Asus P5Q Turbo (Optical Drive Issue)

Judas · May 1, 2009, 06:49 PM

Don't sapose anyone out there has a P5Q Turbo that they've played with...

I'll cut to the chase...

Setup computer, 2 of them, identical in everyway. Fired it up, ran some initial tests to make sure things are working good. Everything checks out fine.

Go to install windows Vista, The initial black screen with the loading bar whips through no problems, and the moment the mouse shows up on the screen, suddenly the system grinds to halt. The Optical drives are "rebooting" every 2-3 seconds or so, they just do this over and over and over and over again. If i unplug the sata cable from them, the system emediately is responcive. Weird.

So i figured faulty optical drives.... 2 of them?.... replace them same issue, replace them with a different brand, same issue. WTF?

Switch them from the ICH10R sata to the jmicron and low and behold.. things get worse. wtf?

It's like the bios is repeatedly detecting the drives over and over and over again or shutting them down or i haven't a freaking clue what is happening.

I can't install vista.. however if i leave the suckers for about 15 minutes to get to the initial install screen, then wait an addtional 30 minutes to load the ICH10R drive (without ever unplugging the optical drives) i can finally get windows vista to load, from that point on, everything "appears" to be fine.

I've only got one machine out of the 2 up and running in vista right now, the other one after fighting with it (took longer then the other) is just about finished installing vista.

I can't find a damn thing on the internet anywhere about the P5Q Turbo in terms of issues or anything, trying to narrow down the google searchs just overloads me with companies that want to sell me this crap. (i really wish google would give an option to exclude those kind of sites from the search results)

Anyone have a clue?

(I really wanted the Pro Turbo board.. .but i didn't have that option)

Partizan · May 1, 2009, 07:10 PM

Have you tried replacing the SATA cables?

Also flashing the bios to another version could also help.

Judas · May 1, 2009, 08:09 PM

bios updated..

cables changed...

remember i've 2 identical computers doing the same bloody thing....

Partizan · May 1, 2009, 08:15 PM

I would also try downgrading bios to and older version, just to be sure.

I'm out of ideas actually. Been checking some forums (the german ones too), but as this is a new model, not many threads. Will search some more.

[EDIT]
Found someone with an P5Q board with the same problem, he kinda found a solution:

in bios, turn "express gate" off and "CPU Margin Enhancement" to Performance

dipstick · May 1, 2009, 08:21 PM

What mode are you running the sata controller in? Have you tried AHCI or compatible? (I run mine in AHCI and an LG sata dvdrw with no issues)

Edit- Another thing you can try is to increase the drive detection wait time in the bios by a few seconds at boot. Maybe its booting up to dang fast..

Judas · May 1, 2009, 10:38 PM

Theres only to bioses, the orginal one.. and the new one.. both exhibit the same thing.

Actually i have Express gate turned off But i'll try the cpu thing....

Quote:

Originally Posted by dipstick

What mode are you running the sata controller in? Have you tried AHCI or compatible? (I run mine in AHCI and an LG sata dvdrw with no issues)

Edit- Another thing you can try is to increase the drive detection wait time in the bios by a few seconds at boot. Maybe its booting up to dang fast..

I have to run the ICH10R chipset in RAID mode for the hardrives i'm running, as i've got these computers setup specifically for redundancy mode (raid 1) I've done this before on countless other board with the ich7r through to 10r with no problems.... this is why it baffles me....

but it gets worse when i use the Jmicron controll with the sata mode set to ide... go figure.

Drive detection doesn't appear to be the problem.. as with 0 or 35 it doesn't change aside from taking even longer to boot with 35....

I've changed sata ports as well and no change... an IDE optical drive does seem to work though.... so it's apparently SATA specific But beign that both individual sata controllers are experiencing it worse vs the other screams a BIOS issue itself, or faulty design.

I got both machines loaded in vista.... and everything seems to working 100% no problems..... so it's obviously something with the way it's loading the native driver reading from optical drives..

May 1, 2009, 07:10 PM	#2
Partizan Fun loving criminal Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Slovenia Posts: 1,182 Rep Power: 62 System Specs	Re: Asus P5Q Turbo (Optical Drive Issue) Have you tried replacing the SATA cables? Also flashing the bios to another version could also help. __________________ Live and let live!

May 1, 2009, 08:15 PM	#4
Partizan Fun loving criminal Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Slovenia Posts: 1,182 Rep Power: 62 System Specs	Re: Asus P5Q Turbo (Optical Drive Issue) I would also try downgrading bios to and older version, just to be sure. I'm out of ideas actually. Been checking some forums (the german ones too), but as this is a new model, not many threads. Will search some more. [EDIT] Found someone with an P5Q board with the same problem, he kinda found a solution: in bios, turn "express gate" off and "CPU Margin Enhancement" to Performance __________________ Live and let live! Last edited by Partizan; May 1, 2009 at 08:22 PM.

May 1, 2009, 08:21 PM	#5
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	Re: Asus P5Q Turbo (Optical Drive Issue) What mode are you running the sata controller in? Have you tried AHCI or compatible? (I run mine in AHCI and an LG sata dvdrw with no issues) Edit- Another thing you can try is to increase the drive detection wait time in the bios by a few seconds at boot. Maybe its booting up to dang fast.. Last edited by dipstick; May 1, 2009 at 08:28 PM.