ASUS Official Z68 Chipset Motherboards - Support Thread

[Mister Celery]

@Cisco. Thanks for writing up everything. I think it should be stickied or at the first post of this thread!

I just wanted to update...
I got fed up and reinstalled windows 7 ultimate and everything seems very stable (with the settings listed above)!

 

[ronan_zj]

for the new Z68 Beta BIOS firmware, does it report the correct CPU and mobo temperature? before I updated, the CPU temp was around 36C idle, right now it is 19C@idle.

 

[Raja@ASUS]

Hi Raja, did you hear back re: this (or are you asking this coming mid-week..)?

C3 and C6 are separate BIOS items, they are not tied to one another, so disabling those two has no BIOS bearing on C1E. You can check this yourself, disable C3 and C6 in BIOS using balanced mode in the OS and see if the multiplier still drops.

-Raja

 

[ronan_zj]

New beta BIOS has CPU temperature reading error.
from ASUS Ai suite, it shows me 23C , but from my other software, the temp readings are 33C, which there are 10C difference between Ai Suite and other software.
anyone has experience with this? it sounds like either BIOS bug, or ASUS AI suite bug.

my setup:
i2600k, stock fan
P8Z68 V-Pro
Corsair 8G DDR3 1600MHz

 

[Raja@ASUS]

New beta BIOS has CPU temperature reading error.
from ASUS Ai suite, it shows me 23C , but from my other software, the temp readings are 33C, which there are 10C difference between Ai Suite and other software.
anyone has experience with this? it sounds like either BIOS bug, or ASUS AI suite bug.

my setup:
i2600k, stock fan
P8Z68 V-Pro
Corsair 8G DDR3 1600MHz

It's not a bug. We changed temperature over to Tcase, which is used for fan control (via PECI).

If you prefer on-die DTS temps then one of the third party tools will suffice.

-Raja

 

[VeauX]

It's not a bug. We changed temperature over to Tcase, which is used for fan control (via PECI).

If you prefer on-die DTS temps then one of the third party tools will suffice.

-Raja

Raja, could you elaborate on this? I lost you... What I'm seeing on my end is CPU temp drop by 10 degrees and is now even lower than MB / ambient temp which is impossible...

 

[Ukiii]

Hi All,
Just waiting for my P8Z68 V Pro. I have couple questions that come to my mind before I put my hands on it:
1. Bios Update - should it be done through EFI? I've already checked the manual and it seems there is an option in TOOLS with EZ Flash 2 Utility - is it ok to safely use it?

2. In relation to Intel Smart Response - can I use this technology in the following setup:
-OS on 60GB SSD (separate)
- 120GB SSD with games on it, put together with 500GB HDD Samsung to speed up the apps/backup on the 500GB drive? is this possible?
Many thanks,
L.

 

[ronan_zj]

Hi All,
Just waiting for my P8Z68 V Pro. I have couple questions that come to my mind before I put my hands on it:
1. Bios Update - should it be done through EFI? I've already checked the manual and it seems there is an option in TOOLS with EZ Flash 2 Utility - is it ok to safely use it?

2. In relation to Intel Smart Response - can I use this technology in the following setup:
-OS on 60GB SSD (separate)
- 120GB SSD with games on it, put together with 500GB HDD Samsung to speed up the apps/backup on the 500GB drive? is this possible?
Many thanks,
L.

If I read the manual right, smart response will not work on your system since you are using SSD as ur OS.
I have 96G SSD as my OS drive, 120G SSD for backup, and 1TB WD green for programs. I tried to enable smart response, but I was not able to use it.

 

[ronan_zj]

Raja, could you elaborate on this? I lost you... What I'm seeing on my end is CPU temp drop by 10 degrees and is now even lower than MB / ambient temp which is impossible...

Tcase is the CPU cover temperature, not the core temp.

 

[Ukiii]

If I read the manual right, smart response will not work on your system since you are using SSD as ur OS.
I have 96G SSD as my OS drive, 120G SSD for backup, and 1TB WD green for programs. I tried to enable smart response, but I was not able to use it.

