Brand new B550-A Pro doesn't recognize all SSDs or HDDs

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pantich157902db

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My B550-A Pro mobo is not recognizing all storage drives. I started out with an SSD (SH hynix Gold S31) and a DVD/CD drive. The BIOS recognized the disc drive fine, but not the SSD. I switched the power and SATA cables going to the disc drive onto the SSD and vice versa. Again, BIOS recognized the disc drive but not the SSD.

Left the disc drive in and tried several different SSDs and HDDs that I know are good because I just took them out of a bunch of computers after reformatting them.

Finally found one very old HDD from a laptop that was recognized by BIOS. Was able to install Windows on it, but it's so old that it's unbearably slow.

What I really want to do is use my new SSD as the OS drive and a couple of the newer drives, I pulled out of the old machines, as backup storage.

I've tried so many combinations that I'm at the point where I just want to chuck everything against the wall. SO frustrating.

Oh, a couple of other things I tried. None of which solved the problem:
- Flash the BIOS with the latest version
- Pull out CMOS battery to reset everything
- Change from UEFI mode to Legacy (or Compatibility. Can't remember exact term)

Anyone else experienced this or have any suggestions on what I can do next?

My hardware is:
- MSI B550-A Pro motherboard
- G. Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2x16GB)
- AMD Ryzen 7 5700G

Appreciate any help.
 
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pantich157902db said:
My B550-A Pro mobo is not recognizing all storage drives. I started out with an SSD (SH hynix Gold S31) and a DVD/CD drive. The BIOS recognized the disc drive fine, but not the SSD. I switched the power and SATA cables going to the disc drive onto the SSD and vice versa. Again, BIOS recognized the disc drive but not the SSD.

Left the disc drive in and tried several different SSDs and HDDs that I know are good because I just took them out of a bunch of computers after reformatting them.

Finally found one very old HDD from a laptop that was recognized by BIOS. Was able to install Windows on it, but it's so old that it's unbearably slow.

What I really want to do is use my new SSD as the OS drive and a couple of the newer drives, I pulled out of the old machines, as backup storage.

I've tried so many combinations that I'm at the point where I just want to chuck everything against the wall. SO frustrating.

Oh, a couple of other things I tried. None of which solved the problem:
- Flash the BIOS with the latest version
- Pull out CMOS battery to reset everything
- Change from UEFI mode to Legacy (or Compatibility. Can't remember exact term)

Anyone else experienced this or have any suggestions on what I can do next?

My hardware is:
- MSI B550-A Pro motherboard
- G. Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2x16GB)
- AMD Ryzen 7 5700G

Appreciate any help.
Click to expand...
Have you tried not using the dvd drive at all?
 
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OK, just tried booting up with the disc drive disconnected. Same result. When I go into BIOS it only recognizes the old drive. Not the new SSD or the new HDD. I've attached a pic of the BIOS screen in case the info there helps someone identify what I'm doing wrong.

I'm not sure what the HotPlug column means. Wondered if having every SATA port's HotPlug disabled could be doing it. Problem is, I can't figure out where in the BIOS to enable those to see if that makes a difference.

Thanks
MSI BIOS Settings.jpg
 
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pantich157902db said:
OK, just tried booting up with the disc drive disconnected. Same result. When I go into BIOS it only recognizes the old drive. Not the new SSD or the new HDD. I've attached a pic of the BIOS screen in case the info there helps someone identify what I'm doing wrong.

I'm not sure what the HotPlug column means. Wondered if having every SATA port's HotPlug disabled could be doing it. Problem is, I can't figure out where in the BIOS to enable those to see if that makes a difference.

ThanksView attachment 153804
Click to expand...
You can use the search function to find things. You should update to the latest bios 7C56vA84. I was wondering if the dvd drive was faulty, thus causing problems.
Edit: What is the exact model of your dvd drive?
 
