laptop
which also has a buil[t]-in ESATA port. ( However, even in the laptop, the
disk is detected only after manually scanning for new devices in dev.
manager)"...

I would say that is *not* working as intended.

I have several eSATA devices and mine work immediately upon plugging them
into my Windows XP and Windows Vista (32 and 64-bit) machines.

 

[Pavel A.]

The eSATA port is most likely on an auxilliary controller, usually
from JMicron or Marvell. Are you sure this is enabled in BIOS?
If your eSATA drive is in AHCI mode you can usually hot plug
it, but if it's in compatibility (IDE) mode, the external drive will
need to be connected and powered on before starting XP,
otherwise it will not be recognized.

The controller is definitely enabled, because it initially
detects the disk and fails later due to i/o errors
(probably bad signal level, as Paul suggests)
According to Gigabyte brochure, the SATA controllers
are on ICH9. There is also a JMicron PATA controller.

When I connect the dock before starting XP,
it fails already in the BIOS IDE config screen.

Thanks,
-- pa

 

[Pavel A.]

Pavel A. wrote:

How I can prove to the vendor that the dock is defective,
as you suspect? What I've seen is just the contrary -
the dock works with another machine

<snipped>

Didn't you originally say, "It works almost well with a new Dell laptop
which also has a buil[t]-in ESATA port. ( However, even in the laptop, the
disk is detected only after manually scanning for new devices in dev.
manager)"...

I would say that is *not* working as intended.

I have several eSATA devices and mine work immediately upon plugging them
into my Windows XP and Windows Vista (32 and 64-bit) machines.

Is your computer's SATA controller in native (AHCI) mode?

-- pa

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Is your computer's SATA controller in native (AHCI) mode?

On my XP machine - no. Legacy.
On my Vista 32-bit machine, yes.
On my Vista 64-bit laptop, yes.

 

[Pavel A.]

On my XP machine - no. Legacy.
On my Vista 32-bit machine, yes.
On my Vista 64-bit laptop, yes.

Thanks a lot for this info. Then the dock
may be defective. Their user guide does not
mention ACHI or legacy mode at all.

-- pa

 

[Anna]

Pavel

Anna,
How I can prove to the vendor that the dock is defective,
as you suspect? What I've seen is just the contrary -
the dock works with another machine, so I would like
to test my eSATA port on the mobo with
another eSATA device, _OR_ , as you advice,
find a SATA to eSATA converter.

( Still can't find either. I no longer
work for a big corp, where you could find all sorts of
hardware... )

This vendor sells also Thermaltake, so I'd try to exchange the Sedna.

Thanks again

Pavel...
As Shenan has inferred, the device is functioning erratically, or so it
seems. The fact that the device (apparently) works in one PC and not in
another (although there's no problems with the PCs themselves other than the
problem under discussion) is *not* an indication that the device is
non-defective.

We experience time & time again external enclosures (or flash drive devices)
that work fine in one machine but not in others. To be sure, most of the
time these involve USB-connected devices and not SATA-eSATA devices. As far
as we're concerned a device that performs erratically is a *defective*
device.

As I previously indicated I've never worked with this Sedna product nor have
ever heard of this make before you mentioned it. My advice would be exchange
it for the Thermaltake product if you can do so. The Thermaltake dock I
worked with was their model ST0005U. While I used that device for only a
short time (it belonged to a customer), it performed without any problems
both with respect to 2 1/2" & 3 1/2" drives.

If you're still uncomfortable with the idea of exchanging the device for
another brand or returning it for refund and you want to bypass your
motherboard's eSATA port (as we've discussed), see...
http://www.satacables.com/html/sata_external_cables.html
http://www.cooldrives.com/sata-cables-internal-to-external.html
for SATA data cables having a SATA connector on one end and a eSATA
connector on the other end. Note these are not "converters". I'm sure there
are other online vendors for this type of cable.
Anna

 

[Pavel A.]

It seems that all pieces of the puzzle are now fit...
After becoming confident that it won't work as is, I've set
SATA to native mode in the BIOS.
The Award BIOS on my GB mobo has two separate settings:
SATA ACHI mode enable and SATA Port 0-1 Native mode.
Both set to enabled.

Then BIOS displayes a new bunch of Intel SATA something messages,
and when XP started, all ICH9 SATA controllers and ports disappeared
from device manager! instead, it found one new device VEN_8086&DEV_2923
( and I thanked myself for installing Windows on a PATA disk

Well, let the wizard to go and connect to Windows update... not found!
Looked on the mobo CD - not found...
Then, Google turned on this page:
How to enable AHCI on Intel ICH9 under XP
http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2318

I've followed these directions, with the exception that I used the Intel
Matrix setup file,
iata_cd.exe, from my mobo CD - it is newer than the version described in the
article;
it knows models up to DEV_2922, which is already ICH-9R.
So I've replaced 2922 to my id (2923) in iaahci.inf, installed it via
dev.manager,
and the SATA controller come up and it detected the ESATA disk.
Cudos to Zagreb, Croatia!

