SATA HD Not Recognized in BIOS

woodman151

March 11, 2007 6:17:54 PM

Help!

I am trying to do something I thought would be simple: install a brand new WD SATA 36.7GB HD. It will be the only HD in the system.

Asus A7N8X Dlx MB (released I think in ~ 2002 around the time SATA was beginning to appear on motherboards)

After connecting HD to onboard SATA header, upon boot, the HD is recognized in the POST. But when the system begins install of Win XP I receive the msg “Windows does not recognize any hard drives. When you go to the BIOS upon boot my HD is not recognized. This is what I have done so far:

- made sure the SATA headers are enabled via jumper setting on MB
- Tried different SATA Data cables on both SATA headers on MB
- Tried legacy power and SATA power connectors (not at same time!)
- Downloaded and loaded recent SATA drivers from Asus while Windows set up asks for 3rd-party drivers (f6 during set up)
- Tried a 3rd party SATA controller
- I put this SATA HD into my other system and it is recognized in the BIOS.

Any suggestions on how to get my SATA HD recognized in my system? Is it the BIOS doesn't support SATA drives even if the MB came with the built-in controllers?

Thanks

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Kamrooz

March 11, 2007 7:32:24 PM

This happens in most cases. Most mobo's use a special raid controller which will not show up on the actually bios...but a seperate raid post during the boot process. I don't have the time unfortunately to pull up your mobo specs but most of the time you need to make a driver disk via floppy for windows to recognize the drives if they are on a mobo built in raid setup. My P5AD2 premium is like this with its SATA connectors so I had to create a disk for the windows installation. Check the disc that came with your mobo or the website of the mobo manufacturer. Check the download section and see what raid drivers it has. There should be a disc you can create from these drivers to have windows recognize the drive during the installation process. Most the time it's in a folder called "disk" in the drivers folder after you extract them. You just have to copy everything onto a floppy and press F6 during the windows startup for installation (At the bottom it will say "Press F6 for third party raid drivers" or something along those lines).

I'd also recommend pulling up your mobo specs on the manufacturer page on their website. then you can see what raid setup your SATA drives are using on your mobo. Such as the chipset and such..

For example...My mobo has a silicon image raid controller as well as a ICHR6 raid controller. Can connect up to 8 sata drives...Both use different drivers.

I hope that was of help..If I had the time I'd pull up your mobo specs and go through all that jazz for you. But I have to leave right now and this is the most detailed message I can leave at the time. If someone else could help him out that'd be great. If not I'll try to help later tonight when I get home from work. Later ^_^.

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woodman151

March 11, 2007 10:50:55 PM

Thanks Kamrooz,

Even though I had installed (F6 win setup) the SATA drivers before, your msg reminded me to instead use the drivers on my original install CD. You see, what i had previously installed were the drivers from the Asus website. i figured there would be the most up to date. It could be i installed the wrong ones. So i re-installed the drivers from the orginal CD. Windows now reconizes the HD and it is being formatted as i write this.

Thanks for the effort in helping me resolve this. i think its awesome you took the time to pitch in and help.

Take care...

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