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laurence1211 said:
You can use the search function to find things. You should update to the latest bios 7C56vA84. I was wondering if the dvd drive was faulty, thus causing problems.
Edit: What is the exact model of your dvd drive?
Click to expand...
I can't tell if you're telling me I can search within BIOS. If so, thanks because I didn't notice that icon before. It brought up the options so I could enable the HotPlug. Although, after doing a web search and some reading it turns out I'm never going to have a need to swap a SATA drive while the PC is on. I left it enabled anyway.

As for the DVD drive, just take that out of the equation. I'm not using it anymore. I'll just use a bigger Flash drive and install Windows that way.

Open to other ideas/suggestions.

Oh, I didn't update BIOS to 7C56vA84 because it's marked as beta. I do see that there is a newer stable version of the BIOS so my next step is to download that and flash the BIOS
 
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Hotplug has nothing to do with it. All Hotplug does is enable Windows to safely eject the drive for removal during Windows operation.

Update to the newest BIOS, even if it's a beta. They sometimes fix odd bugs like this. If it's not fixed, you can always go back to the version before that.

Never use an old Windows DVD to install Win10, this will only lead to problems. New drivers don't work on an old Win10 version, you will get errors and you won't know why.
You need to prepare a USB stick/drive with the latest Media Creation Tool from this link.

Leave the BIOS in UEFI mode, this is a hard requirement for Windows 11. When you install Win10 in CSM/Legacy mode, you won't be able to easily update to Win11 later.
 
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citay said:
Hotplug has nothing to do with it. All Hotplug does is enable Windows to safely eject the drive for removal during Windows operation.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I found out with some quick searches

citay said:
Update to the newest BIOS, even if it's a beta. They sometimes fix odd bugs like this. If it's not fixed, you can always go back to the version before that.
Click to expand...
Just did and it's still not recognizing my SSD. I'm going to try each one of the SSDs and HDDs I have to see if they all aren't recognized or if it's just certain ones.

citay said:
Never use an old Windows DVD to install Win10, this will only lead to problems. New drivers don't work on an old Win10 version, you will get errors and you won't know why.
You need to prepare a USB stick/drive with the latest Media Creation Tool from this link.
Click to expand...
I wasn't. I had created an ISO file from another install of Windows. I realize that may not have been the best way to do it, but it's a moot point now since I can't even get it to recognize my SSD. By the way, the SSD is only a couple of months old and I used it before deciding to upgrade rest of system.

citay said:
Leave the BIOS in UEFI mode, this is a hard requirement for Windows 11. When you install Win10 in CSM/Legacy mode, you won't be able to easily update to Win11 later.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I did not know that.
 
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So not only is the SK Hynix SSD not being recognized, a couple other drives aren't either? Hmmm...

What PSU do you have?
 
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pantich157902db said:
I can't tell if you're telling me I can search within BIOS. If so, thanks because I didn't notice that icon before. It brought up the options so I could enable the HotPlug. Although, after doing a web search and some reading it turns out I'm never going to have a need to swap a SATA drive while the PC is on. I left it enabled anyway.

As for the DVD drive, just take that out of the equation. I'm not using it anymore. I'll just use a bigger Flash drive and install Windows that way.

Open to other ideas/suggestions.

Oh, I didn't update BIOS to 7C56vA84 because it's marked as beta. I do see that there is a newer stable version of the BIOS so my next step is to download that and flash the BIOS
Click to expand...
I did a search, your old hard drive is sata2 while everything else is sata3. I wonder how old that dvd drive is. Either way it seems to a problem related to drive detection rather than hardware. Do you have any m.2 drives?
 
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pantich157902db said:
I'm using a brand new Cooler Master 650W PSU
Click to expand...

Hmm, cheap 85°C-rated Teapo caps throughout, https://www.kitguru.net/components/...-master-masterwatt-650-power-supply-review/4/

Well, what do you expect for US$50. I would've spent a bit more for a higher-quality unit such as this for example.
After the (quite daring of Cooler Master) five years of warranty are over, i would be cautious about your PSU, ideally you'd sell it off while it still works and get something better.

I don't think this is the cause for your problem, however, can you make a screenshot of the "Hardware monitor" section in the BIOS? It shows the voltages and temperatures.
You can press F12 in the BIOS to save a screenshot to a FAT32 drive.
 