Thx ronan_zj. Are you sure about that? I've checked a fair deal of info on the internet, and it doesn't say that ISRT limits ony to OS drives setup. And waht about the BIOS issue from my original post? Can anyone advise please?
Thanks,
L.

 

[error-id10t]

C3 and C6 are separate BIOS items, they are not tied to one another, so disabling those two has no BIOS bearing on C1E. You can check this yourself, disable C3 and C6 in BIOS using balanced mode in the OS and see if the multiplier still drops.

-Raja

Hi, I have already done this.. Balanced Mode and setting Min processor state to anything less than 49% and it behaves exactly as intended. Performance Mode and setting Min processor state to anything (even 1%) it stays at 44 Multi or higher (if I have it anything above 90% then it keeps it at 45 and at 100% it keeps it at 47).

Seems I'm just a lonely voice regarding this point.. but I still don't understand why I can use another tool to enable C1E via SW and the Multi drops to 22 etc (with respective vcore drop) - while trying that via BIOS shows the above mentioned result which is totally different.

Raja, could you elaborate on this? I lost you... What I'm seeing on my end is CPU temp drop by 10 degrees and is now even lower than MB / ambient temp which is impossible...

I flashed it last night too and though it works, this is a slight annoyance. I call it annyoing only because I use the Fan Xpert program to manage the fans and now that it's reporting that 10 degree difference (I get the same as you and everyone else) I had to change the trigger points to cool the CPU accordingly.

I guess my question is.. which is the correct temp to look at when you're looking at an OC CPU and any possible Intel specs. The 'normal' one reported via all the other tools or this reported via AI Suite?

 

[error-id10t]

Here's an example on what I mean, if I'm reading this wrong please correct me. I've included a screenshot of a program that is meant to read the C states also to show these are disabled on all examples.

100%:
http://i.imgur.com/lSoqG.gif

100% with C1E tick via SW:
http://i.imgur.com/oel9Q.gif

1%:
http://i.imgur.com/X2Bp8.gif

BIOS screenshot:
http://imgur.com/7GuzI.gif


add: added BIOS screenshot for this. What I'm trying to get is an explanation, beyond 'use Balanced Mode only' as to why BIOS does not use C1E correctly as shown above when C3/C6 are disabled.

 

[VeauX]

Tcase is the CPU cover temperature, not the core temp.

ok... so apparently only AiSuite II is reporting the temp bad... HWMonitor works like a charm (keeps reporting core temp).. but this leaves me with the same incoherency. How could the Tcase be lower than ambient at idle...

 

[ronan_zj]

ok... so apparently only AiSuite II is reporting the temp bad... HWMonitor works like a charm (keeps reporting core temp).. but this leaves me with the same incoherency. How could the Tcase be lower than ambient at idle...

not really, AiSuiteII follows intel temp standard. When you check CPU processor spec @intel.com, you will see the temp threshold is Tcase.

 

[Raja@ASUS]

Hi, I have already done this.. Balanced Mode and setting Min processor state to anything less than 49% and it behaves exactly as intended. Performance Mode and setting Min processor state to anything (even 1%) it stays at 44 Multi or higher (if I have it anything above 90% then it keeps it at 45 and at 100% it keeps it at 47).

Seems I'm just a lonely voice regarding this point.. but I still don't understand why I can use another tool to enable C1E via SW and the Multi drops to 22 etc (with respective vcore drop) - while trying that via BIOS shows the above mentioned result which is totally different.

Might be worth asking the person that wrote the tool what registers he is pulling around with C1E.

-Raja

 

[cisco guy]

Thx ronan_zj. Are you sure about that? I've checked a fair deal of info on the internet, and it doesn't say that ISRT limits ony to OS drives setup. And waht about the BIOS issue from my original post? Can anyone advise please?
Thanks,
L.

The small 20-64GB SSD cache drive supports conventional large HDD with O/S. You got it backwards. A 500GB or 1TB SSD would cost several thousand dollars. With SRT you get the best of both worlds cheap.

