Hello, I DON'T KNOW WHERE POST THIS, SO PLEASE MOVE TO BIOS PROBLEM IF YOU THINK IS MORE appropriate THANKs I've bought sata-sata optical bay caddy, installed in my Acer Aspire 5553g When I connect second hdd(using caddy), laptop freezes at bios POST checks, no errors, but when it should boot up Operating System nothing happens. As normally it shows Press F2 to enter setup. If I press it, laptop reacts, shows entering setup and again - nothing happens. I can`t even enter bios setup!!. If I connect just 1 hdd, no matter which sata port "hdd" or in "caddy" everything works fine, hdd speed is good(so caddy works). Tried: update bios to newest format second hdd connect second hdd on working laptop changed various settings in bios setup, saved, just then connected second hdd. press many times F2 to enter bios setup earlier flashed modified bios phoenix bios seen by (pbeditor pro) says that max number of hdd's is 8 hdd that phoenix bios can take. in bios module I found that there are strings for hhd 1 , hdd2 , hdd 3, although he have just 2 SATA physically on motherboard. I have other laptops with same chipset that worked fine even same procesor n950, on 5552g that I have recently even hot swap was working, can someone think of something why this my happened, Or if someone have idea how to debug bios and see what is going on in first few seconds like what is going on when bios come to point where he need identify 2 sata hdd-s, is South bridge problem or what Please help
Maybe a stupid question.....do both HDDs work alone? Just to exclude HDD failure. Usually P.O.S.T halts if HDD controller does not return OK
To the OP: Boot the Laptop and enter the BIOS (mainly press F2 at start), go into Main and set SATA Mode to [AHCI Mode]! Also, set the F12 Boot Menu to [Enabled]! I use also a Acer Laptop with a 2. HDD in Caddy (for the DVD Drive), with no problems. Just if the I use IDE in SATA Mode instead of AHCI, I couldn't use the Caddy-HDD! Keep in mind, under Information Screen of the Phoenix BIOS, you'll not 'see' that Caddy-HDD, that you could see in Boot Section only.
could be intel OPRom issues or needs unlocked bios settings to show all options.. or power issues. i had ordered a GENERIC caddy that didnt work for my T410 tried a second and same 1 blink on the caddy led and no power in hdd, finally got one 3rd party also but for T410 not GENERIC and was $1 more and worked fine.
To bat.1 Which bios version you have? as I don't have that options for setting boot order like? (As I try to downgrade bios to first official version it fu---- up eprom so I cant try anything till monday{8.8.2016. eta} When I can get hands on programmer to reprogram this eon f s**t eprom) i don't know why wincrisis don't work, well probably because i have china usb For sure I will try option of sleep waking and scanning sound promising. To Yen Yes every hdd or ssd work on his own. So lets say I have windows on 2 hdd and 1 ssd. if I put 1 hdd or 1 ssd on motherboard everything is OK, (One HDD or SDD WITH CD/dvd burner rom instaled also WORKS) but putting 2 SATA memory devices cause freeze. and when he freeze with 2 hdd's i cant even go to bios, to change anything in bios I need remove one hdd and then go to bios and make change. all Hdd's are in perfect condition, tested each, no bad sectors, smart ok, And I have one SSD New unused, try like that didn't work now is formated in NTFS also not working. To pisthai Yeah, I try that Switching to IDE vice versa to AHCI, try to lower clock (internal sata clock) as I have 3 options available, int 100mhz int 25 mhz ext 25mhz, just on external clock no sata ports works at all, try disable/enable 2 gen only option try, disable/enable 2 gen options on SB and NB, try SATA spread clock enable/disable, etc etc ... NOTHING WORKED , I try few more options but I cant remember right now name of strings.... I'm fine if phoenix bios will not write 2 disc in bios info (like who gives a s--- if windows boots and 2 hdd is recognised) To QuantumBug caddy for msata to sata is working good, everything boots fine from that caddy but only if is just hdd in that caddy. Hm power rail wattage failure I will check in Schematic from where SATA ports are draining power. worth a shoot BUT when I have connected one hdd and CD/DVD burner Laptop WORKS FINE and he burns cds,,, SO it is a little sketchy that 2.5" hdd (max 3.5W) consume more power then burner which is about 5W THANKS ALL ON RESPONSES 1. note I put exactly that caddy in HP laptop and he works fine with 2 hdd's
OK. The next step I'd do is to try another caddy (from another brand)..even though SATA is specified some manufacturers do violate specifications by some products. I also had encountered already that some combinations of hardware just do not work together although they should. I would not fiddle any further with the BIOS, though. Concerning power rail wattage failure....at initial start the HDDs have a peak of power consumption. One could test but only if SATA power and data can be plugged separately..... One would need to plug 2 consumers (both HDDs) to power cord but only one to data..... In that case to try different HDDs or better SSDs to get a lower peak at initial start.
Hello People, Update, I get eeprom back but missing DMI serial number and that stuff,and cant open backup file of phlash for now does not matter I will try solve that later..... SO what I did in last few days is: 1. Try Another caddy.... also not working (but anyway is not somehing that can cause too much trouble as caddy is just adapter from sata 13 pin to "Sata" there are no extra controller IC-is or something like that) 2. modify caddy. try with sata dp pin desoldered. same not working. try unslodered tx rx pins which are tx is supposedly for led to work and dp is sata siagnostic pin 3. I put extra power into 5V pins so now he have extra of available power NOT POWER ISSUE.... 4. try different setting of bios for sata no luck. 5. Boot up pc and then plug in sata device go in device manager and search for new stuff ... not working. ... obviously hot swap is not option here In post screen of bios there is 2 sata device see image but from that stage YOU SHALL NOT PASS ... image*shack.com/a/img924/5215/vXdMd6.jpg sry post count at this point BIOS is to blame. like I try every HW stuff hah if someone can suggest more lets try....
