ESATA/SATA PCI Express

[Anton]

I have an ESATA/SATA PCI Express board in my XP computer.
The board has two connectors:
1. ESATA external.
2. SATA internal.
The ESATA connection works fine.
The SATA doesn't do anything.

Please help.
Anton.

 

[Paul]

I have an ESATA/SATA PCI Express board in my XP computer.
The board has two connectors:
1. ESATA external.
2. SATA internal.
The ESATA connection works fine.
The SATA doesn't do anything.

Please help.
Anton.

Make and model number of board ?

URL to product link, so we can look at it ?

Some use jumper blocks, and have more I/O connectors,
than the chip has ports on it. The jumpers must be
set properly to make them work. If a user manual
came in the box, see if jumpers are mentioned.

Or show me a picture of the thing, so I can look
at it. Or something.

Paul

 

[Anton]

Make and model number of board ?

URL to product link, so we can look at it ?

Some use jumper blocks, and have more I/O connectors,
than the chip has ports on it. The jumpers must be
set properly to make them work. If a user manual
came in the box, see if jumpers are mentioned.

Or show me a picture of the thing, so I can look
at it. Or something.

Paul

Thank you Paul for the quick responds.
http://www.icidu.com/en/interface-card/esata-pci-express-card.html
There was no user manual in the box.
On the board are for jumpers.

Anton.

 

[VanguardLH]

Paul ...

Make and model number of board ?
URL to product link, so we can look at it ?

http://www.icidu.com/en/interface-card/esata-pci-express-card.html
There was no user manual in the box. On the board are for jumpers.

It has just one external and one internal SATA port. Could be they're
shared. That is, if there is really only one port with multiple headers
on the PCB, you only have one SATA port: you can use the internal header
or the external header but they're for the same channel. To have
independent internal SATA ports means to get a card with them.

Even the SATA cards with multiple internal headers often share one of
them with the external header (eSATA). For example:

http://sgcdn.startech.com/005329/media/sets/PEXSAT34_Manual/PEXSAT34.pdf
"The eSATA port on this card is shared with internal SATA port 1
(SATA1). Only one will function at a time and must be selected using
the DIP switch on the card."

The pics on the web page for which you gave a link show a set of 4
jumpers. Likely is that you set all 4 in one config (like all on or
shorting) to use the eSata port and set all 4 in another config (like
all off or just sitting on one pin of each 2-pin set) for internal SATA.
This card uses up a PCI-e slot and gives you only ONE more SATA port.

The site sucks for getting information on that product. They have
another at http://www.icidu.com/en/interface-card/esata-pci-card.html
which also looks to use a set of 4 jumpers (you move in unison) to
decide whether to connect the internal SATA port to the controller chip
or to connect the external SATA port to the controller chip. That has 2
SATA ports but, again, each one can only be used for ONE connector:
either the SATA controller goes to the internal or external connector
but not both at the same time.

Here's an example (of an overpriced) SATA card that gives you 2 external
SATA ports but they are *shared* via jumpers to the internal SATA
connectors. Despite it is listed as a 4x internal SATA + 2x external
SATA card, it is really just a 4x SATA card and you can use 2 of them
for either internal or external use (but not both).

If you move the 4 jumpers (all together) you get the internal SATA
connector working but then the external SATA will be disconnected.

 

[Paul]

Thank you Paul for the quick responds.
http://www.icidu.com/en/interface-card/esata-pci-express-card.html
There was no user manual in the box.
On the board are for jumpers.

Anton.

It doesn't get much worse than that :-(

The manual is useless.

The pictures of the product, are also useless. There are no
pictures of the product, facing the PCB. I had to use this,
to see anything.

http://www.icidu.com/media/productdownloads/AI-707921/images/AI-707921 eSATA PCI Express Card L.JPG

I cannot see the part number on the IC, to verify how many ports it has.

I can tell you the purpose behind the jumpers.

There is a 3x4 group of gold pins.

They connect the chip, to one of two connectors.

SATA connectors have four signal pins, and three ground pins.
The ground pins remain permanently connected to ground, and
cause no problems.

The active signals are TX+, TX-, RX+, RX-

The middle column of gold pins, is the "chip end".
The outer two columns, go to the two SATA connectors.

