standingbear

I can't believe this. Thank you all, especially allen2 and bphlpt. I went to the Asrock's website as well as using the device driver -> update driver from microsoft, which all said I was using the latest driver, but it never occurred to me to check from AMD directly. Yes, it was indeed a way out-of-date AMD SATA controller driver, and now it is seeing the disks without any problems. I am happy and mad at the same time.

@bphlpt Yes, I used the format that is built-in with Windows. The reason I didn't use the Win 7 x64 format was because on win 7 x64, the disk would show up as having 746GB instead of 3TB.

@bphlpt I formatted the 3TB disk from Windows vista 32bit, and the disk was in a USB enclosure. The disk is now a data disk inside a Windows 7 64bit box, with the latest updates applied. cut the disk into 4 partitions, 750GBx3, plus the remaining one. mobo is ASRock 960GB/U3S3 FX

Thanks Tripredacus. The single connector from the case is not labeled for individual pins. But as you said, since I am getting sound, it must be okay.

@cdob. where can I find that information? I looked at all possible locations in Device Manager but didn't see msachi.sys showing up at all to all. thanks for the help, the problem is still not solved. after I partitioned the disk using the USB, and put into the windows 7 64bit box, it has a problem. the computer management shows all parititons healthy, but from my computer, the last partition is shown as unformatted. This is the same symptom why the first disk failed -- it was fine for a while and then all of a sudden the very last partition would show up as unformatted. I tried to do chkdsk and all hell broke loose. I guess the fundamental question is, is this a Windows issue, or a mobo issue? I read somewhere that a mobo should have uefi to support disks > 2.2 TB, which I don't think my mobo has; but then again, the BIOS recognizes the disk correctly, and so does PartedMagic. so I am not sure what the heck is going on.

@jaclaz I did use GParted, and it detected the drive correctly as 2.73TiB. But I am not too familiar with Parted Magic. About use of DBAN -- that is the only way I know that actually erases a disk from beginning to end. The WD's own erasure tool would not even remove the GPT. If the disk was indeed queered, I am not sure how else you could erase it. Incidentally DBAN also uses linux to boot and it also correctly detected the disk capacity. So in any case, it seems to have proved that the problem is with the Windows 7 driver.

@jaclaz the reason I used DBAN was because the WD erasure tool (Data LifeGuard) had many errors while writing zeros the disk, not sure if that means some sectors are already bad on this replacement disk. but i bit the bullet and powered off the computer in order to stop DBAN. the interesting thing is that when I stick a properly partitioned disk to the 64bit box, it also showed up as 2.79TB, but after I wiped it clean, and made it a GPT using computer management console, it showed it as 746GB. @cdob the AMBIOS version is 1.20 SATA controller is Asmedia 106x under Storage controllers, driver version 1.2.2.0, but there is also an AMD SATA Controller under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, driver version is 1.2.0.125 Disk driver 6.1.7600.16385 as I was telling jaclaz. Inserting a USB enclosure partitioned disk, windows 7 also recognized its capacity properly. But after a low level format and made it a GPT using computer management console, it again showed up as 746GB

@jaclaz ah crap. i already started DBAN and it won't finish until 12 hours later... and there is no way to stop the process :-( @cdob i will have to get back to you on the information. The SATA 3 controllers are definitely Asmedia, but I am not sure about the SATA 2 controllers and this disk is only plugged to an SATA 2 port. please stay tuned.

thanks jaclaz. I will try these things you suggested. It sounds like I should DBAN the disk *before* doing anything to it... I was just copying data to it since last night, probably have to DBAN them out, try it on Win 7 and see if it fixed the problem... I deserve that for doing stuff *before* asking for help.