Quote:
That won't work - Intel stipulates that the caching drive has to have a higher performance metric than the drive you are attempting to cache. The caching is designed to improve the performance of a single HDD when used as your primary OS drive/or other with a small SSD drive, thus getting the benefit of SSD caching. You are already using an SSD as your OS drive, so caching really is useless
in your case

http://www.futurelooks.com/video-fu...us-some-tips-and-tricks-for-successful-setup/

 

[error-id10t]

Might be worth asking the person that wrote the tool what registers he is pulling around with C1E.

-Raja

I removed all OC settings (including setting DRAM to AUTO) and went to defaults to make sure OC is not messing on how BIOS works.

I've confirmed and it toggles the 0x1FC MSR value. You can read/change this value yourself manually using the MSR program, when reading it the MSR output will be:

0x0004005E (ON)
0x0004005C (OFF)

Now, changing C1E status in BIOS to either enabled or disabled does not change that MSR value in anyway, it simply shows that it's at OFF value. The Multi (and therefore vcore) changes as long as you have either C3 or C6 enabled - even when C1E is disabled in BIOS.

So what MSR value does the ASUS BIOS use to enable/disable C1E, because as a layman, not an Intel or ASUS engineer, from what I can tell it's actually not being toggled at all even though it's available for us to change - and it's set to disabled?

This, to me, would also explain why going down in your Power Plan and lowering Min. Processor state starts dropping the Multi - the CPU isn't used that much. The mystery for me is that enabling C1E in BIOS should get around that, but it doesn't (it does when I use the SW as shown). Is there anything I'm missing here that would explain the behaviour other than the above? I'm not a guru and don't assume I'm right, I'm just showing what I see.

 

[Raja@ASUS]

I removed all OC settings (including setting DRAM to AUTO) and went to defaults to make sure OC is not messing on how BIOS works.

I've confirmed and it toggles the 0x1FC MSR value. You can read/change this value yourself manually using the MSR program, when reading it the MSR output will be:

0x0004005E (ON)
0x0004005C (OFF)

Now, changing C1E status in BIOS to either enabled or disabled does not change that MSR value in anyway, it simply shows that it's at OFF value. The Multi (and therefore vcore) changes as long as you have either C3 or C6 enabled - even when C1E is disabled in BIOS.

So what MSR value does the ASUS BIOS use to enable/disable C1E, because as a layman, not an Intel or ASUS engineer, from what I can tell it's actually not being toggled at all even though it's available for us to change - and it's set to disabled?

This, to me, would also explain why going down in your Power Plan and lowering Min. Processor state starts dropping the Multi - the CPU isn't used that much. The mystery for me is that enabling C1E in BIOS should get around that, but it doesn't (it does when I use the SW as shown). Is there anything I'm missing here that would explain the behaviour other than the above? I'm not a guru and don't assume I'm right, I'm just showing what I see.

There are no updates to C-States planned after I talked to HQ and that's about all the info I have on this. At a crude guess, it could have something to do with retaining multiplier control in Windows - as that is the only reason anything with C-States was adjusted in the first place AFAIK.

-Raja

 

[otoc]

There are no updates to C-States planned after I talked to HQ and that's about all the info I have on this. At a crude guess, it could have something to do with retaining multiplier control in Windows - as that is the only reason anything with C-States was adjusted in the first place AFAIK.

-Raja

I hate to butt into a Z68 thread owning a P67, but...

was there a bios change that was similar?

The reason I ask is any time I attempt to change C-States from Auto with (Pro version) 1606, I blue screen when logging into Win 7 64-bit.

 

[Raja@ASUS]

I hate to butt into a Z68 thread owning a P67, but...

was there a bios change that was similar?

The reason I ask is any time I attempt to change C-States from Auto with (Pro version) 1606, I blue screen when logging into Win 7 64-bit.

Not that I know of - the C-States have been implemented this way since the earliest BIOSes for all of these boards AFAIK.

-Raja

 

[otoc]

Not that I know of - the C-States have been implemented this way since the earliest BIOSes for all of these boards AFAIK.

