Lifesavings down the drain.

[atotti2000]

Hi All,

First of all, pardon my spelling, as I've been working on this problem for a while now.
After saving for a year or so (stuff like rent kept popping up) I've just bought myself a new pc:

Intel Core 2 Quad
Asus 780i Mobo
2Gb OCz Ram.
XFX 8800 GT
SATAII HDDs
SATA DVDRW
Coolermaster Sli PSU

I have the most peculiar problem.
When I look on the Bios it shows my new SATAII 500Gb hard drive all fine, then afterwards, flashes up with 'no harddrive detected'

However, it then lets me onto the windows install, but has the wrong HDD details before you install nd freezes during an install.

I do have a SATA DVD drive which might cause some trouble.
I've built 10 - 20 pc's before so im not a total novice but this is my first total SATA Boot/Build, and I couldnt find any troubleshooters or advice on what the problem actually was. Personally I think it might be a faulty mobo, though i hope not.

Any help would be grateful.

Regards.
Ant

 

[cfvh600]

How many SATA II HDD's do you have? Your SATA drives might be configured incorrectly in the BIOS.

 

[atotti2000]

I only plugged one in, just to install OS.

I've also tried combinations of using:
SATA HDD, SATA DVD
SATA HDD, IDE DVD
IDE HDD, SATA DVD
And IDE both,

to no avail.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Make sure you are plugged into the right sata port. Check your manual.
Swap Sata Cables.
Did you plug power in as well?
Make sure its set to IDE in bios and not "SATA, ACHI, or RAID."

 

[atotti2000]

Ive decided to stick with trying the SATA HDD (as its a brand new samsung spinpoint which i've only ever seen positive feedback for) and my (older) IDE DVDRW which I know definately works.
RAID is Disabled, read through manual like 5 times and its all like it should be.

Boot is from CDROM as im trying to install from CD,
HDD plugged in SATA port 1, is recognised in BIOS, but because of ASUS silly splash screen I only catch the end of POST, which tells me 'Hard Disk Drive not Detected', even though its detected in BIOS a few seconds earlier.

Like I say, it will boot and even start to install on the disk but it freezes often when you reboot mid-install.
But that happens using different HDDs, not just SATA.

 

[blacksci]

Turn that splash screen off, and then find out if you have to install a driver for the mother board, although having to do that is old, but hey, id at least check it out. My old asus p4 board i used to have to install a driver in order for it to recognize my sata drive, i had to hit f6 during install of xp, when its loading and it asks you in the bottom, anyhow id at least check it out, although you really shouldnt have to.

 

[budlite1bb]

i assume you are using xp because i think ACHI mode is supported by vista. but in order for xp to see your SATA drives you need to set the raid option in the bios to IDE mode, otherwise xp will not see it.

 

[atotti2000]

budlite1bb: Yes, I'm using XP. My only raid options are (Enable) or (Disable), however, it still tells me 'no hdd detected' if im using a IDE hdd.

blacksci: Tried turning the splash screen off, and monitor does like 3 screen resolution changes instead which means i still can't see it. I wouldn't have thought i needed a seperate driver as its a new board, and doesnt mention anywhere in the documentation.

oh, btw, thanks guys, I really appreciate the help.

 

[mrmez]

Hardly a "life savings down the drain" story
I thought ur house burned down and u didnt have insurance... that would have been teh suxxor.

Check bios startup drive etc, and try different sata ports. I hope u get it fixed, but toughen up princess... its just a PC

 

[atotti2000]

maybe a slight exaggeration but I've been waiting for the Mobo to arrive for like 2 months.
All my hopes and dreams have been ... nah your right, slight exaggeration.

thanks.

 

[mrmez]

Np chief

Why dont u just cheat....
Call up a busy pc shop and say...

"Hi, my name is Joe, i bought a

Intel Core 2 Quad
Asus 780i Mobo
2Gb OCz Ram.
XFX 8800 GT
SATAII HDDs
SATA DVDRW
Coolermaster Sli PSU

system from u the other week. Ive been away and have only just had a chance to look at it and i cant [insert problem here]
Any quick advice you could give me before i bring it in?"

There must be at least a dozen shops u can try this with

 

[bobbknight]

Turn off the splash screen in your bios.
Then plug your hard drive into the first sata port and set it up to be the boot drive in your bios.
To get to bios turn on the computer and hit the del key on your ketboard.





Rattus Viola: Sino non they quisnam operor non have scientia futurus vestri rector.

 

[Battou]

Clear Cmos?

 

[blacksci]

True battou, i have seen and heard from people that when they had issues with a new board, they took out there cmos battery, let it sit without it for a minute, then plug it back in a presto, its working, just make sure to unplug your comp before you do this, or it may fry your board.

 

[Kursun]

Fdisk the hard drive

 

[bobwya]

No quotes because you have given us a rather garbled explaination of what is wrong!! Also I don't have this motherboard so don't blame me if this solution doesn't work!!

If your SATA drive is recognised during POST but not by Windows then it just means Windows XP does not have a builtin driver for your motherboard Host Controller. As other people have stated you can get round this in a number of ways. Go into your BIOS and make sure RAID is disabled. Double check their is no emulation mode for the SATA controller where the ports can be mapped into IDE channels (fools the OS that it is just seeing old style IDE devices).