Thank you Tripredacus. I am pretty certain both front panels have the HD Audio connector. the mobo is ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX, and the new cpu case is Corsair 400R. But I have no idea what brand the original case was -- I got my machine as a barebone, so it was probably some generic brand.

jaclaz and Tripredacus, thank you for the replies. I will answer your questions one by one below. 1. jaclaz, I don't have the screenshot from my system, but a google search shows that several people experienced a similar problem with 3TB disks, although theirs may not necessarily be the same brand of disk, and also not always with windows 7 64bit, and sometimes their bios also failed to recognize the disk capacity. But for all practical purpose, the link below contains a screenshot that should look the same if I took one from my machine. http://www.servethehome.com/fix-746gb-3tb-hard-drive-issue/ 2. Tripredacus (and jaclaz, you may find this extra bit of information interesting), To be exact, this disk (00MMMB0) is a refurbished replacement (Dragon disk) disk sent by WD to replace a failed 3TB caviar green disk (also a WD30EZRX, but 00DC0B0 model), and it is not a boot disk. the 00DC0B0 disk was also partitioned and formatted as GPT disk with the same enclosure on the same win vista 32bit machine, but entirely by chance (because when I first got the disk, my 64bit bare-bone machine was still being built). After the machine arrived, I used an intel SSD as the boot disk, and stuck the partitioned 00DC0B0 into the machine and it was being recognized just fine. So I suspect that if I stick the partitioned 00MMMB0 into the 64bit machine now, it will also be recognized fine (I cannot do that yet, because I am still transferring data to it).

A while back I posted here about the sound card on a new machine. The HD sound card has only 3 jacks in the back, and according to their color codes, they are supposed to be output (lime green), headphone (pink), and mic (light blue), and I was wondering how I could get my 5.1 speakers to connect. Then someone pointed out that the Realtek HD Audio Manager is able to retask these jacks for other purposes and I indeed found it to be true. That is, when I clicked open Realtek HD Audio Manager, on the right hand side, it would list two columns of the 3 jacks with an option to switch between output/headphone/mic and output/side spkr/rear spkr. I was quite happy for a while, until one day, I switched the computer case (long story, but there was nothing wrong with the existing case), but kept everything else the same. But when I went into the Realtek HD Audio Manager, it would no longer let me switch these 3 jacks explicitly. Instead, I could only choose among stereo/quad/5.1 in the main panel, and only the 5.1 would use the headphone and mic as output. While this still makes sense, I just felt a little lost because I like the more explicit way to retask these jacks. So I am just wondering why the HD Audio Manager changed its behavior? The only hardware change is the case and the front panel, but would that make a difference? because the previous cpu case also has a front panel.

I have a WD Caviar Green 3TB WD30EZRX-00MMMB0 disk. I try to install it on a Windows 7 64bit machine, which has an ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX mobo. The bios is the latest according to the ASRock's site, and it recognizes the drive as a 3TB disk. But when I use Windows' computer management console to partition the disk, it shows the disk being only 746GB in capacity. The disk has been configured as a GPT when the computer management console first detects it. This problem seems to be rather common according to google, but there aren't any good solutions. For example, people usually suggests to get the latest driver, which my machine tells me it already has; and other suggestions include to get the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology, but my system is AMD so it is not even applicable. But the strange thing is, I stick the disk into a Macally SATA USB enclosure and plugged it into a 32bit Windows vista machine, it recognizes the disk as being 3TB (2796-some GB to be more exact). So I am quite mind boggled. I initially thought it to be a problem with Windows 7 because the BIOS seems to detect the disk just fine; but the use of the enclosure seems to suggest it is a hardware related issue, because I highly doubt that 64bit windows 7 fails to recognize the disk while 32bit Windows vista succeeds (but then again, anything is possible with Microsoft). I am just wondering if anyone has any information regarding this issue? Thanks. Just want to add, I also tried ASRock's 3TB+ Unlocker on the windows 7 machine but it didn't make any difference. Despite all the touts by ASRock's website on how great this unlocker is, it has no documentation whatsoever on how to use the 3TB+ unlocker. Does anyone know how it should be used?

cool. thanks submix8c. With Realtek HD Audio Manager, I got it to work! It is quite confusing though -- if I enabled enable multiple streams for the back panel and the front panel, it doesn't work.

thank you, submix8c. My mobo is ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX and I have to check out your suggestion this evening when I get home.

