Acer Predator Helios 300 - Laptop must be completely opened up to install 2nd HDD SATA cable

Coldgin006

Went through the same as everyone else who recently purchased a Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop.  The laptop and a 2nd - 2TB SSD drive bundle was offered on Amazon, so I purchased thinking it was a great deal.  After reading the Acer website literature on this laptop, it is advertised as shipping with a 2nd HDD hard drive caddy and SATA cable, pre-installed.  When I received the laptop, of course there was no caddy or sata cable.  So I went through the headache and lost time of contacting Acer and I was told they would ship it.  2 weeks later, I finally received the kit via Fed-Ex.  Excitetedly I open it up and proceed to install my 2nd -2 TB SSD drive.  Here's where you can queue up the Price-Is-Right - "I just lost playing Plinko" sound bite (yeah...the one played repeatedly on Archer).  The 2nd HDD caddy and the cage itself are a piece of cake to install...no problem.  The 2nd HDD sata cable....that's a completely different story.  You have to remove the 15 screws from the laptop, use flat pieces of plastic ( I used two plastic orange peelers) and you got pry and pop open the entire laptop and remove the entire keyboard to locate the connector for the 2nd HDD cable.  They have confusing directions with very poor screen shots on Acer's website on how to do this.  I followed the instructions and connected the cable to the connector on the motherboard and in the process caused some minor damage to the case itself.....I then put the entire laptop back together.  I boot into Windows and nothing....the drive is not detected.  I reboot Windows and hold down the shift key on shutdown and keep holding it until it boots back up.  It then goes into a advanced startup menu.  I go into the BIOS itself and I see that the 2nd HDD sata slot is enabled but no drive is detected.  At this point I'm **bleep** and I contact Acer again.  They basically told me that it was my fault because I didn't follow the instructions correctly.  I then threaten to send the laptop back to Amazon and demand a refund.  The tech then scheduled a phone call with a "2nd Level Technician" for today.  I still have yet to receive any phone calls (I have the case number and the transcript from the online technical chat).  I'm seeing enough complaints on the boards here to see this is obviously a wide-spread problem.  Shame on you Acer!  This is deceptive advertising and horrible customer service.  

 

[edited to comply with guidelines]

Jimhk

OMG..Now I'm so worry about it...I'm waiting for the hdd caddy and sata cable.....

Jimhk

by the way, about the acer's offical instruction website, if you look deep into it, the photo of before and after installed the sata cable is not on a same motherboard...they may also damaged their own laptop already...

Nicktator

I'm in the same boat and likewise frustrated. I have the installation kit, but it wasn't until opening up the storage bay again that I realized, "Oh geeze, I can't reach the plug with the laptop's back cover on, can I?" Your post sure doesn't removing the entire thing very appealing. Hopefully I'll have better luck, but **bleep** is this an unfortunate inconvenience that Acer hasn't done much to accomodate beyond, "Hey, here's the kit we were supposed to install in the first place. No apologies for the inconvenience though!"

And who has a "plastic pry tool"? I'm sure I can figure something out, but it would have been nice if they'd included it in the installation kit.

H215

After you install everything. The hdd is unformatted.

You need to go into windows disk management, select the hard drive and format it.

 

Manny-Acer_Retired

Hi Coldgin006,

 

I'm sorry to hear that you're having issues with the HDD SATA cable installation on your Predator Helios 300, on the following link https://us.answers.acer.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/46866 you can find the instructions for the installation. If you feel that you need further assistance or not able to complete the installation with this instructions, please contact Acer technical support https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support#_ga=2.250686278.1127364788.1509977106-1231825121.1509631759 for further assistance.  

We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause.

Acer-Manny

Rustman69

Hey guys!
Finally after 3 months of waiting the HDD caddy and cable arrived. I installed everything according the installation guide, everything went well so far. 
After installing the cable, I closed the system and connected the 2HDD, was pretty exciting. Rebooted the system and file explorer did not realise the HDD. Ok I thought maybe the HDD cable connection got loose, so I opened up the case again, but everything was fine. I checked the new HDD if it is working via USB and it worked without problems.
So either the HDD cable for which I waited 3months may be faulty, don't know how to check this. 
Or the motherbord plug itself is faulty, don't know how to check this and hope not, because then I might received a damaged unit from Amazon.
My last hope right now is, that I might have to activate the 2nd HDD port, because it seems like no juice is running through it and I have to tell the motherboard to send some power through the port.
Anyone a clue where and how I can activate the port?

BR

JordanB

@Rustman69

Don't look in File Explorer.  Look in Disk Management.  In Disk Management, you'll need to initialize and format the new HDD.

1. Right click on the Windows Start Button
2. Left click on Disk Management
3. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/initialize-new-disks
4.  After you successfully initialize the disk (and assign drive letter), then right click on "unallocated space" and format your new HDD.

Rustman69

@JordanB
Yeah, thx I did this already via the USB port, because file explorer didn't showed up the HDD. But when I pluged it in the USB port, although I could not see it before formating in file explorer, I could hear the HDD working.
But with the installation kit from Acer, even when I plug in the HDD the HDD stays silent and I cannot hear the HDD working. So I assume that there is no signal or power from the motherboard for this port.
I even tried another HDD, same problem at this port. Via external USB adapter it works fine, but not via the HDD cable kit...

That's why I wanted to know if I have to activate this port somehow manually?

JordanB

@Rustman69

Yes, that's odd.

Ok, please check the instructions and make sure you have installed as per instructions in link below.  

https://us.answers.acer.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/46866/~/hard-drive-installation-instructions-for-predator-helios-300-laptops

Here's what I would do.

1. Install HDD as per instructions.
2.  Open an admin Command Prompt
3. Type 

diskpart
list disk
select disk x    (x=your new HDD that you want to wipe---I assume it will be listed)Be careful!!! Don't select the wrong disk. 
clean
exit
exit


4. Go to Disk Management and Initialize, assign letter, and format.

Note: If your HDD is not listed in step 3, then I'm out of ideas....sorry.  You'll have to contact Acer unless someone here on this forum can help.

Rustman69

Lol...believe it or not, after opening the device 3x checked the cable management and everything else after 4hrs. I said just give it up right now, its not working. So I had the cable installed, the HDD was in there and it was not working. Alright, I will bring it to a computer store maybe they can figure out whats wrong. 
After approximately 5 restarts and shut downs, letting the laptop a little bit rest, I checked besides of surfing through the internet the file explorer again...and SURPRISE, finally the new HDD was showing...guys I tell you, I could not believe it, but it's a massive relive now xD
don't ask me why it didn't show up in the first tries...maybe it took some time, you know electronics and it's mysterious flaws

JordanB

@Rustman69
ok, great!

smartguy1196

I had the same issue but with a different SSD. Mine was the HP S700. To fix it, I did a bios and driver update. After that the drive was detected by the bios and windows device management, however it was not detected in windows explorer. To fix this, the drive must be assigned a letter. Open up Disk Management, and you will find that the drive is listed as UNALLOCATED. Right click and their should be a "new...[something or another... can't remember]" that should set up the drive, format it, and assign it a letter. Hopefully that helps any one else with the issue