-Raja

Appreciate it. Interesting. I set C-States to enable and I blue screen. I change back to Auto and no problems. lol, I've been avoiding getting into my old habit of watching registry entries. Sounds like I better start doing dumps if I decide to make a change in the future. I'm just going to consider the current setup done for I can't find a way to tweak better unless I study your ROG OC post for secondary DRAM timings more carefully.

On a few different notes, I'm having trouble understanding the bios update process and need for windows booting. What's being updated in that process? Anything you can share on that?

And CMOS clearing with battery in and out. Is there a rule of thumb on what gets wiped when the battery is removed that might help us better diagnose issues?

 

[Raja@ASUS]

Is your system at stock or overclocked? If it's overclocked then it could just be changes to the Intel microcode - that's the core change in these newer BIOSes. AUTO could be disabling some of those C-States at a certain level of OC, hence Enable is not stable when manually set.

-Raja

 

[otoc]

Is your system at stock or overclocked? If it's overclocked then it could just be changes to the Intel microcode - that's the core change in these newer BIOSes. AUTO could be disabling some of those C-States at a certain level of OC, hence Enable is not stable when manually set.

-Raja

That's what I thought based on what I've been reading here. I'm running the P67 w/ 2500K x49 @102, 1.392vCore, PLLOV disabled, VRM Ultra High @ 350ffset +.005, Extreme on the other two, XMS@1903MHz with a balanced Windows power profile and S-3 sleep enabled. Just a bit OC'd when it needs it and very low when not.

Whatever changes that were made in later bios versions past 1604 (again P67-Pro), I just can't make that happen with stability or regain the Marvell DVD boot capabilites with Linux.

And the vCore on the latest bios, whew...here, take a look.
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1037505476&postcount=682

That's why I was wondering about the effects of the battery and windows boot process in a bios update. I haven't given up with updating the bios. I just haven't decided to give up a stable and decent OC. I'm just trying to get a better concept of what the new UEFI is doing under the hood.

But thanks for clearing the C-State issue up - time to do some register logging the next time an update comes out to follow changes and not have to ask stupid questions while thread crapping.

 

[zigian]

Hey all. I have an Asus p8z68v-pro. I just purchased 2 Corsair Nova 128GB SSDs. I'm trying to get them set up in RAID 0 with this board. However, I have been unsuccessful. Both SSDs show up in the Asus BIOS. I have enabled RAID in the SATA configuration. I have the drives connected to grey ports 1 and 2(6Gb/s ports). When I boot up, I don't get the CTRL+I option to enter the intel raid config. If I attach an old spinner drive, I can enter the Intel RAID config, but it only shows 1 SSD and the old spinner. How the heck do I get these 2 SSDs in a RAID0? I just updated to the latest beta BIOS and still the same. I'm at a loss.

Also, I have been unable to install the AI suite. It launches a command window after I accept a run dialogue then nothing.

P8Z68V-Pro
BIOS: 651
16GB GSkill RipJaws, Corsair HX750, EVGA GTX260, i7 2600k
Drivers: Latest as of today
Win7 Ultimate signature edition x64

 

[Kubsnazx]

Hello, first poster here
I would like some advice on my new system, basically a very simple question, does this all work together?

i7 2600k
bios 501
hitachi deskstar 3TB
kingston 64Gb SSD
8G ripjaws pc17000
win 64bit
asus gtx560

Ive installed win7 64bit, and all i can see is 2.2 TB of available space. Consequently i can only see my ssd in (ctrl-i) raid setup.

My seller has informed me that by changing bios settings to AHCI mode, the OS will install using a GPT partition. It has not done so, disc manager reprots it as ntfs

I need to rectify the 3TB issue, so i can access it in raid menu, and then be able to use my ssd in a raid setup utilising the RST cache option

 

[cisco guy]

Hello, first poster here
I would like some advice on my new system, basically a very simple question, does this all work together?

i7 2600k
bios 501
hitachi deskstar 3TB
kingston 64Gb SSD
8G ripjaws pc17000
win 64bit
asus gtx560

Ive installed win7 64bit, and all i can see is 2.2 TB of available space. Consequently i can only see my ssd in (ctrl-i) raid setup.

