Asus motherboard P8Z68-V Pro SATA connections

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[PKCano]

Hi.

I have an ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard with the following SATA connection setup:

2 x  Intel Z68 SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports

My ‘C’ drive SSD (containing Windows 10 Prof and programs) is connected to one port. The other port is connected to my ‘D’ drive. A traditional spinner drive containing just data.

4 x  Intel Z68 SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports

2 ports are connected up to DVD rewriter optical drives.

2 ports are currently vacant, although do get used periodically for connecting up HDDs for backup.

2 x Marvell SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports

Both ports vacant.

I want to add another HDD to increase my storage capacity for data as my ‘D’ drive is almost full. I want to connect the data drive to one of the Marvell ports (to benefit from the faster speed compared to the Intel SATA 3.0 ports). I can see the new drive in the BIOS but when Windows has booted up, I cannot see it in Disk Management nor Windows Explorer.

I’m not sure whether this has any baring on this, but the data drive I’m connecting up isn’t brand new. It was previously my old ‘C’ drive containing Windows 10 Prof and all my data. Once I can get it into it, I want to reformat it and start with a fresh clean drive just for data. I have a question concerning this, but I’ll save that for a separate post.

I have the Marvell Storage Controller set to ‘AHCI mode’ in the BIOS. Marvell Storage OPROM is enabled. What am I missing or doing wrong? I am a newbie when it comes to adding additional drives to the motherboard. Why can’t Windows see a drive connected to the Marvell ports?

For reference I attach the pertinant pages of the motherboard user guide.

This is my first time posting on Askwoody forum. It is certainly different to the Windows Secrets forum. I apologise if my post isn’t in the right place.

• This topic was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by PKCano.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by bumblebee. Reason: Post submitted too early

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[Mike]

Are the Marvell controller  drivers for Windows installed? There may be a oroblem that they won’t work with Win10. I see them available  for Win7.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Mike.

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Is there a ! symbol next to the entry for the Marvell controller in Windows’ Device Manager? It could be that you need to download a driver for the Marvell from Asus or another source.

I have a motherboard quite similar to yours in my desktop. It’s the Asus P8P67 (Deluxe), and it too has a secondary Marvell SATA adapter. When I had two SATA SSDs, I connected them to the two Intel SATA ports (SATA III, 6GB/s) and my rust spinner and DVD-RW drive to the Intel SATA II ports (3GB/s). The HDD is decently quick for a HDD (7200 RPM 3TB), but still not enough to saturate the SATA II bus speed, so I didn’t bother to enable the Marvell.

When I added a third SSD, I enabled the Marvell controller and connected the new SSD to that. I’m using Linux, so if it is a Windows driver issue, it would be different, but after I turned on the Marvell, it just worked without missing a beat.

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satrow

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Thanks Mike and Ascaris.

In Device Manager there is no Marvell controller showing for the ports on the motherboard (see screenshot). The two Marvell 91xx and 92xx controllers listed are for a separate SATA 6G PCI Express card.

On Asus’s web site for my motherboard (https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8Z68V_PRO/HelpDesk_Download/), there isn’t a driver listed for the Marvell controller. Presumably I could go to Marvell’s own web site and download the driver, but how do I determine what Marvell chipset I’ve got on the motherboard? I don’t know which driver to download.

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That shows the drivers are installed so you should be able to see the drive.

I would plug the drive into one of the Intel 3Gbps ports and confirm it can be seen before doing anything else.

cheers, Paul

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Which of the controllers in my screenshot are the drivers for my motherboard Marvell sata ports?

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The ones that say Marvell.

Try Paul’s idea first to make sure the drives are working.

I believe the issue may be that you are using old drivers. Was this Win10 an upgrade from Win7 rather than a clean install?

In any case, you may have to remove the old Marvell drivers and install newer ones that are made for Win8. Those drivers you download under your MB listing on the Asus website. If you did update from Win8 or this is a clean install of Win10, then I’d still try a new driver install.

Here’s a conversation link for somthing similar.

https://www.tenforums.com/drivers-hardware/60112-marvell-92xx-sata-controller-6gb-driver-windows-10-1-2-0-1039-whql.html

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[bumblebee]

Firstly, just to clarify, in my post #2286114 I did say ‘The two Marvell 91xx and 92xx controllers listed are for a separate SATA 6G PCI Express card.’ They are not the drivers for the Marvell sata ports on the motherboard.

I’ve connected the drive to one of the Intel 3Gbps ports and confirm it CAN be seen.

My Windows 10 was a clean install.

