Primary HDD plugged in SATA slave port

[yeroman]

I just discovered that my Primary HDD is in the slave SATA port and my Slave HDD is plugged in a SATA primary port.. Is this why my OS keeps losing its keyboard drivers and causing my pen tablet (wacom intuos3) to malfunction??

During POST and in BIOS, my keyboard runs smoothly.. I've been searching around the net why these 2 usb peripherals are malfunctioning inside the OS but I couldn't find an answer. I turned ON 'Legacy USB support' and it worked - for only a couple of days.

This is my daily routine during power-up:

1. Power on PC
2. At the Windows start-up screen, light on the numlock indicator dies down.
3. Keyboard's unusable at this time. I have to log-in using the virtual keyboard.
4. After logging in, I unplug the keyboard from the port and put it back in after a few seconds.
5. I go to Devices and Printers. I would see an exclamation mark on the keyboard icon. I right click on it and click 'troubleshoot.'
6. Windows searches for drivers and then I click 'apply fix.'
7. keyboard is now usable.

My problem with my Intuos3:

1. When I use it at Photoshop, I takes like 10ms to respond every brush stroke.
2. *Other photoshop-tablet problems I didn't encounter when I still had Windows XP*

This is happening on my month-old upgraded system. Core i5 760 on ASUS P7H55-M motherboard. Windows 7 32-bit.

 

[Nibiru2008]

Do you have your hard drives set up to be AHCI enabled in the BIOS?

That will help with speed and such. Turn off the IDE mode in the BIOS too.

Make sure your primary boot drive is plugged into port 0 or 1 (as some motherboards label it). Check your motherboard manual to see how the SATA ports are labeled.

 

[theog]

Check your ASUS P7H55-M manual from Sata ports.

You can download manual from here:
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - ASUS - ASUS P7H55-M

 

[DeaconFrost]

It doesn't matter what ports you have the drives plugged into. SATA doesn't have slave and masters....one drive per port. If the system boots, then you are fine, and it has nothing to do with lost USB devices. For those, I'd first make sure your proper chipset drivers are loaded.

 

[yeroman]

I have installed all the latest drivers for my motherboard and all my peripherals but none of them helped...

 

[DeaconFrost]

Do other USB devices work in the system? Do you have another keyboard to try? Does this particular keyboard have any special software loaded for it....like drivers or utilities?

 

[GeneO]

Try different USB ports for your keyboard and mouse. Make sure they are plugged into ports that are not add-in cards or on an external USB hub - i.e. make sure they are directly plugged into ports supplied by the motherboard.

 

[yeroman]

Yes, there are devices other than the keyboard plugged in: the mouse, the aforementioned pen tablet, and a gamepad.. The mouse and the gamepad are perfectly fine. I also tried another keyboard but the result was the same...

 

[yeroman]

All of them are also connected into the motherboard's usb ports. I also plugged my keyboard into different ports but still the same.. It just doesn't make sense to me. Is there a bug/glitch in Windows 7?

 

[DeaconFrost]

Is there a bug/glitch in Windows 7?

No, because we'd all have the issue. Did you load the chipset drivers right after the OS was installed? Does your board have separate USB drivers?

 

[yeroman]

Is there a bug/glitch in Windows 7?

No, because we'd all have the issue. Did you load the chipset drivers right after the OS was installed? Does your board have separate USB drivers?

Yes, I loaded the chipset drivers right after the installation and my board doesn't have separate USB drivers.. But if I remember correctly, all these started to happen when an automatic Shutdown update commenced a day or two after I installed Windows - you know, those updates that installs by theselves when you shutdown your computer..

So now if that's the culprit, Windows reinstallation would be a waste of time since it would automatically update again, and turning automatic update off will cause my antivirus to cease automatic updates.. Now this is getting more and more confusing..

 

[DeaconFrost]

Take a look through your update history to see if it loaded any drivers. Also, to "solve" your issue, there are other options for Windows Update. You don't need them automatic or off. I always have mine set to notify me when updates are available. Then I see what's going to be installed first. Aside from a driver for your board, I'm not sure what could cause an issue like this, other than a hardware glitch. Is your board running the latest BIOS?

 

[yeroman]

I'm not sure if I have the latest BIOS version but I'm not sure it would help when my keyboard runs perfectly at the BIOS.. It just turns itself off when windows starts..

How do I find out if my BIOS is running the latest version?

 

[Nibiru2008]

It doesn't matter what ports you have the drives plugged into. SATA doesn't have slave and masters....one drive per port. If the system boots, then you are fine, and it has nothing to do with lost USB devices. For those, I'd first make sure your proper chipset drivers are loaded.

If the IDE setting is enabled rather than AHCI, then the drives show up as Master and Slave.

It is always recommended that the drive with the OS installed on it be plugged into the first SATA port.

 

[DeaconFrost]

If the IDE setting is enabled rather than AHCI, then the drives show up as Master and Slave.

Where...in Device Manager? What would be the point of that? Simply put, there's no master/slave for SATA. One port, one drive.

It is always recommended that the drive with the OS installed on it be plugged into the first SATA port.

It isn't a requirement, though, and surely wouldn't cause these issues. Does it make sense to use the first port, sure, absolutely, why not.....but it isn't a necessity.

 

[Nibiru2008]

Where...in Device Manager? What would be the point of that? Simply put, there's no master/slave for SATA. One port, one drive.

In the BIOS...

 

[DeaconFrost]

In the BIOS...

You have a very strange board. On 30 some laptops and 20 some desktops I've built of various motherboard and OEM brands, not one has listed SATA devices as master slave. They are all listed in order by port number. Do some reading on SATA and you'll quickly find that the concept, and even labelling of master slave is completely gone.

How do I find out if my BIOS is running the latest version?

You go into your BIOS to see what version is currently installed, and then compare it to your board's website.

 

[yeroman]

You have a very strange board. On 30 some laptops and 20 some desktops I've built of various motherboard and OEM brands, not one has listed SATA devices as master slave. They are all listed in order by port number. Do some reading on SATA and you'll quickly find that the concept, and even labelling of master slave is completely gone.

I could only tell the SATA as Master or slave when I'm in the BIOS>Boot>Boot priority

Primary: SMsomething-something
Secondary: PMsomething-something

 

[DeaconFrost]

That's the boot order. My comments about master slave weren't directed at you. My suggestion to you was to check on a BIOS update for the board. Maybe your ports are flaky, and a new BIOS could help with that. If hardware can be ruled out, and you have the latest drivers...it's worth a shot.

 

[yeroman]

That's the boot order. My comments about master slave weren't directed at you. My suggestion to you was to check on a BIOS update for the board. Maybe your ports are flaky, and a new BIOS could help with that. If hardware can be ruled out, and you have the latest drivers...it's worth a shot.

It's not the port either.. I plugged another device (a joypad) into the same port and it operated perfectly..