My seller has informed me that by changing bios settings to AHCI mode, the OS will install using a GPT partition. It has not done so, disc manager reprots it as ntfs

I need to rectify the 3TB issue, so i can access it in raid menu, and then be able to use my ssd in a raid setup utilising the RST cache option

That is correct
An MSDOS MBR Win 7 X86 drive can only see 2.19TB, no more
This is the 32 bit limit for the MFT master file table (2^32 X 512B/ sector)
A Win 7 X64 MSDOS MBR can see full 3TB, but only as data on another drive
Booting to 3TB with O/S can only be X64 UEFI GPT
Your seller is ignorant - AHCI has nothing to do with it.
A GPT drive created with Win 7 X64 can address ~8 zettabytes
http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/869E4925CC72E233862577E100235119/$file/Deskstar_3TB_FAQ_finalwebv2.pdf
The four doors you must pass thru
Intel RST 10.5.0.1026 drivers or up
UEFI BIOS that can detect X64 Win 7 disc
Win 7 X64 SP1
GPT formatted disk

To create a GPT drive you will need the Win 7 X64 SP1 disk in burner and after booting to bios you will have to drag and drop the DVD icon with the UEFI strap to first place. No X64 disk in burner, no UEFI DVD choice.
Then as a bare minimum you will need Intel 10.5.0.1026 install DRIVERS (.inf from folder) (10.6.0.1002 preferred) on a USB stick to add after you do the partitioning. Despite many promises these are the first two that enable full multi 3TB RAID arrays. If you add the USB stick before partitioning it will take a drive letter. You must START with the latest Intel RST drivers, not add them later. Win 7 SP1 strongly recommended.

An MBR drive cannot be converted to GPT untill it has been wiped. I use killdisk from booted CD.
I have found diskpart does not create the two necessary FAT32 EFI and MSR partitions unless HDD have latest firmwares. The only thing I can guarantee to load the GPT config correctly is the Win 7 SP1 install routine.

When you have USB ready, and Win 7 X64 SP1 in dvd drive and converted HDD plugged in
You boot to UEFI DVD, not MBR DVD drive
You do a custom install and create primary partition(s).
After creating primary, Win 7 will add two other partitions:
EFI SYS 100MB, and MSR (MS Reserved) 128MB
You must then format ea prim as you make it or screw up the drive letters. 128 primaries possible minimum - no extended with logicals, no active
After all primaries made and formatted insert USB stick and browse to drivers for X64. Allow to detect. Then unistall USB stick before continuing. Be EXTREMELY careful to highlight THIRD partition (First O/S primary), do not pick EFI or MSR or last formatted partition

There is another booby trap for a normal GPT 3TB drive installs
You can load a Win 7 X64 fully installed to your 3TB HDD, but upon first full fresh boot with no X64 disk inserted, the first icon in EZ page must be winbootmanager (UEFI Strap HDD). It really should be named bootmgr.efi to be correct for GPT. And a GPT boot drive will not boot thru a "normal" DVD drive - it must be first or you will get Win 7 repair screen - which I consider a major flaw in the bios.

Latest Dells with GPT have a great system in bios to PICK UEFI or MBR modality

 

[cisco guy]

@ziglan

What Intel RST are you running?
Do you have other SATA controllers off?
Did you install Intel SRT by mistake?
Did you install Win 7 X64 while IN bios RAID mode?

 

[Kubsnazx]

Thanks ciscoguy

Pretty sure i can grasp most of what you say, alas....
Im not getting a 'uefi' strap on my dvd rom tho,
regarding my second issue (RST) ive currently installed x64 on another TB hdd, no worries accelerating it, but when i reboot, as you do, i get a disc error in dos before w7 loads..

