External HDD won't work with new SATA to eSATA cable

[MarcLister]

I bought a SATA to eSATA cable for my external HDD today hoping to take advantage of faster transfer times. I plugged the cable into the IcyBox enclosure and my PC. eSATA on the PC and SATA on the Icybox. When I turned the external HDD on, it whirred a bit but didn't appear in Windows Explorer at all. Reverting back to the USB2 connection made the device appear as normal. And with the USB2 cable the HDD whirs louder and more meaningfully, if that is possible, as if it is booting up properly. The SATA to eSATA cable seems to make the HDD whir quieter and with less intent.

I'm using SATA disks inside my PC so the BIOS is obviously runing them OK. Any ideas why the SATA to eSATA isn't working?

[shaithis]

Is there a eSATA/USB toggle switch on the unit you have missed?

[MarcLister]

I don't believe so. I've got an Asus P5Q-E and there's nothing obvious in the manual about the e-SATA port on the back of the motherboard.

[synaesthesia]

Good luck. You'll find it probably won't work without the drive being in the PC at power on time.

However a couple of things to check:

1. That you have the jMicron controller in the bios set to AHCI
2. That you have the latest jMicron drivers installed
3. Failing that, try a KB fix from MS - number 961078 - it's a requested download only.

I've got exactly the same problem and it annoys the hell out of me. The above steps are those advised by Asus and used to fix problems on many other systems however I've had no joy on my box (vista x64).

[MarcLister]

Good luck. You'll find it probably won't work without the drive being in the PC at power on time.

However a couple of things to check:

1. That you have the jMicron controller in the bios set to AHCI
2. That you have the latest jMicron drivers installed
3. Failing that, try a KB fix from MS - number 961078 - it's a requested download only.

I had the BIOS set to IDE. I changed that to AHCI and still nothing.

jMicron? Never heard of them. Are they the company that make the SATA stuff for my Asus P5Q-E?

I'll check out 961078. When you say request only, does that mean that Windows Update wouldn't pick it up and show it to me? I have to physically find it, download it and install it?

I did reset the PC with the external HDD on and connected via eSATA so that the BIOS could pick it up or the PC pick it up during Vista's load up. Still nothing. Isn't eSATA meant to be easy?

I also have Vista x64. I wonder if that is the problem?

[synaesthesia]

It definitely needs to be AHCI for eSATA to work properly or possibly even at all. jMicron is the company who's chipset drives the IDE port as well as the eSATA.

As for the hotfix being request only, yeah - you need to search for it and download it manually, it won't show up on Windows Update.

It should show up in Windows at the very least. Just double check though bios settings, remembering there's 2 sets of sata ports, the intel and the jmicron.

I've an asus P5K-E, almost identical to yours in setup other than a p35 chipset, identical issue too. I've raised support with Asus but it's like pissing into the wind with their chingrish.

[MarcLister]

It is set to AHCI now. I've downloaded the update, not installed it yet.

I'll re-check the BIOS and the manual. As far as I'm aware I've got the latest SATA drivers from the Asus P5Q-E page as well as latest BIOS.

[MarcLister]

Just checked manual and the eSATA is Marvell 88SE6121. There is no mention of jmicron anywhere in the manual.

[synaesthesia]

Ah, so it is, my apologies In which case naturally use the latest drivers for those and lets hope it's better than the ruddy jMicron ones are!

[MarcLister]

Already had the latest drivers for those from the Asus P5Q-E page. Installed the update you mentioned.

[[GSV]Trig]

I had same issue with my external drive, I just used USB instead in the end

[synaesthesia]

Sometimes you just need to actually use the drive instead of watching it crawl along at USB pace

[MarcLister]

Sometimes you just need to actually use the drive instead of watching it crawl along at USB pace

Yep I'm sure eSATA would be faster for transferring stuff than USB2? If I can get eSATA to work that is.

[[GSV]Trig]

Aye, USB works, eSATA didnt and I really cba to find out why, will just watch this thread instead...

[synaesthesia]

Definitely worth throwing a post on the Asus forums, although the staff might not be too active there's plenty of other bedroom experts who know more about the kit than Asus seem to

[MarcLister]

Definitely worth throwing a post on the Asus forums, although the staff might not be too active there's plenty of other bedroom experts who know more about the kit than Asus seem to

Didn't know Asus had a forum. Checking it out now.