Tell me I can fix this somehow...

[random_misc]

First, system components:

e6320
Gigabyte DS3 (rev.3.3) <---(forgot to add this)
thermalright U-120 ext
2gb corsair 6400c4
320gb seagate 7200.10 SATA
corsair HX520w psu
7950gt
Antec solo case

So, I got everything intstalled, and it POSTs (yay!). I tinkered w/ the BIOS settings using a guide (found on hardforum) and thought I was all set. W/o thinking, i jumped straight to installing Vista, w/o first installing the mobo drivers (i know, rookie move). Anyways, i get to the vista point where it asks me where i want to install it to. No options come up for it to install to. Then it asks me where to find the drivers for the drive/mass storage device.

Thinking "oh crap" to myself b/c i hadn't done that first, i pop in the cd that came w/ the mobo (there were 2 of them, and I eventually tried both) and nothing, vista can't find any drivers. Well, then i exit out of the install and let the computer reset itself. It gets to the point where it asks me for a boot disk/cd and i then put in the cd (eventually trying both). It runs, except now the cd (from gigabyte) wants to start "XpressRecovery2," w/o giving me any choice for installing drivers.

I tried both cd's, w/ vista, w/o vista, w/ and w/o the vista prompt, tried letting vista install function browse, tried resetting the BIOS... tried searching the web, but I haven't been able to find problems similar to the one i just made for myself.

So, with my tail between my legs, I admit to myself I've gotten myself into a mess I can't figure my way out of, and now I come to the experts for help.

What can i do to install the drivers so that vista will see my HDD? why is it running "XpressRecovery2" automatically? why won't it let me install the drivers from the disc? Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Oh, one more thing, when "XpressRecovery2" runs (b/c that's the only thing that'll happen from the disk), it doesn't get very far. I get an error message that says "IDE drive doesn't exist or ALL primary partitions are occupied." I have no idea what that means. DOA hdd? Argh! Frustrating.

 

[aBg_rOnGak]

You're not doing RAID, are you? First, make sure each and every cable are properly connected to their respected port/ place. Second, check if BIOS detected your HDD. Set your SATA controller to ENABLED, SATA mode to IDE, RAID to DISABLED..err, can't remember much, plus some board differs in labeling/ settings...try booting and reinstalling again. If Vista sees your HDD, I suggest you to make partitions (can't remember what it says (the button/ labels), it's on right, bottom page where it shows your HDD)..Sorry, this is what I can help, hope it really helps

 

[random_misc]

Hey aBg, thanks for the reply.

To answer the question, no, I'm not doing RAID. I'm fairly certain everything is plugged in correctly (i.e. that it's all seated properly and fully).

Probably a dumb question, but how do I know if BIOS detected my HDD? I looked in BIOS and I saw all the things you mentioned, but nothing saying "HDD detected" or something to that effect.

I had SATA/ACHI disabled, and SATA Port0-3 Native Mode enabled in the BIOS. (those are the SATA BIOS related options i remember).

Does it matter which of the inputs the cable is plugged into? In other words, I have inputs labled 0-3 (room for 4 SATA hdd's) on the mobo, does it matter if the one cable i have is plugged into input #1? it was in #0 at first, but i moved it to #1 thinking that might do something, but it didn't.

 

[occdavid]

If the 320GB drive is going to be your only drive for now... then I would put it on port 0. It sounds to me like you have a Sata setting in BIOS wrong. I'm not up on the DS3's bios but with a single sata drive setup like you listed Vista should not have a problem installing on it. Oh and you dont install motherboard drivers first... Vista then MB drivers (or chipset drivers) but there is a good chance Vista will not need them... once Vista is up you can go the the Device manager and see if you have Yellow ! marks on any devices - these are the ones you will need to install drivers for.

 

[SuperFly03]

Admittedly I know nothing about Gigabyte BIOS so bear with me.

First of all, it makes 0 difference which SATA port you have your primary drive on. I actually think my first SATA port is attached to my DVD-RW drive, lol.

Second of all, the first screen your BIOS should show is somethign with date, time, floppy setting, IDE channel settings, etc. If you choose one of those (IDE/SATA) settings it should show you if anything is detected. Alternatively, you can check your boot priority somewhere in the BIOS. If your hard drive is detected it will be a choice under "Hard Drive Priority," if it isn't there then your BIOS doesn't see it.

The others are also correct; it is Vista first then mobo cd (if needed at all).

Just to echo rbg: Make sure all raid settings are disabled.

 

[random_misc]

Thanks for the reply SuperFly and occdavid. When I looked in the BIOS, boot priority allowed me to select HDD, but I didn't see anything that indicated the type or model of HDD I had installed.

I took it out and quadruple checked all the plugs. I left it out of the case (still plugged in) and enabled SATA and disabled all RAID stuff in BIOS. When I put in the vista install cd and got to the point where it asks where I want to install it, the list was not populated; no drives were recognized. I also noticed at that time that the HDD was not spinning or making any kind of noise that would indicate to me that it was spinning. I felt no vibrations either.

I'm beginning to think the HDD was DOA. A good example of where i get stuck is in this Seagate link:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/troubleshooting_assistance/internal_drive_interfaces/windows-vista

I get here, but in the image contained in the link, where #1 is pointing to, it's empty on my setup.

Guess I'll try RMA'ing it on monday. and buy another, smaller HDD in the meantime to see if it works... unless anyone else has other ideas? Thanks all for your help so far.

 

[SuperFly03]

To be sure it is DOA leave it out of the case and keep your hand pressed on it as you hit the power button to your system.

You should feel it spin up as part of the post process.

If you don't feel it then there are only 3 options:

1 the power connector isn't connected correctly or at all (not very likely, it is 99.999999999% idiot proof)

2 it is DOA

3 that specific rail on your power supply is dead (about as unlikely as you plugging in the power connector wrong).