m8530f desktop PC with a m2n78-la mother board doesn't see my drives

[TimInSC]

I went through the same thing - still stressing and struggling.  I wish I had google'd the mobo model sooner.  I purchased a new power supply and finagled with a ton of things so far.  What clued me that it must be a SATA problem is that I can access the SATA drives if I connect them through USB (though, can't boot that way to Windows, for some reason).  But, a GParted LiveUSB boot works - and then I can connect the SATA via USB and test them - and they look fine.

How do I know if a PCI card will work for gaining bootable access to my SATA drives - or if I need to replace the whole mobo?

This appears to be a serious design flaw in the HP machines - certainly those of us posting are a very small sample of the afflicted population!

Thank you!

Tim

[heatherwanabe]

Other forum that has a ton of good info on this: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Hardware/m8530f-desktop-PC-with-M2N78-LA-mother-board-doesn-t-recognize...

Also, don't waste money on buying a SATA controller.  The FSB controller chip still has to control this the SATA bus the exact same way and this will not provide any benefit to fixing the issue.  I was hoping that this was a solder joint issue that could be fixed by reflowing the solder joints on the FSB BGA.  Not the case, did not help.  I ran a ROHS solder reflow profile using plenty of water wash flux and had no luck.  Everything look good after X-ray and visual inspection with ERSA scope.

 In short , the IC must be burning out internally.  If I knew where to buy the IC (cheaply) I would try to replace the part completely and see if this fixes the problem.  

The whole problem with buying a new motherboard that does not have the HP tattoo is:

-your operation system will not be genuine, leaving you with the cost of a new operating system

-you have to find a motherboard to match your HP, in my case (elite m9350f) I have to have two pci-e x1 ports, one pci-e x16 port, ddr2/4 slots, audio front panel connector,...

not so easy to find.  I called HP and they do not carry this motherboard in their parts store.  Two options they gave me, by from their direct dealer for the low cost of $425.00 or get it sent in for service for the low cost of $300 (additional charges may apply).  Either way you can get a motherboard with the same flaw, that will cost about what the whole computer is worth.  HP support was good enough to give me this answer (this is copied and paste from the actual chat):

(me) [Wednesday, December 15, 2010 6:23 PM] -- Donald S says:
Would you buy an HP computer after going through this?

 

(hp support) [Wednesday, December 15, 2010 6:25 PM] -- MOHD G says:
Donald, it is same in any other brand you go. 

[gkdiamond]

If the problem is after the bridge chip then the SATA PCI controller card should work but if not then you would still have the same problem even with the controller card.

eBay has M2N78-LA motherboards for less than a $100.

Here's a "For Parts or Repairs only" board for $19.99 including shipping if you want to take a chance.

[ichabodsailor]

I elevated my issue to HP and had a person from quality control call me back.  He said that HP tracks the failure rate of all of their models and advised that this m8530f has not shown the level of failure to the point where there would be some sort of recall or replacement program. 

It was interesting because one of the tech support people I spoke with actually told me that there was a recall on the motherboard, but it had closed.  The quality control person told me that was incorrect information, but said that if they do find it to be a high failure rate problem in the future, that anyone who contacted them about the issue would be called/emailed and HP would do something like reimburse them for their incurred costs to repair the machine. 

I'm not counting on it, but for what it's worth - put a call into them to complain or use this link (that's what I did) http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/email/ceo/index.html to post a complaint.  I told him about all of us on the forum that have experienced the exact same problem with the motherboard, but he advised that we are only a small subset of all of the users.

[chasecreek]

I have the m9350f with the same problem. As I see it  there are many people posting on this thread but we are just the ones that have figured out what was wrong. We are the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. What about all the other threads for the different models with the same issue. Hp is by now aware of the issue and any claim that the amount of people with the issue is small compared to the number of computers is ridiculous. Statistically there has to be so many more that are not being counted. And the number is growing by the day. How do we get HP to pay attention? Who do we contact? 

[bomberbob]

You can send an email to the address listed above, I don't like the situation, but legally what is HP obligated to do? What do you want them to do, give you another flawed motherboard? I agree, tip of the iceberg, most people just shrug their shoulders and go buy a new machine.

[trader500]

Add another one to this thread. I just spent a whole day troubleshooting my neighbor's HP with this mobo. Finally concluded it must be the on board sata controller. Never had that happen before especially on an Asus board. Anyway, he had already bought a new hard drive after HP told him that was the problem and then was ready to throw this piece of crap on the trash heap and buy an "anything but HP" replacement. I showed him where to get a replacement mobo for $100 and will help him install it. That was before I saw this thread. Now I'll have to tell him to be prepared to go through this again. Wished we would have opted for a different mobo replacement since he is upgrading to Win7 anyway. All I can say is my neighbor is high up in Walmart management and I don't know if Walmart carries HP stuff but he will certainly make things difficult for HP should this second mobo fail after I show him this thread.

[bomberbob]

If you are installing another of this same type of motherboard, upgrade the cooling on the NVIDIA chip that runs everything. Do three things, and it will last a lot longer.

1. Take off the passive heatsink they installed, and install a fan cooled heatsink. The passive unit can't remove enough heat, and over time the chip fails.

2. Use a high quality thermal transfer material between the chip and whatever fan cooled heat sink you install.

3. Pop the side cover off occasionally and make sure there is no lint buildup on the heatsink. If there is, vacuum it out.

Anybody who has a PC that still works could probably extend the life by doing this, but they aren't reading this, are they? They don't know the bad news until its too late.

[wardojim]

Same SATA recognition failure on my Pavillion Elite M9517c with M2N78-LA mobo...  BIOS reset doesn't work, new hard drive doesn't work.  Based on the apathy of HP as expressed by others, I'm not even going to bother to contact them.  

I found one person in these forums who got through it with a new motherboard, but otherwise only tales of despair on the web with this motherboard, NVIDIA chip, whatever the problem is.

Great Job HP!

V/r,

Jim

[trader500]

Yeah, I have a spare heat sink/fan off a dead video card I thought I would try to thermo grease onto the chip somehow. Will figure it out when he wants to install the new mobo. Then again I thought maybe just let this thing fail again and let him rip on HP for a while.