Hi, I recently purchased a new barebone to replace my old entertainment system. While the specs of the motherboard claims to have HD audio, it only has 1 analog output jack (lime green) in the back (it has 3 but the other 2, pink and blue are for headset and mic), and my 5.1 speaker set requires 3 jacks (black, lime green, and mustard yellow). I am just wondering how can I plug in my 5.1 with just one jack. I haven't been tracking the mobo trend for a while so am kind of outdated on this front. From googling, I have read that people are going towards home threatre systems instead of PC speakers, but that would be a costly upgrade for me. More googling indicates there are also audio front panels that can connect to the HD pins on the mobo, but I haven't gotten any luck finding such panels. (my barebone's case comes with a front panel, but it has an HDD activity LED and 2 analog jack, one lime green, the other pink). I am just wondering if you guys know where I can find some HD audio front panels to select from. Also, are there any HD audio REAR panels that connect to expansion slots in the back like a PCI card, because connecting a bunch of speaker cables to the front panel would look weird). Thanks. (another option is to buy a new audio card, but my PCIe slot is already taken by the video card).

yay... barracuda 7200.11 bsy problem fixed and got all the data back. Ran into many troubles during the process and hadn't it been MSFN and jaclaz, I probably would've thought the disk is FUBAR and tossed it away.

YES PLEASE! BY ALL MEANS!. I am very grateful to you all, especially you jaclaz *hop *hop *hop. (is bunny hopping allowed here? some gamers consider it cheating)

okay never mind. found the solution. needs to type Z and wait for a few seconds before hitting enter. thanks for all the help

something new here. when i tried again, this time on the "Z" spin-down command, it gave me: F3 2>Z LED:000000CE FAddr:00280569 LED:000000CE FAddr:00280569

i ran into some trouble with this. when I did the spin-up command "U", I got the following message: F3 2>U Error 1009 DETSEC 00006008 Spin Error Elapsed Time 31.324 secs R/W Status 2 R/W Error 84150180 what the heck does this mean? is my hdd still saveable?

I deserved that... thank you for pointing it out to me. jaclaz I went back to ebay and looked at the page over and over for 3 times before I was able to spot the link -- blue on black is hard to see, but I went back after I clicked the link you copied above, so it was dark purple on black... so glad you point this out to me otherwise I would've never noticed it.

thanks bloubul and jaclaz. I came across this FGA but it just didn't register (I blame these made-it-look-easy youtube videos). I plugged in the cable and it installed the prolific driver (didn't even notice the CD came with the cable until later), and decapped the cable, and then the solder on the tiny wires broke after a while (and I dont have a soldering gun). I just ordered the kit from ebay that is specific for fixing the 7200.11 firmware issue, does anyone know if it comes with driver?

okay, I need some serious help here. My first attempt just failed miserably. Bought a Nokia CA-42 cable and tried to rig it with RS232 female connectors on the other end of the 3 wires. But no matter which Windows (XP, vista, and 7) I connect it to, device manager installed the correct driver (prolific) and assigned it to COM3, but the icon kept showing a yellow exclamation point (and on XP, it says the device failed to start). Then when I go into putty and later HyperTerminal, I couldn't get them to connect to COM3 (didn't even show up in HyperTerminal). After a few tries, the stupid CA-42 just broke and I just wasted about 20 bucks (cable + connectors + crimper) Out of panic, I ordered the readily made http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280748167812&_trksid=p2992.m753 from eBay which will take about a week before it arrives at my door, but then it occurred to me, what if my Windows won't recognize it either? Is it guaranteed to be recognized? Because that is another 20 bucks I just threw in. Did anyone run into the same problem with the device COM port? How did you manage to solve it?

Is this what you are looking for? I downloaded the bootable CD ISO last night and it worked fine (ISO burned and booted fine, but not firmware update since my HDD is still a brick and am waiting for some equips). http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/207951en