Problem adding 2nd 6gb/s HD to Asus MB

I recently built my own 64bit Windows 7 Intel i7 PC based around an Asus P6X58-E WS motherboard. The board has two SATA6 ports that I use in a non-RAID format; a single, bootable Maxtor Caviar 750GB 6gb/s HD is plugged in to the 1st SATA6 port; the second SATA6 port is unused.

The system has been working great for about 3 months. Yesterday I attempted to add a another Maxtor Caviar 6gb/s HD (this one with a 1TB capacity) into the other SATA6 port. Again, this is a non-RAID format with the second drive for storage only. Unfortunately, upon boot, while the BIOS recognized the second drive, it could not identify its capacity, make or model. Also, Windows Storage Manager could not see the new drive, therefore I could not initialize or partition the new drive. I've spent several hours swapping cables and performing multiple reboots and tweaking BIOS settings, but still no joy.

QUESTION: Is there any obvious reason why this second drive would not be working? (BTW, I've tried contacting Asus customer support, but as has been my past experience it's extremely difficult to reach an Asus tech who has any understanding of their motherboards.)

Thanks!

There is a tool called HardDriveInfo.DLL. This tool can help you to find the exact hardware config of your hard drive. You can download this free from web. Second thing also go in detail with the specification of motherboard you are using. The storage specification of Asus P6X58-E WS motherboard is :

• Intel ICH10R controller
• 6 xSATA 3.0 Gb/s ports
• Intel Matrix Storage Support RAID 0,1,5,10
• Marvell® 9128 PCIe SATA6Gb/s controller*
• 2 xSATA 6.0 Gb/s ports, supporting RAID 0 and 1
• * These SATA ports are for data hard drives only. ATAPI devices are not supported.

As per the specs the drives should work in your system. Check with the above mention software that the drive is proper or not.

Thank you Leanne. Much appreciated.

After spending all morning with Asus tech support (you have to ask to speak to somebody who specifically knows motherboards) we determined the problem is the new hard drive. Oh well, time to contact NewEgg.

BTW, here's a tip when dealing with Asus for motherboard support: When navigating the phone menu options, don't presume that when you punch "Motherboard support" that you'll then be talking to someone who knows anything about Asus motherboards. Specifically ask to speak to someone who *really* knows motherboards. I probably wasted three hours talking to ignorant techs who were just thumbing though manuals and sending me on wild goose chases.