In any case, you may have to remove the old Marvell drivers and install newer ones that are made for Win8. Those drivers you download under your MB listing on the Asus website.

Ok, I’m going to download and install the Win8 Marvell sata driver and we’ll see where that leads. I never thought to install any of the Win8 drivers into my Windows 10 clean install. I guess I should go back and revisit those.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by bumblebee. Reason: Updated

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I just checked my Windows 8.1 installation on my P8P67 PC, and it just had the Microsoft AHCI driver for both the Intel and Marvell SATA controllers.  I checked the hardware ID for the Marvell, and it was VEN_1b4b&dev_9130, so it looks like it’s a Marvell 9130. Your board is a P8 series too, so I’d guess it’s the same one my board has.  I guess that is why there was no Marvell driver from Asus, if the standard MS one works.

If it did not have the driver installed for the Marvell, I would still expect to see the entry in Device Manager, but with the ! symbol indicating that the driver is missing (or that the thing is not working for some other reason).

Also, where is the listing for the Intel SATA controller? I don’t see it there. On my PC, I just saw two instances of the Microsoft SATA driver, the second one being the Marvell.

I’m using that PC to write this, so I’ll have to enter this message first, but AHCI mode and OPROM on sounds right. I will check my setting and see if it’s different somehow.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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Yep, AHCI mode and Oprom enabled.

Perhaps there is some gunk or corrosion on the SATA contacts. I don’t know why it isn’t working in Windows when it is enabled in the UEFI… but I am also curious to know why there is no listing in the screenshot for the Intel SATA either.  It shouldn’t make any difference (it not being 1995 and all), but have you tried removing the other Marvell controller and seeing what happens?

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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Ok, was not clearly thinking, but corrosion in the SATA port would only make the drive not enumerate, but the controller should still show up.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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bumblebee wrote:

Ok, I’m going to download and install the Win8 Marvell sata driver and we’ll see where that leads. I never thought to install any of the Win8 drivers into my Windows 10 clean install. I guess I should go back and revisit those.

Good shout, the few Win8 OEM drivers I needed, worked flawlessly on my installations of W10 whilst testing.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Would it beneficial for me to download all the Windows 7/8 motherboard drivers and install them on my Windows 10 machine? Or, could this cause me some problems? Presumably if Asus haven’t released newer drivers for specifically for Windows 10, then the Windows 7/8 drivers ought to be ok. Shouldn’t they??

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Assuming that there are no W10 device drivers for your motherboard, the Win8 drivers MAY be ok in some instances but, I wouldn’t put that down to a rule of thumb.
If you wish, just download the Win8 device drivers and store them somewhere offline so, if you nuke the OS and start again at some point in the future, install them offline prior to updating W10 for the first time.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Ascaris wrote:

I just checked my Windows 8.1 installation on my P8P67 PC, and it just had the Microsoft AHCI driver for both the Intel and Marvell SATA controllers.  I checked the hardware ID for the Marvell, and it was VEN_1b4b&dev_9130, so it looks like it’s a Marvell 9130. Your board is a P8 series too, so I’d guess it’s the same one my board has.  I guess that is why there was no Marvell driver from Asus, if the standard MS one works.

If it did not have the driver installed for the Marvell, I would still expect to see the entry in Device Manager, but with the ! symbol indicating that the driver is missing (or that the thing is not working for some other reason).

Also, where is the listing for the Intel SATA controller? I don’t see it there. On my PC, I just saw two instances of the Microsoft SATA driver, the second one being the Marvell.

I’m using that PC to write this, so I’ll have to enter this message first, but AHCI mode and OPROM on sounds right. I will check my setting and see if it’s different somehow.

Thanks for your reply.

I’ve now installed the (Win8) Marvell sata controller driver from Asus’ web site, which on the face of it, hasn’t added any new entries to Device Manager. Perhaps the driver is one and the same as the drivers installed for the Sata 6G PCIe card. I’m not sure how I could compare version numbers.

Tomorrow I’ll connect the HDD back into one of the Marvell sata ports and we’ll see what happens, though I’m not holding out much hope.

I take your point that on my Device Manager screenshot, there isn’t any mention of my Intel Sata controller. I’ve checked the rest of Device Manager and can confirm they are not listed. I’m not sure why.

Prior to me buying and installing the Sata 6G PCIe card, in Device Manager, under ‘Storage Controllers’ the only item listed was’ Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller’.

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Update – When the HDD is connected to the Marvell SATA port on the motherboard, it is still not seen by Windows. If I plug the HDD into a Marvell SATA port on my PCIe card, I CAN see it in Windows.

