8RDA3+ SATA PROBLEM

[Sharp]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

Hi

I have an Epox 8RDA3+ rev1.x motherboard.
WindowsXP fails to detect my Western Digital SATA HDD.
Have latest BIOS.
Enabled SATA in BIOS.
SATA is set to the first boot device.

Been told that you have to install the SATA driver during XP installation.
If I have already installed winXP, then what I can do about this?
I dont want to re-install winXP.

Cheers
Sharp

 

[DaveL]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

How about "add hardware" in control panel, "show all devices", "have disk".

DaveL


"Sharp" <Sharp@SharpAddress.com> wrote in message
news:ZxVXd.191865$K7.116906@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Hi
>
> I have an Epox 8RDA3+ rev1.x motherboard.
> WindowsXP fails to detect my Western Digital SATA HDD.
> Have latest BIOS.
> Enabled SATA in BIOS.
> SATA is set to the first boot device.
>
> Been told that you have to install the SATA driver during XP installation.
> If I have already installed winXP, then what I can do about this?
> I dont want to re-install winXP.
>
> Cheers
> Sharp
>
>
>

 

[DaveL]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

I forgot you want this to be your boot drive. I guess you were wanting to
ghost over your XP installation to the SATA drive. I don't know if that is
possible. You would need a boot disk with SATA support. Maybe after
loading sata driver and then installing ghost onto your hard drive..... ?

DaveL


"DaveL" <dave1027@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:i5ednYkX_bJc5q3fRVn-3Q@comcast.com...
> How about "add hardware" in control panel, "show all devices", "have
> disk".
>
> DaveL
>
>
> "Sharp" <Sharp@SharpAddress.com> wrote in message
> news:ZxVXd.191865$K7.116906@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>> Hi
>>
>> I have an Epox 8RDA3+ rev1.x motherboard.
>> WindowsXP fails to detect my Western Digital SATA HDD.
>> Have latest BIOS.
>> Enabled SATA in BIOS.
>> SATA is set to the first boot device.
>>
>> Been told that you have to install the SATA driver during XP
>> installation.
>> If I have already installed winXP, then what I can do about this?
>> I dont want to re-install winXP.
>>
>> Cheers
>> Sharp
>>
>>
>>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

Hi, Sharp.

If you want to use that SATA drive as your boot device, then drivers for it
must be integrated into your copy of WinXP during Setup. And the only way
provided to do this is to run WinXP Setup again, press F6 when invited, and
let Setup install it from a floppy diskette. This is not necessary for a
SATA drive to be used as a secondary drive, but it is required to use it as
the boot device. Even if you use something like Ghost, the ghosted drivers
on your new drive will be the ones for your old boot device, not for your
new SATA drive, and you'll still need to run Setup again.

The only way WinXP Setup knows to get drivers that are not included on the
WinXP CD-ROM is to load them from a floppy diskette. My EPoX 8KDA3+ came
with onboard SATA RAID, but I don't use either SATA or RAID yet. (I boot
from SCSI and have 2 IDE drives for data.) So I haven't installed SATA
drivers, but I did have to use the F6 and floppy to install drivers for my
SCSI host adapter.

My 8KDA3+ User's Manual has instructions (in Section 5, S-ATA RAID
CONFIGURATION) for how to "Prepare driver floppy" from the drivers on the
CD-ROM that came with the mobo. Your 8RDA3+ probably has similar
instructions. I haven't had to try it yet, but I expect that I will need to
do this when I install a SATA drive - even without RAID - as my boot device.

When you have the floppy ready, boot from the WinXP CD-ROM. During the
hardware detection phase, early in Setup, watch for the message that flashes
briefly at the bottom of the screen to Press F6 to install mass storage
drivers, or something to that effect. Press F6, then wait. Setup will seem
not to notice and will continue copying hundreds of files; then it will stop
with instructions for using that floppy to install the drivers. After that,
Setup will boot from that SATA drive for the first time and run the GUI
phase to complete the installation.

> I dont want to re-install winXP.

You'll want to do an "in-place upgrade", also known as a repair install.
This completely reinstalls WinXP itself, but preserves your installed
applications and data - and most of your tweaks. The official instructions
for this are in this KB article:
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q315341

Follow the instructions for Method 2 and note that you do NOT press "R" for
Repair the first time it is offered, in Step 3. Press Enter here and then
"R" when you get to Step 5. You might prefer MVP Michael Stevens' version
of the same instructions:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Either way, of course, you'll want to visit Windows Update as soon as you
get your firewall and antivirus back in place to be sure that you have all
critical updates.

If you find a quicker and/or easier way to handle this, please let us know.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@corridor.net
Microsoft Windows MVP

"Sharp" <Sharp@SharpAddress.com> wrote in message
news:ZxVXd.191865$K7.116906@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Hi
>
> I have an Epox 8RDA3+ rev1.x motherboard.
> WindowsXP fails to detect my Western Digital SATA HDD.
> Have latest BIOS.
> Enabled SATA in BIOS.
> SATA is set to the first boot device.
>
> Been told that you have to install the SATA driver during XP installation.
> If I have already installed winXP, then what I can do about this?
> I dont want to re-install winXP.
>
> Cheers
> Sharp

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

Hi!
I have the same problem here. I have a Epox EP-8RDA3+ (rev.3x)
motherboard, and I simply can't install brand new Western Digital (WD
1600JD) 160GB S-ATA hard disk.
I tried everything. BIOS is latest version, it's all set there, and I
can see the device in BIOS.
But, when i start installing Windows XP (SP1) it cracks.
I know about S-ATA/RAID drivers from floppy, it all goes well, but
when the setup wants to create a partition to install Windows, it
stops and I get the message "can't format the partition-write error!
The disk may be damaged, or You should check the connections..." and
other yada yada.

