Windows 7 not recognizing eSATA drive, but BIOS is  

I just got a new Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P motherboard, and I am trying to get Windows 7 64-bit to recognize an external hard drive connected to the eSATA ports.

I've set the the following BIOS options:

• PCH SATA Control Mode to AHCI
• HPET Mode to 64-bit
• eSATA Controller Enabled
• eSATA Ctrl Mode to AHCI
• GSATA Controller Enabled
• GSATA Ctrl Mode to AHCI

When I first connected drive the motherboard, a tray icon said that I needed to install a driver to get the hard drive to be recognized. So I went to the device manager, and under other devices there was a device titled JMicron something (sadly, I don't remember exactly what it was titled). So I placed the driver disc in the optical driver, and I had the missing device search for the driver on the driver disc. The device manager found the driver, and new device came up as JMicron SATA something (again, I don't exactly remember what it was titled). So I restarted, then I powered on my external hard drive, but Windows still didn't recognize it. If I try turning on the external drive before I boot-up my system the drive still isn't being recognized by Windows.

The drive does get recognized by the BIOS on start-up if I power on the external drive before I boot-up my system. So that tells me that the BIOS is detecting it correctly; and the problems is with Windows.

So where do I go from here?

The GA-P55A-UD4P has 2 eSATA ports in the rear on the motherboard. Are you plugged into those, or are you using the eSATA port on your case?

The case connectors usually plug into the JMicron Controller, but the rear ports should be on the mainboard SATA controller. If you haven't tried already, try using the rear ports and test.

In my web travels I've notice a lot of posts describing issue with eSATA cables. It seems quality cables are a must. I've even seen where some folks have had to cut up to 3mm of plastic casing off the plug top get a connection to work.

Can you see if the eSATA drive can be recognized, using the same cable you are using now, on someone's else's computer?

Nice to see you got it sorted.
Always nice to have updated, working drivers!

While you are at it, check to be sure you have installed the most recent versions of all the other motherboard drivers. They'll just say "no" if they are already installed.
Might save a future head-scratcher.