HDD SATA vs IDE

[poom]

Hi all,

I recently built a computer, and I am having trouble with installing Windows 7.
Here are the specs:
AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition
8gig (4gx2) Ripjaw ram
Biostar TA890FXE mobo
Corsair TX 750watt PSU
Sapphire Radeon HD 5870
Using old hard drive
Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit

This hard drive is an old Western Digital 80gig. It uses IDE to connect to the mobo instead of SATA. It takes Windows 7 a few hours to "expand windows files" while trying to install, and half the time it freezes. I've gone through this process about 4 times now and am lost. You can follow my troubleshooting post here if interested (not getting very far...): http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/293663-31-help-needed-slow-card

Should I spend the cash on a new HDD or is my problem elsewhere?

EDIT: my disc drive is brand new and uses SATA. HP 24x dvd1260i. Is data transfer getting screwed up between the SATA DVD drive and the IDE HDD?

 

[John_VanKirk]

Hi there,

First thing to do is disconnect the HDD, and DVD, and boot up the system with only CPU, RAM, and Graphics card installed, and see if you get a single "all OK" beep code from the MB, as it POSTs OK. You should get the splash screen, then on the monitor "non system drive or no hard drive found".

That will tell you the CPU, RAM, graphics card are working properly.
I see only the G.SKILL F3-10600CL9D-2GBNQ 1G DDR3 1333 RAM as supported by the MB, but if it boots to the "no HDD present", it should work.

Then go back and POST again to the spash screen, go into the System Setup, and make sure the IDE controller is enabled, and the drive is set to Auto. Make sure you are using an 80 pin IDE ribbon, the HDD is connected at the far end of the ribbon, and the HDD has its jumper set to Master.

Connect the SATA DVD power cable and Data cable.

POST again, go back into the System Setup, and set the boot order so the DVD is 1st, IDE HDD second.
Place the Win-7 DVD x64 in the DVD, and try rebooting.

The PATA IDE drive should not be a factor in installing Win-7x64, as long as it is NTFS formatted and the partition is > 40 GB, min is about 23 GB to hold the Win-7 x64 OS. It will be significantly slower than a newer SATA Serial ATA HDD for the OS>

If economically feasible, however, I would consider purchasing a SATA 3.0, 500 - 1000 GB HDD (WD 500 GB Black < $75) and using it for your OS, on the SATA_1 header, then the DVD SATA peripheral on the SATA_2 connector.

 

[poom]

Thank you so much for the detailed instructions, John. I just got back from the store and purchased a WD 320gig SATA drive. (The blue not the black, oh well) But I am installing Windows 7 right now...finished what took hours before in about 5 minutes! If I still have trouble from there, the first thing I am going to do is follow your instructions to the letter. I will post my results as they happen. I can't tell you how much better I feel after reading your post and having a solid guide to follow if things foul up. I'm thinking my old HD has finally kicked the bucket, we'll see.