If the jumpers are all placed between column one and two, then
one of the SATA connectors work. If all of the jumpers are moved,
so they connect column two to three, then the other SATA connector
starts to work.

Normally, such a jumper scheme is used with a two port chip, where
the PCB has four connectors. And then, there are two 3x4 blocks present
to allow manually switching which of the connectors will work.

Your card suggests the chip used has only one SATA port, and with
the two connectors on the board, the jumper block selects either
the ESATA to work, or the SATA to work, but not both at the same
time.

If you can look up the chip part number, you can verify it has only
one port on it.

ESATA Chip SATA

X TX+ X
X TX- X
X RX+ X
X RX- X

In the diagram, all four jumpers must sit in a column. By default,
it looks like this (possible as shipped from the factory). This
setting enabled the ESATA external.

ESATA Chip SATA

X<--->TX+ X
X<--->TX- X
X<--->RX+ X
X<--->RX- X

When you want the SATA internal to work, the jumpers go in the
other column, like this. You lift the jumper up, and place it
over the other pins instead.

ESATA Chip SATA

X TX+<--->X
X TX-<--->X
X RX+<--->X
X RX-<--->X

I really wanted to verify the chip part number, to be
certain it only has one electrical interface on it. There
are a few SATA chips, which come as dual port devices. I'm
surprised anyone would waste their time making a single port chip.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Anton]

It doesn't get much worse than that :-(

The manual is useless.

The pictures of the product, are also useless. There are no
pictures of the product, facing the PCB. I had to use this,
to see anything.

http://www.icidu.com/media/productdownloads/AI-707921/images/AI-707921 eSATA PCI Express Card L.JPG

I cannot see the part number on the IC, to verify how many ports it has.

I can tell you the purpose behind the jumpers.

There is a 3x4 group of gold pins.

They connect the chip, to one of two connectors.

SATA connectors have four signal pins, and three ground pins.
The ground pins remain permanently connected to ground, and
cause no problems.

The active signals are TX+, TX-, RX+, RX-

The middle column of gold pins, is the "chip end".
The outer two columns, go to the two SATA connectors.

If the jumpers are all placed between column one and two, then
one of the SATA connectors work. If all of the jumpers are moved,
so they connect column two to three, then the other SATA connector
starts to work.

Normally, such a jumper scheme is used with a two port chip, where
the PCB has four connectors. And then, there are two 3x4 blocks present
to allow manually switching which of the connectors will work.

Your card suggests the chip used has only one SATA port, and with
the two connectors on the board, the jumper block selects either
the ESATA to work, or the SATA to work, but not both at the same
time.

If you can look up the chip part number, you can verify it has only
one port on it.

ESATA Chip SATA

X TX+ X
X TX- X
X RX+ X
X RX- X

In the diagram, all four jumpers must sit in a column. By default,
it looks like this (possible as shipped from the factory). This
setting enabled the ESATA external.

ESATA Chip SATA

X<--->TX+ X
X<--->TX- X
X<--->RX+ X
X<--->RX- X

When you want the SATA internal to work, the jumpers go in the
other column, like this. You lift the jumper up, and place it
over the other pins instead.

ESATA Chip SATA

X TX+<--->X
X TX-<--->X
X RX+<--->X
X RX-<--->X

I really wanted to verify the chip part number, to be
certain it only has one electrical interface on it. There
are a few SATA chips, which come as dual port devices. I'm
surprised anyone would waste their time making a single port chip.

HTH,
Paul

There is a JMB 360 chip on the board.
Grtz,
Anton.

 

[Paul]

There is a JMB 360 chip on the board.
Grtz,
Anton.

Yup, it's a single port chip.

http://www.jmicron.com/Product_JMB360.htm

Since there is only a single port, only one of the two connectors
can work at a time.

By using the group of four jumpers, and moving all of them
at the same time, you get to select whether the ESATA or the
SATA connector will work.

Paul

 

[Yousuf Khan]

I have an ESATA/SATA PCI Express board in my XP computer.
The board has two connectors:
1. ESATA external.
2. SATA internal.
The ESATA connection works fine.
The SATA doesn't do anything.

It's possible that there are jumpers inside the board that switch
between internal and external ports. I have a board that does it like that.

Yousuf Khan