I’m going to try swopping the sata cable in case its faulty. I’m doubting this is the problem though because my BIOS is showing me the drive. If that doesn’t make any difference, I’ll change the Marvell drivers as suggested in the forum post linked by Mike, above, and then report back. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Here’s a conversation link for somthing similar.

https://www.tenforums.com/drivers-hardware/60112-marvell-92xx-sata-controller-6gb-driver-windows-10-1-2-0-1039-whql.html

 

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Update – Swopping the sata cable made no difference. I checked out the forum link provided by Mike and downloaded the Marvell driver version 1047. I’d already determined that my installed driver was at version 1041. Updating the driver made no difference, I still couldn’t see my drive. I give up.

I’ve now plugged the drive into Marvell sata port SATA6G_E2 and the drive works perfectly. Conclusion? There must be a fault with Marvell sata port SATA6G_E1.

Good job I bought that PCIe card with those additional SATA ports!

Thanks everyone for your help.

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looks like the SATA6G_E1 port on your Asus board has gone bad

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A shot in the dark: Maybe there is some incompatibility with the Sata card. Try disabling it in Bio or removing and reinstall the on board drivers.

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Hello, sorry to add to an old post, but I have the same board and had the same problem, did this get solved? I tried reading all the thread and could not see a result, I just turned off fast boot and enabled 3 second delay to let the drives get a chance to be read, please forgive me if this has been said already, as this is the first thing you usually do on any board of course, also I have an issue with booting and was hoping if someone here knows what the latest bios update is for this board, I have googled and I think I have the latest version but still need to reboot twice from cold to get it running every time the psu supply gets turned off, sorry again for jumping on an old thread.

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Hi.

The conclusion I came to was that there must be a fault with the Marvell sata port SATA6G_E1. For your situation, do you have the Marvell driver installed?

When I plugged the HDD into Marvell sata port SATA6G_E2, the drive worked perfectly.

According to Asus’ own web site, the latest BIOS for motherboard P8Z68-V Pro is version 3603 dated 27 Nov 2012.

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I have Win7 64bit running on Asustek P8Z68-V Pro M/B with 2 Marvel 4 p0rt PCIe cards installed. One’s a 91xx and other a few years newer 92xx.

Most of the time it would run sweetly but every now and then on a reboot drives attached to the 91xx would disappear. The controller was there in Device Manager but with the dreaded yellow exclamation. Usual pointless trail as described elsewhere in this thread. Best driver installed my ****! Uninstall and hope it sees it properly on reboot…

92xx controller never gave me any problem. But then, neither did the 91xx when it was only the single card installed, adding the 2nd card caused the now and again failure.

Today (10 Dec 2021), with paranoid trepidation, I downloaded and installed

Storage Driver Marvell 91xx SATA 6G Controller
OS: Windows 10 64 bit, Windows 8.1 64bit, Windows 7 64bit, Windows Vista 64bit, Windows XP 64bit
Version: 1.2.0.1039 File Size: 1.17 MB File Type: zip

from

https://oemdrivers.com/storage-marvell-91xx-sata-6g-controller.

There was a specific Win7 driver but I thought give the ‘all versions’ a go.

Hey, it worked, is currently working and declares the Driver Provider to be Marvell Inc. rather than Microsoft generic – remember how pleased we were to see the manf,s name rather than Microsoft!!

The firewall reports no unusual activity from the possible Trojan I just installed – Yet!

If there’s a problem I’ll update, otherwise…

.Jif

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Sorry, should have clarified.

Although the original question was motherboard related bumblebee’s driver window showed the 9xxx drivers and I wondered is there a conflict with m’brd that https://oemdrivers.com/storage-marvell-91xx-sata-6g-controller might resolve.

Oh, I took a Ghost image before running the install. Symantec Ghost Boot CD 12 64bit is brilliant on a Win10PXE USB! Got ZTree on there as well.

.Jif

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Should also add I don’t wish to besmirch http://www.oemdrivers.com in anyway. I have used them in the past and they’re impeccable and to be trusted and I thank them for their effort.

I’m IT Security and it’s the wild west out there. Website’s get infiltrated. As Donald Rumsfeld said, “there are also unknown unknowns, there are thing we do not know we don’t know”. That’s profound not stupid. I freely admit, despite my work, I may have had something nasty running on my website or PC for years that I’m oblivious to. I just keep a watchful eye. The real hackers are very clever people!

Paranoia keeps me safe (safer)

.jif

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