 

[cisco guy]

I dont get the error anymore, I just put the UEFI GPT drive as first boot with winbootmanger option

As I said - you have to insert and boot to Win 7 X64 DVD to get the strap. The bios can detect Win 7 X64 on a DVD
And you cant make a GPT drive from one that is currently MSDOS MBR without wiping it first - from another PC if necessary

I would say that 99.9% of peeps currently with P67 Z68 dont have a clue how GPT UEFI bios works. This is mobo vendors fault. They put this new tech out, and its up to you to do the heavy lifting

 

[Kubsnazx]

im a lil confused i think...
If im not mistaken, in order to get the strap on the dvd icon in bios uefi, i need to..
insert dvd x64windows 7sp1
turn on pc
press 'del' to access bios
then the dvd icon should appear with a uefi strap, right?

as youve mentioned in your prev post, i need to boot win 7 to access the dvd strap, that part confused me...

 

[zigian]

@ziglan

What Intel RST are you running?
Do you have other SATA controllers off?
Did you install Intel SRT by mistake?
Did you install Win 7 X64 while IN bios RAID mode?

1. I'm not running RST. I'm trying to set up the SSDs in RAID0 for installing the OS. Right now no OS is installed.
2. I have both the Marvell and JMB controllers off
3. Unless there is a setting in the BIOS for it, I don't think so, as I've said, I haven't installed Windows yet and I thought the SRT setting had to be set in Windows after installing to a conventional drive in RAID mode? I don't want to use SRT, just RAID 0 on 2 SSDs.
4. No, I'm wanting to install to the RAID 0 SSDs.

Thanks!

 

[cisco guy]

@Kubsnazx
No, you install Win 7 X64 DISK, boot to bios, you get both the strap and no strap options -
You insert Win 7 X86 DISK, no strap DVD option upon boot

AFTER X64 GPT install on a wiped drive, winbootmanager option in boot order must be picked (UEFI), and set FIRST boot in advaned/boot page
You can do a mouseover on ea icon to see what it is.

This GPT drive below will not boot AFTER INSTALL until strapped GPT hard drive is dragged first, also after the X64 DISK is taken out the DVD will lose its UEFI strap and become MBR type install mode.

Edit:
Please dont quote this whole post - waste of bandwidth

 

[cisco guy]

1. I'm not running RST. I'm trying to set up the SSDs in RAID0 for installing the OS. Right now no OS is installed.
2. I have both the Marvell and JMB controllers off
3. Unless there is a setting in the BIOS for it, I don't think so, as I've said, I haven't installed Windows yet and I thought the SRT setting had to be set in Windows after installing to a conventional drive in RAID mode? I don't want to use SRT, just RAID 0 on 2 SSDs.
4. No, I'm wanting to install to the RAID 0 SSDs.

Thanks!

Actually you get the SRT settings from the SRT driver install afterwards
And my bad, I hurredly misread what you are doing
You may have a detection prob for your particular SSD drives
I'm thinking IF they would work with the Marvel, then thats the prob, or perhaps you are not plinking the Cntrl-I keys (same time) firmly and repeatedly - like playing 2 keys on piano.
Using a standard USB KB?
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrS4vZZVcDg"]‪RAID 0 on P8H67-M Mainboard‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]
Might want to up the post delay in boot to like 8 or 9 seconds

 

[zigian]

Well the Marvell controller on this board does not do RAID, so that's a no go.

As for hitting CTRL+I quick enough, I don't believe that's the problem. I don't get the CTRL+I option unless a spinner is installed along side the Novas. I actually have an OCZ Agility (Gen1) that I hooked up to see what it would do. With it hooked up, 1 nova, and a spinner, I would get the CTRL+I option and could enter the intel RAID setup. In this instance I see the nova, the agility, and the spinner.

It's like it's wanting to force me to use the SRT tech by assuming I need a slow and fast drive before it even lets me into the RAID setup. Then once I'm there, it won't allow me to use the 2 novas to make a raid 0 because it will only show one of them when they are both attached.

I've been able to get into the raid setup with either nova separately with a slow drive, but they never show up together in the raid bios. They also need a slower drive connected for the raid bios to become available via ctrl+i. Otherwise it just goes to try to boot to one of the drives.