Download the non-Raid SATA host controller for you motherboard (will be on the MB CD or ASUS website). Then either put the text-mode portion on a floppy disk and press F6 early on when installing Windows XP when the option shows at the bottom of the screen to install RAID drivers, put in the floppy disk with text-mode host controller driver.

The alternative is to slip-stream the driver using a program like nLite (which is freeware). This is easy to do. Just copy all the files off your Windows XP Pro disk into a folder. Point nLite at the folder. Just check the options in the main menu to integrate drivers and burn an ISO. Install from the disk you burn. I am presuming of course you have a spare machine/laptop to do this on!!

Bob

 

[atotti2000]

The point was that the HDD is detected if you look on the BIOS, but NOT during POST.
Even if I used an IDE drive. Its not being recognised if you go past the BIOS.

I've neer used nLite before but i may as well give it a go.
Thanks, I'll let you know.

 

[atotti2000]

oh, i also know its not a HDD problem, tested them all this morning on a mates PC, all were recognised and functioned fine.

 

[atotti2000]

Another thing,
Just to clear it up, its not a windows problem as it tells me that no device is detected Pre-boot.

 

[Serj]

yeah, this is hardly a Life Savings down the drain story... I was expecting a Yorkfield underneath a Tuniq Tower in a $300 case with a 1200w PSU running triple 8800Ultras in SLI.

are you sure it's the first SATA port? normally, IDE/SCSI/SATA channels go 0/1/2/etc so you should be using SATA0. there should also be a setting for SATA in Legacy mode. I actually wound up installing vista under this mode and went without a hitch, but i switched to native SATA and it stopped booting. it did, however, let me run AHCI which is what i wanted anyway.

can you get the SATA drive to work on the IDE channel? I have an idea you could try. Boot the system with the SATA as the master IDE drive, and the CD/DVD as the slave. boot into the XP setup with the disc and F6 to install your SATA mobo drivers. once those are loaded, you should be able to swap it back over to the SATA channel and continue the XP setup. if not, let it completely setup over on the IDE channel then swap.

another possibility is that you just have a bad mobo. it happens. doesnt mean the mobo/company/chipset is crap. you're installing a 2002 OS to an almost 2008 mobo.

last possibility. the mobo needs to be reflashed. I had a terrible time with my old i875p board where after a power outage, i thought my chip was fried, and i wasnt going to drop my pants for a new system yet, so, in late 2006 i managed to find a 3.0GHz Prescott 478 that Microcenter sold me off their techbench. i got it home to find it wasnt working either. reflashed the BIOS, bam, everything's fine.

 

[roadrunner197069]

I have many Asus boards. The one I'm now has SATA only running in IDE mode. When I post it says no Hard Drive Detected. It says that because I didn't disable my IDE controller and there is nothing attached to it. So there is no problem there. It says that because it dont se one one the IDE controller. When you use IDE and no Sata it will say it if none is detected on the SATA as well.

I didn't realize you were on XP before. You need to get the SATA drivers on a floppy or a USB thumb drive. When Windows starts to load you have to hit F6 to load the drivers for your HDD. If you use a IDE HDD you wont need to. If you have trouble with an IDE drive its because your jumpers.

It sounds to me like you dont fully understand and you should take it to a shop. I'm sure they will only charge $50 or less to get you goin.

 

[gwolfman]

How many SATA II HDD's do you have? Your SATA drives might be configured incorrectly in the BIOS.

I agree, check it out. Also, while installing windows, use a floppy or slipstream the F6 drivers for your storage controller (intel/nvidia). good luck

 

[atotti2000]

Serj: Its plugged in SATA1 (mobo has Sata1, 2 etc to 6, no SATA0 which I also thought was unusual). I don't get the option to choose SATA mode, ie Legacy, only options are to Enable RAID or not.
It tells me no HDD detected if I use either IDE Drive or SATA Drive. I have tried using both.

Roadrunner:I am using my IDE DVD Drive as it is more reliable (had it longer) so cant disable, still get messages.
I have tried using the on-Disk drivers on a floppy and it doesn't change a thing. Still Freezes during windows installation with no drives detected.
I still get this problem installing onto an IDE Drive, I have tried every SATA/IDE configuration I'm able to do above.

gwolfman: I have been running only 1 of the 4 I own, just to install OS originally.

I'll keep trying over the weekend, hopefully I'll make some progress.

Thanks for all the help btw, i've been able to try thiings I hadn't used before

 

[atotti2000]

Oh, and I like the fact ebuyer have stopped selling the board since i bought it.

 

[Serj]

I have heard alot of bad stuff about Asus. DOA p5k boards, cust svc trying to say a short on the PS/2 port was a keyboard and not a northbridge issue (even though the same thing happens with other kbs, and the original works fine on another system)

Anyway, try reflashing the board's BIOS. if that doesnt work, my final suggestion is to install XP on the drive through another system, yank the IDE/NB/SB/pcisys driver files, replace with the SATA drivers, and shut it down. Then try booting it on the new PC. outside of that, i have a question for you. are you using an OEM disc or Burned XP install media? My P4 build did the same thing and i just said 'screw it' and installed 2k....that was an option back in 03, anyway.