# Can't boot from SSD attached to PCIe SATA card



## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

So I upgraded my older Lenovo A55 series 8705 machine to a Samsung 840 series SSD and it boots just fine and runs perfectly if connected to the mb sata connector. Problem is that it's an older machine and the SATA ports are first version, so max transfer speeds are 1.5Gb/s. The drive is the newest SATA III capable of 6Gb/s. I bought a PCIe x1 card and its installed and visible with proper drivers in Device Manager. I want to connect the SSD to this PCIe card to maximize the SATA III speeds but when I connect that way, the system does not even see the SSD. In BIOS, I moved PCI SCSI to the available boot devices, but the SSD is not showing at all. When the SSD is connected directly to the SATA I port on the mb, it sees it perfectly in BIOS and is set to the #1 boot device in both Primary and Auto.

How can I get this to boot when the SSD is connected to the PCIe card? I already see massive speed improvement over my old Seagate 7200rpm HDD and I'm pretty happy as-is, but I really want to see what it can do attached to a SATA III port.

Thanks in advance!


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

> I bought a PCIe x1 card


OK, this tells us next to nothing other than you have a card. Post the exact card you installed. Next no one knows what os you are running ie winxp, win7, linux, etc. Without the above info, it is difficult or impossible to help you.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

If you are using an add-in controller than of course the BIOS won't see the drive. To boot from it, the controller card must support booting from it, and the BIOS must allow booting from add-on cards or Other Devices.


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## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

Definitely didn't even think to see if boot was supported. It's SY-PEX40039 from IO Crest, via Amazon. Running win7 Ultimate.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

It's supposedly bootable, but from the reviews it seems pretty terrible and offers performance similar to SATA 3Gb/s.

Have you tried installing Windows onto the drive connected to it and seeing if its boots? Have you check the BIOS to see if has an option to boot add-in cards or other devices? Or just disable or disconnect the other hard drives and see if it boots once Windows is installed on the SSD.


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## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

Triple6 said:


> It's supposedly bootable, but from the reviews it seems pretty terrible and offers performance similar to SATA 3Gb/s.
> 
> Have you tried installing Windows onto the drive connected to it and seeing if its boots? Have you check the BIOS to see if has an option to boot add-in cards or other devices? Or just disable or disconnect the other hard drives and see if it boots once Windows is installed on the SSD.


Thank you very much for looking into it!

Yeah, I might need to invest in a better card. I took the ssd that already boots perfectly when connected directly to the mb SATA I port and connected to the card. BIOS didn't see it at all. The card does work though, because I can connect my SATA DVDRW to it and it works just fine. In BIOS, it doesn't seem to show any device attached at all, whether it's the DVDRW or the SSD.

Of course, I'm happy with the increased performance just from the SSD connected to the SATA I port on the motherboard anyhow, but if I can get better speed with a controller card, I'd like to make it work. I can probably spend up to $75 for a better card - does anyone have any recommendations in that price range? There's always the matter that because it's an older system, would I ever even get close to the drive's theoretical maximum of 500MB/s? What I mean is that the drive performance test showed it transferring around 200MB/s, and given that SATA I is still capable of 1.5Gb/s, would a SATA III card even bump the speed? This is my first foray into SSD and SATA stuff, so if I'm talking nonsense, please help me understand how to maximize the performance of this new SSD SATA III drive on my older ThinkCentre.

Thanks so much!


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

SATA I or 1.5Gb/s = 150MB/s
SATA II or 3Gb/s = 300MB/s
SATA II or 6Gb/s = 600MB/s

SATA 1.5Gb/s definitely is limiting the SSD's potential.

The BIOS will never see any drive connected to an external controller except for some specific cases. I wouldn't worry about that, thats perfectly normal. Have you tried booting the SSD with it connected to the controller card with all other drives in the computer disconnected? What are all the boot options given to you? Maybe take a picture and post it here.


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## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

If I disconnect all drives except for the ssd when connected to the controller card, it gets to the 1962:no operating system found message. Weird thing is that it does show this extra screen just before the error message. It looks like the bios or startup screen for the card but I have no idea how to access any configuration menu.


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## Simba7 (Feb 7, 2013)

Is there an option in the BIOS to boot from a secondary controller card?


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## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

Simba7 said:


> Is there an option in the BIOS to boot from a secondary controller card?


No, the options for boot when connected to the controller card are DVD, bunch of USB options, PCI BEV, PCI SCSI. I've added all of them to the boot choices and it still says no OS found. I need to figure out how to access the controller card bios.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

I don't think the card has a user accessible BIOS, it doesn't support RAID so it really doesn't need one. It's the motherboard BIOS that may not be booting the card, the motherboard BIOS needs to know to look at add-on cards and boot them.


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## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

I think the Lenovo bios might have that stuff locked down or disabled without any ability to change. It's really designed to be an enterprise business machine with lots of tight controls. I've decided at this point that I'm going to go ahead and build my own new pc, using a few of the parts I have currently. Basic ATX mini tower, intel core i5, intel board. Can do the whole thing for under $400 and the board has 3 SATA III ports, 4 usb 3.0 and all that jazz, so I'll get my ssd max performance and have a new system to boot. No pun intended.....


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Well thats not a bad approach and should be a nice improvement all around.


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## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

Got everything for about $425. i5, gigabyte mobo, 8gb corsair ram, corsair case, cooler master power supply. Already have everything else to put in it.....Can't wait to put it together.


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## Simba7 (Feb 7, 2013)

kjjb0204 said:


> Got everything for about $425. i5, gigabyte mobo, 8gb corsair ram, corsair case, cooler master power supply. Already have everything else to put in it.....Can't wait to put it together.


Not bad. Let us know how it turns out.

..although you could've saved some money on the Corsair. I've been running Patriot and G.Skill memory for years (HTPC going on 4) without issues. I am curious on which power supply you purchased, though.


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## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

I'm going to take a look. The corsair is on backorder. Thanks for the tip. I really don't care what brand.....


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## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

Ended up going with a Rosewill RD500-2SB for the power supply. Seems to have great reviews. I wanted a Cooler Master, but I have no real reason why.


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## Simba7 (Feb 7, 2013)

kjjb0204 said:


> Ended up going with a Rosewill RD500-2SB for the power supply. Seems to have great reviews. I wanted a Cooler Master, but I have no real reason why.


http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5812

The PSU is one thing you don't cheap out on. Rosewill doesn't make their own PSU's, they re-brand them. Not to mention, that PSU is 5 years old.


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## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

Simba7 said:


> http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5812
> 
> The PSU is one thing you don't cheap out on. Rosewill doesn't make their own PSU's, they re-brand them. Not to mention, that PSU is 5 years old.


Recommend one please, open to suggestions. I do need to be somewhat frugal though.


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## Simba7 (Feb 7, 2013)

kjjb0204 said:


> Recommend one please, open to suggestions. I do need to be somewhat frugal though.


Price range, please?


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## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

I can swing up to $100 if it's that important to the system stability.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Corsair 650watt: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005


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## kjjb0204 (Jul 31, 2001)

Thanks. I'll give it a look.


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