Studio 1537 and eSATA interface

mvsman,

Welcome to the Dell Forum.

Have you used the eSATA port on your laptop before?

Have you used your external Tsunami enclosure with the eSATA cable before? Same or different computer? Is it new? If it's new what steps have you done so far?

In the BIOS:

"eSATA [none]" means it's not seeing anything in that port. Check that the cable is plugged in correctly, mine fits a little loose, not sure if the loose connection is 'normal' or not.

In the 'Advanced' tab scroll down to 'SATA Mode Selection' is it in 'IDE' or 'AHCI' ? Should be in AHCI, If it is in 'IDE' the external should be seen if it's plugged in an powered up when you start the computer. If the correct AHCI driver is loaded on your computer you should be able to switch it to AHCI mode, if you try and you get a blue screen then go back to BIOS and switch it abck to 'IDE'.  

It must be in 'AHCI' for plug and play. You can change it to AHCI mode without re-installing the OS. If you need to switch it to AHCI mode (got a blue screen when you tried it) reply here and I can give you information on that.

If your in AHCI mode and the external is still not recognized, try it on another computer. If it is still not working then try a new cable, have seen several posts where this was the issue. 

Let us know your progress.

mvsman,

Did you get your eSATA external Hd working?

Not yet - I have noted your points and here is what I have found:

1. In the BIOS AHCI is enabled.

2. If I boot with the drive plugged in using just the eSATA cable, the drive is just not recognized.

3. The eSATA cable fits perfectly at both ends.

4. Where does the drive get its power when using the eSATA cable? So far, I have always plugged in the USB cable as well and then the drive is recognized with no problems but I assume it then uses the USB interface.

5. The point about AHCI drivers - this is one thing I have not checked. Do I need to explicitly load AHCI drivers in Windows 7 (right I probably did not mention that I am NOT running the VISTA that came with this machine - it was totally useless)?

Tks

mvsman,

I'll reply to your points below, but if you still can't get it to work then answer the questions below so I can rule out some things. This will help me narrow down the possible cause.

1."In the BIOS AHCI is enabled."

If your BIOS is in AHCI it should be working. You might try to update the driver, go to Dells Driver & Download site, the Vista driver will work for Win7. All the Vista drivers that I have tried work in Win7. Just make sure to get the correct 32bit or 64bit driver depending on the bit version of Win7 you are using.

2."If I boot with the drive plugged in using just the eSATA cable, the drive is just not recognized."

I think #4 is the problem.

3. "The eSATA cable fits perfectly at both ends."

Please answer these questions to help me narrow down the things to check.

Have you used the eSATA port on your laptop before with another device and cable? 

Have you used your external Tsunami enclosure with the eSATA cable before on a different computer?

Some of these questions are leading to identify a cable problem, I have read several posts where a new cable has fixed the problem.

4. "Where does the drive get its power when using the eSATA cable? So far, I have always plugged in the USB cable as well and then the drive is recognized with no problems but I assume it then uses the USB interface."

Is your external hard drive 2.5" or 3.5"?

This is likely the problem. The eSATA port does not provide power. USB port does provide power. Most 3.5" enclosures will have an external power supply included in the box. Most 2.5" enclosures don't have an external power supply included. Use the power supply if one is provided. If no power supply is provided then use the USB cable for the power supply. Most enclosures have a switch for eSATA/USB, set the switch to eSATA and plug in the USB for the power. Hopefully, if there is no switch the manufacturer will have it automatically use eSATA for data and USB for power.

You can try plugging in both the eSATA and USB cables, start Win7 and varify the external drive is seen. Re-boot, hit F2 go to BIOS and see if the eSATA lists your external hard drive. This will varify that it is using the eSATA cable for data or not.

5. "The point about AHCI drivers - this is one thing I have not checked. Do I need to explicitly load AHCI drivers in Windows 7 (right I probably did not mention that I am NOT running the VISTA that came with this machine - it was totally useless)?"

If your BIOS is set to AHCI and your internal hard drive is working then the driver is working. See #1, you might want to try to update the AHCI or SATA driver.

Sorry you had problems with Vista. I've used windows for 20 years, so far they've all had some problems when first released but they get most of them fixed. Vista had quite a few problems when it first came out but, after SP1 it is a very stable OS. I have used it since SP1 and found it better than any previous version of windows, and I did use XP for a couple of years. It comes down to personal preference, use what you are comfortable with.  

Are you enjoying Win7? I have been using it for a couple of months now and can't see going back to any previous OS.

Hope this helps you get the eSATA connection going, it's much faster than the USB.

Please post back to let us know if it's working or if it's not. This post may help someone else that is having the same or similiar problem.

Good luck,

Dave

Dave,

Sorry for the delay - but the news is good!. As per your advice, I took the enclosure in to the store to check if it worked with an eSATA interface (I do not have any other machines with eSATA interfaces). They were very good and concluded that the TSUNAMI enclosure DOES NOT work with the eSATA interface. So, I swapped it for a NEXSTAR (by Vantec) enclosure which works like a charm.  For your info the Vantec is almost double the price of the TSUNAMI ($28Cdn vs $15Cdn).

Tks for your help

mvsman,

Glad to hear you got it sorted out. Sometimes you just get a bad one!

$28Cdn is still a reasonable price for an enclosure. 

Hope the external is working out for you,

Dave

One final update - I did one more check with the TSUNAMI enclosure and the eSATA cable that came with my NEXSTAR (Vantec) and BINGO the drive worked like a charm. So I would like to set the record straight - the TSUNAMI enclosure does work - the big question is are all their cables duds or just the one I got. I might buy another one then will update this forum.

Cheers ..

mvsman,

That's good you found the cause if the problem. 

When I was searching for other eSATA issues, hot swapping and safely remove hardware, I found quite a few posts where the cable was the culprit when the external HD wasn't recognized. Just find a quality cable and be sure it will fit all the way into the port. Sometimes the cable is just bad.

Thanks for letting us know the results, this helps others that have the same or similar problems.

Cheers,

Dave

Sorry about not replying earlier - I did get it working. It was a faulty cable.

Tks

Glad it's working for you, eSATA cables have been the cause of a lot of these problems.

Your welcome,

HI, i have a Studio 1537 too and since I installed windows 7 professional i was not able to find the right AHCI driver (i run it in IDE mode)

where can i find the AHCI driver for windows 7 32bit, (and the 64bit version too)

ok but after i've installed this driver, i reboot my pc, switch to AHCI and it crashes before booting windows.

Follow this tutorial, it will explain the procedure.

If your laptop won't start now, just go to BIOS and change the AHCI setting back to IDE, it will boot up into windows again.

This method will install the default MS AHCI drivers, after finished with the steps in the tutorial, install the Intel RST drivers.

AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 after OS install

www.sevenforums.com/.../61869-ahci-enable-windows-7-vista.html

Let me know your progress.

so i have to:

1) install the driver package i downloaded from intel site

2) make the procedure explained in the tutorial

??