Intel D975XBX2 - First build - Some Issues.

[Intelover]

Hi Guys,

First post so, please bear with me. Just finished my first ever build and it was so much fun. I did a lot of reaserch and decided on all the components which are ... D975XBX2, E6600, Mushkin 800 (2X1 Gig), HP DVD, Benq DVD, Seagate 320GB 7200RPM 16MB, ATI X1950 PRO 256MB, Sony Floppy, Super-Talent All-in-one card reader, Enermax 500W power supply, CoolerMaster Mystique 623u case, Geniune XP Pro with SP2 and Samsung 226BW monitor.

I have a few issues that I need your help with, so here goes...
1) HDD is 320 GB but is recognized as 295GB?
2) Device Manager has an yellow "?" mark for something to do with PCI, can't figure what..
3) The floppy drive LED is always on, what's with that...
4) How to setup my ATI card?
5) Get this weird Marvel post error as "No Hard Drive detected".
6) The Marvel error goes if I disable the secondry sata controller in BiOS but then the HDD LED is constantly on, any fixes for this?

I would sincerely appreciate if you can please help me.

 

[psteele]

1 - When formatted, a hard drive should contain about .93% of the space that is advertised. This is because drive manufacturers count 1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes; A windows file system counts 1 MB = 1,024,000 bytes. I have 320's in my system and they show up as 298 gigs.

2 - Some type of driver is not installed, or has a problem. Could be many things...make sure you have all the drivers from Intel's website.

3 - Floppy cable is flipped. You'll notice it can be inserted either way on the drive.

4 - Don't know exactly what you mean by this. Driver issue? Screen Resoultion?

5 - You should use the intel SATA plugs unless you have them all filled up already. And even if you did, your primary hard disk should be on it. It is directly linked to the southbridge and will offer slightly better performance do to that. (I have a BX1 in case you're wondering). Then you can disable the secondary controller

6 - see above

 

[Intelover]

Thanks for your quick response. I appreciate your help.
The HDD capacity I can understand but I have already installed all drivers and updated the BiOS to the latest version from Intel support site. The boot order I have is CD/DVD, HDD, Floppy, do I need to change something here?... I have only my HDD (SATA) in the (black) SATA socket (0) and I 'am not even using the blue (Marvel) socket at all.
The HDD Light is ok if the Secondry SATA controller is enabled in BiOS but if I disable it, the HDD light is always on.. I really do not know what is causing that. I read on some other forum that its something to do with the bios and I 'am really lost.

 

[bberson]

The reply from psteele is right on mark. I'll add:

If you haven't loaded the full driver set for the ATI card yet, some of those yellow exclamation points could represent video components too.

Take my advice and disable the "secondary" controller, which is the Marvell. It's inferior and you have no need for it. Plug all your SATA stuff into the Intel ports.

I believe there's a BIOS update for the motherboard that addresses the issue of the HD light - I've heard others make the some complaint - but do make sure the LED wires are plugged in correctly.

I have ATI's 1950 XTX on mine. Something about that card tends to interfere with the motherboard driver installation CD functioning 100%. You might need to install the bits and pieces one at a time.

-Brad