But this wasn't the end. Very soon, the disk drive again started to
"behave", eventually
it dropped from the dev.manager, with same timeout errors in eventlog as
before.

Then I've rebooted the machine with the ESATA dock powered on, and
after couple of reboots the disk is reliably detected, and "hot plug"
works too - though my WinXP won't detect the eSATA disk as removable,
no"safely remove" icon, etc.
Also it seems that the disk needs to be introduced to each user account:
after logging on as my normal non-admin account (for internet browsing),
the sata errors come back and this took another reboot.

But once the disk is detected by the volume manager
and mounted, there's no more device or controller errors.

So, now my feeling is that the problem lies either in the Intel's driver
(iastor.sys)
or in the BIOS; the hardware is probably good.
As noted in the above artice, hacking the Intel RAID driver is a suspicious
idea - but I had no other choice, the driver is not available from Windows
Update
and hasn't been installed with the mobo INF package.

And the last note ... Sedna support has not answered my email.
Perhaps this is where they've cut their expences

Thanks again for your advices and for reading.

I'd be grateful for any comments - does anybody have a "standalone" ICH9
SATA driver
not bundled with the Intel Matrix/RAID software?
How to test that the disk is well and happy? Other tips for using eSATA
docks like this one?

--pa

 

[Paul]

It seems that all pieces of the puzzle are now fit...
After becoming confident that it won't work as is, I've set
SATA to native mode in the BIOS.
The Award BIOS on my GB mobo has two separate settings:
SATA ACHI mode enable and SATA Port 0-1 Native mode.
Both set to enabled.

Then BIOS displayes a new bunch of Intel SATA something messages,
and when XP started, all ICH9 SATA controllers and ports disappeared
from device manager! instead, it found one new device VEN_8086&DEV_2923
( and I thanked myself for installing Windows on a PATA disk

Well, let the wizard to go and connect to Windows update... not found!
Looked on the mobo CD - not found...
Then, Google turned on this page:
How to enable AHCI on Intel ICH9 under XP
http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2318

I've followed these directions, with the exception that I used the Intel
Matrix setup file,
iata_cd.exe, from my mobo CD - it is newer than the version described in
the article;
it knows models up to DEV_2922, which is already ICH-9R.
So I've replaced 2922 to my id (2923) in iaahci.inf, installed it via
dev.manager,
and the SATA controller come up and it detected the ESATA disk.
Cudos to Zagreb, Croatia!

But this wasn't the end. Very soon, the disk drive again started to
"behave", eventually
it dropped from the dev.manager, with same timeout errors in eventlog as
before.

Then I've rebooted the machine with the ESATA dock powered on, and
after couple of reboots the disk is reliably detected, and "hot plug"
works too - though my WinXP won't detect the eSATA disk as removable,
no"safely remove" icon, etc.
Also it seems that the disk needs to be introduced to each user account:
after logging on as my normal non-admin account (for internet browsing),
the sata errors come back and this took another reboot.

But once the disk is detected by the volume manager
and mounted, there's no more device or controller errors.

So, now my feeling is that the problem lies either in the Intel's driver
(iastor.sys)
or in the BIOS; the hardware is probably good.
As noted in the above artice, hacking the Intel RAID driver is a suspicious
idea - but I had no other choice, the driver is not available from
Windows Update
and hasn't been installed with the mobo INF package.

And the last note ... Sedna support has not answered my email.
Perhaps this is where they've cut their expences

Thanks again for your advices and for reading.

I'd be grateful for any comments - does anybody have a "standalone" ICH9
SATA driver
not bundled with the Intel Matrix/RAID software?
How to test that the disk is well and happy? Other tips for using eSATA
docks like this one?

--pa

If you installed in AHCI mode from the very first day, the experience
would have been smoother. You can find AHCI/RAID F6 drivers for
Intel chipsets. You put these on a floppy and press F6 during the
WinXP install onto an Intel chipset. A motherboard install CD
may include a "MakeDisk" utility, to prepare this floppy.

iaahci.cat
iaachi.inf
iastor.cat
isstor.inf
iaStor.sys
TXTSETUP.OEM

Also, if you had plugged in a separate controller card, that would
have isolated the driver issues as well.

