TravelMate P214-53, Sata-Drive not recognized in BIOS Any suggestions, what to change?

Hello,

I just bought a TravelMate P214-53, where I wanted to migrate my files from the old Sata-harddrive to. My Idea was, to use the internal Sata-Port, to move files from there to the installed M.2. but, I do not get the Sata-Port running.

The cable, that I got for that, is marked "Cable Assy Z81 HDD, LXPDD0z8HD001, 2000815 Rev3.1", and I tried a 1GB-WD-Blue which is origin from my old notebook, and I also tried with a new WD SA530. Neither one of these is shown in BIOS, when connected, feels like its not present.

To use the space for the drive, I have removed the sim-card-reader, that came with the new machine, current BIOS-Version is V 1.46, MFG-Date on the tag of the notebook is dated 2021/12/17.

Win10 is running from the installed M.2 without any problem, no matter if an additional SSD is plugged to the Sata-Cable or not.

Am I using the right cable? What else could be wrong, when using the Sata? Any suggestions, what to change? Looking for help....

[Edited the thread to add the issue detail]

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StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/675231/travelmate-p214-53-sata-drive-not-recognized-in-bios

buchholf the connection of an additional 2.5” SATA drive for your laptop you should have gotten a SATA kit that consisyts of a cable and a mounting kit and screws, have you gotten that? Also and with these new Acer laptops that have provisions for a secondary 2.5" SATA drive its a nightmare to connect some of them, as these SATA drives plugs at the motherboard end are small and very flimsy to connect to, as its a hit or miss affair and that is where your problem is and that is why the secondary 2.5” drive is not being recognized and connected, this has happened to me with a brand new Nitro 5 AN515-56 that is provided with a SATA kit cable, so its nothing unusual as I also think that you are using the wrong SATA cable to connect this old 2.5" drive.

I don’t know what this "Cable Assy Z81 HDD, LXPDD0z8HD001, 2000815 Rev3.1" is, but don't use that and see this link for the suggested SATA cable for your laptop which is the “Travelmate P214-53 HDD Hard Drive Cable Connector Acer part#: 50.VLEN7.001” like below so use that only as any other SATA cable will not work. Use the cable below to connect your 2.5" SATA drive as this will connect that drive so that you can transfer all your files to the new boot M.2 drive.

Acer Travelmate P214-53 P214-53G HDD Hard Drive Cable Connector 50.VLEN7.001

buchholf

Thank you for your hints... I tried this:

Order a new cable, "50VLEN7.001". It came in today. Markings on that now say "Cable Assy Z81HDD, LXPDD0Z81 HD001, 210803 Rev.:3A", and when I click the cable, that was linked, and look at the photo there, I can see some of the tag, that suggests, I have the right cable. However, problems are still there. For a try, I plugged an old motorized harddrive, held it in hand and turned the notebook on. I feel the drive starting and spinnig, but still same, no appearance in setup.

any new ideas about that?

Commodore_1995#

Did you remove the wlan and are you sure you are connecting the cable correctly?

https://youtu.be/ov00G3CWdZQ

billsey

With the drive connected open Disk Management and show us a picture. Also be sure you are connected to the right place on the MB (I expect you are), #28 here:

buchholf

Thank you for some more Ideas!

I am quite sure, that everything is connected as it should. Since I feel a mec.disk spinning, the plugs should not be wrong.

However, maybe someone can find out, what might be wrong, here are three pics:

Then, about diskmanger: Since I do not see the drive in setup, I also do not see it in diskmanager.

Commodore_1995#

With the new ssd plugged in, can you upload a picture of the bios information tab?

buchholf

sure:

That one is, with a brandnew WD 512GB, but no matter what other SDD or HDD I plug, nothing changes.

What I would expect, is that the connected SATA-Hardware will show up as HDD1 with name and serial number.

billsey

All I can think of is the SATA connector (#28) isn't fully seated, the cable is bad or the drive is bad...

buchholf

Two different SSD drives, a spinning HDD and two cables (different markings but same look) do not work.

Is there anyone out there, who could check, what a working cable is labled?

Or is there some setup-option, that turns the second port off?

Commodore_1995#

Slightly push this connector down:

I don't think this connector is soldered on the motherboard. It seems to be just fitted, as it was in the AN515-51 and AN515-52 models.

buchholf

sorry, but must be something else. However, thank you for your patience.

I plugged it into an old HDD, that started spinnging, so it did get power. If that plug was not in, it would not have power to spin the drive.

However, I just unplugged it. Then it looks like this:

then I reconnected. Here is a shot, as flat as I can take a photo of the plugged plug...

Commodore_1995#

Can you test with another cable or another hd?

buchholf

As said before, I tested two different cables with 4 different drives. But thank you for still trying to help me.

Even Acer-Support was not able to confirm, that the cables I have, are the right ones.

I will give up on this, and buy a bigger M.2-SSD, install Windows to it and copy my data from my Sata-SSD via USB-Adapter to that one. It does not make any sense to me, to buy a third cable (of which I also would not know, if that one was the right one), spending more money on some unclear issue. Maybe, I am too stupid to plug a plug (but what about the spinning motor of a HDD on that same cable), maybe something on the board is malfunctioning, whatever, I will not find out.

Maybe, someone having a Sata-Drive running in a 214 could check the label on his cable and post here, whats written on it, which could give me the answer to "am I using the right cable" and "should I send my Travelbook to Acer for repair", but for this very moment, I will not spend time nor money on that.

billsey

I can't image the design of the cable is wrong, those all have the same pinout and it's just the length and cable bends that are different for different versions. I wonder if the socket has a couple of pins shorted due to a solder blob or something...

buchholf

thats, what I think. The cable should work, and so does the drive (they all do with a USB-Adapter). Something on the board is wrong... but I spent around 50€ for having two cables, why should I spend another 25€ for a third cable instead of saving that money for a new M.2-SSD. There is nothing obvious, when I look at the plug, but I am not willing to check the backside of the PCB myself, and I am not willing to send the laptop to Acer for having it checked... I am going to work around that problem now.