Then I tried to create partitions using "Partition Magic 8.0", and I
get the same result. Can't format the partition (either as FAT 32 or
NTFS). It blocks at 40 or 50% of work.

I thought the disk is damaged, but it isn't. I moved it to another
computer with Abit NF-7 S motherboard, and it works great. The
Windows installation goes smooth, partitioning too, it all seems
fine.

The strange thing is, this ABIT mobo has the exact same S-ATA
controller as my Epox (it's Silicon Image SI1312).
And another thing... When I put Maxtor S-ATA hadr disk for testing on
my Epox, it works just fine. When I put Western Digital IDE disk, it
just won't work!
So, I guess it's about compatibility between Epox and Western Digital,
but I just can't believe this is happening!

Does anyone have some advice? Please help!
Thanks,
Play

 

[Sharp]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

> Hi!
> I have the same problem here. I have a Epox EP-8RDA3+ (rev.3x)
> motherboard, and I simply can't install brand new Western Digital (WD
> 1600JD) 160GB S-ATA hard disk.
> I tried everything. BIOS is latest version, it's all set there, and I
> can see the device in BIOS.
> But, when i start installing Windows XP (SP1) it cracks.
> I know about S-ATA/RAID drivers from floppy, it all goes well, but
> when the setup wants to create a partition to install Windows, it
> stops and I get the message "can't format the partition-write error!
> The disk may be damaged, or You should check the connections..." and
> other yada yada.
>
> Then I tried to create partitions using "Partition Magic 8.0", and I
> get the same result. Can't format the partition (either as FAT 32 or
> NTFS). It blocks at 40 or 50% of work.
>
> I thought the disk is damaged, but it isn't. I moved it to another
> computer with Abit NF-7 S motherboard, and it works great. The
> Windows installation goes smooth, partitioning too, it all seems
> fine.
>
> The strange thing is, this ABIT mobo has the exact same S-ATA
> controller as my Epox (it's Silicon Image SI1312).
> And another thing... When I put Maxtor S-ATA hadr disk for testing on
> my Epox, it works just fine. When I put Western Digital IDE disk, it
> just won't work!
> So, I guess it's about compatibility between Epox and Western Digital,
> but I just can't believe this is happening!
>
> Does anyone have some advice? Please help!

I would e-mail Epox and what they have to say about it.

Alternatively, have you tried to download the latest chipset drivers for
your motherboard?
As well as SATA associate drivers.

Let me know how it goes.

Cheers
Sharp

 

[Sharp]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

"Sharp" <Sharp@SharpAddress.com> wrote in message
news:rdLae.22422$5F3.11063@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> > Hi!
> > I have the same problem here. I have a Epox EP-8RDA3+ (rev.3x)
> > motherboard, and I simply can't install brand new Western Digital (WD
> > 1600JD) 160GB S-ATA hard disk.
> > I tried everything. BIOS is latest version, it's all set there, and I
> > can see the device in BIOS.
> > But, when i start installing Windows XP (SP1) it cracks.
> > I know about S-ATA/RAID drivers from floppy, it all goes well, but
> > when the setup wants to create a partition to install Windows, it
> > stops and I get the message "can't format the partition-write error!
> > The disk may be damaged, or You should check the connections..." and
> > other yada yada.
> >
> > Then I tried to create partitions using "Partition Magic 8.0", and I
> > get the same result. Can't format the partition (either as FAT 32 or
> > NTFS). It blocks at 40 or 50% of work.
> >
> > I thought the disk is damaged, but it isn't. I moved it to another
> > computer with Abit NF-7 S motherboard, and it works great. The
> > Windows installation goes smooth, partitioning too, it all seems
> > fine.
> >
> > The strange thing is, this ABIT mobo has the exact same S-ATA
> > controller as my Epox (it's Silicon Image SI1312).
> > And another thing... When I put Maxtor S-ATA hadr disk for testing on
> > my Epox, it works just fine. When I put Western Digital IDE disk, it
> > just won't work!
> > So, I guess it's about compatibility between Epox and Western Digital,
> > but I just can't believe this is happening!
> >
> > Does anyone have some advice? Please help!
>
> I would e-mail Epox and what they have to say about it.
>
> Alternatively, have you tried to download the latest chipset drivers for
> your motherboard?
> As well as SATA associate drivers.
>
> Let me know how it goes.
>
> Cheers
> Sharp

You can also try installing winXP using the maxtor drive.
Once installed, remove the drivers and device, and put in the Western
Disigital.
On boot, winXP should recoginse a new drive, and install the default drivers
for it.

Cheers
Sharp

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

Thanks for answering, Sharp! I'm about to mail Epox right now, hoping
they have some sort of solution for this. Will let You all know
what's new soon!
Play

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

Well, I just got email from www.epox.nl , I must say their support is
great! They have sent me new modified BIOS version which has
obviously not available on the site (I suppose it's some beta
version) with new Silicon Image SiI1312A v42.50 drivers.

Testing today!

Play

 

[Sharp]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

> Well, I just got email from www.epox.nl , I must say their support is
> great! They have sent me new modified BIOS version which has
> obviously not available on the site (I suppose it's some beta
> version) with new Silicon Image SiI1312A v42.50 drivers.
>
> Testing today!

Cool! let us know how it turns out.
I'm sure it will work fine.

Cheers
Sharp