Some motherboards drive the ESATA port from a separate chip on
the motherboard, which again, separates the Intel driver issue,
from the ESATA driver issue. A motherboard that drives ESATA
from the main chipset, complicates matters.

Paul

 

[Anna]

It seems that all pieces of the puzzle are now fit...
After becoming confident that it won't work as is, I've set
SATA to native mode in the BIOS.
The Award BIOS on my GB mobo has two separate settings:
SATA ACHI mode enable and SATA Port 0-1 Native mode.
Both set to enabled.

Then BIOS displayes a new bunch of Intel SATA something messages,
and when XP started, all ICH9 SATA controllers and ports disappeared
from device manager! instead, it found one new device VEN_8086&DEV_2923
( and I thanked myself for installing Windows on a PATA disk

Well, let the wizard to go and connect to Windows update... not found!
Looked on the mobo CD - not found...
Then, Google turned on this page:
How to enable AHCI on Intel ICH9 under XP
http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2318

I've followed these directions, with the exception that I used the Intel
Matrix setup file,
iata_cd.exe, from my mobo CD - it is newer than the version described in
the article;
it knows models up to DEV_2922, which is already ICH-9R.
So I've replaced 2922 to my id (2923) in iaahci.inf, installed it via
dev.manager,
and the SATA controller come up and it detected the ESATA disk.
Cudos to Zagreb, Croatia!

But this wasn't the end. Very soon, the disk drive again started to
"behave", eventually
it dropped from the dev.manager, with same timeout errors in eventlog as
before.

Then I've rebooted the machine with the ESATA dock powered on, and
after couple of reboots the disk is reliably detected, and "hot plug"
works too - though my WinXP won't detect the eSATA disk as removable,
no"safely remove" icon, etc.
Also it seems that the disk needs to be introduced to each user account:
after logging on as my normal non-admin account (for internet browsing),
the sata errors come back and this took another reboot.

But once the disk is detected by the volume manager
and mounted, there's no more device or controller errors.

So, now my feeling is that the problem lies either in the Intel's driver
(iastor.sys)
or in the BIOS; the hardware is probably good.
As noted in the above artice, hacking the Intel RAID driver is a
suspicious
idea - but I had no other choice, the driver is not available from
Windows Update
and hasn't been installed with the mobo INF package.

And the last note ... Sedna support has not answered my email.
Perhaps this is where they've cut their expences

Thanks again for your advices and for reading.

I'd be grateful for any comments - does anybody have a "standalone" ICH9
SATA driver
not bundled with the Intel Matrix/RAID software?
How to test that the disk is well and happy? Other tips for using eSATA
docks like this one?

--pa

Pavel:
All I can tell you is that based upon our experience with Intel SATA Storage
Controllers (in an XP OS environment) - their ICH8, ICH9, and current ICH10
& ICH10R models - we have *never* been able to set the BIOS SATA mode to
AHCI without the system failing to boot. This had nothing to do with an
eSATA device being connected to the system. The system would not boot when
the AHCI mode was selected. No problem when the SATA mode was set to
"Disabled" (the default setting re Gigabyte and other Intel-based boards
we've worked with). We've never attempted any registry hacks to change this
behavior and probably have no intention of doing so.

In general, we've experienced no problems with eSATA-connected (external)
HDD devices other than an occasional device that's simply defective. The
only issue we've experienced with these devices (involving Intel-based
systems) is the kind I believe I previously mentioned to you, i.e., if the
device is powered-on *following* bootup of the system, it will not be
recognized by the system until the "Scan for hardware changes" option is
invoked in Device Manager. It's a minor annoyance but we've learned to live
with it when we forget to connect/power-on the eSATA device prior to bootup.
We have not experienced the same issue in a number of AMD-based systems
we've worked with.

Setting aside the problem you were (are?) having with that Sedna eSATA
device...

I believe you indicated that your boot drive was (is) a SATA HDD and that
there was no problem booting to the system. I assume the motherboard's BIOS
SATA mode was (is) set to "Disabled" and not AHCI under those circumstances.
On the other hand perhaps you invoked that registry hack you mention whereby
you were able to set the SATA mode to AHCI (rather than "Disabled") and you
experienced no problem booting to your SATA HDD containing the XP OS. And
somehow this also corrected the problem or problems you were experiencing
with your eSATA device. But I'm not entirely clear on all this.
Anna

 

[Pavel A.]

........
I believe you indicated that your boot drive was (is) a SATA HDD and that
there was no problem booting to the system.

No, my boot disk is PATA, it sits on a separate JMicron IDE controller
outside of the ICH. So it is not affected by all these changes in SATA
config.
Other (data) disks are SATA.

Regards,
--pa