Ok, as I'm new to bios editing but cant I just edit like insyde bios and put eeprom with 2048mbit memory and make it work? like acer 5552G is all most the same, same chipset same procesor, only 5552G have more things connected to SB like possible 3g card conection on USB 2.0 Port but there all that stuf works perfectly. So my question is Is it possible to make like RW everything of laptop and modify insyde bios with PMT 1.42
What would you edit when you do not know what causes the problem? The BIOS is a Phoenix BIOS (new style). It is written in 16 bit assembly. You can decompose it to its modules. Then you would need to reverse the code with IDA pro or the like. You would need to have exact knowledge of the modules. Live debugging is not possible. You also can edit with PBE, but PBE frequently bricks the BIOS when rebuilding it. I can decompose it and rebuild it. I am familiar with the module structure. But to reverse the code without to know for what to look and where to look is impossible. You even do not know if it is a BIOS issue. I am sorry to say, it is hardly realizable.
Hi Yen, I look into this and prepare Modified bios image of 5552g, now I'm waiting for 2048k eeprom. I hope so that I modify it close enough to see at least first post screen... will see in few weeks for that one when eeprom arrives .... any way I try to edit 5553g bios and I disable all errors to wait on and errors to check even i disable "other errors". Not working. builded with PBE with xp sp3 compatibility mode. worked fine for me with editing an compiling bios images. no errors at all. so that lead me to part of the bios where boot options are. and I'm searching where I can disable boot totally for hdd1{fixed disc 1}(hdd0 is sata 1 port not caddy) but still no luck with finding it, yeah i figure it out that i cannot debug live, possible but time and money not worthed.
Why I can't simple disable boot for something in official bios, there is option excluded from booting and can't do anything with it If i scroll boot from something goes only to 7th place of boot from. Like I don't wanna boot from that, at all Phoenix bios.... and there is no key to press that some boot option will go into the exclude from part. and option 8 is always empty. there is missing boot from 2 hdd option or is hidden,
When using PBE you have to be careful. It for sure rebuilds the BIOS, but sometimes it messes up with the module structure and the new ROM does not boot anymore. SATA initialising and to boot from the device are 2 different things. If you disable boot, the BIOS still initializes the SATA device (or tries to). You would have to disable the device in BIOS. But I guess disabling the device would just be like it is physically unplugged. You would probably get past screen, but the device won’t be usable anywhere. It is 'not there'.
Ok, I found how exclude boot from device. In Bios i need pres X. So when I exclude all boot options he still is freeze at post screnn at StrongROM version 3.80 _P but now i hear hdd that clap sometimes, clap like I hear sound and puff he is not working. just do that tick every while. 2 was ssd so no sound there LoL
Hi LatinMcG, Yeah it seems some bug in bios as I read few people have this issue not only with this laptop, found Dovydas that have this problem on 5553g but as I said i found also few that have this issue with other laptops this version (Phoenix secure core bios), Of bios-es I try OFFICIAL bios from acer_aspire_4553_4553g_5553_5553g_4625_4625g_5625_5625g (quanta_ZQ2) which is identical bios.... Only problem I see my motherboard is (quanta ZR8)but there is no bios version for this ZR8 like official bios from acer 5553g is for ZQ2, Try Moded bios from Kizwan (currenty used) Try my moded bios where all options about waiting on post screen and tests are disabled... also same..... although then when he was there I didn't know, exclude from boot option, maybe I will flash it again and try... Things I'm sure: 1. is it not power rail issue 2. Hdd's are 100% without issues. (Ssd have firmware updated to latest brand new) as I have connected 2 hdd completely seperate(only sata data connector have been connected and Hdd don't mind if he gets power from motherboard or from other source as there is no power back bias) I can look at acer laptops with dual drives but there is no point, that aspires don't have same Chipset! Or supported CPU Laptops from acer that have this chipset and similar are: 4553 4553g 5553 5553g 4625 4625g 5625 5625g same phoenix bios other that have same Chipset and Cpu have Insyde or efi bioses closest by specs is 5552g and I modify that efi bios for 5553g but I'm waiting 2048k bios chip as size of bios is different. also 7551g 4551g possible same Chipset but need find schematic and see also different bios
2 devices are working together. The original DVD drive and one HDD. As posted at post 3. The BIOS notices an SATA device is plugged....the POST calls the controller for initialising, but the BIOS communication halts..and I think because the controller cannot send back and the BIOS 'waits' in a loop (freezes) I never heard of a BIOS with 2 SATA channels which cannot run 2 HDDs. Perhaps the BIOS cannot 'offer' HDD setting for both SATA channels at once. Such laptop BIOSES are all crippled in a way...
I yesterday tested my own HDD Caddy in a Laptop Acer 5553G of a Guest, and it just worked fine, without the need of any changes of the default settings in BIOS! I would therefore suggest the OP to contact the next Acer Service Center and let them check the machine. And, it's still possible that the culprit is the Caddy!