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Humm well how about you invest in some decent SATA lll cables as I get the feeling you using any old SATA cable you have lying around.
 
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citay said:
Hmm, cheap 85°C-rated Teapo caps throughout, https://www.kitguru.net/components/...-master-masterwatt-650-power-supply-review/4/

Well, what do you expect for US$50. I would've spent a bit more for a higher-quality unit such as this for example.
After the (quite daring of Cooler Master) five years of warranty are over, i would be cautious about your PSU, ideally you'd sell it off while it still works and get something better.

I don't think this is the cause for your problem, however, can you make a screenshot of the "Hardware monitor" section in the BIOS? It shows the voltages and temperatures.
You can press F12 in the BIOS to save a screenshot to a FAT32 drive.
Click to expand...
You clearly know more about PSUs than I do since I have no idea what Teapo caps are. I'll read up on it, but as you said, I don't think that's the problem.

Here's the Hardware Monitor page
 

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Alan J T said:
Humm well how about you invest in some decent SATA lll cables as I get the feeling you using any old SATA cable you have lying around.
Click to expand...
Ha. What makes you think I am using "any old SATA cable"?
Even if I am using an older (btw-I'm not) SATA cable, I think the only difference would be the transfer speed. Regardless of the SATA version, it should still work.
If I'm missing something, please tell me.
 
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pantich157902db said:
You clearly know more about PSUs than I do since I have no idea what Teapo caps are.
Click to expand...

Teapo is a maker of (budget-class) caps, short for capacitors. Those are electric components that can "buffer" electricity and filter/smooth the output voltages. So they are important to reduce so-called "voltage ripple" and thus provide stable, clean voltages to the components attached to the PSU. There are distinct differences in quality and longevity between certain makers of caps, and even within the product range of each maker.

For one, the operating lifetime of a capacitor depends a lot on the ambient temperature, especially with electrolytic capacitors which have a fluid inside them. So the first thing to tell apart the worse from the better caps within a product range is what maximum temperature they're rated for. With caps, you have either a 85°C or a 105°C rating, obviously the latter will last longer. Then you have the difference of electrolytic caps vs. solid caps, the latter are more expensive and mostly used in high-end PSUs.

Then you also have the different brands/makers of capacitors, which all have a different reputation, depending on how well they held up in the past (especially in PSUs). There are some (usually Chinese/Taiwanese) brands with a not-so-good reputation like CapXon or sometimes Teapo (although Teapo is not the worst of the bunch), and then you have some - usually Japanese - brands with a good reputation like Panasonic or Nippon Chemicon. Historically, the latter have survived well past the warranty of the PSU, while the cheaper brands depend a lot on higher airflow within the PSU and tend to perhaps still fail soon after the warranty ends.

In my experience, PSUs - if we're talking cheap ones - are consistently among the first component to fail in a PC, in large part owed to capacitors not being able to do their job properly anymore. Sometimes you even see this when you look into the bottom fan opening and visually inspect the capacitors, they will have bulged or leaked:

bulgedcapacitor.jpg


Other times you won't see it as easily, but they still might not filter the voltages very well anymore. The problem with less filtered output voltages is that the connected components are put under more stress and might in turn also degrade a bit earlier than expected. Although on today's mainboards for example, you will at least see solid caps all-around. They will outlive most PSUs.

It's also important where the capacitors are placed inside the PSU. In the picture above, they are directly next to a MOSFET (switching/amplifying transistor), a component that can get very hot and is actually bolted to a heatsink via a screw. So the caps are in a hot, cramped corner of the PSU. This is a recipe for early failure. In your PSU, only one capacitor is placed in such a precarious position, but still, they're all budget ones rated at 85°C.

When a cheap PSU fails, it's very often because of the capacitors. And with failure, it don't mean it goes up in a puff of smoke, that's rare. But it will cause instabilities, maybe shut off randomly or during high load, stuff like that. It will go bad slowly, but surely.
 
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