Port can be disabled at BIOS side, but then cannot be re-enabled at windows, since disabled in BIOS windows would not see the drive at all (ie no power)
He could hot plug it and do similar to what you mean though, but unsure if that would be OK always, or just on reboot freeze again.

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #31

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Port can be disabled at BIOS side, but then cannot be re-enabled at windows, since disabled in BIOS windows would not see the drive at all (ie no power)
He could hot plug it and do similar to what you mean though, but unsure if that would be OK always, or just on reboot freeze again.

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It may be possible, I didn't read datasheet due to your comment (ie the answer isn't there).
I believe power is shut off to the drive when you disable in BIOS, I've tested power count values before when checking this about a disabled SSD I wanted to leave in place once, and it never powers on.

I checked what you mentioned, I believe that is for normal enabled at BIOS state, then OS can control sleep, or enable/disable at software level via certain apps/controls etc.
If disabled at BIOS level, it's never enabled for the OS to see, so I don't think that applies in such case, I could be wrong, but that's how I think it would be implemented.

My understanding about the matter, is that the SATA Port is logically disabled but it can still be re-enabled if you toggle a magic Bit (As stated in 13.1.35 Tables). According to the Data Sheet explanation, all the SATA Ports are disabled by default and the Firmware duty is to enable them. Both the SATA Controller and the HD are still powered on if you disable/not enable a single Port in the Firmware, only the data link is off. Seems worth enough to me to see what happens if you were to enable the Port.

The thing is, you need something REALLY low level to write some random Bit to a PCI Device Configuration Space. I know that in Linux you have the setpci command and I have seen it used to debug some broken Hardware behavior or apply a workaround of sorts, but I don't know how you are supposed to do that in Windows. If anything, the whole thing relies on the Firmware not getting frozen if you disable the Port with the HD, then figuring out if you can flip the magic Bit of the PCI Configuration Space, and see if Windows automatically picks up after that or not.

Yes, I thought that too how it's worded, but then assumed BIOS enabled enables it, then as I mentioned applies.. but those are just my guesses, and I can only further comment on my actual experience with disabling per port in BIOS.
When I disable port in BIOS, power on count does not increase, so to me that says disabled=disabled

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #29

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Well, at least they will reply to you for sure in the ticket system, and hopefully you get good tech that will setup test right away, if not ask them to directly and they will (usually they show proof of test too, images etc)

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Officially, the shittiest present for my birthday ever. The Reply.

Wow, that first message would be too much really, they do not speak English so huge message would not get good attention. The last message there is great, short, direct and to the point.
I would make a new ticket with that only, adding "I request GBT please setup similar board/HDD test in lab"

Did you tested POSTing with the specific SATA Port disabled as I suggested before? I'm curious if that works to bypass the Firmware freezing, whenever you can find a way to enable the Port AFTER POST or not.

You mentioned that it works in AHCI Mode if you plugged the HD in after POST. That means that you have been using hotplugging?


Also, you made a question in the ticket about whenever the Firmware reads from the HD or not, or why it matters. Since UEFI, it DOES matter. An UEFI Firmware may be able to read the ESP (EFI System Partition) of all available drive units so that it can make a boot list, or something along these lines. Some Firmwares even provide a builtin file browser of sorts if you want to make custom boot settings (Loading a different EFI executable file). Your Motherboard Firmware should have issues parsing the MBR/GPT of that disk for some reason.

That will boot, port will be electrically disabled

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #38

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Wow, that first message would be too much really, they do not speak English so huge message would not get good attention. The last message there is great, short, direct and to the point.

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #38

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I would make a new ticket with that only, adding "I request GBT please setup similar board/HDD test in lab"

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Zitat von zir_blazer im Beitrag #39

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Did you tested POSTing with the specific SATA Port disabled as I suggested before? I'm curious if that works to bypass the Firmware freezing, whenever you can find a way to enable the Port AFTER POST or not.

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Zitat von zir_blazer im Beitrag #39

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You mentioned that it works in AHCI Mode if you plugged the HD in after POST. That means that you have been using hotplugging?

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Zitat von zir_blazer im Beitrag #39

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Your Motherboard Firmware should have issues parsing the MBR/GPT of that disk for some reason.

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Zitat von Tacis im Beitrag #41

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Zitat von zir_blazer im Beitrag #39

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Did you tested POSTing with the specific SATA Port disabled as I suggested before? I'm curious if that works to bypass the Firmware freezing, whenever you can find a way to enable the Port AFTER POST or not.

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No, sorry, I didn't test it since Lost_N_BIOS already replied that it would just electrically disable the port. If it's crucial, I could try later.

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Zitat von Tacis im Beitrag #41

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Zitat von zir_blazer im Beitrag #39

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Your Motherboard Firmware should have issues parsing the MBR/GPT of that disk for some reason.

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Yes, and now we come to next part: I found the culprit, but I don't really understand, what really did I do. :) So I had some time and hopelessness after gigabytes' reply, I decided to tamper with HDD in hex editor.

I found something in 0x1000-0x1060 and deleted it (filled with "00"). After reboot it didn't freeze the POST! Also, that part recreated itself and now it's still there (with some changes), but it doesn't freeze the POST!

Now, I need to clarify, what exactly happened after I deleted that part (0x1000-0x1060) and what are these changes. Everything is OK for now (I've tried rebooting, creating folders, copying files), but before I use the disk, I need to know if it will be OK in future. Can you please have a look?

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@Tacis - Yes, I did see that a little oddly. The bottom question and reply is mainly what I was referring to as good, top/first question/bad but I guess at that point it didn't matter (now that i read it again).
Some techs help, some don't. If you can get the guys (admin/Runn3r) at UK site to reply, he will get someone on it for you for sure

Good find!! Per what zir_Blazer linked

10-13h
48-4Bh << This = Last usable LBA (secondary partition table first LBA − 1)
58-5Bh << "Part" of this data = Disk GUID in mixed endian. Part because it starts at 56h = 16 bytes so you only changed some of it

Other than that, I do not know, and I do think the linked wiki info needs updated/looks a bit off (in defined lengths start/end of each item, and or current used info etc).
But I know nothing about any of this in relation to disks/partitions etc. I'd need a more in depth/defined, or more recent guide on this to have a better understanding

Zitat von zir_blazer im Beitrag #42

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Zitat von Tacis im Beitrag #41

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Zitat von zir_blazer im Beitrag #39

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Did you tested POSTing with the specific SATA Port disabled as I suggested before? I'm curious if that works to bypass the Firmware freezing, whenever you can find a way to enable the Port AFTER POST or not.

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No, sorry, I didn't test it since Lost_N_BIOS already replied that it would just electrically disable the port. If it's crucial, I could try later.

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:(

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #43

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@Tacis - Yes, I did see that a little oddly. The bottom question and reply is mainly what I was referring to as good, top/first question/bad but I guess at that point it didn't matter (now that i read it again).

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #43

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Some techs help, some don't. If you can get the guys (admin/Runn3r) at UK site to reply, he will get someone on it for you for sure

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #43

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But I know nothing about any of this in relation to disks/partitions etc. I'd need a more in depth/defined, or more recent guide on this to have a better understanding

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Maybe @ket or @POE_UK or @ex58 - could send PM to Runn3R at the GBT UK forums to approve your account @Tacis
If not, can't you post as guest there too?