I've also tried to delay it by enabling the JMB and Marvell controllers in case my USB wasn't initializing quick enough, but again, it doesn't even show the option screen to press ctrl+i.

I don't think it's an issue of the intel controller being able to see the novas because if I have a spinner attached, it sees one fine, but never both.

I can get together some videos to clear up what I'm trying to relay if needed.

 

[zigian]

Ok, I just noticed something. To make double sure in every config I couldn't get both Novas to show up, i had the 1 nova and the agility connected. RAID bios accessed. I shutdown and disconnected that nova and connected the other one. RAID bios accessed. Then I noticed that the serial numbers showing in the raid setup on the nova looked similar to the first. I logged it and then swapped the novas again. To my surprise, the serial numbers are the same!?! Maybe this is what is causing them to not show up at the same time? How the hell do I fix that? The serial numbers on the labels are different than what shows up in the raid setup. The label sn's are also different from each other.

Also, would it be worth it to install on the Agility and then try to raid the nova's in windows with RST program? Then install the os on that raid?

 

[cisco guy]

Thats an interesting observation, but same serial is impossible, you are seeing model number
I have 4 WDC 1TB FEAX loaded on this PC and in HDTune Pro 4.61 each has its own serial
Fwiw the RAID channel is a subset of the 6 SATA ports on the Southbridge
You should not have to install O/S on one drive first, then RAID
What you really need to check is that both firmwares of SSD are the same in HDTune Pro 4.61 (free trial) - info tab
Since each is detected separately, this would leave out one DOA SSD
You do have RAID set in Intel SATA and hot swap enabled for all but DVD?
You mentioned USB stick. Whats that there for?
Tried without it?
Are you running an outrageous overclock?
Could also try a full cmos reset - bat out PSU unplugged
Can you do a F12 screenshot in EZ page to a Fat32 USB stick with both drives plugged in with same USB stick you had inserted and upload .bmp to tinypic.com, post full link here (lowest one)
Are you using good SATA 6gb/s cables with metal clips straight to straight?
Are they TIGHT, or loosey goosey.
Perhaps one of the drives has a partition on it already - did the drives look perfectly new? To eliminate that possibility you could do a secure erase on both.
Or you could also slave each in another PC and do a diskpart cmd line on them
from Win 7 .
----------------------
diskpart
lis dis
sel dis 1 (or whatever)
lis par
sel dis 2
lis par
--------------------
should be nothing there

 

[error-id10t]

If you haven't already, try the intel SATA2 ports and see if you RAID0 them.

 

[zigian]

Same serial is possible apparently.

I have selected each drive in this screenshot in two different instances of HDTUNE.

I think this is the source of my problem. Same SN causing problems.

I am running stock speeds.
I have a corsair hx750 psu with a gtx260, so power isn't the problem
I'm using the cables that came with the board. Both drives are detected in bios fine and obviously show up in windows(verified with HD Tune and Disk manager)

I think why they have the same SN is this. These are the refurb corsair 128's that TigerDirect was offering. I found the deal in the HotDeals forum. I think corsairs referb process just sets a default serial and they slap on a label with a different one.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=760031&CatId=5300

I've got a support ticket open with Corsair now as this is unacceptable and I believe it to be the root of the problem.

 

[cisco guy]

@ziglan
I still dont think its "normally"possible, would have to see it with my own eyes - gotta make sure you select ea in the flyout tab on HDTune, kinda tricky
Try them hooked up separately

But "refurbs" for SSD's ??????
I KNEW there was a missing piece of information on this problem
Made no sense.
I still think the drive was not properly erased - it DID have prior partitions! Do a diskpart like i said.
You faked me out by saying you "bought two new drives"
You little rascal you. Got me going on a wild goose chase.
LOL

 

[zigian]

By no means did I mean to withhold anything. I said I just purchased them, I never said they were new. Of course, factory refurb, one assumes a like new product. I did think I mentioned they were refurbs in one of my earlier posts, but looking back, I did not. Sorry about that.

Hooked up separately, they still show the same SN. I did diskpart. No partitions on either drive. Guess I'll have to wait for a response from corsair.