2 sata out fo 8 not working

[Randomkoug]

Hello,
I'm an enthusiast owner of this motherboard:
ROG STRIX X299-XE GAMING

But I'm facing aa issue:
2 sata ports out of 8 aren't working:
BIOS see them but instead of telleing me what is plugged it writes "empty"

What I've tried so far are just "hardware" """"tricks""""":
1) Swapped the cable with a working one (slot 1-6 work, slot 7-8 don't).
2) Swapped current cable with a working one.
3) Swapped HDD from slot 1 (working one)

The slot 7 HDD works fine on slot 1, so it's not an issue of cables/hdd

Configurations:
slot 1-6 --> raid5
slot 7-8 --> raid0
Everything made with bios builtin wizard tool.

This worked untill last week when raid0 disappeared and this slots appeared empty on BIOS.

I work with this PC and before bring it to support I want to know if you have something to suggest.

Thanks.

Riccardo

[Korth]

I think RST only supports up to six SATA per RAID?

And the mobo might lock out some SATA when certain PCIe or M.2 or USB are populated, if stated in the manual.

[Randomkoug]

I think RST only supports up to six SATA per RAID?

And the mobo might lock out some SATA when certain PCIe or M.2 or USB are populated, if stated in the manual.

Hi Korth,

Thanks a lot for reply.
I've 6 sata in RAID5, and had 2 sata in RAID0

Then I add this too: there are 2 M.2 slots and both are occupied.

By the way i had it working, maybe... or maybe I just did a partition con raid5 and thought it was raid0 partition? UHMMM I remember I did configure Raid0 with the last 2 HDDs with bios wizard.

Because now I have a 1TB ssd and I would like to use it instead of raid0 (that I didn't use) but bios see empty in slot 7-8

Why would they put 8 Sata Slots if it's not possibile to use all of them?! Is there some reference?

Thanks.

[Korth]

Intel 200 Series (and X299 and Z370 Series) Chipset Families PCH Datasheet (page 230):

"The PCH SATA controller provides support for Intel Rapid Storage Technology, providing both AHCI and integrated RAID functionality. The RAID capability provides high-performance/data-redundancy RAID 0/1/5/10 functionality on up to six ports for the PCH-H of the PCH SATA controller. Matrix RAID support is provided to allow multiple RAID levels to be combined on a single set of hard drives, such as RAID 0 and RAID 1 on two disks ..."

"2) RST only supports up to six SATA ports."

"RAID Level 0 Performance scaling up to 6 drives ..."

etc, etc ... it allows multiple drives in multiple RAID configurations but only supports a maximum of 6 (of the 8) SATA drives in RAID. It's the same basic HEDT stuff as X99, which was the same basic HEDT stuff as X79, which was the same basic HEDT stuff as X58 - the last time SATA RAID workstations were still economically viable (for Intel's intended market) so the last time Intel pushed to increase maximum SATA RAID capacities.

Other RST versions (RST Premium, RST Enterprise, RST System Acceleration with Intel Optane Technology) exist with enterprise-grade SATA madness, but they won't normally install on consumer HEDT and technical datasheets are hard to find in public domain (although marketing fluff literature is everywhere).

[Randomkoug]

Hi,

I really appreciate the follow up.
If I understood, than, I can't have totally more then 6 HDs involved in raids.
What I guess then is: I did raid5 with 6 hdds. Then, with other 2 hdds visible I did a raid0 but I messed up everything and I didn't notice I could see just the raid5 one... (still I remember in windows with intel rapid storage i clearly saw both raids and 8 hdds... memory).

Now in my BIOS I see only one raid to manage, and anything I punt on slot 7-8 is not seen and remain "empty".

Do you have any suggest on how to solve this?

My hard way would be backup raid5 data (there is really nothing so precious I didn't backup even on cloud so I can stand a data loss), remove raid 5 and hope I can finally see slot7-8... is it a good idea or would be worse?

Thanks for helping me and sorry for my bad english.

Riccardo

[Korth]

Hardware limit in the Intel PCH (and RST, firmware, OS drivers) will support maximum 6 SATA RAID.

The other drives can use a software RAID (only two drives so only RAID 0 or 1).

Your only other option is more or different hardware (different mobo, PCIe RAID cards, external RAID boxes, etc).

[Randomkoug]

Unfortunally for me, I think there is some real issue on MotherBoard:

I backupped data and deleted raid 5.
BIOS doesn't see slot 7-8 even now.
When I try to create a new raid in bios, it is all working.

I think it's broken.

Now that I start system with Slots 7-8 system starts up totally faster! (before assistance said My motherboard is slow because of all functionality... maybe it is a reall issue).

Any hint before figuring out how to RMA?

Thanks again for help and information!

Riccardo

[Korth]

The motherboard is working as intended so I doubt it'd qualify for RMA but you can always apply for one anyhow.

Limitation is built into the Intel PCH hardware. Limitation is built into the Intel RST firmware/software. Limitation is the result of (false, misleading) Intel marketing. You simply can't exceed those limitations without different hardware.

[SirWaWa]

in a non-RAID setup, will all 8 work?